Tag: 落語

Social Media Dilemma

On By Kanariya EishiIn Life, Notice, Random, Updates4 Comments

It’s been 8 months since I closed my Twitter/ X account.

The platform was getting filled up with hate speech, misinformation, and trolls, and I no longer wanted to be a cog for the billionaire’s virtual playground where I was one of his products.

But… I have to admit that I later regretted my decision when my account was completely swiped off the system. I really felt, then, that regardless of all the cons, what mattered the most was the real people on the other side of the digital sinkhole.

I almost felt guilty that I chose my dislike of the platform over the real people who I knew in real life and those who I’d possibly meet in the unforeseen future.

Having said that, it’s time to move on.

The problem with X was that a single powerful person (or an egomaniac?) dominated the entire platform. Unfortunately, this could potentially happen to all other centralised platforms including Meta-owned sites like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or even WhatsApp, which means pretty much all the major platforms in the world.

However, as a true “indie of indies”, I cannot do without SNS to share my work as a rakugo performer, and this has been a huge dilemma to me.

In an ideal world, I’d rather meet and chat with people face-to-face rather than only connecting with them virtually. But I’ve been told by my producer and actor friends that I must keep at least one major platform, which according to them is Instagram, Facebook, or X. In fact, one of the recent contracts that I signed said, I have an obligation to share the event that I’m involved in at least 3 times via my SNS, so I literally can’t get rid of them 😁

Then, enters the Fediverse concept.

I don’t fully understand it, but it’s basically a collection of social networking sites that can communicate with each other, therefore not bound by one single individual or company unlike other platforms.

In Fediverse, you can move around between platforms. So even if you close down your current account, you can take it with you to another platform.

WordPress, Mastodon, and Bluesky probably are the most famous ones, but recently Threads (half-) entered the Fediverse.

It seems like some instances (or servers) have rejected to connect with Meta-owned Threads as it might interfere with their internet freedom. I don’t really know enough about the consequences of their participation, but we’ll see.

But for now, to look ahead for the future, it’d make sense for me to stick with platforms in the Fediverse.

You are most likely to find my latest news and thoughts on Mastodon and Threads… for the time being.

Superstitious Japanese: Luckiest Days of the Year

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, Life, Random, TriviaLeave a comment

I have to say that Japanese are superstitious.

I have a large stack of the lucky charms that my dear mother in Japan have sent me over the last 20 plus years.

We avoid numbers like 4 and 9 because 4 (四 shi) rhymes with death (死 shi) while 9 (九 ku) rhymes with suffering (苦 ku).

When I turned 44, my mum sent me heaps of lucky charms to ward off bad luck. I can predict that I’ll be bombarded with some more lucky charms when I turn 49 next year.

Having said that, I grew up more of a cynical sceptic, taking after my dad.

So I thought, but I recently realised that I am actually both sceptic and superstitious- just like the rest of Japan.

Most of us say that we are non-religious, but we love visiting shrines, temples, and even churches and vaguely believe in the unseen world. We are not atheists as some westerners say.

Since I started learning about the traditional Māori calendar called maramataka, I’ve got really curious about our own traditional calendar, and I’ve been learning about it for the last few months.

First, look at the Japanese calendar of this month (June 2024) below. Most of our calendars tell us the luck of each day.

For example, 24th June 2024 is a Taian (大安), one of the luckiest days, and many Japanese weddings are held on a Taian.

On the other hand, 17th June 2024 is a Butsumetsu (仏滅), and it’s the unluckiest day in Japanese calendar. Most couples avoid this day to get married.

As I grew up, I’d always thought Taian was the luckiest day, but I have recently learned that there are luckier days in the year.

It is called Tenshanichi (天赦日 てんしゃにち), which only happens 5-6 times a year. It is believed that all the gods rise up to the heavens and forgive all the sins of people on this day.

When Taian and Tenshanichi overlap, it is even more auspicious.

There is another lucky day called Ichiryumanbaibi (一粒万倍日 いちりゅうまんばいび), which literally means “the day one seed turns into 10,000 seeds”.

It is a good day to start a new project.