Hot Man Tuesday: Shin Koyamada

I figure since there's a blogger out there, called Planet Tokyo, who does a blog called Love for Asian Guys, I think she'll love this one!

Shin Koyamada

DOB: March 10, 1982
Where: Okayama, Japan
Height: 5'9''

-He's known for more than just good physical action skills. His determination and work ethic he uses to improve his martial arts skills he brings to the set as well
-He came to prominence after starring as Nobutada alongside Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai in 2003 and as Shen in the 2006 Disney TV movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
-As a child, he was a trained triathlete, doing Track and Field, gymnastics

-He currently holds a Third Degree Black Belt in karate, Second Degree Black belt in Tae Kwon Do, First Degree Black Belt in Kung Jung Mu Sul (Korean Royal Court Martial Arts), US National Championship Gold Medals in Shaolin Kung Fu, as well as 18 traditional Chinese classical weapons. He's also trained in and can perform other types of martial arts, including Kyudo (Japanese archery), Kendo (modern Japanese Swordsmanship), Iaido (Traditional Japanese Swordsmanship), Yabusame (Archery while atop a moving horse), Aikido

Trivia
-He's the only one in his entire family to be involved in the entertainment industry
-Has a younger brother named Jun
-He is a direct descendant of the Koyamada Clan, a high ranking Samurai from the Satsuma Domain
-His favorite actors are Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise, but he's never met Jackie Chan
-Begun training in Shaolin Kung Fu in Los Angeles, in 2000, when he recently moved there from Okayama, Japan
-Immigrated to the US in 2000, when he was 18 years old
-Has a Third Degree in Japanese Calliography

Known For
Power Rangers Wild Force
-Force Agent
-Episode: Identity Crisis
The Last Samurai
-Nobutada

Jake 2.0
-Shinji Makito
-Episode: Upgrade
Constellation
-Yosito
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
-Shen

Somewhere I'm Dying to See B4 I Die, pt. II

Tokyo, Japan!!

IDK what it is about this city that fascinates me so. But whenever someone hears Tokyo, they might call to mind images of Geisha girls, big, bright neon lights, lots of cars, lots of people. But when they hear Japan in general, they might call to mind images of Geish girls, samurai, ninja assassins, Yakuza gangsters, martial arts dojos, people practicing karate or kendo, the "Rising Sun" flag, Hiroshima/Nagasaki and all the poor innocent people who were killed, or Mount Fujiyama.

But I'm really hoping to see this place b4 I die!!!


Matsumoto Castle



Asakusa Kannon Temple in Tokyo



Tokyo Imperial Palace

Aww, how cute is she?

My September Reading List

Inspired by a post about reading from a fellow blogger, here is a list of some books I read either while on vacation or just in September in general.


Boring as can be. Read two chapters and gave up. Bores me!!



Love it!!! Takes place in Japan, has to do everything with Japanese culture. Yeah, perfect 4 me!



If you love the Olympics in 2012 London or just love everything about London in general, like I do, read this book. It's awesome!!!



Awesome book. Good movie too

Currently re-reading this. Like it too much

Samurai

Samurai

-Term for nobility of pre-industrial Japan.
-They followed a set of rules that came to be known as bushido.
-While they made up less than 10% of Japan's population, samurai teachings can be found today in both everyday life and in modern Japanese martial arts

History
-In the early Heian period, basically the late 8th and 9th centuries, Emperor Kammu decided to expand his rule in northern Honshu. He introduced the title of Seiitaishgoun or shogun, and began to rely on these powerful soldiers to remove any of the Emishi people.
-These soliders, skilled in mounted combat and archery(kyudo), these warriors became the emperor's preferred tool for removing rebellious people.
-The title of shogun was not used until the 13th century.
-These clans formed alliances to protect themselves from other clans, and by the time of the Heian period, they adopted characteristic Japanese armor and weapons, and that is how they laid the foundation for Bushido, their code of honor
-In the 14th century, a blacksmith named Masamune created a two-layer material for soft and hard steel for swords. This gave the item a much more improved cutting power and endurance. This led to the creation of Japanese swords(katana) being used.

Culture
-Samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as well. This culture associated with the samurai included tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens, and poetry. These were adapted from the Chinese arts. Zen monks introduced them to Japan and they were allowed to decline due to interest of powerful warriors.

Education
-In general, samurai warriors were aristocrats, and priests who had a very high literacy rate in Kanji.

Names
-How samurai got their names is they combined one kanji from his father or grandfather, and one new kanji.

Marriage
-How samurai got married is it was arranged by someone with the same or higher rank
-Marriage was a necessity for those in upper ranks, and for lower ranked samurai, it was a formality.
-Most of them married a woman from a samurai family, but for lower ranking members, marriage to commoners was okay.
-If a samurai wanted a mistress, her background was given a very strong looking over by a higher ranked samurai.
-A samurai could divorce his wife for various reasons, with approval from a superior, but it was nonexistent. A reason for divorce could be that the wife could not produce a valuable son, but the adoption was the answer for divorce. And even if he simply did not like his wife, he could divorce her. If the wife were cast off because of dishonor, she could commit jigai(a female's seppuku)

Weapons
Japanese swords
-I.e. Katana(long sword), wakizashi(side inserted sword)

The Yumi(longbow)
-Major weapon of the Japanese military
-Made from bamboo, wood, rattan, leather
-Had a range of 50 meters

Pole weapons
-Yari(spear)

Staff weapons
-Bo(bamboo staff)

Chain weapons
Kusarigama(chain sickle)



Armor
-Early armor made from leather or iron
-Later armor was made from iron
-Had a helmet, called a kabuto, to protect the samurai's face from weapons

Pop Culture
-There have been films made over the years to feature these warriors.
-The Seven Samurai(Akira Kurosawa) was made in the 1950s and is entirely in Japanese language with English subtitles. This one rocks!!

-In Japanese comics(manga) or animation(anime), the Samurai are very popular topics. They mostly feature a good guy who is a samurai or a former samurai who possesses martial arts skills. Even American comic books have adapted the Samurai into their comics.

Ken Watanabe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Watanabe

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913822/bio

Born: Oc. 21, 1959, Koide, Niigata, Japan. Age 51
Occupation- actor
Years active- 1979-present
Spouse- Yumiko Watanabe(div. 2005)
             Kaho Minami(2005-present)

He is a well known Japanese stage, TV and film actor. In the US, he is known for roles like General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima, Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai. When it comes to awards, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor. He has also starred in Batman Begins and Inception, playing a Japanese businessman named Mr. Saito.

Early life
Watanabe was born in Koide, Niigata prefecture. His mother was a school teacher and his father taught calligraphy. He is brother to Yuki Watanabe, he visits his nephew Michael and niece Maia in New York. He has 2 children, one of them, Anne Watanabe is a model.

Career
Japanese Roles
After graduating high school in 1978, he moved to Tokyo to start his acting career with the Tokyo-based theatre group En. While with the group, he was cast as the hero in the play Shimodani Mannencho Monogatari, under Yukio Ninagawa's rules
In 1982, he made his first TV appearance, Michinaru Hanran (Unknown Rebellion) and his first appearance on TV as a samurai in Mibu no koiuta. His film debut came in 1984 in the movie MacArthur's Children
His main roles in Japan are of playing a Samurai, such as: in 1987 Dokuganryu Masamune, a 50 episode show for Japan-based broadcast network NHK.
In 1989, while filming Haruki Kadokawa's Heaven and Earth, he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He continued acting while undergoing chemotherapy treatments, and in 1991 suffered a relapse.
In 2006, he won Best Lead Actor at the Japanese Academy Awards for his role in Memories of Tomorrow, where he played a patient with Alzheimer's Disease.

International Roles
He was introduced to Western audiences in the 2003 movie The Last Samurai. His role of Katsumoto earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the 2005 movie Batman Begins, Watanabe plays Ra's Al Ghul and in Memoirs of a Geisha, Chairman Iwamura. In 2006 he starred in the movie Letters from Iwo Jima, playing Tadamichi Kuribayashi. In 2004, he was featured in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People

Personal Life
In 1989, he was diagnosed with bone marrow leukemia, but later recovered. He revealed in 2006 that he was suffering from hepatitis C but was doing good and undergoing treatment.

Considered unusually tall by Japanese standards, he gained 20 pounds to be an even more imposing presence as Katsumoto in The Last Samurai

Filmography
1984
-MacArthur's Children- Tetsuo Nakai
9 Deaths of the Ninja- Sensei
1985
-Kekkon Annai Mystery- Funayama Tetsuya/Masakazu Sekine
1986
- The Sea and Poison- Toda
- Tampopo- Gun
1987
-Karate Warrior- Master Kimura
1988
-Karate Warrior 2- Master Kimura
1989
-Violent Zone- Old Mishima
1998
- Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald- Raita Onuki, Truck driver
2000
- Space Travellers- Sakamaki
- Ikebukuro West Gate Park- Insp. Yokoyama
2001
-Genji: A Thousand Year Love- Fujiwara Michinaga/Fujiwara Nobutaka
2003
-The Last Samurai- Katsumoto Moritsugu

-T.R.Y- Masanobu Azuma
2004
- Castle of Sand- Shuchiro Imanishi
2005

-Memoirs of  a Geisha- Chairman Iwamura

- Batman Begins- Ra's Al Ghul's decoy

- Year One in the North- Hideaki Komatsubara
2006
- Memories of Tomorrow- Masayuki Saeki

- Letters from Iwo Jima- Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi

2009
-The Unbroken- Hajime Onchi










- Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant- Mr. Hibernius Tall

2010

- Inception- Saito

1950s

There's nothing real big about the 1950s except for maybe the Cold War and fear of Communism from Russia, or as it was known as in the 1950s, the Soviet Union or the USSR.

History

• Brinks Robbery in Boston. $3 million is stolen!
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are found guilty of espionage and are sentenced to death for their part in WWII espionage
• Tenzing Norgay of Nepal and Edmund Hilary of New Zealand are the first to reach the top of Mt. Everest
• Dr. Jonas Saulk invents vaccine for polio
• Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat up, thus starting the Montgomery Bus boycotts

• Oct. 4, 1956: the Space Age begins, with Russia sending up a satellite named Sputnik I
• Rock and roll music comes out, and also the first color TV
• Churchill becomes Prime Minister in the UK
• Fashion designer Mary Quant opens her first fashion boutique, Bazaar, in King's Road in London

Music

• Bill Haley and the Comets
• Ritchie Valens
• Tony Bennett
• The Big Bopper
• Buddy Holly
• Connie Francis

Movies

• Bad Day at Black Rock

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

• Seven Samurai

• Tokyo Story
• East of Eden
• An Affair to Remember
• The Bad Seed
• The Geisha Boy

People Born/Famous

Celebrities popular:
Gary Cooper
Marilyn Monroe
Jayne Mansfield
Montgomery Clift
Sophia Loren
Sidney Poitier
Grace Kelly
Audrey Hepburn

People Born:
Jerry Hall

Chow Yun-fat

Steven Bauer

Paul Stanley

Andy Garcia

Stevie Van Zandt

Joe Perry

Jackie Chan

David Coverdale

He's still pretty sexy!!

Liam Neeson

Rob Halford

Alfre Woodard

Denzel Washington

Ken Watanabe