Voltes V

Dateline June 4: Voltes V was first  broadcasted in Japan by TV Asahi from June 4, 1977 to March 25, 1978

In the Philippines, since May 5, 1978, an English-language dub of Voltes V was first aired on GMA-7, which was shown every Friday (6:00 pm) and lasted for a year until 1979. In 1979, shortly before the series finale, then-president Ferdinand Marcos issued a directive banning Voltes V and other similarly-themed anime series due to concerns about "excessive violence".The directive also led to speculations at the time that the series was also taken off the air due to its aforementioned revolutionary undertones. In 2012, Marcos' son Bongbong defended his father's decision to ban Voltes V, stating that parents before were worried about the excessive violence in the show, so Marcos pulled the show and other robot-based animated series from television to appease their demand

 Voltes V has embedded itself in Filipino pop culture. The debut album of the Filipino rock band Eraserheads is titled Ultraelectromagneticpop!, a reference to the "Ultraelectromagnetic Top" used in the series. A thirteen-foot sculpture made by Toym Leon Imao called at the time Last, Lost, Lust for Four Episodes was displayed in front of the Palma Hall at the University of the Philippines Diliman from September 20 to 28, 2014, consisting of brass, fiberglass, and galvanized iron. The sculpture was made to represent "the anger [Imao] felt as a 10-year-old when Voltes V and the other robots were summarily removed from television.

Close encounters with the Geishas

 During this year's christmas party of my law firm, Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices, our team presented a Japanese musical production number. Basically, it involved the icons of Japan: the geishas, samurais, ninjas, anime and even Sadako of "The Ring" series. 

While preparing for the production number, i reminisced my personal encounters with the real Geishas of Kyoto, Japan in July 2008.

We  took the Shinkansen, or bullet train in local lingo, from Tokyo to a station near Kyoto. The Shinkansen  is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan The Shinkansen network boasts not only high speed -up to 300 kilometers per hour-, but also high frequency. the Shinkansen network is the key to comfortable and speedy travel throughout

Japan

Kyoto is one of the best places to visit in Japan. About 20% of Japan’s National Treasures and 14% of Important Cultural Properties exist in the city proper. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) includes 17 locations in Kyoto, Uji in Kyoto Prefecture and Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture.

Luck was likewise on our side since we came in close contacts with the Geisha’s of Gion which is Kyoto’s most famous geisha district. We strolled along Hanami-koji, a street lined by beautiful old buildings, teahouses and restaurants.Geisha are dressed in a kimono, and their faces are made up very pale. Initially, they refused to have their photos taken with us. So we have to be discreet in geting our photos. We even went to the bridge where the the Chiyo met the Chairman, from the novel Memoirs of a Geisha. 

Geisha or Geiko, on the other hand, are traditional, female Japanese entertainers, whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as classical music and dance. In the performance of  a geisha in one of the  theatres, it reminded of the film “Memoir of A Geisha” There remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are frequently depicted as expensive prostitutes in Western popular culture. Geisha are entertainers, their purpose being to entertain their customer, be it by reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is uniquely Japanese, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be. Geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients. 

On the other hand, in the Japanese history, a Ninja was someone specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war. The methods used by ninja included assassination, espionage, and a variety of martial arts.Their exact origins are still unknown. Their roles may have included sabotage, espionage, scouting and assassination missions as a way to destabilize and cause social chaos in enemy territory or against an opposing ruler, perhaps in the service of their feudal rulers (daimyo, shogun), or an underground ninja organization waging guerilla warfare.