• 'The wind rises' ( (Kaze tachinu, 2013) is a newest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, a fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and the Mitsubishi A6M Zero; aircrafts that were used by the Empire of Japan during World War II. It is an utterly beautiful and poignant historical drama about a boy who dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes... Some scenes appear like self-writing haikus: when Jiro walks onto a meadow filled with flowers and grass covered parts of wrecked airplanes after the war reminded me of an old verse by Matsuo Basho: "A thicket of summer grass / Is all that remains / Of the dreams of ancient warriors."
The film has quite limited distribution (about one movie theater per city in our area), so catch it on a big screen while it's still playing at Regal Meridian 16, downtown Seattle. The title of the film comes from a novel of the same name by Tatsuo Hori, who took a line from Paul Valery's poem, "Le vent se Leve, il faut tenter de vivre" – The wind is rising. We must try to live…
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| SJG • 4/10/14 - Prunus mume, Japanese apricot in the Orchard |
• Garden tour 2: Don't forget that our Unit86 Plant List group is conducting a class May Bloomers Garden Tour on May 10, Saturday, 10 am for all SJG volunteers, docents and staff. Also, our Plant Committee prepared a handout for visitors, containing April blooming rhodies and azaleas, available at the Garden Gate; the Early May rhodies edition is coming May 1st, Late May rhodies on May 15th - enjoy them!
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| SJG • 4/10/14 - royal azaleas blooming under saucer magnolia in area H |