Japanese in the News.

Just got back from a hot and sweaty badminton game. It's rainy now but all that has increased is the humidity. I pulled this article off the Kyodo News network. It's interesting to see where Japanese are advancing in the world - surprising really - and it reinforces my view that whatever a Japanese puts their mind to, they do well. Supposely it was in a wide field of 200 other violins. Here's a snippet:

Japanese win top 2 places in violin-making competition in Russia.

MOSCOW — Two Japanese men have won the first and second places in the violin craftsmanship division at the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition held in Moscow, organizers said Wednesday.

The violin crafted by Hiroshi Kikuta, 45, a Nagoya native, won the first prize on Tuesday, and the instrument made by Akira Takahashi, 36, a native of Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, received the second prize. Kikuta and Takahashi learned violin craftsmanship in Cremona, Italy, where maestro Antonio Stradivari and other master craftsmen worked.