＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The other day I wrote an article titled, “Mixed-race athletes have been doing amazing things recently!” but the achievements of mixed-race talent are also impressive.
Speaking of “mixed-race celebrities,” some older examples include actress and violinist Wanibuchi Haruko (born 1945; her mother was an Austrian and a descendant of the House of Habsburg), Kanetaka Kaoru (1928-2019; her father was Indian), who was the long-time host and narrator of the travel program “Kanetaka Kaoru’s World Travels,” Maeda Bibari (born 1948; her father was American), who became famous for her Shiseido commercials, Mari Anne (born 1948; her father was Indian), who is a familiar face in 11PM, E.H. Eric (1929-2000; his mother was Danish) and his brother Okada Masumi (1935-2006), who were pioneers of “foreign celebrities,” and Mickey Curtis (born 1938; his parents were one quarter Japanese and one quarter British).
Looking at it this way, there have always been many mixed-race entertainers, but recently there has been a rise in the number of mixed-race entertainers making an impact.
1. Christel Takigawa (Freelance announcer)
Christel Takigawa was born in Paris in 1977, and her father is French. She became very famous when she appealed for “omotenashi” (hospitality) during the presentation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
It feels like it has become the “password” of the Tokyo Olympics. In addition to her looks, it is also very attractive that she can speak English and French fluently.
She graduated from the Department of French Literature at Aoyama Gakuin University, participated in the Miss Campus contest, and was selected as the “runner-up Miss Aoyama Gakuin.” She applied to Fuji Television but failed, and then joined Kyodo Television.
<Added 8/7/2019>
I heard she’s going to marry House of Representatives member Shinjiro Koizumi. And she’s pregnant now. Congratulations!!
2. Laura (model)
Laura was born in 1990, her father is Bangladeshi, and her mother is 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Russian. She is famous for sticking out her tongue and puffing out her cheeks during conversations, and for not being good at using honorific language and speaking casually to everyone. She has also appeared in many TV commercials.
However, what I find most attractive about her is her Instagram, where she exudes a model-like quality. She is incredibly popular, with 5 million followers. If you haven’t seen her yet, I highly recommend you check it out. You might get addicted.
3. Nicole Fujita (Fashion model)
Nicole Fujita was born in 1998, and her father is half Russian and half Polish, so she is a quarter Russian. Her selling point is her “extensive gal makeup,” so it’s hard to call her beautiful, but when you watch her on talk shows, you can tell she is a surprisingly honest person and has strong opinions, even though she is only 20 years old. I look forward to seeing her future success.