INTRODUCING THE MORGANS (VI), JOSE MORGAN

Hi, I'm Jose Morgan. I was born in Kyoto, Japan and I am an acrobat. 

A few months ago, I discovered that the famous Welsh pirate Henry Morgan was an ancestor of mine and that I had brothers and sisters to meet. Thanks to The Grandma, an Andorran grandmother, who made every effort to locate us, today I know them all and to celebrate this meeting we decided to spend two months together travelling and reviewing our level of English because we have all decided to retire to Kingston, Jamaica, to enjoy the Morgan fortune, and English is its official language.

-What's your full name?

-My name is Jose Morgan Tanaka.

-How do you spell your second surname?

-T-A-N-A-K-A

-Are you a student? What are you studying?

-No, I'm not a student. I completed my professional training in acrobatics and performing arts several years ago.

-Are you working? What is your job?

-Yes, I am. I'm a circus acrobat. I perform in circus shows and live events, where I do acrobatic routines, aerial performances, and balancing acts.

-Do you like your job? Why?

-Yes, I love my job because it combines athletic skills, creativity, and entertainment. Every performance is exciting, and I enjoy making people smile.

-Where are you from?

-I'm from Kyoto, Japan.

-How long have you lived there?

-I lived in Kyoto for most of my life before travelling internationally with different circus companies. I still visit my hometown whenever I have the opportunity.

-Why are you studying English?

-I'm studying English because I often work with performers from different countries. English helps me communicate with my colleagues and audiences around the world.

-How long have you been studying English?

-I've been studying English for two months with The Morgans. I didn't study it at school.

-Tell me about your city.

-Kyoto is one of the most famous cities in Japan. It is known for its temples, traditional gardens, and cultural heritage. Many visitors come to experience its history and beautiful scenery.

-What music do you like?

-I enjoy many kinds of music, including classical music, Japanese traditional music, and modern pop. Music is very important when preparing for performances.

-Can you play any instrument?

-Yes, I can play the shamisen a little. It is a traditional Japanese string instrument. I enjoy practising it in my free time.

-Tell me about your favourite place.

-My favourite place is Fushimi Inari Taisha. I love walking through the thousands of red torii gates and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

-What do you like doing in your free time?

-In my free time, I enjoy training, visiting historical sites, reading, and taking photographs. I also like spending time with friends and family when I'm not travelling.

-Do you practise any sport? Which?

-Yes, I do. Acrobatics requires a lot of physical training. I also practise gymnastics, stretching, and running to stay fit and improve my performance.

-How did you become interested in acrobatics?

-I became interested in acrobatics when I was a child. I watched circus performances on television and was amazed by the athletes' skills and discipline.

-What is the most difficult part of your job?

-The most difficult part is maintaining excellent physical condition. Acrobatics requires strength, flexibility, balance, and constant practice.

-Have you ever performed in another country?

-Yes, I have. I've performed in several countries across Europe and Asia. Travelling for work has allowed me to experience different cultures and meet many interesting people.

-What do you enjoy most about performing?

-I enjoy the connection with the audience. It's rewarding to see people surprised, excited, and happy during a performance.

-Would you like to teach acrobatics in the future?

-Yes, I would. I would like to share my experience with younger performers and help them develop their skills safely and confidently.

-What qualities should a good acrobat have?

-A good acrobat should be disciplined, patient, physically fit, and willing to work hard. Confidence and teamwork are also very important in circus performances.

-How is a normal day with The Morgans?

-We haven't got similar days. Every day is different and this is something very important because it offers to you the possibility of living fantastic experiences every day and you can enjoy them with all your heart because you know that next day you're going to put the score to zero and we're going to start again. It's a non-stopping life.

-Which is your best memory with The Morgans?

-It's difficult to choose only one. I remember when we travelled back in time to the Kingdom of Camelot. It was a fantastic experience to meet King Arthur and the members of his court.

-Which is your favourite song?

-I love 'The Sheltering Sky' by Ryūichi Sakamoto. The piano is an instrument that gives me calm, concentration and introspection, which is what I need most in my work, but also in my life, but I want to choose 'Life in Mars?' by David Bowie sung by Jessica Lange in American Horror Story: Freak Show.

 But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on.

David Bowie 

THE WALKMAN, THE PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER BY SONY

Sony Walkman, 1979

Today, The Grandma has been listening to music with her old fashioned Sony Walkman. She still conserves cassettes and she likes using her Sony Walkman to listen to them. 

Walkman was a great success during the 80's and The Grandma wants to talk about it, because on a day like today in 1979 Sony introduced it and changed our lives again.

Walkman is a brand of portable media players manufactured by Sony. The original Walkman, released in 1979, was a portable cassette player that allowed people to listen to music of their choice on the move. Its popularity made walkman a unofficial term for personal stereos of any producer or brand.

By 2010, when production stopped, Sony built about 200 million cassette-based Walkmans.

Sony continues to use the Walkman brand for most of its portable audio devices, including feature phones. Discman, Sony's portable CD player, was renamed into CD Walkman in 1997. Sony's line of digital audio players is known as Network Walkman.

Compact cassette was developed in 1963 by the Dutch electronics firm Philips. In the late 1960s, the introduction of prerecorded compact cassettes made it possible to listen to music on portable devices as well as on car stereos, though gramophone records remained the most popular format for home listening.

Sony cofounder Masaru Ibuka used Sony's bulky TC-D5 cassette recorder to listen to music while traveling for business. He asked executive deputy president Norio Ohga to design a playback-only stereo version optimized for headphone use. The first prototype was built from a modified Sony Pressman, a compact cassette recorder designed for journalists and released in 1977.

The metal-cased blue-and-silver Walkman TPS-L2, the world's first low-cost personal stereo, went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979, and was sold for around ¥33,000 (or $150.00). Though Sony predicted it would sell about 5,000 units a month, it sold more than 30,000 in the first two months.

The Walkman was followed by a series of international releases; as overseas sales companies objected to the wasei-eigo name, it was sold under several names, including Soundabout in the United States, Freestyle in Australia and Sweden, and Stowaway in the UK. Eventually, in the early 1980s, Walkman caught on globally and Sony used the name worldwide. The TPS-L2 was introduced in the U.S. in June 1980.

More information: Mental Floss

The 1980s was the decade of the intensive development of the Walkman lineup. In 1983 Sony introduced the first ultra-compact cassette-size Walkman, in 1986 it presented the first model outfitted with remote control. By 1999 Sony sold 186 million cassette Walkmans.

Portable compact disc player caused the decline of cassette Walkman, which was discontinued in Japan in 2010. The last cassette-based model available in the U.S. was the WM-FX290W.

The marketing of the Walkman introduced the idea of Japanese-ness into global culture, synonymous with miniaturization and high-technology. The Walk-men and Walk-women in advertisements were created to be the ideal reflections of the subject watching.

A major component of the Walkman advertising campaign was personalization of the device. Prior to the Walkman, the common device for portable music was the portable radio, which could only offer listeners standard music broadcasts. Having the ability to customize a playlist was a new and exciting revolution in music technology. Potential buyers had the opportunity to choose their perfect match in terms of mobile listening technology.

The ability to play your own music and listen privately was a huge selling point of the Walkman, especially amongst teens, who greatly contributed to its success. Despite all this technological diversity, there must be one which is the perfect choice for you. This method of marketing to an extremely expansive user-base while maintaining the idea that the product was made for each individual got the best of all possible worlds -mass marketing and personal differentiation.

According to Time, the Walkman's unprecedented combination of portability, it ran on two AA batteries, and privacy, it featured a headphone jack but no external speaker, made it the ideal product for thousands of consumers looking for a compact portable stereo that they could take with them anywhere.

The Walkman had a major influence on 1980s culture. In 1986, the word Walkman entered the Oxford English Dictionary.

Millions used the Walkman during exercise, coinciding with the start of the aerobics craze. Between 1987 and 1997, the height of the Walkman's popularity, the number of people who said they walked for exercise increased by 30%. Other firms, including Aiwa, Panasonic and Toshiba, produced similar products, and in 1983 cassettes outsold vinyl for the first time.

In German-speaking countries, the use of walkman became generic, meaning a personal stereo of any make, to a degree that the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that Sony could not prevent others from using the term walkman to describe similar goods. It is therefore an example of what marketing experts call the genericide of a brand.

More information: The Verge

I  put my Walkman on and said, 'I might as well kick it'.

DJ Jazzy Deff and The Fresh Prince

MATSUO BASHO. SAYONARA JAPAN, WELCOME EQUATOR

Matsuo Bashō

The Jones have left Japan and are flying to Quito, Equator. There, they're going to fly to their final destination: The Galapagos Islands. 

They are a lot of hours of flying and sleeping, watching TV, playing with their Japanese games or reading are activities very useful to spend time. 

The Grandma is reading some beautiful haikus written by Matsuo Bashō, who is considered, one of the best and most famous Japanese writers in history.

Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694), born then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku, then called hokku.

More information: The Philosophers Mail

Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned; and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is justifiably famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses.

Matsuo Bashō

Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age, and after integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo, modern Tokyo, he quickly became well known throughout Japan. 

He made a living as a teacher; but then renounced the social, urban life of the literary circles and was inclined to wander throughout the country, heading west, east, and far into the northern wilderness to gain inspiration for his writing. His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him, often encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements.

More information: Famous Poets and Poems

Matsuo Bashō was born in 1644, near Ueno, in Iga Province. The Matsuo family was of samurai descent, and his father probably was a musokunin, a class of landowning peasants granted certain privileges of samurai.

Matsuo Bashō

Little is known of his childhood. In his late teens, Bashō became a servant to Tōdō Yoshitada probably in some humble capacity, and probably not promoted to full samurai class. It is claimed he served as cook or a kitchen worker in some near-contemporaneous accounts, but there is no conclusive proof. A later hypothesis is that he was chosen to serve as page to Yoshitada, with alternative documentary evidence suggesting he started serving at a younger age. He shared Yoshitada's love for haikai no renga, a form of collaborative poetry composition. A sequence was opened with a verse in 5-7-5 mora format; this verse was named a hokku, and would centuries later be renamed haiku when presented as a stand-alone work. 

The hokku would be followed by a related 7-7 mora verse by another poet. Both Bashō and Yoshitada gave themselves haigō, or haikai pen names; Bashō's was Sōbō, which was simply the on'yomi of his adult name, Munefusa. 

More information: Hello Poetry

In 1662, the first extant poem by Bashō was published. In 1526, two of Bashō's hokku were printed in a compilation.

Matsuo Bashō

In 1665, Bashō and Yoshitada together with some acquaintances composed a hyakuin, or one-hundred-verse renku. 

In 1666, Yoshitada's sudden death brought Bashō's peaceful life as a servant to an end. No records of this time remain, but it is believed that Bashō gave up any possibility of samurai status and left home.

Biographers have proposed various reasons and destinations, including the possibility of an affair between Bashō and a Shinto miko named Jutei, which is unlikely to be true.  

More information: Masterpiece of Japanese Culture

Bashō's own references to this time are vague; he recalled that at one time I coveted an official post with a tenure of land, and that there was a time when I was fascinated with the ways of homosexual love: there is no indication whether he was referring to real obsessions or fictional ones. 

He was uncertain whether to become a full-time poet; by his own account, the alternatives battled in my mind and made my life restless. His indecision may have been influenced by the then still relatively low status of renga and haikai no renga as more social activities than serious artistic endeavors. 

Matsuo Bashō

In any case, his poems continued to be published in anthologies in 1667, 1669, and 1671, and he published a compilation of work by himself and other authors of the Teitoku school, The Seashell Game, in 1672. In about the spring of that year he moved to Edo, to further his study of poetry.

On his return to Edo in the winter of 1691, Bashō lived in his third bashō hut, again provided by his disciples. This time, he was not alone: he took in a nephew and his female friend, Jutei, who were both recovering from illness. He had a great many visitors.

More information: Poetry Foundation

Bashō continued to be uneasy. He wrote to a friend that disturbed by others, I have no peace of mind. He made a living from teaching and appearances at haikai parties until late August 1693, when he shut the gate to his bashō hut and refused to see anybody for a month. 

Finally, he relented after adopting the principle of karumi or lightness, a semi-Buddhist philosophy of greeting the mundane world rather than separating himself from it. Bashō left Edo for the last time in the summer of 1694, spending time in Ueno and Kyoto before his arrival in Osaka. He became sick with a stomach illness and died peacefully, surrounded by his disciples.

More information: Poem Hunter

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. 

Matsuo Basho

THE ANCIENT JAPANESE MARTIAL ARTS: JUDO & KARATE

Marta & Víctor Jones at Tokyo Skytree

Yesterday, The Jones visited Tokyo. Since they arrived to Japan, some days ago, the family hasn't visited the capital deeply and they wanted to see important sights like Tokyo Skytree, the Rainbow Bridge and the Shibuya Crossing. 

In Shibuya, The Jones visited the Daikanyama Karate School, one of the most important schools of this martial art and fascinated by it, they decided to visit the Kodokan School of Judo, to learn a little more about another important martial art. Japan is the cradle of Karate and Judo but it's also the cradle of forty-eight more martial arts. 

The Grandma wanted to visit Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita an old friend very popular since Karate Kid became a movie success in 1984.

More information: Lonely Planet

First, The Jones visited Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres in March 2011, making it the tallest tower in the world, displacing the Canton Tower,and the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa, 829.8 m.

Some Jones inside Tokyo Tower

The tower is the primary television and radio broadcast site for the Kantō region; the older Tokyo Tower no longer gives complete DTT broadcasting coverage because it is surrounded by high-rise buildings. 

Skytree was completed on Leap Day, 29 February 2012, with the tower opening to the public on 22 May 2012. The tower is the centrepiece of a large commercial development funded by Tobu Railway and a group of six terrestrial broadcasters headed by NHK. 

More information: Tokyo Skytree

Next, the family went to Shibuya Crossing, the world's busiest pedestrian crossing which represents the towering neon lit Tokyo that travelers expect. The traffic lights at the crossing have a 2 minute cycle. 

Eli, Merche & Paqui Jones at Shibuya

Cars from various directions eat up more than half of the time. Thousands of pedestrians all cross at the same time from five directions. When the crowds meet in the middle chaos ensues. It's a spectacle that's repeated every two minutes all day and most of the night until the crowds finally thin out after midnight when Shibuya stations closes.

Eli Jones was very excited because she wanted to visit the small statue of Hachiko,the famous dog which, back in the 1920s, came each day to meet his owner after work at Shibuya Station. His owner died but Hachiko continued to come each evening to the Station to wait. This continued for around ten years.

More information: The Culture Trip

Finally, The Jones visited the Rainbow Bridge, a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato.

Ana & Joaquín Jones near Rainbow Bridge

It was built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries,with construction starting in 1987 and completed in 1993. 

The bridge is 798 metres long with a main span of 580 metres. Officially called the Shuto Expressway No. 11 Daiba Route - Port of Tokyo Connector Bridge, the name Rainbow Bridge was decided by the public. 

The towers supporting the bridge are white in color, designed to harmonize with the skyline of central Tokyo seen from Odaiba. There are lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge, which are illuminated into three different colors, red, white and green every night using solar energy obtained during the day.

More information: Yabai

Japan, not only a mega-busy city that thrives on electronics 

and efficiency, actually has an almost sacred appreciation of nature. 

One must travel outside of Tokyo to truly experience the 'old Japan' 

and more importantly feel these aspects of Japanese culture. 

Apolo Ohno

Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a number of reasons: as self-defence, military and law enforcement applications, mental and spiritual development; as well as entertainment and the preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage.

Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, the Roman god of war.

Jigoro Kano

Judo, which means gentle way, was created as a physical, mental and moral pedagogy in Japan, in 1882, by Jigoro Kano. It is generally categorized as a modern martial art which later evolved into a combat and Olympic sport. 

Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the objective is to either throw or takedown an opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue an opponent with a pin, or force an opponent to submit with a joint lock or a choke. 

Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as weapons defenses are a part of judo, but only in pre-arranged forms, kata, and are not allowed in judo competition or free practice, randori. A judo practitioner is called a judoka.
 

The philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed for judo became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts that developed from koryū, the traditional schools.

More information: Thoughtco

The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Jigoro Kano. He studied English, shodō -Japanese calligraphy- and the Four Confucian Texts. When he was fourteen, Kano began boarding at an English-medium school, Ikuei-Gijuku in Shiba, Tokyo. 

The culture of bullying endemic at this school was the catalyst that caused Kano to seek out a Jujutsu dojo, at which to train.

Judokas

Early attempts to find a jujutsu teacher who was willing to take him on met with little success. With the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, jujutsu had become unfashionable in an increasingly westernised Japan. 

Many of those who had once taught the art had been forced out of teaching or become so disillusioned with it that they had simply given up. Several years passed before he finally found a willing teacher.

In 1877, as a student at the Tokyo-Kaisei school Kano learnt that many jujutsu teachers had been forced to pursue alternative careers, frequently opening Seikotsu-in, traditional osteopathy practices. 

More information:  World Judo Day

Kano was referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke a teacher of the Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū jujutsu. Fukuda is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis on randori, free practice,in judo.

On Fukuda's death in 1880, Kano chose to continue his studies at another schools and in February 1882, Kano founded a school and dojo at the Eisho-ji, a Buddhist temple in what was then the Shitaya ward of Tokyo. Two years later, the temple would be called by the name Kōdōkan which means place for expounding the way and Kano received his Menkyo, certificate of mastery. This is now regarded as the Kodokan founding.

More information: International Judo Federation

If there is effort, there is always accomplishment.

Kano Jigoro

Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts called hand, under the influence of Chinese Kung Fu, particularly Fujian White Crane. 

Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karateka.

Gichin Funakoshi

The Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed by Japan in 1879. Karate was brought to Japan in the early 20th century during a time of migration as Ryukyuans, especially from Okinawa, looked for work in Japan. It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taishō era. 

After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen stationed there.

Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate, is generally credited with having introduced and popularized karate on the main islands of Japan. 

In addition many Okinawans were actively teaching, and are thus also responsible for the development of karate on the main islands. 

More information: History of Fighting

Funakoshi was a student of both Asato Ankō and Itosu Ankō, who had worked to introduce karate to the Okinawa Prefectural School System in 1902.

Karatekas

In Karate-Do Kyohan, Funakoshi quoted from the Heart Sutra, which is prominent in Shingon Buddhism: Form is emptiness, emptiness is form itself. He interpreted the kara of Karate-dō to mean to purge oneself of selfish and evil thoughts. For only with a clear mind and conscience can the practitioner understand the knowledge which he receives.  

Funakoshi believed that one should be inwardly humble and outwardly gentle. 

Only by behaving humbly can one be open to Karate's many lessons. This is done by listening and being receptive to criticism. He considered courtesy of prime importance.

More information: World Karate Federation

 Karate aims to build character, improve human behavior, 

and cultivate modesty; it does not, however, guarantee it.

Yasuhiro Konishi

SONY & NINTENDO: THE WORLD OF GAMES AND LEISURE

The Grandma is arriving to the Bank of Tokyo

Yesterday, The Jones visited Sony Entertainment and Nintendo, the world leaders in games and entertainment. The Grandma took profit of the day and went to visit the Bank of Tokyo to control and manage her Japanese business. Today, The Jones are visiting Himeji Castle. They're enjoying one of the most spectacular Japanese contructions with lots of years of history and stories.

More information: SONY

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products and Services Group of Sony Corporation in Japan.

Marta Jones at Sony Headquarters, Tokyo

The company was founded in Tokyo, Japan, and established on November 16, 1993, as Sony Computer Entertainment, to handle Sony's venture into video game development with its PlayStation brand. 

Since the successful launch of the original PlayStation console in 1994, the company has since been developing the PlayStation lineup of home video game consoles and accessories. Expanding upon North America and other countries, the company soon became Sony's main resource for research and development in video games and interactive entertainment.

More information: PlayStation

In 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), began to produce the original PlayStation console in North America. In April 2016, SCE and Sony Network Entertainment was restructured and reorganized into Sony Interactive Entertainment, carrying over the operations and primary objectives from both companies.

The Jones are playing Minecraft with their PSPs

SIE handles the research and development, production, and sales of both hardware and software for the PlayStation video game systems. Alongside, it is also a developer and publisher of video game titles and is composed of several subsidiaries of Sony's largest markets: North America, Europe and Asia.

SIE currently has three main headquarters around the world: the global and Americas region headquarters in San Mateo, California; Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo, Japan; which control operations in Asia and was also formerly the headquarters for Sony Computer Entertainment; and London, United Kingdom which controls operations in Europe and Oceania. SIE also has smaller offices and distribution centers in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California US; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Melbourne, Australia; and Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea and Liverpool, UK.

More information: The Guardian

PlayStation is a gaming brand that consists of four home video game consoles, as well as a media center, an online service, a line of controllers, two handhelds and a phone, as well as multiple magazines. It is created and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment since December 3, 1994, with the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan.

We will try to create conditions where persons could come together 

in a spirit of teamwork, and exercise to their heart's desire 

their technological capacity.
 

Akio Morita

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto. Nintendo is one of the world's largest video game companies by market capitalization, creating some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.

The Grandma's grandma at Nintendo, Kyoto, 1889

Founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels. 

Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most-valuable company with a market value of over $85 billion. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.

More information: Nintendo

In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi, grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi, visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer there. He found that the biggest playing card company in the world was using only a small office. Yamauchi's realization that the playing card business had limited potential was a turning point. He then acquired the license to use Disney characters on playing cards to drive sales.

Merche Jones, Mario, Luigi and Donkey at Nintendo

In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital during the period of time between 1963 and 1968. Nintendo set up a taxi company called Daiya. This business was initially successful. 

However, Nintendo was forced to sell it because problems with the labour unions were making it too expensive to run the service. It also set up a love hotel chain, a TV network, a food company -selling instant rice- and several other ventures. All of these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, and Nintendo's stock price plummeted to its lowest recorded level of ¥60.

More information: The Official Home for Mario Bros

Nintendo's first venture into the video gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Nintendo began to produce its own hardware in 1977, with the Color TV-Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each including variations of a single game, for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis.

Víctor, Claudia & Silvia Jones are playing with Mario

In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi conceived the idea of a handheld video game, while observing a fellow bullet train commuter who passed the time by interacting idly with a portable LCD calculator, which gave birth to Game & Watch. 

These systems do not contain interchangeable cartridges and thus the hardware was tied to the game. 

The first Game & Watch game, Ball, was distributed worldwide. The modern cross D-pad design was developed in 1982, by Yokoi for a Donkey Kong version. Proven to be popular, the design was patented by Nintendo. It later earned a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award.

More information: Nintendo Life

In 2011, Nintendo released the Nintendo 3DS, based upon a glasses-free stereoscopic 3D display. In February 2012, Nintendo acquired Mobiclip, a France-based research and development company specialized in highly optimized software technologies such as video compression. The company's name was later changed to Nintendo European Research & Development.

On 17 March 2015, Nintendo announced a partnership with Japanese mobile developer DeNA to produce games for smart devices. The first of these, Miitomo, was released in March 2016.

More information: Donkey Kong Country

Nintendo means 'leave luck to the stars'.

Fusajiro Yamauchi

THE JONES HAVE ARRIVED TO TOKYO: 日本へようこそ

The Grandma is seeing Tokyo from the air

The Jones have just arrived to Tokio, Japan. After a long flight, the family is now ready to enjoy this wonderful country and its amazing culture. During the travel, the family has had enough time to review some English Grammar like Past Simple (To be/To have) and Some, Any and No Compounds.

More information: 'To Have' Expressions

More information: Some, Any & No Compounds

More information: Past Simple-To Be & Past Simple-To have

The family is going to go to the hotel to rest a little because jet lag has affected them a lot. There, they're going to talk about food; read another chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and take some information about Japan and the most interesting sights to visit. The offer is enormous and they must select well.

Japan is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the southwest.

Eli Jones in The Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel

The kanji that make up Japan's name mean sun origin, and it is often called the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands.

The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The population of 127 million is the world's tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan's total population. About 9.1 million people live in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

More information: The Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel

Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, particularly from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history.

Marta Jones in The Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel

From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shōguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West.

After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma—and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism.

More information: Go Tokyo

The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation by the SCAP, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.

Claudia Jones in The Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel

Japan is a member of the ASEAN Plus mechanism, UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8 and the G2, and is considered a great power. The country has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer.

The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world, with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the world's eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles.

More information: Time Out

Japan is a highly developed country with a very high standard of living and Human Development Index. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world. Japan is renowned for its historical and extensive cinema, rich cuisine and its major contributions to science and modern-day technology.

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Japan, not only a mega-busy city that thrives on electronics and efficiency, actually has an almost sacred appreciation of nature. One must travel outside of Tokyo to truly experience the 'old Japan' and more importantly feel these aspects of Japanese culture. 

Apolo Ohno