I've previously made some comment on how Japan has influenced costume design in Star Wars but I was dumbstruck when a friend let me know that the Star Wars saga was largely influenced by Akira Kurosawa and more specifically his movie's 'The Hidden Fortress' and 'Yojimbo'.
This comment from an online article I just read through:

Star Wars owed much to The Hidden Fortress in its inception. Lucas' original script was basically just a remake for Fortress, although even in the final edit many concepts from the film still remain.

The article explained specifically how this movie and Yojimbo influenced Star Wars and also what other influences Lucas had.

We went country witnessing today and had a glorious time. We were closer in towards the Southern Alps where the temperature today felt about 20-something degrees. I was complaining about the excessive heat! It had a very peaceful, relaxing feel about it and was a nice change.

You may have guessed from perusing the entries on this blog that I love food. I think in Japanese they call it 'tabemono ni urusai' (well that's how Miho often describes me). I'm very particular about what I like and also really enjoy cakes and deserts so this gives me motivation to bake. I made my first apple pie last Saturday night from a recipe an Irish/English elderly friend gave me. Her apple pies are delicious and also very healthy as she worked as a dietician for years. Unfortunately, although I followed the recipe to the letter, the pie lacked sugar so came out a little bland. Next time I'll make sure it tastes better.
I'll chuck up a 'recipe corner' on this site with some recipes I've tried out for your baking pleasure.

10 of us Star Wars freaks (well some of us anyway) went to the very 1st screening of EP3 worldwide this morning at just after midnight. IMHO the movie was the best of all the Star Wars movies, with mind-blowing special effects and action that left me feeling pretty exhausted. Fortunately, it wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be, with Anakin's turn to the dark side as well as the Jedi's demise happening pretty quickly. The only 2 reservations I have about the movie are firstly that Anakin's fall to the dark side wasn't believable enough as after he stopped Mace Windu killing Chancellor Palpatine and Palpatine's subsequently offed Windu, Anakin immediately pledged himself to Palpatine and henceforth started eliminating his former Jedi friends. Seemed a bit unrealistic. And secondly, that there wasn't much of the Wookies in the movie - I was hoping for a bit more action on Kashykk.
Just a couple of asides: the Clone Wars Parts 1 & 2 animated series is a must-see for Star Wars die-hard fans and also check out this fan film (it's set between EP3 & EP4).

Miho and myself watched a Chinese movie tonight called Together (in English anyway ;-) It was a really nice movie about a really talented young musician who with his father moves to Beijing to find 'fame and fortune'. It's a 'feel good' movie as it emphasises that family is more important than success. This movie follows on the heels of another movie we saw at our Chinese course at CPIT last Monday - The Road Home. This was another feel good movie, which highlighted the gulf between modern Chinese and older 'pre-Communist' Chinese and a sons learning to understand his parents.