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  • Spain Madrid
  • REPORTERSusumu Yamada

It’s been almost 37 years since I received a residence permit and work permit from the Spanish government and paid my first tax and social insurance premiums. Now that I’m at that age where I will soon go and register at the senior human resources center, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to introduce you all to this country that has taken care of me these many years.

  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.11.29
  • Dog Person or Cat Person?
  • The Prado Museum, which began in 1819 with the opening of a public exhibition of 311 paintings previously owned by the royal family, has now become a comprehensive museum with a total of more than 35,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, jewelry, photographs, and furniture.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.10.18
  • Spaniards in Paris
  • Beginning in the height of summer, and with an intervening break of about 2 weeks, the Paris Games ended with the Paralympics closing ceremony on September 8, when the fall winds started to blow.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.09.05
  • The World’s Oldest Wine
  • Wine that is said to be the oldest in the world has been discovered in Spain. It was unearthed in the city of Carmona, in the province of Seville, Andalusia. When residents of a home in Carmona began digging with an excavator to build a pool in the courtyard of their home in 2019, they unearthed an ancient Roman crypt, estimated to be from the first half of the 1st century AD.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.07.30
  • A Global Standard
  • Partly due to the historically weak yen, overseas sightseers have been crowding out all corners of Japan, driving the phenomenon of overtourism.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.03.14
  • Calçotada
  • In a nutshell, a “calçotada” is a long green onion barbecue. While it might be a characteristic feature of winter in Catalonia, the autonomous community located in the northwest of Spain, it originated in the municipality of Valls, in the province of Tarragona next to the province of Barcelona, and the orthodox version uses “Calçots de Valls” (“Calçots onions from Valls”), which are a specialty of that city.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2024.02.26
  • A Sweet Commemorating Japanese-Spanish Friendship
  • The place you could call Japan’s “navel” is the zero-kilometer marker on Nihombashi (“Japan Bridge”) in Tokyo. Spain’s zero-kilometer plaque is embedded in the Puerta del Sol (“Gate of the Sun”), in the very center of the capital Madrid.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.12.12
  • The Back of the Prado
  • The Museo del Prado (Prado Museum) is currently holding an unusual sort of exhibition called “Reversos” (“On the Reverse”). Paintings are 2-dimensional artworks, so it is their fate to have their reverse sides face the wall, and unless it is a work with some especially elaborate device on its reverse side, there is no way of exhibiting the work that would allow appreciation of both the front and the reverse sides.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.12.01
  • Hake Recipes
  • My last article was about hake, the fish that Spaniards eat the most. So, how do you cook it? As you might expect, I searched for hake recipe rankings online, but I didn’t find any, so although this is very much my own impression, I would say that Spaniards probably like “Merluza a la Romana” (“Hake a la Romana”) most of all.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.11.10
  • Merluza (Hake)
  • Figure 1 shows the rankings of the fishes consumed by Spanish households in 2022, as released a few weeks ago by statistics company Statista on October 4. Leading second-ranking salmon by a long margin is hake.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.09.28
  • El Greco and Cubism
  • You’re probably thinking “What does El Greco have to do with Cubism?” right? So, what is the connection between the Greek man who mainly painted religious works in Spain’s ancient capital Toledo, a forerunner to the masters of the so-called Golden Age of Spanish painting like Velázquez and Zurbarán, and the new art movement that emerged in Paris at the start of the 20th century?
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.09.14
  • The Madrid Bear
  • I have already written in this blog about Spain’s unofficial national animal, “el toro,” (the bull), so this article is about the bear, the official animal of Madrid, where I live.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.06.15
  • A Winery Tour
  • In my last article I wrote about the Osborne winery in Andalusia, where they converted one of their cellars into a museum space in 2016 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Osborne bull billboards.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.05.30
  • Spain’s National Animal
  • We often hear of national birds and national flowers, but we’re probably not familiar with the term “national animal,” meaning the animal that stands for a country. Be that as it may, most countries have representative animals recognized by a majority of a country’s citizens, either officially or unofficially.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.05.01
  • Staple Foods
  • One of the questions fellow Japanese visitors to Spain often ask me is “What is the staple food in Spain?” It is simpler to reply, “Bread!” but actually the explanation more grounded in reality is probably that bread feels more like a supplement to the main dish, that it is a side dish to make it easier to eat the main items, including meats, fish, vegetables, beans, and so on.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.03.27
  • Carrot Salad or Overnight Pickle?
  • The pronunciation of “aliñar” is “ah-lee-nya-r.” It is a word commonly used in cooking and would roughly mean “to season” or “to dress.” I wrote in my article to do with Christmas at the end of last year, “Speaking of simplicity, it is rare in Spain to have pre-prepared dressings for your salad.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.03.13
  • Mask Mandate Lifted
  • In October last year I wrote, “A decree mandating mask-wearing indoors and outdoors came into force in Spain on the last day of March last year (2021), but it was revised in April this year (2022), and the obligation to wear a mask was lifted except for public transport, medical facilities, and aged care facilities.”
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2023.01.31
  • ARATA ISOZAKI: Palau Sant Jordi
  • Arata Isozaki, world-renowned architect and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is also referred to as the Nobel Prize in architecture, passed away at the end of last year at his home in Okinawa, Japan. I respectfully offer my deepest sympathies for his passing.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.12.09
  • Al Dente
  • When I started my life in Madrid as a student about half a century ago, I used to walk every day to and from my downtown lodgings to the university where I was enrolled, a one-way trip of 6 km, with the intention of exploring the city while at the same time saving what little foreign currency I had brought from Japan.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.11.10
  • Twin Spikes and Twin Vaccinations
  • It has become remarkably cold again and once again this year the flu season has begun in the northern hemisphere. With the arrival of the 8th novel coronavirus wave, evil monsters BQ.1.1 Cerberus, XBB Gryphon, and the like have appeared, and the signs of simultaneous flu and COVID-19 spikes have become apparent.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.10.28
  • The Move Away from Mandating Mask-wearing
  • A decree mandating mask-wearing indoors and outdoors came into force in Spain on the last day of March last year, but it was revised in April this year, and the obligation to wear a mask was lifted except for public transport, medical facilities, and aged care facilities.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.10.18
  • State Funeral
  • The meticulously prepared funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II brought to the world the traditions and ceremonies, as well as the dignity, of the UK, thanks to the live broadcasts by the British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) with perfect staging and camerawork carefully measured down to the millimeter.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.10.04
  • Juan Sebastián de Elcano
  • Juan Sebastián de Elcano was a 16th century sailor and explorer from the Basque region of Spain whose name has been lent to a sailing training ship in the Spanish Navy in recognition of his great achievements.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.09.02
  • Tomatoes and Columbus
  • “Now Serving Hiyashi Chuka!” (“chilled Chinese noodles”), or in the Kansai region perhaps it’s “Now Serving Reimen!” * In any case, when I see these posters at Chinese restaurants (in Japan), I remember feeling the emotional moment that it’s “that time of the year again.”
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.08.23
  • Breakfast
  • There is generally a set pattern to most people’s daily eating habits, although that would exclude artists, writers and others in the so-called liberal professions, as well as first nation peoples who live by hunting. They say the ideal is a regular diet with appropriate amounts of food (eating in moderation) at set times, or 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as long as the environment permits.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.07.28
  • OTAN
  • “OTAN” is Spanish for “NATO,” the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Spain was officially approved as its 16th member state in May 1982.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.06.09
  • The “Real Cocina” and Queen Isabel II
  • The “Real Cocina” is the kitchen in the Royal Palace, Madrid. I guess it’s the equivalent of The Royal Kitchen in Buckingham Palace, London, or “Mizushidokoro” (Imperial Kitchen) in the Imperial Palace, Tokyo.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.05.19
  • Ukraine in Andalusia?
  • A village called “Ukraine” has appeared suddenly in the southwestern Autonomous Community of Andalusia, which, of all the parts of this large country, we Japanese especially think has a Spanish feel.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.04.28
  • Monday of the Waters
  • This feast day called “El Lunes de Aguas” in Spanish is celebrated in Salamanca, home to one of Europe’s oldest universities, on the Monday one week after Easter, which is April 25 this year.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.04.19
  • Taxis Without Borders
  • Yes, not “Doctors” but “Taxis.” Five taxi-driver buddies were waiting for customers at the arrival terminal at Madrid-Barajas Airport as usual, having a coffee break with some other taxi drivers when they saw on the TV coverage of the tragic situation refugees from Ukraine were in, when one of the 5 said, “Guys, there’s something we can do about this!” and sprang into action.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.04.06
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • I hope you enjoy this article which continues from my previous article concerning “ultra.” In Japanese, the Spanish “azul ultramarino” is “gunjo-iro” (navy blue) or the slightly brighter blue pigment called “ruri-iro” (lapis lazuli blue, azure).
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.03.22
  • PLUS ULTRA
  • There’s hardly anyone in Japan who hasn’t heard of Ultraman, and those who were around during the last Tokyo Olympics in 1964 certainly remember the superb gymnastics techniques called “Ultra-C” that were beyond Level C, which was at the time the most difficult. But techniques kept evolving, to Level D and then on to Levels E and F, so the term “Ultra-C” eventually became obsolete.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.03.10
  • Red Bell Peppers - Pimiento Rojo
  • I saw some red bell peppers on special at the supermarket and they looked so beautiful I just had to buy some. I think they are probably the same variety as what we call “paprika” in Japan. In Spain, paprika is the powdered spice they often use in Hungarian cooking and the like, which is called “pimentón” in Spanish and is an essential ingredient in that typical Spanish sausage, chorizo, as well as most stews.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.02.09
  • Madrid Te Acompaña
  • Or in English, Madrid Is With You. In December last year, Madrid City launched an app project for the elderly by the name of Madrid Te Acompaña (Madrid Is With You).
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.01.24
  • Lamb of God - Cordero de Dios
  • Omicron has been spreading rapidly but is not having an especially bad impact, and compared to last year’s solitary Christmas, this year-end has seen the return of all sorts of events.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2022.01.11
  • The Canary Islands
  • Spain is one of the world’s top tourism destinations and some of the places Japanese visitors like the most are the standard destinations like Madrid, Barcelona, the Basque Country (for the gourmet eating), and the exotic Andalusia region. These destinations were often featured in TV programs and in travel and gourmet magazines and attracted many tourists. I use the past tense here because of the unfortunate way things are these days. When overseas travel resumes, I hope you see some other sides to Spain.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.12.15
  • World Cheese Awards 2021
  • The International Cheese Festival was held recently in Oviedo, the capital of the Principality of Asturias (the Comunidad Autónoma de Principado de Asturias) in northern Spain, on the Bay of Biscay.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.11.22
  • Churros, Again
  • The first article I contributed was published on the Knowledge Network (KN) website on January 20, 2015. The topic of the article was churros and porras, typical foods people eat for breakfast in Spain.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.11.09
  • National Day
  • It’s not a name you hear much is it. In Spanish it’s “Día Nacional.” It refers to the most important day of the year for the country, a day worthy of commemoration, and many countries have set aside these days as national holidays.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.10.20
  • Two Mona Lisas
  • Six years ago in the spring, I wrote about an unusual art exhibition where visitors could touch the paintings with their hands.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.10.06
  • Fall Ramblings in Madrid
  • I fondly recall the moment when, around the time I started out as a professional interpreter, I froze when faced with the words, “Ten takaku uma koyuru aki,” words of greeting from a Japanese guest at a certain ceremony.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.09.21
  • The Captain Goes Down with the Ship
  • Until Japan's former Mariners Law was revised in 1970, Chapter 2, Article 12 stipulated, "In case of imminent danger to the ship, the captain shall take all necessary measures to save life, ship, and cargo, and shall not leave any ship under his command unless all passengers, mariners, and other persons on board have been removed.”
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.09.06
  • Landscape of Light
  • Now what would that be? This summer, while the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were soaking up the world’s attention, UNESCO quietly held its Extended 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee on world heritage, which everyone loves.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.08.26
  • Plaza de España (Spain Square)
  • I offer you my “Best wishes for the summer”, but the world is a big place, so in the southern hemisphere that would be “Best wishes for the winter.” I wonder if near the equator there are any kinds of greetings to do with the seasons.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.08.03
  • An Aqueduct, Suckling Pig, and Wine
  • The Roman Empire, the foundation of Western civilization, spanned not only Europe, but also the regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East to North Africa, and in its golden age ruled over a vast area of about 6.5 million square kilometers, about 1.5 times the total area of all current EU member countries.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.07.16
  • Fiesta de Fin de Curso (End of School Year Party)
  • The requirement to wear masks outdoors was lifted on June 26, the vaccination program was proceeding smoothly, the authorities were getting close to issuing Green Passports, and our plans for our first summer vacation in two years were becoming a reality, when there was an extraordinarily large outbreak of COVID-19, mainly among young people. The epicenter was Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean Sea well known as a luxury resort, and the island where the second COVID-19 case in Spain was discovered, on February 7 last year.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.07.06
  • San Esteban Monastery, Salamanca
  • When the re-extension of the state of emergency was finally lifted, I decided to take a long-awaited trip inside Spain, but it wasn't long before I discovered, on June 5, that "the Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccine has one fifth of the ability to produce neutralizing antibodies” against the Indian COVID variant, which is becoming the predominant variant nowadays. It was information that I can’t allow to pass without comment.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.06.21
  • Andalusian Deep-Fried Foods
  • Spain finally lifted its state of emergency and removed restrictions on domestic travel on May 9, more than half a year after it was declared on October 25 last year.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.06.03
  • Palacio de Liria (Liria Palace)
  • It’s already been over a year since Japanese tourists stopped visiting Madrid, but until the beginning of March last year, the main feature of the half-day tour packages offered by travel agencies in Madrid was a visit to the Prado Museum, followed by a viewing of Guernica by Picasso, which has become popular in recent years, then shopping time at a duty-free store, replete with the sense of being taken for a ride, and finally lunch with authentic Spanish paella at a local restaurant, of course.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.05.20
  • Madrid, the 2nd of May
  • There is a saying about the weather in Madrid:
    “Madrid, nueve meses de invierno y tres de infierno.”
    “Madrid: Nine months of winter and nine months of hell.”
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.04.30
  • Spring in Madrid
  • Itake my daily walk along the Madrid Río, a riverside park in the basin of the Manzanares River, which flows through central Madrid. The heavy snowfall at the beginning of the year brought a lot of trees down, the winter was harsher than usual, but with the much-anticipated arrival of spring, the trees are budding, and the flowers are blossoming, which is making my walks all the more enjoyable.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.04.15
  • The Green Pass and The Yellow Card
  • The other day on March 17, the European Commission (EC), the policy enforcement body of the European Union, released an outline of a certificate that shows your COVID-19 vaccination record.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.03.31
  • Mythological Passions - Pasiones mitológicas
  • Since my stroll in the snow earlier this year I had been staying at home, unless there was some need or urgency, but with the coming of spring, I began getting irritable, impatient, just like an insect cooped up underground wanting to emerge. I disregarded the stay-at-home restriction and went out to see the exhibition at the Prado Museum that started recently on March 2, an unnecessary and non-urgent expedition for which I cannot avoid censure.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.03.16
  • The Prospects for Recovery in Global Tourism
  • The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO the United Nations agency dedicated to the promotion and development of tourism), which has headquarters in Madrid, released its analysis of the global tourism industry in 2020 and its future prospects recently on January 28.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.02.18
  • Low Dead Space Syringes
  • In my World Network article published January 22, I informed you about the arrival and first administration of the COVID-19 vaccine in Spain. The vaccine arrived straight after Christmas, on December 26, and the first vaccination was given on Sunday, December 27.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.02.05
  • ♪ Yuki Ya Konko ♪ (“Let It Snow”)
  • The weather in Spain seems to have somehow synchronized itself with Japan, so when news of the heavy snowfalls in Japan began reaching us, such was the snowfall in Madrid that we couldn’t go on singing “Yuki Ya Konko” (the children’s song meaning “let it snow”) in relaxed tones.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2021.01.22
  • The Vaccine Arrives in Spain
  • The US pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer has been jointly developing a vaccine against COVID-19 with the German company BioNTech with the European production base at a Pfizer plant in Puurs.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.12.28
  • Playing Doctor
  • I think no matter where you are, you will be having a Christmas that is entirely different to usual. That said, this year there will again be the long-awaited present season for the children.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.11.25
  • Dry-Cured Ham Postscript
  • With the arrival of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, a declaration issued across the whole of Spain on October 25, 2020 extended the state of emergency all the way to midnight on May 9, 2021.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.10.27
  • World Tourism Day
  • With people around the world facing harsh realities in so many areas of their lives, tourism in particular has suffered a heavy blow from the determination that “it cannot be described as unnecessary but is not urgent”.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.10.14
  • New Record Price
  • In February of this year, a leg of Spanish jamón (dry-cured ham) was verified by the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive leg of ham in the world, at a price of 11,881.30 euros (1,429,000 yen).
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.08.07
  • Piriñaca
  • Starting in early spring, the COVID-19 crisis swept the world in a flash and put the brake on all kinds of events and activities, yet the seasons continue to roll on and Spain finds itself in the middle of summer.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.06.25
  • Reunited
  • As a measure to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus infection, authorities have requested that activities be suspended at facilities not deemed “necessary and urgent” for sustaining everyday life, such as places of entertainment, theaters, meeting halls and exhibition facilities, exercise and amusement facilities, and educational facilities, which probably means they deem such places to be “non-urgent, although possibly not unnecessary.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.06.09
  • Spanish Flu
  • Novel coronavirus infections show no sign of being contained, but in olden times, when the compass of human activity was somewhat limited, it might have appeared on the list of infectious diseases as an endemic disease called "Wuhan flu" or "Hubei flu." But in today’s world of well-developed transport systems, in a flash, the high volume of human traffic has spread a pathogen across the world, and we have ended up with a pandemic called COVID19.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.05.19
  • Novel Coronavirus Survival Times
  • Dr. Juan Manuel Ruíz Liso, Spain’s leading proponent of the Mediterranean diet, about whom I have written previously, has published a table compiling the characteristics of the novel coronavirus in an easy to understand format for the general public based on material from the Journal of Hospital Infection, a medical journal published in the UK.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.04.10
  • Visiting the Roots of the Valencia Orange
  • Spain is called Southern Europe and certainly it is located in the southernmost part of the European continent, but the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain sits, is in line with Japan’s Saitama Prefecture and the northernmost point is about in line with Asahikawa in Hokkaido, so when you look at the latitudes, the whole of the country is quite a way north in relation to Japan.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2020.02.07
  • Five ‘A’s
  • About 30 years ago, a project was undertaken to support the Spanish steel industry by building the most up to date steel plant using Japanese technology, with more than 30 engineers and construction workers being sent from Japan.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.10.30
  • The Exalted “Potties”
  • The Prado Museum, Spain's pride, is currently commemorating the bicentenary of its opening this year with numerous special exhibitions and related events. I’d like to tell you about a slightly unusual exhibition called Their Majesties’ Retiring Room.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.08.06
  • Prado Newsletter
  • This year marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Prado Museum with a huge range of special exhibitions and another unique, special exhibition recently opening.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.06.04
  • Spain’s Official Languages
  • Please stay with me as I follow my last post with further discussion about language. There is no mention of an official language in the Japanese constitution. It’s self-evident that Japanese is the national language universally used in every nook and cranny across the whole country, in the north and the south, in the east and the west, so there would be no need to deliberately stipulate it in law.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.05.16
  • “Standard” Spanish
  • When I saw an article by Ms. Miki, a correspondent in Dublin, Ireland, she referred to a comment by a Spanish colleague of hers to the effect of, "South American Spanish isn't standard Spanish," and that got me thinking about what "standard" Spanish is. Perhaps this "standard language", to use Japanese as an example, is the language used in educational settings, public broadcasts, official documents, and so on, and also the pronunciation and intonation that goes with it.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.05.07
  • A miraculous reunion.
  • This is the latest hot topic. Yesterday, April 7, in the Culture section of the Sunday edition of ABC, a Spanish newspaper with nationwide circulation, an article with the following headline appeared: The movie-like reunion between a Prado Museum visitor and El Escorial’s Virgin Mary that happened at the museum this week.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.03.19
  • The Mediterranean Diet and Olives
  • I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Juan Manuel Ruíz Liso, Spain’s leading proponent of the Mediterranean diet, so, following on from my last blog, I’d like to discuss again this lifestyle focusing on diet, which people have been taking up in Japan.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2019.03.05
  • The Inland Diet
  • Well, what’s that?In Spanish, it’s called the “Dieta Mediterránea”.The first word, “dieta”, translates as “diet”. In one sense of the word, it means how and what you eat.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.12.04
  • The Sea of Plastic
  • Orbiting the earth some 400 km above its surface is the International Space Station sending live images of earth to NASA, who have recently made them available free to the public, so now we are in the age when anyone can get on the internet and enjoy images in real time that previously were only available to astronauts and Martians.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.11.09
  • Spanish dry-cured ham
  • In early summer, Mikami-san, the special correspondent in Milan, talked about dry-cured Italian ham. I’m not trying to start up a rivalry here, but I did think it would be good to share some information about Spanish dry-cured ham as well.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.08.28
  • Some Homework for Mr. Manolo
  • In mid-June, at the start of the long two-and-a-half-month summer vacations, an Andalusian boy in the Japanese equivalent of 4th grade at elementary school shows his mother the summer vacation homework list that his home room teacher, Mr. Manolo, has handed out.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.08.21
  • The Ghosts are Here!
  • This year marks exactly 150 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Spain with the conclusion of the Spanish-Japanese Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation in 1868.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.06.14
  • Córdoban People’s Love of Snails
  • My last post was about Córdoban flower patio festivals. This one, that is about ‘the practical over the aesthetic,’ is about snails, a Córdoban specialty, called caracoles in Spanish.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.02.13
  • Prado Newsletter - Extra
  • Although I’m the Knowledge Capital reporter for Madrid, I’m writing this time about a topic concerning Japan. In April last year, His Highness King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Abe were present at the Akasaka Palace to exchange an agreement to hold Prado Museum exhibitions in Tokyo and Kobe.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2018.02.08
  • The Main Act is the Beans
  • The widespread impression of Spain is that because it’s in southern Europe, it’s warm. Madrid, on the contrary, experiences harsh winters because it’s located inland at altitude, so hot meals permeate both body and soul.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.11.14
  • A Sheep Parade
  • Once a year, cars are expelled from the center of Madrid and sheep take over. On Sunday, October 22 this year, sheep paraded through the city center, where 10 days previously soldiers and armed forces vehicles had paraded.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.10.31
  • Columbus Day
  • Columbus Day was celebrated around the world on October 12. As Patrizia Margherita, the Knowledge World Network Reporter based in Genoa, Italy mentioned in her article, Christopher Columbus (or “Cristoforo Colombo” in Italy, his home country) landed on an island off the coast of the American continent on October 12, 1492, which is now known as the day commemorating “Columbus’s discovery of America.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.08.30
  • Obon, Kisei, Oyabuiri – Festival of the Dead, Returning Home, Servants’ Holiday
  • Terms like these often make an appearance around this time of the year, but if you live overseas, it’s no simple matter to go back to your family home, so if you do go back after being away for some time, you start thinking six months beforehand about who you’re going to meet, when and where, as well as what you’re going to see, buy, and eat, to narrow down your itinerary.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.07.11
  • Prado Pride
  • Last year, we had reports on Gay Pride Parades from our special correspondents in Amsterdam and Berlin.This year, Madrid celebrated 40 years since holding the first pride parade in Spain in 1977, and it was in particularly extravagant style.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.03.28
  • Abdication
  • While the announcement by Japan’s Emperor of his intention to abdicate has provoked much debate, the way forward remains unclear. Three years ago in 2014, however, Spain’s King Juan Carlos I relinquished the throne after 39 years
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2017.02.14
  • Iberian Pork
  • More than a hundred years ago, an association between Portugal, Spain, and France formed in Madrid to sign an international agreement.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2016.06.07
  • The San Isidro Festival
  • In Spain, April 23rd is “La Diada de Sant Jordi” or “Saint George’s Day” – a celebration of the patron saint of Catalonia. I have already written about
  • Continue reading
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2016.03.01
  • Picasso and pigeons
  • As I was eating breakfast at a sidewalk café in the port city of Malaga in the Mediterranean, lots of pigeons came to the people at the tables to beg for bread.
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2015.12.24
  • Paella
  • Today, paella is a world famous rice dish, but a look at its origins shows it was a local dish from the Valencia region of Spain on the coast of
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  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2015.06.26
  • Man of La Mancha
  • On May 19, 2015, a production announcement for the musical Man of La Mancha was held in Osaka. Exactly ten years and one day prior to that date,
  • Continue reading
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • Spain Madrid
  • Susumu Yamada
  • 2015.04.09
  • Touching the Mona Lisa?
  • Currently, a rather peculiar mini exhibit is quietly being held at the Prado Museum.Only six pieces of art, such as that of Velazquez, Goya, El Greco,and
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