Dinner at “MIRAFLORES”

2008.06.27.Fri

It is now the middle of the rainy season in Tokyo, but today, the weather stayed clear all day after the heavy rain last night. I went to dinner with Mr. Buno and Mr. Y at a Peruvian restaurant in Sakuragaoka, Shibuya.




It was easy for us to find the restaurant, since we checked the information via Internet beforehand. The restaurant is called “Miraflores”. When we got there, it was still a little early for the dinner hour, which starts at 6pm, and the staff were still having a break. I had an impression that the restaurant was small and cozy, with tables for approximately 20 customers.




Although the furniture was very simple, the traditional Peruvian clothes with colorful stripes displayed on the ceiling and the tables attracted our attention. It was very interesting to see the differences in cultures among the Latin American countries. I have been to other Latin American restaurants such as Colombian and Brazilian, and each of them had its own characteristics and atmosphere.

We decided to order drinks first, as we always did. The waiters were very fluent in Japanese, and were willing to explain the menus in detail. Mr. Buno and Mr. Y ordered maca juice – maca is a native Peruvian plant – mixed with milk, and I ordered purple corn juice.




Mr. Buno told us that maca juice tasted similar to a roasted soybean drink. We also had maracuya juice and Peru Cola.




None of us had alcoholic drinks, but the alcohols on the menu were mostly from Chile. We had the following 3 dishes as starters:

Cebiche Mixto (marinated seafood)




Anticucho de Corazon (skewered beef heart)




and Sopa de Andean (yellow potato soup).




Cebiche Mixto is a refreshing appetizer with chopped seafood such as fish, octopus and squid, and slices of onion marinated in lemon. Anticucho de Corazon looked similar to Japanese yakitori, skewered grilled chicken, but tasted very different with its ketchup-based spicy sauce. Sopa de Andean was good, too.

We also had Chicharon de Camarones (Peruvian fried shrimps) and Arroz con Mariscos (Peruvian seafood rice). Both were both very tasty.







One of the waiters told us that the dishes we had today were all traditional Peruvian cuisine. We complimented today’s dinners by saying that they were neither too spicy nor too oily, and many Japanese would like the taste.

For desserts, we had Mousse de Cherimoya (mousse made with a Latin American fruit), Arroz con Leche (sweet rice dessert), and Mazamorra Morada (purple corn pudding). To finish the meal, we ordered Andean Tea and Agaricus Tea.




We noticed that the background music in Miraflores was probably of the Peruvian flute quena, as Mr. Antonio told us earlier.

Peru is considered to have the finest reputation for its cuisine among South American countries. Vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes and chilies are native to the Andes where the climate is perfect for these crops to grow. In addition, various different cultures flowing into Peru from Spain, Italy, Africa, and even China during the Spanish colonial times has also affected Peruvian cuisine in a good way. The marriage of well-grown crops and the influence of different cultures is indeed the origin of the finest food culture in Peru.

Miraflores is, by the way, the Peruvian Embassy’s favorite restaurant. The tables became full two hours after opening.

Kei

December 23, 2006 Merry Christmas

2008.06.24.Tue

Christmas is already just around the corner.

I found that this year, just like any other year, time has passed so quickly. However, the year 2006 has been such an unforgettable year for me, since I could introduce the world of Mr. Osvaldo Rios to people around the globe via the internet. I have personally been a big fan of Mr. Rios for almost 10 years, and it is my greatest pleasure to share my interest with other fans through the website. This website means so much to me. I truly appreciate all of you for encouraging me with warm-hearted comments. You kept me motivated and gave me energy to keep going. Thank you very much!

I promise I will try even harder to make the website more entertaining and fulfilling in the year 2007.

Here are season’s greetings from me, Latin style…

¡¡¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo!!!

Osvald Ríos Biography

2008.06.18.Wed

The following biography is an extract from the document in the possession of Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular. We officially applied and have permission for this article.


Osvald Ríos - Actor
Date of Birth: October 25, 1960
Place of Birth: Carolina, Puerto Rico

Osvald Ríos started his career in show business as a musician, being a member of bands such as “Los Cantores de San Juan”, “Son Brinqueño, Colindancias.” He then returned to a university education to study psychology, and worked as a psychologist for several years after his graduation.

As a psychologist, Ríos worked for adolescents who needed personal counseling and educational guidance, and carried out therapy workshops. However, he couldn’t give up his dream to be an actor -- the career he’d had dreamed before he entered the university. He decided to leave his job as a psychologist in order to realize his dream to become one of the most talented actors in Puerto Rico.

After having a sensational breakthrough in modeling, Ríos played a leading role in “En aquella playa”, a short drama based on Corín Tellado’s romantic novel and directed by Gabriel Suau. The co-starring actors include a Venezuelan Ruddy González, Roberto Lugo, Cathy Franco and Pablo Alarcón.

As a result of starring several TV programs, Ríos started to receive more and more offers including a leading role in “M.A.C.H.O.S.” His performance in “M.A.C.H.O.S.” was recognized widely and Ríos was presented with the Agüeybana Award for Best New Actor.

He then accepted an offer to play Smmity, the leading role in “Los confinados.” This drama, produced by Candilejas and directed by Andrés Quiñones, criticized collapsed prison management under which criminals were brought down completely and not able to straighten themselves out.

A few months after performing in “Los confinados”, Ríos accepted an offer from Angela Meyer, a producer as well as an actress, to perform in a telenovela called “Natalia.” In this soap opera, he played a role called Juan who was so deeply traumatized that could not talk.

During the shooting of “Natalia”, Ríos also started his new career as a professional singer in a musical “Guys and Dolls.” He played Sky Masterson, a leading role in this musical. Other casts included Awilda Carbia, Cristina Arzuaga, Iván Rodríguez, and the director was Nick Davies.

Starring with Luisa de los Ríos, Osvald Ríos also performed in the theater version of “María”, written by Jorge Isaacs. This was produced by Aliciente Teatral and performed at Puerto Rico University Theater. In addition, Ríos co-starred with Carlos Augusto Cestero and Carmen Dominicci in short drama series called “Los Robles.”

In the early 1990s, Ríos made a great step forward to an international actor. He starred in a very popular short drama called “En aquella playa”, broadcast on Radio Caracas TV network. Ríos’s performance in this drama was recognized by a telenovela director Grazio D’Angelo and a writer Delia Fiallo, and they offered Ríos a leading role in a telenovela “Kassandra.”

“Kassandra” was produced by Coral Pictures de Miami, Radio Caracas TV in Venezuela and a Spanish production company. It was an ambitious project and came to be broadcast in a number of countries worldwide, which eventually led “Kassandra” to become a Guinness world record as the most translated telenovela.

In “Kassandra”, Ríos played twin brothers who loved the same woman. Apart from playing the leading role, Ríos also sang the theme song which was composed by Osvald Ríos himself and produced by Ríos’s personal manager Alejandro Montalbán.

Ríos became very popular in Venezuela, and his performance and TV appearance were highly appreciated among Venezuelan critics. He made an appearance as a singer in Chicas 2001, one of the biggest events in Venezuela, and the audience was most excited about his performance.

With his great success worldwide, Osvald Ríos received the best international acting award. He accepted another offer to play a leading role in a Colombian telenovela “La viuda de blanco”, starring with Yolandita Monge, a popular Puerto Rican singer. Ríos and Monge also sang the theme song together.

The title of the theme song is “Alicia, cuando en uno somos dos – Alicia, when the two of us become one”, and it was written by Ríos. In addition, the soundtrack of “La viuda de blanco” includes Ríos’s seven singles and Yolandita Monge’s six singles. The telenovela was broadcast in many countries such as Spain, Turkey, Indonesia and Taiwan.

In 1995, Osvaldo Ríos starred in “Entre dos amores” with Isabel Pantoja. This short drama was produced by Antena 3 and broadcast in Europe as well as Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, where people at all age loved to watch the drama.

After almost a decade of spending in foreign countries, Ríos came back to Puerto Rico where he performed in short dramas such as “Los hijos de nadie” and “Una pasión en el espejo.” He also starred in “Después del adios”, TV series produced by Elia Enid Cadilla and co-starred with Alba Nydia Díaz. In the meantime, Ríos performed in a musical for children called “La bella y la bestia.”

Into the 21st century, Ríos successfully performed in “Pecado mortal”, a telenovela produced by Televisa, and co-starred with famous artists including Arnaldo André, Victoria Rufo, Fernando Colunga, Leticia Calderón and César Evora. This soap opera was shot in Mexico City and Chiapas.

After finishing his contract in Mexico, Ríos accepted a new offer in Columbia to play a leading role in another telenovela called “Rauzán.” It was produced by R.T.I. production and co-starred with Susana Torres and María Elena Döering. “Rauzán” was written by Julio Jiménez who wrote “La viuda de blanco” as well.

As a businessman, Osvald Ríos and Papo Coss established Riverside Entertainment in the middle of 1990s. Ríos worked energetically to introduce dramas and movies, “Después del adios” and “Abdiel Colberg”, for example, to the entertainment market around the world.

Afterword to Rauzan

2008.06.13.Fri

I’ve written earlier that the story of Rauzan is set about 100 years ago, but it is in fact set at the end of the eighteenth century. In the story, the only way to communicate with each other is via an odd informer called Paquito who visits people to collect and provide information. I found that people in the story hardly read newspapers.

I wonder how people back then passed news to relatives and friends who lived far away. Perhaps they went on horseback to do so. I realized that, in Rauzan, the judge, the police chief and the prosecutor are played by the same actor. Whenever criminals were publicly executed, crowds of people gathered and their curiosity got the best of them, rather than fear. They never left the venue while the execution was carried out.

Asnoralda killed her husband, and she even tried to kill her own child, Hyfitt. She also made Lais poison Sebastian in addition to making her boyfriend kill Enrico. Luckily, Sebastian survived, but even so, Asnoralda was such a cold-blooded woman. By the way, you may wonder what happened to Soledad’s husband, Alcides. He abandoned himself and died a beggar after he killed Soledad’s father.

It had been such a tragedy for Sebastian, Soledad and Oheania since Sebastian was mistakingly believed to be dead. However, they found happiness in the end, and lived happily ever after.

Thank you for reading through the plot of Rauzan. I appreciate your patience and apologize for my poor writing.

Untitled

As you may already know, Mr. Rios is in the middle of shooting “The Zorro: The Sword and the Rose (El Zorro: La Espada y La Rosa)” in Colombia. I went to an audio shop and bought DVDs of “Alain Delon in Zorro” and “The Mask of Zorro” starring Antonio Banderas with Anthony Hopkins.

Although “Alain Delon in Zorro” was produced over 30 years ago, it is still considered a masterpiece, and is especially famous for the battle scene in the last 15 minutes of the movie, which remains as one of the best climax scenes in movie history. The original story of the movie is “The Mark of Zorro”, which used to be the international bestseller, written by Johnston McCulley.

The story of “The Mask of Zorro” is quite different from the one of “Alain Delon in Zorro”. However, Mr. Rios’s role in “The Zorro: The Sword and the Rose” is the same role Anthony Hopkins played in “The Mask of Zorro”. The executive producer of “The Mask of Zorro” is Steven Spielberg. Although Mr. Rios and Mr. Hopkins play the same role (an ex-masked swordsman who tries to train his successor) details and interpretation of the role might be very different from each other.

Commonalities between the two movies are the heart-throbbing actions of the hero Zorro--a swordsman in a black mask, black sombrero and black cape who rescues people suffering under tyranny. I enjoy watching these two movies very much, and I suppose that these are particularly recommendable for men who love to watch exhilarating swordfighting.

“The Zorro: The Sword and the Rose” will be broadcast next year on Telemundo, and I truly hope that it will be broadcast in Japan, too. Could you please let me know if anyone has more information about this? Thank you!

Republic of Columbia

2007.01.21.Sun

I believe all of you know that Mr. Osvaldo is shooting the TV drama (telenovela) “Zorro: The Sword and the Rose (Zorro: La espada y la rosa)” in Columbia in Latin America. In Columbia, masterpieces such as “La Viuda de Blanco” and “Rauzan” were made, and this new one must be a big hit again.

By the way, do you know what kind of county Columbia is? I assume you know a few good things about this country, in addition to much bad news such as guerrillas and drugs reported in Japan. I visited the Columbian Embassy in Japan the other day.

The officer I met was very nice and listened to me well, and supplied me good reference materials. I learned a lot about this country from these materials. It says, “Columbia is the entrance to North and South America. It is the center of the path connecting West and East. It has coasts facing both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans”.

The land area is 2,070,408 square kilometers (about 3.1 times that of Japan). The population is 43.03 million, and the average age of the citizens is 25. It attained independence from colonial status in 1819, and its political system is a parliamentary democracy and with a presidential government. The public language is Spanish, and the weather is tropical without four seasons, but it slightly changes according to the altitude, and the temperature generally decreases 6 degrees as the altitude increases by 1,000 meters.

The currency is the Columbian Peso, the national bird is the condor, and the national flower is the orchid (cattleya).

Regional specialties include, first of all, emeralds. They are of very high quality, and were used for the crown of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and necklace of Elizabeth Taylor. Japan is the second largest importer after the US. Next is coffee. It is known as the mildest coffee in the world, and again, Japan is the second largest importer after the US.

It is not known when coffee was brought to Japan, but we know that Dutch food importers in Dejima, Nagasaki imported coffee to Japan in 1690. Japan’s first coffee house the “Kohii Sakan” opened in Ueno, Tokyo in 1888.

Music: It said that Columbians love music and sing loudly. Shakira and Juanes are popular worldwide.
Flowers: It has been only 35 years since Columbia started the flower business, and it has become the second largest fresh flower exporter in the world and established an international position. The main flower imported in Japan is the carnation.

Last year, 73% of Japan’s imported carnations came from Colombia. Colombian carnations are well known for color variations and long life. In addition, there are many beautiful women, young Montoya is performing well in Formula one racing, Gabriel García Márquez, who received the Novel Prize in literature, sold 30 million copies of his book “One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Años De Soledad)”, and many other famous people have come from Columbia, but I must stop here as the list is endless.

As noted above, Columbia is a beautiful country. It is a land of hope, just like a green emerald. The TV drama (telenovela) made me feel intimate with this country. I wish happiness for Columbia.

Kei