Japanese kites & spinning tops showcase at Yayasan
By Laila Rahman

Two huge Japanese kites on display at Yayasan shopping complex. Photo: Rudolf Portillo 

Japanese Kites and Spinning Tops Exhibition, one of the Asean-Japan Exchange Year 2003 activities, begins today at the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Shopping Complex. It is open to the public until May 19. Dato Paduka Awang Hj Adanan bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Mohd Yusof, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, is going to officiate open the exhibition. The event is organised by the Embassy of Japan and Japan Foundation, with support from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and Brunei-Muara Kite Association.

Kite-flying and tops-spinning have been popular pastimes in Japan for the past 1,200 years. Today, they are probably more types of kites in Japan than in any other country in the world. Many of these are very impressive because of their sizes and colours and they can usually be seen gliding through the air during special Japanese festivals. Kites are also flown in order to ward off evil. They are often decorated with demon's faces in order to pray for the safety of the family and to insure its protection from sickness and disaster.

Tops-spinning shares this popularity with around 1,000 different kinds of tops made in Japan. The range varies from simple to elaborate and they vary in size from a tiny 0.5mm to a huge 90cm.

Depending on how they are spun, tops can be basically divided into these four categories such as twisted tops, rubbed tops, string tops and thrown tops. There are many interesting tops such as humming tops, which hum when they are spun and mischievous tops, which look like they could not be spun at all.

A representative from the Japan Embassy told the Bulletin that their kites and spinning tops were previously displayed at Penang and their next venue for the exhibition would be Kuala Lumpur.

He added that they held the similar event in 2000 and in 1993 in the country. Furthermore such exhibition would be held in every part of the world this year.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin