Mt.Fuji, a hawk and an eggplant

Eat Ohmu of "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind"

2009-07-12T23:49:00.004+09:00

Wow, incredible !

See here how to cook "Ohmu rice" ;)
# It's in Japanese but you can find a lot of pictures.

It's a kind of joke that the pronouce of "Ohmu rice" is quite similier with "Omu rice"(the japanese famous dish).

Snow

2008-02-03T15:58:00.000+09:00

Today, It's snow in Tokyo.
It's cold but beautiful. I like it.

Cowboy Bebop

2008-01-19T11:47:00.000+09:00

I didn't know this animation. But the opening is cool.

The live version is really cool. Especially, the sax player is awesome.

Chinzan-so (Four Seasons Hotel at Chinzanso Tokyo)

2008-01-06T00:28:00.000+09:00

Chinzan-so is a famous garden in Tokyo and it's a part of Four Seasons Hotel now.

Today was so fine and the garden was beautiful. People recommand to come there in spring/summer/autumn because of the plants are so beautiful, but I thought winter was also good season to walk.

(click the pictures to show larger one)

From the hotel view. You can find an old style garden in the modern buildings.

A small gate.

Chinzan(椿山) means the mount of camellia. So there is a lot of camellia, and some camellias were in bloom.

Other pictures are available on Flickr.com. Check it out!

A New digital camera

2008-01-02T01:36:00.000+09:00

I bought a new degital camera "Ricoh Caplio R7".
It is really nice camera and I found taking picture is really fun.

So I've started to store my pictures on Flickr.com.
I hope someone enjoy it!

I think "Ricoh Caplio R7" is one of the coolest digital camera now.

Just Married!

2007-12-30T01:47:00.000+09:00

December 28th, I and my girlfriend are married! Wow!

The Bottom Biting Bug (Oshiri Kajiri Mushi)

2007-12-25T23:32:00.000+09:00

I went to my girlfriend house yesterday to enjoy christmas with her family.
The two young girls danced with singing "Oshiri kajiri mushi". It' so funny and cute!.

I found the song with English subtitle on youtube. Enjoy! ;)

Mt.Fuji From Tokyo

2007-12-24T22:20:00.000+09:00

Today was beautiful day, and we could look Mt.Fuji with the setting sun.

[food] Irimoya at Ikebukuro

2007-12-24T11:56:00.000+09:00

Today I and my family, and my girl friend and her family had a dinner.
It was one of the greatest day in my life ;).

Irimoya is a kind of Kaiseki restrant.
It's not so expensive, but the people are kind and the dishes are so beautiful/delicious. I loved it.

The two pictures "Zensai", "Sashimi" are parts of the dinner of ten courses.

Asiajin launches

2007-12-14T01:59:00.000+09:00

Asiajin is the brand new news site which introduce Japanese IT services.

I agree we Japanese have lots of good services which have been not known by non-Japanese people and it's valuable to introduce them to non-Japanese people.

Visualization of the Game musics - is Art!

2007-12-08T10:48:00.000+09:00

Someone noticed the MIDI Data of some games have hidden art.
Do you understand what is happend in this movie?

If no, go MAM MIDI player for more details.

The cat roses on its hind legs

2007-12-04T22:46:00.000+09:00

Cute ;)

Stop Go Tokyo

2007-12-03T00:02:00.000+09:00

I found a cool video on youtube.

Then, I found another movie "I Love New Tokyo".
Both of 2 movies are posted by same person "MylesInLondon".

Do you think to want to go Tokyo or not?

Usavich Episode01

2007-11-19T23:49:00.000+09:00

A short animation movie. U-Sa-Bi-tti is the story of Russian Rabbits.

They are now in the prision ... , Cool! ;)

If you would like try other stories, go here.

Ski Jumping pair

2007-11-19T01:26:00.000+09:00

Ahahaha, funny.

Neko-Nabe ( Cats in Japanese pots)

2007-11-13T02:17:00.000+09:00

Ahaha, they're so cute!

Don't worry we don't eat cats ;).

The 40th Tokyo Moter Show 2007

2007-10-31T23:49:00.000+09:00

Tokyo Moter Show 2007 has been started since last weekend.

The biggest news for me was the new GT-R is back!
GT-R was called Skyline GT-R in Japan and all guys loved the car when I was child because it's fastest and coolest.
After 21th century, Nissan stoped to develop GT-R because of their business.
But now CARLOS GHOSN BICHARA(CEO of Nissan) decided to reborn GT-R and it's back as the "Monster". Actually, it's faster than Porshe 911!

I found some informations in English at GTR Owner's Club.

UNIQLOCK

2007-10-16T01:37:00.000+09:00

http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/

What a cool clock, it is! Please look for a while. The scene will be changed.

You can add it to your blog. Click the left side of the clock. You can find some menus and go the blog parts page.

UNIQRO is the famous shop of clothes in Japan.

[culture] Taro Okamoto musium of Art

2007-09-23T22:42:00.000+09:00

Today, we went to Taro Okamoto musium of Art.
Taro Okamoto is one of the most famous artist in Japan.

I like his works because they are cute.

I think his most famous work is "Tower of the sun".
In Naoki Urasawa's "20th Century Boys", this tower is used as the symbol of 1970s.

[misc] AIR GUITAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007

2007-09-16T22:46:00.000+09:00

Ochi Dainoji Yosuke is a Japanese comedian.
He wasn't famous until he became the championship last year.

He became the champion again. Does he look funny?

[culture] Kazuo Oga Exhibition

2007-09-08T23:07:00.000+09:00

We went to Kazuo Oga Exhibition today. Kazuo Oga is the background artist on Ghibli movies.

We needed to wait 100 minutes to enter the room. I was so tired before watching the pictures :-<.

The picutures were really great. I remembered a lot of scene of the movies, Totoro, Kiki, Omoide Poro-Poro, Princes Mononoke, Hawl, Spirited Away, and some old animes ....

At last, we did Totoro Origami. How about them?

=>

iPod!

2007-08-26T00:15:00.000+09:00

Do you know "iPod" ? OK, I know all of you know the music player.

Recentrly, a VIPPER(2channel user) noticed "iPod!" rotates 180 degrees becomes "iPod!". Wow!

[CD] Guilty Pleasures / ALLISTER (2006)

2007-08-25T12:14:00.000+09:00

This album is a cover album of Japanese songs by Allister.

The choice of Japanese songs are good and Tim(vo)'s pronounce is very well.

1. Intro: JR(Japan rails)'s starting bell(may be Yamanote line).
2. Spitz - Cherry: My best. Really good pop punk song.
3. Mr.Big - To be with you: In Japan this song is well known. Paul Gilbert's wife is Japanese and he lived in Japan once... just an aside
6. Naotaro Moriyama - Sakura: Good. Original song is a ballad and I like it. But this pop punk arrange version is also good.

BTW, I found a A funny video "ALLiSTER's Japanese advert" on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34L_LoQLhC0

[culture] Hitori de dekirumon (dance)

2007-08-12T23:37:00.000+09:00

This video is a Japanese TV program. It's a kind of a dance competition.
I'm a fan of "Hitori de dekirumon(means he can do it by himself)".
So I took up his dance here.

I think "Hitori de dekirumon" is not only a good dancer but also a good entertainer. Especially, the music which he remixed for his dance are really match with his dance. So we can enjoy his dance unless knowledge of the dance techniques.

The 8 years child Tatsuki is his student. He is so cute, isn't he?
This was the first stage "Hitori de dekirumon" didn't dance alone. So they surprised when the child comes on the stage first.

You can find some other dances of "Hitori de dekirumon" on the youtube.com. Check it out!

World Cosplay Summit 2007

2007-08-05T16:41:00.000+09:00

http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/e/index.html

OMG!

[CD] Sora ha marude / monkey majik

2007-07-29T15:53:00.000+09:00

"monkey majik" is now the one of my favorite artists in Japan.
They sing the songs in both of Japanese and English.
I believe their English pronunciation is perfect (Sometimes, Japanese musicians can't pronounce English well in their songs :-|).
Why do I think so? Because the two vocalists are Canadians :). You can see their profile on Wikipedia.
It's very rare thing that the musician from foreign country start their work in Japan and make a success.

"Monkey Magic" was the theme song title for a tv program(drama) "Sai-yu-ki"(1978 wow, how old!) by Godiego.
Though I don't know they are inspired from the song title, it is the one of the reason that they can get to sing the theme song of the renewal version of "Sai-yu-ki".

"Sora ha marude" is the newest album by Monkey Majik.
The title song "Sora ha marude" is very beautiful song.

You can listen the parts of the songs. Check it out!

01. Sora ha marude
02.NO SNOW IN DECEMBER
03.Kouchou
04. Picture Perfect
05. Sotugyo soshite mirai he
06. Change
07. Futari
08. LONG SHOT PENNY
09. Pretty People
10. Negai
11.Smile
12.MAYBE
13.I MISS YOU
14.Around The World + Go! Sora (The theme song of Saikyuki(renewal ver.))
15.Gandhara(cover song of Godiego)

Their official site is here. (Japanese)

BTW, Godiego is also the one of my favorite artists in Japan.
Their "Monkey Magic" is available on youtube.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s3ezU8c28o

Ichiro ! Ichiro ! Ichirooooo!

2007-07-11T22:33:00.000+09:00

Ichiro won MVP of MLB All Star Game 2007 !

He's really great!

2007-06-29T22:47:00.000+09:00

At June 27, 28, we made an overnight trip to go Hakone Sengokuhara.
Hakone is one of the most famous Onsen place in Japan and it's
not so far from Tokyo(approximate 2 hours by a car). So I often
visit there in a day. But in this time we made an overnight trip.

The Ryokan(Japanese old style Hotel) was Senkyourou(仙郷楼).
It was very silent place, beautiful views, delicious food and
have a good Onsen. I would like to appreciate Senkyourou, because
it was really good night.

She wears a Yukata (a kind of nightclothes but you can walk outside, have dinners).
Usually you can rent Yukata free at Ryokan.

[culture] Zojouji in Shiba Park

2007-05-24T01:01:00.000+09:00

The last Sunday, it was beautiful day, so we went to Zojouji in Shiba Kouen(Shiba Park) which is located the center of Tokyo, near from Roppongi.
It's a quiet place. If you're tired to live in the noise, I recommand to visit this place.

You can also find Tokyo Tower behind Zojouji.

Tofuya soul

2007-02-26T00:05:00.000+09:00

Delicious!

[movie] Tekkon-Kinkreet

2007-01-04T10:59:00.000+09:00

After hatsumode, we watched an animation movie "Tekkon-Kinkreet".
"Tekkon-Kinkreet" was one of the my favorite Manga written by Taiyo Matsumoto. His picture is unique and feel nostalgic and the story line is good.

I surprised the movie was directed by Michael Arias ... and the screenplay was Anthony Weintraub ... both of non-Japanese. But they succeeded to represent Taiyo world(old and not clean Japanese town) well. I would like to appreciate their interest in the Japanese culture and their great works.

Here is the information site of Tekkon-Kinkreet in English.

[culture] Happy new year!

2007-01-04T10:40:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, we went to Musashino-Hachimangu which is a shrine at Kichijouji, Tokyo for Hatsumode.

We chose a small shrine because we don't prefer to line up in front of the shrine. But unfortunately, there were a lot of people and we needed to wait for about 30 minutes until to reach to the alter.

[spot] Merry Chirstmas from Shibuya in Tokyo, Japan!

2006-12-25T08:39:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas!

[culture] old and new

2006-12-23T02:20:00.000+09:00

I found a nice picture on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciro/1758435/

Traditional and Modern, Classic and Pop,
sometimes we can watch this kind of scene in Japan.
Which do you prefer ? Me ? of course, I love and enjoy all styles.

[tv] Sex machine / Air vocal ?

2006-12-08T23:45:00.000+09:00

This is an Japanese TV comedy show. Really funny ;).

Note that they don't understand English ;).

[tech] A cute girl with Wii boxinig

2006-11-30T08:16:00.000+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wczw4PlKuE

Hahaha. I and my girl friend want to have Wii seriously to watch this movie ;).

[tech] Wii for All

2006-11-19T21:15:00.000+09:00

The video is an commercial for Nintendo Wii in U.S..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5cPVP_llfo

The background music is the song of Yoshida brothers.
They play Shamisens which is one of the Japanese traditional stringed instrument.

Recently, I watched both of Wii and PS3.
Wii seems nice. Especially the controller is unique.
PS3 is expensive, but the movie was so beautiful.

Which game console do you like ?

P.S.
A month ago, I presented Nintendo DS Lite to my mother a birthday, because her requested.
She wanted to play "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!".
She said she wanted to train her brain.... because she is 60 years old :-).
I thought it's great thing that every generation people are interested in a game console.

[spot] Omotesando Hills

2006-11-03T21:08:00.000+09:00

Today, I went to Omotesando Hills.
Omotesando Hills is one of the newest shopping malls in Tokyo.
There are lots of shops/restaurants. But ... everything was expensive.
If you are rich, you may enjoy the shopping ;).

The building is very beautiful. A long slope continued the upper/lower floor.
So we can go next floor unless getting on escalators/elevators.

[food] Sukiyaki

2006-10-30T00:47:00.000+09:00

Sukiyaki is the one of the popular hot pot in Japan.
It's similar with Shabu Shabu but the soup is quit different from Shabu Shabu.

BTW, do you know "Sukiyaki song" by Kyu Sakamoto.
It's a very famous song in Japan. And it's released whole world.
It's very old but I like it ... especially the lylic is good.

[tech] Na na na na ... Katamari Damacy!

2006-09-30T14:12:00.000+09:00

Now, this music is heavy rotated in my brain. I can't stop it by my self :-<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y26CpWPI2K0

BTW, the mountain in the video is Mt.Fuji ;).

[tv] Japanese Prankster

2006-09-14T00:22:00.000+09:00

Ahaha, it's nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYeeFFnAc_s

He is a famous magician in Japan.

[culture] Taiko and Mikoshi

2006-09-10T00:54:00.000+09:00

Today, there was a small Matsuri(a kind of festivals) in my town. We often have Matsuris in this season.

Taiko players beat Matsuri rhythms, and people marched with the Mikoshi on their shoulders.

Playing Taikos (two players beat a big Taiko)

Marching with a Mikoshi.

[food] Shabu-shabu

2006-09-02T15:00:00.000+09:00

Do you know "Shabu-shabu" ?
It's a kind of hot pot with thin sliced beef, very delicious ;) but expensive :-<. Yesterday, we went to "Mi-mi-u" to eat Shabu-shabu. It's so wonderful night ;).

At first, you put the vesitables into the hot-spot.

Do you notice the spoon was made with shell and carots are cut as the flower shape?

Then, put the beaf and keep it in the soup while it's boided. You can adjust it between rare and welldone as you like.

The beaf is "Shimo-huri". "Shimo-huri" means "covered with frost".
In this case, "frost" means grease (lard? suet? fat?) .
It's soft, sweet ...., realy good. the fault is it's expensive :-<.

You may think it's not good for your health. I agree with you. You shouldn't eat so many slices... if you can stop it;).

The name of the restrant is "Mi-mi-u". "Mi" means "beatiful". and "u" means "rabbit". So the rabbits are used in some dishes.

[travel] Climbing Mt.Fuji

2006-08-22T08:15:00.000+09:00

On August 17 and 18, I climbed Mt.Fuji with my girl friend. This was my second experiance to cilmb this great mountain and it was really great.

Mt.Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan and the shape is very beatiful.
Every Japanese love this mountain and almost of all Japanese think to
climb the mountain once a their lives (but there are many people who don't climb it;)).

[August 17 17:00]
We reached to Kawaguchiko 5th station by my car.
There is some free parking areas and souvenir shops. We rested in a shop and had a meal.
There are 9 stations until the summit. the 5th station is the highest station we can go by the cars.

It is 2,305 meters above. So we can overlook the clouds. It's a fine view and we call it "Un-Kai" which means "sea of clouds".

[August 17 19:00]
We started to climb. We wanted to look Goraikou(the sunrise from Mt.Fuji) on the submit. That's the reason why we climbed it at night.
At first, the mountain path was even. So we can enjoy to walk and talk. But after the 6th station, the path became steep with rocks. We can't speak any jokes anymore.
The views were great. Un-Kai became white with the moonlight. And we can look the night view of the city through the breaks in the clouds.

[August 17 23:00]
The air becomes thinner. We had an oxygen cylinder, but its' not effectively.
And it became colder. It's so cold even we wore the ski suit.
Finally, my partner suffered from mountain altitude sickness (It was about 2,900 meters above). Her hands became cold, and she felt nauseated.

We decided to stay at a hut in 7th station. Fortunately, she slept soon.
I thought we need to give up to climb anymore.

[August 18 2:00]
She woke up (I couldn't sleep well). She seemed to regain her health. I asked her to give up to climb, but she said she want to keep to climb until she become sick again.
I wanted to bring her to the summit and look Goraiko together.
So I decided to climb again.

[August 18 4:30]
We reached a hut. The sky became lighter. So we decided to wait Goraiko here.

[August 18 5:00]
Beautiful.....
I might be able to understand why our ancestors felt the existence of their god to the sun.
I took a lot of pictures Goraiko and this is the best. But the real Goraiko was more beautiful and fantastic.

[August 18 6:00]
We started to climb again. There were lots of climbers and the path became thin. We needed to keep in step with them. It was hard for her. So we need to rest soon.

[August 18 12:00]
We reached the 9 station. It's a gate of the shinto shrine. There are some small Shinto shrines on the summit and this is the first gate of the shrine.

[August 18 13:00]
We found the next and final gate! This was the entrance of summit.

[August 18 13:30]
Accomplished a mission!

She said, "The sky is beautiful. The clouds are beautiful. And I'm here. How fantastic !"

We went to the shrine to pray and buy an Omamori(a lucky charm) .
Then took pictures, bought an expensive Juice(5 times high!) and rest there.

I wanted to go Ohachi-meguri (walk around the edge of crater). But it takes one or two hours. We wanted to come back to the 5th station before night. So I gave up it.

We went near the crator. This is a picture of the crator. It's huge and deep.
We couldn't watch the bottom of crator.

This picture is the top of the summit. It is 3,776 meters above.

[August 18 14:30]
Started to climb down Mt.Fuji. The descending path is separated with ascending path. It was a gentle slope. But it was too much long.
I felt it was never ending ...

[August 18 18:00]
We came back to the 6th station. Already, there were climbers who started their climbing. They would climb 7th or 8th stations and stay the huts in an early night.

[August 18 19:00]
We came back to the 5th station, and my car. My legs don't work anymore.

[August 18 23:00]
We came home. We had the bath and sleep soon.

It's a great experiance ... though my girlfriend won't climbing Mt.Fuji anymore ;).

If you're interested in climbing Mt.Fuji, I recommand to prepare everything enough. Especially, you need to take care of your physical condition.

HANA-BI (Fireworks)

2006-08-14T00:52:00.000+09:00

Today, I watched an animation movie "Brave story" with my friend.

The picture was so beautiful. I enjoyed it.
But the story was not special ... something like role-playing game....

After the movie, we ate Sushi. It was delicious.

Then, we watched the fireworks. It was fantastic.

Fireworks is one of the symbol of summer in Japan. Because there are many firework displays in July and August.
The girls wear "Yukata" - a kind of "Kimono". They look so beautiful and pretty. I love it ;).

BTW, if you've not watched "HANA-BI" by Takeshi Kitano, check it out!
It's a very sad, but beautiful story.... one of the best movie which I watched.

Tsu-Yu finished!

2006-07-31T00:49:00.000+09:00

Summer!

Tsu-Yu was finished yesterday!

LOUIS VUITTON with Japanese Animation

2006-07-26T02:48:00.000+09:00

Louis Vuitton "Superflat Monogram" Japanese Cartoon

A beautiful video ;).

MAXIMUM THE HORMON - Koi no Megalover

2006-07-13T02:03:00.000+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtnIYhie9U

Wow, this is so cool!

It becomes from DeathMetal + JPop. The music balance is really good!

BTW, the lylic is broken Japanese, though almost Japanese aren't able to listen it as Japanese :-).

I found other songs of "Maximum The Hormone".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-069aujgvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCKQzOPW6U

It seems they are influenced by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Oh, the drummer is the girl. She's so powerful drummer!

Darth Vador

2006-07-04T01:54:00.000+09:00

Do you know Starwars ?
OK, of course you know, don't you?

Also Japanese love Starwars, and I like it too.

OK, I introduce a video and a music about Starwars for you. Check it out!

Darth Vador vs. Japanese Police
This is a kind of japanese comedy ;).

Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) Ukulele force.
RealPlayer version , Windows Player version. And original version of Imperial March on Wikipedia.
We call this "Yarukinonai Darth Vador". "Yarukinonai" means "lack the drive".

The song is played by KURICORDER. They also play "Highway star"(Deep purple).
It's so cute, too!

Beautiful sunset

2006-07-02T20:31:00.000+09:00

Today's sunset was so beautiful.

Summer will come soon!

Strong Machine 2 ver.

2006-06-24T19:05:00.000+09:00

Strong Machine 2 ver. is a 11 years old girl dancer. Her dance is so cute!
This is another version of the music video of POLYSICS - "I my me mine".

And this video continues to POLYSICS - Electric Surfin' Go Go.

She also appears the trailer of FOURTEENTH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.

BTW,
Strong Machine 1 is her father.
He dances too, but he is also the chief priest at a Buddhist temple and Karate fighter!

Ajisai

2006-06-21T02:26:00.000+09:00

Ajisai(hydrangea) is the flower which is the symbol of Tsu-yu in Japan.
I took this picture from the platform of the railway station of my hometown.
I don't like Tsu-yu, but I like this flower.

It becomes blue, purple, red, green, and white. So people say it as "rainbow flower".

BTW, Ajisai is one of the symbol of Tsu-yu.
And also snail is one the symbol of Tsu-yu.
If you find these symbols on Films/Animes/Mangas..., it means it's a June or July. Of course, Sakura means April.

Tsu-Yu the rain season

2006-06-11T18:04:00.000+09:00

It's rain season on June. We call this season "Tsu-Yu". Wikipedia mentions about it.

Everyday, it's rain, humid and little cold. I don't like this season.

We need to wait the sunshine until the end of Tsu-Yu (maybe July). Yes the end of Tsu-Yu means the summer comes here!

"How to eat Sushi" on youtube.com

2006-05-30T14:12:00.000+09:00

If you would like to learn Sushi etiquette, then check this video out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b75cl4-qRE

OK. It's joke. Don't believe that ;).

BTW, youtube.com is really great. There is a lot of funny content which I love.

"Explosion egg" on youtube.com

2006-05-20T03:12:00.000+09:00

It's a Japanese TV program. So funny!
You may not understand Japanese, but I think you enjoy it, too!

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jCMr_emz_w

Wii or PlayStation3 ?

2006-05-18T13:44:00.000+09:00

Wii is the new game console by Nintendo. And PlayStation3 is the one by Sony. Both of them will be available on this autumn.

I watched some movies of them on http://youtube.com and read some E3 reports and other articles.
And I'm very impressed by the Wii. Especially the controller seems fun.
# I'm also interested in the new Mario for DS(not Wii). Huge Mario is so cute ;).

BTW,
almost all Japanese(children as well as adults) have some game consoles.
But I dont' have one. Because I'm afraid I would not be able to do anything except playing games if I have a game console.
Actually, currently I play Sudoku on my mobile phone when I'm on buses/trains. I can't stop playing it by myself before reaching my destination. I think it's very bad thing for my life.

A two-days trip to Nikko

2006-05-04T02:16:00.000+09:00

I had a two-days trip to Nikko from April 30 to May 1.
There are famous shrines/temples and it's been the one of UNESCO world heritage site.
This is my first experiance to visit Nikko, but I've loved there soon because they have their own styles against Kyoto shirines/temples.
Expecially, Tosho-gu shrine is good. Usually, the base color(walls, pillers) of the building of shrines/temples are red. But the color of Tosho-gu shirine's color is white. It's very strange for me, but very beautiful.
And the shrines/temples have a lot of carvings. You can find them everywhere .... at gates, room in the shrines/temples and walls. Especially, I like a lot of carvings of animals. They are so cutes.

SHO-YO-EN
A small but beautiful japanese garden.

RIN-NOJI TEMPLE
Beautiful Sakuras are still available because Nikko is far north from Tokyo.

A gate enclosed by huge trees.

TOSHO-GU SHIRINE
The white walls are impressive. And animal curvings are cool.

The 3 monkeys - the one of most famous carvings in Japan.
"Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru". It means "don't see, don't speak, don't hear".
The right monkey is covering his eyes - "don't see",
The center monkey is covering his mouth - "don't speak",
The left monkey is covering his ears - "don't hear"

Sleeping cat and birds carvings.

FUTA-ARA-SAN SHRINE
This is a gate of FUTA-ARA-SAN Shrine. It's beautiful. I like it.

Zoukei Kanban for your shop

2006-04-29T14:10:00.000+09:00

If you have a shop like as a restrant and you want to attract attension, I recommand to put Zoukei Kanban(the plastic arts sign) in front of your shop.

POP Kougei is a company which produce their Zoukei Kanban.

This picture is one of their products. How huge Maguro(tuna) is! I think you can imagine it's a sign of a Sushi restrant easily ;).

Their other products are:
product1, product2, product3, product4, product5, product6, all of other products.
And also their blog reports their new products in progress. It's really interesting.

Are there anyone who try it ? ;)

P.S.
How can I say this kind of arts/sign in English ?
I couldn't find good one, so I expressed it as "the plastic arts sign" but I think it's not correct.

OTOKOMAE Tofu in English

2006-04-29T14:01:00.000+09:00

I found OTOKOMAE Tofu has been updated and English version are available now.

Check their "Products". Really cool!

If you love it, you can also download the pitctures.

Digital camera over 10 megapixel images

2006-04-26T17:36:00.000+09:00

According to Nikkei PC online, CASIO announced "EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1000" will be out at the last ten days of May.

It has 10.1 megapixel images but compact, and surprisingly, the price will be approximately 50,000 yen! (not so expensive!)

On the other hand, it requires 4.2MB/picture. Hmm, it's too large. We need to buy large memory cards - may be expensive.

BTW, when I take pictures for this blog, I use my mobile phone which has just 1 megapixel images digital camera.
It's very convenient for me but 1/10 pixel images against EX-Z1000 :-<.

Fancy erasers

2006-04-26T02:30:00.000+09:00

When I was in an elementary school, "super car" erasers were popular among boys.
We collected them and exchange our collection each other, though no one used them as erasers ;).

Now, the fancy erasers have been evolved. Yes, this picture is an eraser!
Iwako factory is a company specialized to produce fancy erasers.
I think this is one of the new category of the art. They are so cute ;).

If you're interested in it, check the anchors below:
Cake, Cake2, Cake3, Cake4, Foods, Foods2, Vegitables, Japanese sweets, Chinese foods, Milks, Instant noodles, Flogs and ducks, Animals, Dogs, Flower and cookwares, balls and toys, stationery

I don't know why ... but there are so many variations of foods :).
I'm afraid children eat these erasers.

Butler cafe

2006-04-17T19:05:00.000+09:00

"Maid cafe" has started at Akihabara and become popular and spread in Japan. There are Waitress who cosplayed maid(anime, manga style girls) ... and almost of all gests are OTAKU guys and a few tourists ... OMG!
It's hard to understand why this kind of cafe become so popular with my old-style brain, but an article of asahi.com today surprise me again. It's reported about new style cafe - "Shitsuji-Kissa(Butler cafe)".

Yes, you may imagine it easily if you understand about maid cafe once.
It's the cafe opposite version from Maid. Butlers serve dishes.
However, the gests aren't OTAKUs, but young ladies!

The article says, the cafe owner recruits men over 60 years old as a butler.
Oh, I need to wait over 20 years to work there. I hope it will become popular, too ;).

1024 mass game generator

2006-04-16T01:54:00.000+09:00

Wow, it's so cool!

"1024 Ouen-dan(a cheering party)" creates a mass game image of 32x32 students from your image file.

* Set your image file path to the text box for uploading.
* Click the button bottom of text box in Japanese.
* Wait for a moment (it takes a few seconds)
* Uploaded image will removed from server in a few minutes.
* Don't upload big file, please.

OTOKOMAE Tofu

2006-04-13T13:58:00.000+09:00

Tofu is well-known, traditional, healty food.
It comes from China in eighth century and it's been eaten for a long time.

We really love it. We eat Tofu frequently.
Nabe, Miso-soup, Hiya-yakko, ... We have a lot of menu which use Tofu.

Recently, a Japanese Tofu manufacturer grows up and succeed their new brand "OTOKOMAE Tofu". It is really good taste .... and it was a record-breaking hit.

I like the name "OTOKO-MAE". it means ... hmm difficult. It may be "good-looking guy", "realy nice guy", "the man of the men" and "true man"(this translation may be bad...). It's really funky.
And also the site is really cool. It's be a flash and the sound is good. I think you can understand what's OTOKO-MAE ;).

FT - "The most beautiful in the world" female type humanoid robot with Monroe walk

2006-04-12T12:48:00.000+09:00

According to PC Watch(Japanese), ROBO GARAGE(a venture business of Kyoto university) announce their new robot "FT".
"FT" means "Female Type", it walks like female models.

Check the movies below!
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0410/ft01.wmv
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0410/ft02.wmv
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0410/ft03.wmv

She's so cute, isn't she?

2channel - the largest BBS in Japanese

2006-04-11T13:49:00.000+09:00

2channel is the largest BBS in Japanese.
You can post there as a anonymous ... it means you can post everything what you want.
So it becomes a lawless area and there were many flame wars, announcement of suicides, slander persons, accusations, ...
Sometimes those things become serious social issues.

On the other hands, it creates new sub-culture - their own dialect, ascii arts, joke flash movies, good stories, News, ...

I intend to introduce japanese internet culture on this blog, that's why I wrote this entry. Already, we've not able to describe Japanese internet culture unless 2channel. Sometimes it will be appeared on this blog.

See Wikipedia/2channel for more details.

Today's Sakura

2006-04-06T22:10:00.000+09:00

Sakura is falling now. It will be changed from cherry brossoms to green leaves for few days.
I like this season very much because all things becomes brighter.

Origami

2006-04-05T12:26:00.000+09:00

Origami Project is the one of the new projects of Microsoft - to create "Ultra-Mobile PC".

I don't know UMPC is good or not, but I look on the project favorably because the name and concept are taken from Japanese ;).

The“Origami”project really started with a concept called “Haiku.”
I named the concept "Haiku" (with help from my wife) in the spirit of the poetry form – simply, elegant, expressive.

BTW,
Do you know Origami?
It's a japanese traditional paper folding. See Wikipedia for more details.

If you think to try Origami, I introduce Origami club. There is a lot of Origami and explanations with animtaion. You can learn it easily.

73 people drank too much at hanami and were rushed to hospitals in Tokyo

2006-04-04T01:39:00.000+09:00

According to Yomiuri news, 73 people drank too much at hanami ~~party~~parties(drinking under Sakura) and were rushed to hospitals between March 21 and April 2... only for 13days in Tokyo.

20's are 27 people, 30's are 16 and 10's are 5. 57 males, and 16 females.

And 8 people of them become acute alcoholism needed to admit to hospitals.

Hmm. Sometimes we drink too much.

Me? I can't drink alchol... I don't know it's either lucky or unlucky.

A brandnew dish

2006-04-02T23:08:00.000+09:00

I bought small dishes today.

This is one of them ... a pretty cat dish.

I think she becomes a good friend of my shouyu-sashi ;).

Everywhere Sakura!

2006-04-01T23:54:00.000+09:00

Today, I went to go Sakura watching. There are so many people who do hanami, and take pictures of Sakura ... like me ;).

There are Sakura pictures at Hikarigaoka Park.

There are lots of people do HANAMI at the park.

A road was covered Sakura.

Kanda-river and Sakura

2006-03-30T18:38:00.000+09:00

The Sakura is more beautiful than yesterday!

This picture is Sakura the side of Kanda river near from my office.

Do you know what's the article which looks like a ball of rugby football with red stripe of the right side of the river?

It's "Chochin" which is a japanese traditional lamp.

You can find one of the biggest one at Kaminarimon in Asakusa.

Sakura how beautiful!

2006-03-30T00:22:00.000+09:00

Sakura means "Cherry blossoms"[1].
It's a symbol of spring. Almost of all japanese love this flower, so sometimes people name their daughters "Sakura".
The almost of all weather reports tell us a "Sakura" front everyday in this season. We need to take care the reports because Sakura will fall soon(between one and two weeks).

Of course, I love Sakura, too. It's really beatiful. And in this season, we can find this flower anywhere ... even in the center of Tokyo.

The picture is a few Sakura in front of my office.
It's not been full blossom yet. But it will be full blossom this weekend. So I think a lot of people go HANAMI(drinking, eating under Sakura) this weekend. me? why not!?

[1] Strictly speaking, "Sakura" means "cherry" tree.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakura

Shou-yu sashi

2006-03-27T12:49:00.000+09:00

This is my "Shou-yu sashi". Shou-yu sashi is the bottle of Shou-yu(Soy sauce).

A smiling cat and the japanese text on his stomach says "I'm so happy!"

Sooooo cute, isn't it?

1 fuji 2 taka 3 nasubi

2006-03-26T03:06:00.000+09:00

Hi everyone!

This is the my first post to blogger.com.

I post here about Japanese (sub)cultures and my own life.

OK, why "Mt.Fuji, a hawk and an eggplant" ?

I get the title from a japanese old story:
"If you can watch these things in your dream at 2nd January,
you can get good luck in the year."