Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Japan, Tokyo, matsuri, festival, parade, yukata, Shinjuku, folk dance, Kagurazaka, Awa Odori, lantern on July 31, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Kagurazaka Matsuri Festival was held on July 22 to 25, 2009. Marking its 36th year, this festival is a popular summer event in the Kagurazaka area, near Shinjuku, a known destination for strolling through preserved old back streets full of nostalgic atmosphere.
During the festival, a Chinese lantern and ground cherry pod fair [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Japan, Tokyo, YouTube, matsuri, festival, parade, yukata, bands, 2009, street, maids, Ueno, floats, drummers, folk dance on July 28, 2009 | 5 Comments »
The Ueno Natsu Matsuri or Ueno Summer Festival, around Shinobazu Pond, was held on July 11 to August 2, 2009. A variety of events and stage performances are scheduled during this three-week festival, such as paper lantern floating, yukata photo session, ice sculpture presentation, potted plant fair and more.
One of the highlights of the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bottle, Canada, glacier, Japan, Tokyo, vending machine, water on July 26, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Just got this bottled water from a vending machine in Tokyo called “Icefield” from Canada (apparently, according to the label with a flag as well). Supposedly it is natural glacial water, and it tasted like … well, water!
Yup, Canada is called the Great White North so it must be very cold all year round [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cities, expensive, Japan, Mercer, New York, Osaka, survey, Tokyo on July 25, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A few weeks ago, I blogged about the Best Cities to Live based on 3 recent global surveys recently published. One of those surveys was by Mercer.
Mercer just released in 2009 worldwide cost of living survey with Tokyo replacing Moscow as the most expensive city to live for expatriates in the world, with Johannesburg as [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 30, anniversary, green, Gundam, Japan, mecca, Odaiba, park, robot, RX-78-2, Tokyo on July 23, 2009 | 11 Comments »
A life size model of the Gundam robot stands near the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, on the man-made peninsula of Odaiba.
With white limbs and a blue, yellow and red torso, the giant robot is based on the original RX-78-2 series model, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Made of fiberglass and steel, the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged dance, Darth Vader, Disney, MC Hammer, Star Wars, Storm Troopers on July 21, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Darth Vader and 4 Storm Troopers dance to MC Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This” at Disney World during Star Wars Weekends 2009. Awesome!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged drinks, festival, food, Japan, laterns, matsuri, mikoshi, Mitama, shrine, Tokyo, Yasukini on July 19, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The Mitama Matsuri (also known as the Soul Festival) was held at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo from July 13-16, 2008.
This festival is famous for its thousands of lighted lanterns.
A very large festival, it attracts a big crowd every year.
Mikoshis (portable shrines) were enthusiastically carried by the local towns people in colorful [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Coke, cola, drink, green tea, Japan, summer on July 16, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Based on a comment by Katie in my recent blog post about Pepsi Shiso, I thought I would try Green Tea Coke as well, since I like green tea ice cream – how bad can it be?
0 calorie so it is equivalent to Diet Coke. Unlike Pepsi Shiso, the color of the drink is [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Aoyama, Cartier, Chloe, designer, fashion, Japan, Prada, shopping, street, Tokyo on July 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »
After the Aoyama Gujo Odori, my wife and I walked to short distance to the Aoyama Fashion Street.
There are several very unique and interesting designer store buildings in the area. The most striking is the Prada Boutique Aoyama, with its glass structure designed by Swiss architect duo, Herzog & de Meuron in 2003.
[...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Canada, Expedia, France, hotel, Japan, survey, tourists, travel on July 12, 2009 | 9 Comments »
My last blog post was about the Best Cities to Live. But what about the people who visit these cities? A study by travel company Expedia asked 4,500 hotels worldwide to rank tourists on their behavior.
As in the past 2 years, the hoteliers worldwide named the Japanese as the world’s best tourists. They were ranked [...]
