Japan was the first destination in US President Barack Obama’s Asian visit.  At the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, he met with the Japanese Emperor (and Empress) who he greeted with a handshake and a low bow.  Picture below courtesy of Reuters.

Also see this very short SkyNews video from YouTube (which has over 150,000 views already).

Read the story today for more details from the UK Telegraph about criticisms by right-wing websites.  There must be more important issues to discuss than this – I personally think he was just showing respect and courtesy, he also did grow up in Asia (Indonesia).

There is a lot of construction going on at Shinjuku just outside the south exit of the JR train station, where you will encounter these strange, but cheerful, looking barriers.

A closer look at one of them.

A few weeks ago, I tried the new Pepsi Azuki and the Ginger Ale KitKat.  You won’t find Pepsi Azuki in store shelves any longer, but Ginger Ale KitKat is still available.  I also found a Kinaho Ohagi KitKat (I think the last one?) at a local konbini (convenience store) which I believe was first available in early October, the start of autumn.

Pictured on the box above is a traditional Japanese sweet, which is a rice-based cake (mochi) in a ball covered with kinako powder and filled with red beans.  Kinako is also known as soybean flour, with a taste like peanut butter.  Ohagi are autumn treats made with sweet rice and azuki (red bean) paste.

There was only a slight hint of peanut butter and red bean, but I tasted mostly chocolate, like regular KitKat.  I guess my taste buds aren’t very fined tuned.  Anyway, it was sweet and I liked it, since I like both peanut butter and red bean.

If you are really interested in the many different KitKats available in Japan, read Jen Ken’s Kit Kat Blog.

This week marks my 2nd year working in Japan.  Last year, I posted my updated impressions of the working environment in this blog, as an follow-up to my initial impressions.

Today a year later, I really have nothing new to add.  I guess I am more comfortable in the working environment here, I feel like a regular salaryman.  One real disappointment is my inability to learn Japanese, my bad.

Finally, this week, I learned that my 2 year assignment to Japan has been officially extended to the end of June 2010.

Hooray, my excellent Japanese adventure continues!  So dear reader, you have to endure another 8 months or so of boring writing and pictures (I know I have a very factual writing and picture-taking style, not at all creative or entertaining – that’s my wife’s forte).

The 41st Tokyo Motor Show was held from October 24 to November 4, 2009 at the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in Chiba.

A very large convention taking 3 halls, it was very crowded, normal for any Tokyo event.  Electric vehicle (EV) green concept cars were certainly the most popular theme of the show.

Speed Racer was there, but none of the North American and European car makers showed up.  Of course, all the Japanese auto manufacturers were present.

Mitsubishi Motors featured a plug in electronic vehicle concept car called the MiEV.

Nissan had one of the largest booths on the convention floor located in the East Hall beside Mitsubishi Motors.

With its Zero Emission theme, Nissan led the way in its electric vehicle (EV) concept cars.  The Leaf is a pure electric vehicle powered only by electricity, its battery can be charged at home with a driving range of 160 km.

The Land Glider is an ultra compact and light EV with a unique driving sensation of titled cornering (like a motorcycle).

The new Fuga (which also comes in a Hybrid model) will be available in Japan in the fall of 2009 (now!).

The Prius is one of the best selling cars today, and Toyota showed a Prius plug-in hybrid EV concept car.

Toyota also had a musical show to feature its Winglet personal transports and FT-EV II electric concept car.

Beside Toyota was Lexus of course, who introduced its new 4.8 liter V10 LFA and hybrid LF-Ch (pictured below).

Mazda had one of the most interesting concept cars and display in the show called the Kiyora using its new SKYTECH feature.

Suzuki featured it new concept compact car called the Alto Concept, an evolution from the original Alto introduced in 1979.  Compared to the Mazda Kiyora above, Alto seems plain and boring – ho hum.

Subaru featured its Hybrid Touring concept car with a cool roof hinged door.

Honda’s Asimo Robot hosted its show spotlighting innovation by featuring the new U3-X Personal Mobility Device and its latest concept cars.

Honda concept cars on display were the CRZ and Skydeck.

One of the few non-Japanese auto manufacturers was Lotus, which was previously owned by GM, and is now owned by Malaysian carmaker Proton.

There were also a number of motorcycles from Yamaha, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Suzuki and others.

Tire manufacturers were also present with booths from Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop and others.

There was also a Car of the Year Japan (30th Year Anniversary) exhibition featuring the Toyota Prius as the 2009-2010 winner.

Previous Car of the Year winners were also featured including the Toyota MR2, the 1984-1985 Car of the Year.

In the Motor Lounge on the convention floor, there were a few classic cars on display.

Finally, I found a Canada booth and an Ontario license plate (as part of the license plate exhibit) to remind me of a little bit of home.

The annual Dream Yosakoi Festival was held from October 31 to November 1, 2009 at various locations in Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan.

Over 4,000 dancers performed in this traditional team dance with teams as large as 100.

This style of choreographed dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music.

It was quite a windy day, so the large team flags were flying in full flutter, providing an excellent backdrop to the team’s colorful costumes.

One of the defining aspects of yosakoi dance is the use of naruko, which are small wooden clappers that are held in the hands of each dancer.

Finally, below are a few videos to give you a sense of energy in this type of Japanese folk dance (sorry that the sound is awful, as it was a very windy day as you can tell).

Earlier this summer, I also attended the Super Yosakoi and the Fukuro Matsuri featuring the same type of dance.

Last weekend, the annual Kawasaki Halloween Parade was held on a sunny and warm Saturday (October 31) afternoon near Tokyo with over 3,000 costumed participants and many more spectators.

The main festivities, including the start and end of the parade, was located in La Cittadella, a European style shopping center.  Did I mention it was very crowded?

Although there were a few children, the majority of the participants were adults, and there were many creative and colorful costumes.

The participants were separated into 3 groups of about 1,000 with a float leading the way.

In the past few years, it seems that Halloween has become more popular in Tokyo (and Japan) and this very colorful parade was crowded indeed.

Below are a few videos of the parade.

At the end of the parade, the highly anticipated costume contest awarded the best costumes in several categories.

Below are pictures of some of the winners taken before the parade started.

There were more festivities in the evening, including a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, as the ghouls and goblins partied through the night.

How did you spend your Halloween?

Two recent high quality HD videos from YouTube by egawauemon featuring Tokyo and Kyoto filmed in 2009 using a Canon 5D Mk2 digital camera (EF 24mm F2.8 lens) with a Glidecam HD-2000 for hand-held camera stabilization.

Both videos are 10 minutes long, shot during different times of the day (morning, afternoon and evening), with no music soundtrack so you can hear the actual sights and sounds.

The Tokyo video was shot in the summer of 2009 featuring different areas such as Tsukiji, Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno and Meiji Jingu Shrine.

The Kyoto video was shot in early autumn 2009 featuring Gion, Ninen-Zaka, Kiyamachi, Sagano, Nishiki Market and Pontocho, as well as several famous temples and shrines (Kinkaku-Ji Temple, Ginkaku-ji Temple, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kiyomizudera Temple).

This is an excellent compilation of these two great cities in Japan.  Enjoy!

Every month, Tokyo Metro posts a new subway manner poster in their station as I wrote about last year in a blog post titled Tokyo Subway Manner Posters.  For some strange reason, I look forward to the first day of every month when the latest poster appears (yea, my life is boring).  You can find it here, along with all the older posters if you are interested.

Well, this month (November 2009, below left) features a reminder to apply makeup at home, not on the trains, a similar poster appeared over a year ago (May 2008, below right).

Anyway, below are two pictures that I took with my cell phone camera – I guess they didn’t read the posters.

Have you seen women applying their makeup in the subway or trains in your neck of the woods?  If yes, is it a common occurrence?  Personally, it does not bother me, but then I am probably either sleeping or watching a podcast on my iTouch.

Koto Kumin Matsuri (Koto Citizens’ Festival) was held at Kiba Park in Tokyo on October 17-18, 2009.  It was a sunny and warm autumn weekend, a perfect day for a festival.  This festival covered the entire Kiba Park, which is huge, with a river and bridge separating the north and south areas.

As typical of Japanese festivals, there were lots of food and drinks stalls scattered throughout the park, as well as fruit and vegetables stands and a flea market.

This was a family oriented event so there were lots of activities for the little ones.

There were several stages throughout the park, offering different types of entertainment for young and old alike, from marching bands …

to musical rock bands (they were singing Rolling Stones songs) …

and traditional bon odori singing …

as well as hawaiian dancing …

… and giant (not really) Japanese monsters and robots fighting it out for world dominance for good measure!

Along with the stages, there were also a number of more mobile (street, or park in this case) performers.

The highlight of the festival was a number of Japanese folk arts performances by local citizens. The Kiyari and Kiyari-Nenbutsu are traditional chanting performed by lumbermen.

Sunamura-Bayashi is traditional festival folk music played in the Edo district, played by three kinds of Japanese traditional percussions and a horizontal bamboo flute.

Shishimai is a version of the Lion Dance practiced in Japan (originally included danced involving other animal symbols, including deer).

Tekomai is a traditional geisha parade wearing male costume such as men’s old hair style, male clothing and waraji (straw sandals).

The Fukagawa-no-Chikara-mochi originated from warehouse workers who carried rice bags, Japanese sake barrels and other heavy goods. 

They participated in competitions for their skill and strength.