Photo of the Day: Louis Vuitton Store Illuminations
Last week, the Photo of the Day was the Caretta Shiodome illumination from 2009. This week, we have illuminated Louis Vuitton stores in Roppongi Hills and Omotesando.
Stay tuned for more illumination pictures …
Photo of the Day: Giant Spiders
The main attraction of the Yokohama Y150 anniversary event was the French ENEOS La Machine, a massive spider approximately 12 meters tall.
This is quite a different spider than the one you can find at the base of the Mori building in Roppongi Hills.
Photo of the Day: Paddle Seller
A hagoita (Japanese paddle) is a rectangular board with a handle used for playing a New Year game called hanetsuki. This older gentleman is selling his wares during the Hagoita-Ichi annual fair held at the Sensoji Temple grounds in late December.
Photo of the Day: Caretta Illumination
The end of the year brings colorful lights called illuminations in Tokyo. Caretta Shiodome was lit up in 2009 under the theme of “Blue Ocean” (most appropriate).
Below is a picture of how Caretta looks like the rest of the year.
Which do you prefer?
Cool Japan Posters
Below are three Cool Japan colorful posters from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that can be seen in the Japanese Canadian Cultural Center (JCCC) in Toronto. Each poster highlights a special Japanese cultural interest.
The first poster with a silhouette of Hello Kitty shows the cute or “kawaii” culture including cosplay, anime, yukata.
Japan is a high-tech society with the latest in robotics and gadgetry, but is also famous for its bullet trains, rockets and cars.
Finally, Japan is also well known for its cuisine, especially fish, and of course sushi.
Which one is your favorite?
Photo of the Day: Yosakoi Children
One of the highlights of Super Yosakoi festival is a parade along trendy and wide Omotesandō Avenue, Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées. This picture was taken during the 2009 parade.
Okonomi House
Last weekend, my wife and I had lunch at the Okonomi House in downtown Toronto.
Opened over 30 years ago, this relatively small restaurant specializes in okonomiyaki, but offers a few other Japanese dishes such as teriyaki and yakisoba.
My wife and I ordered and shared a beef and chicken okonomiyaki – oshii!
Price for a dish is C$6.35 (500 yen), unless you order the seafood deluxe which costs C$12 (900 yen). With 2 rice side dishes, the total bill for two including tax and tip come up to around C$20 (1,500 yen) which is relatively cheap.
The pictures in this blog post were taken using my Blackberry Bold 9900 smartphone camera.
Photo of the Day: Roppongi Art Night
The main attraction of the 2010 Roppongi Art Night was a 13 meter high giant monster inhabiting the Roppongi Hills Arena, which was created by artist Tsubaki Noboru called “Before Flower” conceived as an expression of thanks to gymnosperm plants such as conifers and Gingko trees.
Japanese Movies: Time Travel
Our family recently watched two Japanese movies with a time travel theme (seems like a popular theme).
A Boy and His Samurai (2010) is a story about a samurai named Kijima Yasube, played by Ryo Nishikido, who travels to the present from the Edo period, 180 years ago. He meets a divorcee named Hiroko, played by Rie Tomosaka, and her son Tomoya. After some funny moments of Yasube adjusting to the modern world, he cleans and cooks at home for Hiroko, then works for a famous pastry chef after winning a father and son baking contest. Along the way, he invents custard, which is shown in the movie poster.
Tokyo Girl (2008) is a story of a girl named Miho, played by Kaho, a high school student living in Tokyo who drops her cell phone down a staircase during an earthquake. The cell phone is found (through a wormhole opened during the earthquake – sure that happens all the time) by a boy named Tokijiro, played by Kazuma Sano, an aspiring writer who lives in the Meiji Era around 1912. They communicate through the cell phone during full moons which develop into a love story.
Both movies are highly recommended for the entire family and are much better than another movie titled “Time Traveler: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”.
Photo of the Day: Sapporo Beer
Bought a gift set from our local liquor store containing two 650 ml cans of Sapporo beer and one Sapporo branded glass for US$9 (about 1,100 yen). Its like a taste from Japan 🙂
