Tokyo Metro etiquette posters

The range so far of etiquette posters on Tokyo Metro... Click on each poster to see a close-up.

Packed like sardines 鮨詰め

昨日新単語を習った。英語で「The train was packed like a tin of sardines」と言う。日本語で「電車は鮨詰めだった」と言う。

I learnt a new word yesterday 鮨詰め (すしづめ）。 It's what people say in Japanese to describe people packed like sardines! It means that people are packed together like the rice grains in sushi!

Junk mail

毎日ジャンクメールが来る。問題ない。。。マンションの下にジャンクメールの箱が有る。さらに時々良いジャンクメールが来る。例えば時々ティシューとかバスソルトが来る。いいですね！

Every day people get junk mail in Japan. Still, no problem - my apartment block has a junk mail box underneath the mailboxes. And sometimes I get good junk mail. For example sometimes I get packets of tissues or bath salts. Nice, eh?!

Free iPhones for Students

A university in Tokyo is giving out iPhones...

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/tokyo-university-gives-away-iphones-to-nab-truants-via-gps

水街道の坂野家とバラ庭 Sakanoke and Rose Garden, Mizukaidou, Ibaraki

Yesterday I went to a beautiful old house (Sakanoke) and rose garden with a student and her family. The house was getting on to be 300 years old. Unlike many old houses, I understand it hasn't had to be rebuilt due to earthquake or fire. It was absolutely stunning inside, I didn't manage to take any photos I was pleased with but am intending to go back there sometime in the next few weeks if I get the chance.

http://www.city.joso.lg.jp/modules/section066/content/index.php?id=23

A few doors down was an absolutely huge private rose garden, with wonderful borrowed scenery of incredible mirrored rice fields as far as the eye could see. The garden itself was made up of smaller gardens and winding natural paths. It was a really enjoyable afternoon!

http://home2.netpalace.jp/RoseGardenSakano/profile/profile.cgi

More photos to the left link.

日本のマスクのメーカーは生産を増える Japanese mask makers boost production

今回、記事は日本のマスクメーカー付いてです。文法をチェックした後で改訂する。

This time, the article is about Japanese mask manufacturers. I'll update it when I've had the grammar checked...

Japanese mask makers are increasing production to respond to the growing demand caused by the swine flu outbreak.

Nisshinbo Holdings will quadruple its output of masks. The company reports a surge in orders from government offices and firms since the weekend.

Unicharm is also increasing production. On Tuesday alone, the company received as many orders as it does during an entire week in winter.

Unicharm's output usually drops by over 80 percent at this time of year after the cold and hay fever seasons end. But the firm now intends to raise production to nearly 100 percent of capacity.

From NHK World English 29 April 2009.


豚インフルエンザの勃発ために増えれた要求が有る。だから日本のマスクメーカーが生産を増える。

ニッシンボホルディングズはマスクの算出の4倍を増えよう。その会社は週末以来政治の会社とほかの会社から注文の当然増大を報告した。

ユーニチャルムも生産を増えれている。火曜日一日だけ会社は注文量が冬の一周間分と同じくらいだった。

大体、風邪と花粉症のシーズンの終わりの後でユーニチャルムの算出は80パーセント以上を下げする。しかし、その会社は生産がほとんど100パーセントに増えるつもり。

もう一度最後の記事を書いた

I've written the last news article again.

東京の中央に有った19世紀のオフィスビルは元の図と材料で再建された。再生された建物は博物館として使用される。

三菱地所が所有する建物は月曜日にメディアに開かれた。

三菱一号館ビルまたはナンバーワンビルは1894年にとしての丸ノ内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として完成された。

英国の建築家のコンダー、ジョザイアさんが元の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地下が有った。1968年に取り壊された。

建物の再建は約230万個の煉瓦を使ってで約2年間かかった。外側は元の建物の青写真と写真に忠実に修復された。

新しい場所は三菱一号館博物館と呼ばれ場所三階建てで約20部屋が有る。そこで美術品、主に19世紀の西洋のスタイルの絵が展示をされる。

一階にカフェもある。

来年の4月に建物が公開される。

やった！

珍しいね

An extraordinary bus stop, eh?!

19th century office building in Tokyo rebuilt

I was studying this afternoon, and had a go at translating this news article from NHK (published on 27 April) about a reconstruction of the first office building in the Marunouchi business district of Tokyo. As I can no longer get it on the internet, I've copied out the English text... I'm sure the grammar in Japanese version is very dodgy...!

Here is the museum website with a picture http://mimt.jp/english.html Mitsubishi Estate is the largest real estate company in Japan, and would appear to own much of Tokyo and a fair bit of the rest of Japan too, as well as having fully bought out Rockefeller Group in New York in 1989.

In fact, as people who live in Tokyo will know, the whole are is being rebuilt/restored. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080522f3.html

ここに博物館のサイトと絵です。http://mimt.jp/japanese.html

A nineteenth century office building in central Tokyo has been reconstructed using portions of the original plans and materials. The reborn structure will function as a museum.

The building, owned by Mitsubishi Estate, was opened to the media on Monday.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan, or Number One, building was completed in 1894 as the first office space in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo.

British architect Josaih Conder designed the original brick structure with 3 floors and a basement. It was demolished in 1968.

It took about 2 years to reconstruct the building using about 2.3 million bricks. The exterior was faithfully reconstructed based on blueprints and photographs of the original structure.

The new space, to be called the Mitcubishi Ichigokan Museum, has about 20 rooms spread over 3 floors where art works - mainly 19th-century Western paintings - are due to be displayed.

There will also be a cafe on the first floor.

The building is to open to the public in April of next year.

東京に19世紀のオフィスビルが再建された

東京の中央に19世紀のオフィスビルは最初の図と材料で再建されたことがある。再生の建物は博物館として作用する。

建物は所有の三菱私有月曜日にメディアに開く。

三菱いちごかんビルかナンバーワンビルは１８９４に東京の丸の内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として終わられた。

英国の建築家コンダー、ジョサイアさんが最初の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地階が有った。1968に取り壊された。

建物の再建は230万煉瓦ぐらいで２年間ぐらいをかかった。外側は最初の建物の青写真と写真で忠実に修繕された。

新空間は三菱いちごかん博物館と言わせる。その空間は三階で20部屋ぐらいが有る。あちらで美術品、主に19の世紀の西洋スタイルの絵が展示をするはずです。

一階にカフェも有るはずです。

来年の４月に建物が人民ために開くはずです。

Food to make your mouth water

This is really just to say that recently I've been spending more time cooking because it's been a holiday, and so haven't added anything to this blog. However, if you're interested in seeing a little of what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks, have a look at my other blog (only in English) Food to make your mouth water!

日本語の授業

さいきん、また本当の日本語の授業を始まる。まだ一週一回に友だちと勉強するがもう少し練習が必要の感じだ。この授業に文法を勉強しない、会話だけを有る。今日の授業で日本語で英語の新聞の記事を説明しなかればならなかった。難しかったが楽しかった！

そしてから、一緒に電車にのって、話をした。その時にたとえば電車でとか喫茶店でとか居酒屋でとか皆さんは私に集中するらしいかもしれない！だから、その時にいつもあわてる！もうすぐはっきりに考えてあわてずに喋りたい！

Recently, I've started proper Japanese lessons again. I'm still studying once a week with a friend, but I feel that I need a bit more practice. In these lessons I don't study grammar, just focus on conversation. In today's lesson, I had to explain an English news article in Japanese. A touch tricky, but fun!

After that, we took the train together and talked. At those times, for example on the train, in a coffee shop, a bar and so on, I feel that everybody is paying attention to my Japanese! So I usually get a bit lost for words. Soon, I hope that I'll get over this block and be able to think clearly and talk without panicking!

Hooray!! I've finally managed to get rid of the 'Read more' caption on my posts!

Narita Drum Festival continued

This video shows some of the drumming groups around the town, before the parade started.


This video shows scenes from the parade, including the wrestling drummers (from 58s to 1min36) and the Okinawan style drummers (at the end).


This video shows scenes from the last half of the parade including the final steel drum group (from 18s to the end). If you like these steel drummers, then you're absolutely going to love the steel drumming performance on Mountaincat's blog - I especially appreciated the music from 'My Neighbour Totoro' from 5 minutes until the end!


This final video shows a very lively and happy group of drumming teenagers - absolutely fantastic!

Still photos at the left link...

Narita Drum Festival 成田の太鼓祭り

Today I went to the Narita Taiko Festival... Took loads of pictures and video clips so it might take a while to get them up... I'm not sure how to edit videos yet... In the meantime, here is a unedited clip of one of the acts... Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

皆さんへ、イースターおめでとうございます！

Good Friday 聖金曜日

さあ、日本で砂糖衣の十字つき菓子パンを買わない。。。。だから想像が大切。。。

Yes, well, today is Good Friday and you can't get Hot Cross Buns in Japan so imagination is important...

Weather 天気

このごろ天気がすごいきれい、本当にあたたかい。そして明日は度が22になる。。。いいね！最後の文が「そしてあしたは気温が２２度になる。。。いいね」そうだ。

These days the weather is beautiful, really warm. And tomorrow it's going to get up to 22C - nice eh?!　More natural apparently is 気温が２２度になる in the last sentence.

Cherry Blossom 桜

Some cherry blossom pictures from the weekend! 週末の桜の写真だ。

清水公園、千葉県 Shimizu Park, Chiba

北千葉県に東武野田線で清水公園が有る。桜を見たかったがまだ早すぎた. とにかく、今朝早く起きて、午前７時半に家を出かけた。公園に９時に着いた。清水公園に大きな花庭が有る。今桜がまだ出ないですけど別のきれいな花が有る。

桜はまだ咲いていないけれど、別のきれいな花が咲いている。

もっと写真が左リンクに。





Shimizu Park is in northern Chiba, via the Tobu Noda line. I had wanted to see cherry blossom today, but I was still too early. Anyway, I got up early and left the house by 7:30. I got to the park at 9am. Within Shimizu Park there is a big flower garden. Although the cherry blossom isn't out yet, there are many other beautiful flowers in bloom.

More photos at the link to the left.

It's been a long time!

Aaaggghhh!

It's been a long time again since my last post! The last few weeks have been very busy with work and being a bit run down, and I just haven't had a chance to add to the blog or indeed anything else! Today, luckily I didn't get called out to cover anyone, so at last I have some time to catch up with myself!

Even though I haven't been writing on the blog, I am still studying. Last week, I bought 3 books to add to my frighteningly growing Japanese library - a bilingual cookery book, a Level 3 grammar book (because I still don't feel confident in my grammar) and a Level 2 kanji and reading book. There's no way that I'm going to be able to take Level 2 this year, I will probably re-take Level 3 in December and try and get a better score - but I want to keep studying and improving past this level.

Today is a beautiful day! Recently it's been raining, windy and cold, but today it's a beautiful sunny day! I even got a chance to sit for a while on my balcony, for the 2nd time this year! It looks from the weather forecast this week that Spring might be on its way - supposedly the daytime temperature this week should hover around the 14C mark, fingers crossed eh!

New Blog 新ブログ

さいきん、新ブログを作った。このブログが料理だ。左リンクを見て下さい。英語だけで書くつもり。コメントとレシピをするがよい。

I've recently started a new blog focussing on cooking, see link to the left. This will be only in English. Comments and recipes welcome!

The Japanese Tradition: Bowing 日本の形土下座

The Japanese Tradition: Origami 日本の形折り紙

I haven't added one of these for a long time, so here it is - the art of origami!
日本の形のビデオを久しぶり！

Expanding chair

One day, I'm going to get myself one of these chairs made in Taiwan...!

Shell House, Karuizawa シェル軽井沢

Wow, what a stunning house!

http://www.trendir.com/house-design/futuristic-home-in-karuizawa-japan-by-artechnic-architects.html

JLPT Level 3

まさか！３級を合格した。。。66％。だけ、でもびっくりした！

I really don't believe it! I passed JLPT 3! Only 66%, but I'm still surprised! I really didn't expect to pass this one because I wasn't ready for it.

Unseasonally warm!

Rather warm today (23C)...! Top temperatures due to come down to a more usual 8C with a minimum of 1C by Tuesday. They were talking about it being like June/July weather in many parts of Japan. But without the humidity, so it's nice!

Shame I had to work!

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/temperatures-rise-to-june-levels-throughout-japan

越谷レークタウン Koshigaya Laketown

今日、寒いが晴天だ。越谷レークタウンでウインドーショッピングに行くと決めた。あのショッピングモールがすごく大きい。富士山を全く明らかに見えた。

It was a beautiful but cold day today and I decided to go window shopping at the new Koshigaya Laketown Mall. If you zoom in on the photo, you'll see that I could see Mount Fuji clearly.

遊び Play!

さて、昨日働きたけれども今日休みだ。初めてカメラを遊べる！大町に歩いて往復が２時間ぐらい。もちろん、自然公園で散歩を楽しんだ。田舎ようだ。少し写真を撮った。でも、月曜日に動植物園が閉まったからちょっと失望した。もう一度行くつもり。さらに、もうすぐ花が出る。楽しみ！もっと写真が左リンクに。練習が必要と思う！


Well, I worked yesterday but today was a day off. For the first time I was able to play with my camera! I walked to Omachi, about a 2 hour round trip - of course I also enjoyed walking in the nature observation park there. It felt like the countryside in many parts, rather nice. I took a few pictures．But, because the small animal and botanical garden was closed on Mondays, I was a bit disappointed - I'll have to go again. I'm also looking forward to taking flower photos soon. Should be fun! More photos to the left link (More practice needed, I think!).

新単語 New words

昨日仕事後で、受付と居酒屋に行った。彼女たちは私に日本語を話させたからありがたく思う。大体友だちと英語を喋べるだから、その日本語の練習が良かった！すごく楽しかった！日本語をできるのにまだ口がきけない。流暢の練習をできる。

Yesterday after work, I went out to an izakaya with the receptionists I'm friends with from work. They made me speak Japanese, so I was very grateful! Usually when I'm with my friends we chat in English, so this Japanese practice was good! It was a really fun evening! Even though I can speak some Japanese, I still get very tongue-tied. I could work on fluency practice.

とにかく、この新単語を思い出したい。
以前　いぜん　useful for talking about things you used to do
以外　いがい except
意外　いがい unexpected
冗談　じょうだん joke
人格　じんかく personality
失業　しつぎょう unemployment
リストラする to lose your job

New camera 新しいカメラ

昨日、ビクカメラで新しいディジタルカメラを買った。写真の質が向上させると良い。うれしい！遊びに楽しみ！

I bought a new digital camera yesterday, so hopefully the quality of my pictures will improve. I'm very very pleased with it, and looking forward to playing!

Read more - aaaggghhhhh!

Aaggghhhh! It seems that under my current template, I can have two options:

- either the ability to link photo albums and have the annoying 'Read more' at the bottom of my posts, or
- no photo albums and no 'Read more' comment...

I will keep trying... In the meantime, please ignore the 'Read more' at the bottom of my posts. There's nothing more to read!

佐原 Sawara

今週松、佐原市に行った。すごく美しくておもしろいだったよ。佐原が江戸の町だ。１９９６に政府が保存命令をした。毎日江戸の店とレストランが開く。この町が大好き。今年の秋祭にぜひ見に行きたい！
もっと写真が左のリンク有る。

This weekend, I went to Sawara City in Chiba. It was fantastically beautiful and interesting. Sawara is an old Edo city, to my mind more beautiful than any of the old parts of Kyoto or Kawagoe. It had a really nice feel to the place. The town of Sawara first developed in the 13th century, and through the centuries prospered more and more. In the 17th century, work finished on changing the flow of the Tone River, allowing rapid transportation to Tokyo of products such as rice, soy sauce, vegetables and arts and crafts.

The historic district has so many Edo town houses that are more than a century old and, with the help of the government, are kept in a good state of repair. After the Meiji Restoration, some Western style architecture was also introduced.

I love cities with water, and there are so many small rivers throughout Sawara. This really adds to the peaceful and relaxed feel of Sawara.

Sawara is famous for its Summer Gion and Autumn festivals, with absolutely huge 'dashi' floats (10 in summer and 14 in autumn). I really want to go back in Autumn, or even just when it gets warmer!

I stayed in a cheap but clean hotel (Hotel Hokei - OK?!), bit cold, but I would stay there again. Again I was pleased though that my Japanese has come on a bit, because when I got there I needed to call the owner to check-in because there was nobody around even after I'd waited for about 10 minutes. He and his wife (who I met in the morning) were friendly enough, although I got the impression they didn't get too many Western foreigners there, by the ultra-ultra-politeness! No English spoken.

More photos at the link to the left.

Read more...

Hooray! I've managed to get rid of the annoying 'Read more...' link at the bottom of every post, when there was nothing extra to read!

初夢 Hatsuyume - First dream

Hatsuyume means the first dream in the New Year, had on the night of January 1st. The old belief is well-known. It was believed that the first dream of the New Year would foretell your luck for the coming year.

Especially good luck is to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk, or an aubergine... An aubergine?! The superstition is memorised in the words 'Ichi-Fuji, Ni-Taka, San-Nasubi' (一富士二鷹三茄子) One - Fuji, Two - Hawk, Three - aubergine.

One theory for this being lucky is because Mount Fuji is the highest and most revered mountain in Japan, a hawk is a clever and strong bird, and the word for aubergine 'nasu' with a different kanji 成す also suggests achieving something great.

Ahem. My hatsuyume? I dreamt that I got some rice stuck behind my back teeth... Now what do you read into that for my coming luck this year?!

People's Visit to the Palace for the New Year Greeting

An early start this morning to get to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to wave to the Emperor and his family!

I knew it was going to be busy, and that theoretically to be close to the front, I would have to get there at least an hour before the gates opened at 9:30am. Got there at 9am instead because that still meant getting up at the crack of dawn.

Again the queues were amazing. The atmosphere was great, they gave out Japanese flags to everyone, and I felt quite patriotic! People didn't mind queueing, because it was a nice opportunity to see the Emperor (behind bullet-proof glass). The Inner Garden of the Imperial Palace is only open twice a year to wave to the Emperor - once on his birthday (23rd December) and then again on 2nd January. It was very efficiently organised, routes were clearly laid out, they did bag security and body pat-downs before you went in, and then you joined the latest queue.

There were probably more older Japanese people there than younger people, quite a few families, and quite a few right-wing nationalist groups too. But the atmosphere was friendly and it was definitely worth getting up early for!

The Emperor and Empress appeared at 10:10am (the first appearance of 5 that day), along with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the Imperial Family. They waved to the crowd who all waved, waved their flags and cheered. Then the Emperor gace his New's Greeting, and then lots more waving and cheering! More pictures to the left.

御神籤 Good Year's Fortune (Literally, God Lottery)

At the beginning of the New Year, I bought a traditional omikuji (literally means God Lottery).

Mine was 'Best Fortune', or should that just be best of luck?

Click the picture to read the English - I liked 'The person you are are waiting will come but late'?!!!

浅草の大晦日２００８ New Year's Eve in Asakusa 2008

面白い。。。　日本の大晦日がイギリスの大晦日にすごく違う！気持ちが静かで安全だ。良いよ！
昨晩友だちと（ヨシコ）浅草の浅草寺に行った。楽しかった！浅草に１６時着いて晩御飯を食べた。１９時３０分だ。どうしよう？０時浅草寺を計画した。まず、明治神宮に行った。開けましておめでとうございます！！！

Very interesting! New Year's Eve in Japan is totally different to New Year's Eve in Britain! The feeling is quieter and safer, that's good!

New Year's Eve is traditionally spent with family - probably about 1% of the population go out. Of course, it probably depends on where you go for New Year - from what I understand near Tokyo Tower or Shibuya Crossing is much more similar to a Western New Year, but I got to celebrate a more traditional Japanese New Year which was great! We got to Asakusa at about 4pm - after eating, we thought what to do? We (my friend Yoshiko and I) had planned to celebrate New Year at Sensouji (Sensoji Temple). More pictures at the side (coming).

First, we went to Meiji Jingu Shrine/Park. It was very busy, and had a nice atmosphere. Some people were buying good luck charms for things that they thought important eg health, safe driving, wealth, lucky in love etc... I wanted to know if these charms had an expiry date on them - did they run out at the end of the year? I don' t think Yoshiko knew, but I don't think she was willing to risk it either - better to buy these things at the start of a new year...

Later we ate soba, a traditional meal on New Year's Eve. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, and dipped in a soy flavoured sauce. Delicious! It being New Year's Eve however, it was very crowded, and we were seated next to an elderly couple who were completely trashed, and insisted on giving Yoshiko instructions on how to convey Japanese culture to a foreigner who couldn't possibly understand... I've never seen anyone put away noodles so fast so that we could leave! Unfortunately, because by this stage they were so slurred, I couldn't catch what they were saying very well, it was difficult to help...! Very funny actually!

Many coffee shops closed early, but we found somewhere to have a hot drink and relax until 11 when we went to Sensouji. Already the queues were huge, and the police were closing off roads. We ended up queuing just inside Kaminarimon ( Thunder Gate) at 11pm. Amazing the queue had started so early. Again I was struck by the fact that there seem to be two national hobbies in Japan - shopping and queueing...)

For the first 20minutes we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably celebrate New Year in a queue just outside Kaminarimon. Then the queue moved a bit. By the time it reached midnight, we were actually probably only about 100m from the temple itself. It was difficult to tell when it was actually New Year, because apart from a guy next to us counting down (was his watch accurate?!) and it got a bit noisier, very little happened... Whilst I always found it rather strange in Britain to wish a complete stranger a Happy New Year, it had become normal! But then we quickly moved towards the temple to make New Year prayers.

The police were preventing people from moving too quickly, the placards all say 'Slowly Please' amongst other things, and the loud speakers were giving all sorts of cautionary advice including to be careful when praying... It is traditional to toss some money into the large offertory box, but because it's crowded at New Year, they were warning that people might toss the money from a long way... Beware of low-flying coins was the message...

After tossing our offertory money and making our wish/praying we went to buy an 'Omikuji", a fortune ticket. Of course, had I got a bad luck fortune I would have been very British and said that it was all superstition... However, I was lucky and got a 'Best Fortune' slip, which of course spills over to all my family and friends, so I'm quite ready to want to believe it!!! Yoshiko got a good fortune slip. At this time again you queue for ages, actually not so bad by this time. It was absolutely freezing at this time of night, and for the last half hour I had been shivering violently from the cold with my teeth chattering! I was prepared and wearing about four layers, but even so...! When you get to the front you put your money in the slot, pick up the tin can of sticks and shake it to get your fortune ticket. As I say, mine was Best Fortune!!! Read the number (in kanji), open the drawer with that number, and take your fortune. (If you get a bad fortune, you tie it on a tree anyway, which is supposed to expel the bad feeling from your life... And then you buy a new one?!) Anyway, I got mine first time around and it reflects on all my family and friends which has got to be good!

Happy New Year Everyone!

類似のリス Squirrel tendencies

二日間冷凍者の料理を作っていった。健康な食べること！

For two days, I have been cooking for the freezer. It's now packed with ready to defrost food for lunch! Healthy eating!

Tracking Santa on Google Earth

Happy Christmas Eve!

Some of my Christmas decorations in my room!

Track Santa

Happy Christmas Eve!

Go to this website on Christmas Eve your time and you can follow Father Christmas' route as he delivers presents to children all over the world:

http://www.noradsanta.org/

As I write this post, he is currently in Anadyr, Russia.

By magically slowing down time, he is able to deliver presents all over the world :)

Now he is in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskry, Russia.

秋の横町 Autumnal Lane

This lane is near my house, so I see it every day. I love the tree at the end - it looks more spectacular in real life! The colours in the photo are a bit dulled compared to what it really looked like yesterday. The orange fruit on the persimmon tree in the foreground looked really bright.

クリスマスツリーのイルミネーション Christmas Tree illuminations

昨日百円の品でこのクリスマススリーを作った！

I made this Christmas tree yesterday out of 100 yen stuff!

ダイソーギガ船橋 Daiso Giga Funabashi

大体百円店が１階だけだ。この店は７階がある！床面積をことごとくダイソーだ。新宿のトキュハンヅのようだが全部が安い！

Usually 100 yen shops (50p shops) are only one floor. This shop is 7 floors! All of the floor space is used by Daiso. It's like Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku, but everything is cheap!

Matsuyabashi Shopping Street

Yesterday, I went to Matsuyabashi shopping street in Osaka. It's a very old shopping street that sells wholesale, but also opens its shops to the public. It seemed to be predominantly Christmas shops, doll shops and toy shops. As the shops sell to other shops and restaurants, the Christmas shops were sadly rather tacky...! It was a very interesting street though.

Random bits and bobs

Well, I'm about at the end of my time here, and so this post is a mixture of things that I noticed and didn't write down... I've added lots more photos to the link at the left too.

• People stand on the right side of the escalator in Osaka and the left in the rest of Japan. Apparently it's because of the Expo in 1970 when Osaka was trying to become more international...
• As I've often raved, throughout Japan trains and buses are incredibly punctual. My journey to the school north of Kobe takes just under 2 hours door to door, including waiting time. However the waiting time is at the start of the journey, never between the train and the bus. There was a 6 minute connection time between the train and the bus, and a 3-4 minute walk. I don't believe there is another country in the world (and certainly not Britain!) where you would be happy that you would make that connection!
• I always felt safe where I was living, but the area by the station wasn't the most salubrious! Lots of dodgy bars and clubs! For example, next to the 24 hour supermarket there was a sign depicting a smiley nurse with not a lot on for an establishment on the 7th floor of the next building. I don't think it was a hospital...
• Food is good and cheap in Osaka as per its reputation. Not necessarily better than anywhere else in the country, but the combination of price, quality and variety is good.
• I often saw groups of old people sitting outside their houses in the late afternoon, so that they could watch the world go by.
• There was a stretch of main road near my flat, where the old people gathered, that had been planted with beautiful smelling roses and night jasmine. It was lovely coming past there.
• Along the same stretch of road, there was a dear dog that I used to talk to and ruffle up. He was obviously well-loved, but needed a good groom.
• My local supermarket here sold delicious brown rice bread. However, take care... Brown rice bread catches fire very easily... I took my eye off it for a second the other afternoon and flames were coming out my cooker. Don't panic, don't panic! Luckily, I sorted it out before the smoke alarm had a chance to kick in. I really didn't want to be that foreigner who burnt the toast...
• Osaka has some really interesting areas, and is very well-placed for visiting the rest of Kansai. It also has a big airport close by which means that it's easy to get to the rest of Japan. Who knows, maybe I'll move to Osaka sometime?!
• Why don't any of the subway lines start at number 1? Did they start numbering later in the sequence in case they extend the line?
  

Probably more things that I've forgotten...

Organic Building, Shinsaibashi

A rather interesting office building... Plant pots are built into the surface wall.

Weihnachtsmarkt at Umeda Wondersquare

Today was the opening day of the German Christmas Market in Umeda, Osaka. The German Consulate are hosting it. It was a lovely atmosphere, and I'm sure I'll go back!

It was funny to listen to the opening speeches in Japanese and German. Some of the stalls were being run by Germans. With some of the Japanese owners even, I wasn't sure if they weren't in fact Japanese-German.

More photos at the left link.

CosmoTower, Osaka Bay WTCコズモタワー、大阪

It was a beautiful clear evening, with a full moon, so I decided to have a wander around the Osaka Bay area. I went up to the 55th floor of the Osaka World Trade Centre CosmoTower, and took this picture. And then I went down to the 51st floor which I had all to myself and phoned Mum and Dad. Phone call with a view!

On the way down from the 55th floor, the elevator was glass - strange feeling!

嵐山と嵯峨野 Arashiyama and Sagano

今日嵐山に行った。紅葉がすごく美しい。もっと写真が左リンクにある。

Today I went to Arashiyama. The autumn colours were absolutely beautiful. More photos at the left link.

Many of the pictures are of the landscape garden at Tenryuju Temple. The garden is known as the Sougenchi Garden, and is one of the oldest in Japan, retaining the same form as when it was designed by Musou Soseki in the 14th century. It was the first Special Historical Scenic Area named by the Japanese government, and was designated by the UN as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1994.

Sanda Shopping Mall

Just trying to show that this mall is in the middle of nowhere, but it doesn't give an indication of size, because there is not only a big 4 storey shopping mall, but also an outlet mall behind...