Wood Block Printed Lanterns in Ueno Park, Tokyo

Until 26th December 2010, there is a fantastic display of china woodblock printed lanterns in Ueno Park, Tokyo.  According to the website there are 165 of these lanterns, there did certainly seem to be a lot!  It says on the website that they are lit up between 6pm and 9pm, but I think actually that they are lit when it gets dark because I was there earlier.

It really is well worth a look, I was very impressed!  They're easy to find, just come out of the Park Exit of Ueno Station and walk into the park.  The lanterns follow the main path, with some off to the sides.  More pictures (not 165!) at the right-hand link.

Sawara Summer Matsuri 2010 佐原の2010夏祭り

Back at the start of last year, I went to a beautiful old Edo town called Sawara, about 30 minutes from Narita.  At that time, I saw pictures of the summer matsuri (traditional Japanese festival) and have really wanted to go...!

Well, now I have!  And it was every bit of fantastic as I'd expected!  Absolutely huge and amazing floats, about 7m high, and weighing several tonnes each, are pushed and pulled along the roads and canal-side in Sawara.  For three days!  In summer, there are 10 floats (I've only got pictures of 9) and in autumn there are 14 floats.  Now imagine moving a 4 tonne float in humid weather at a temperature of 32C...  It was hot enough just watching, see the strain on their faces...!

Below are some video clips from 15th - 16th July, which really give a good idea of what this festival looks like, and the atmosphere.  Photos if you look at the right-hand link, plus the videos again at the end.

今週末に佐原の夏祭りを見に行った。すごい！山車が巨大ですごかった！今、天気が蒸し暑くて32C ぐらい。いたいと思う！下にビデオが有って右のリンクに写真が有る。どうぞ見て下さい！

New York Drinks Dirty Water To Save Children

http://inventorspot.com/articles/new_york_drinks_dirty_water_save_children?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

...

Odaiba お台場

No, I'm not in New York with the Statue of Liberty!  I've been to this area of Tokyo (Odaiba) a fair few times, but have only just now got round to uploading some pictures from when I went again sometime back in May this year!  The first picture is, of course, of the copy of the Statue of Liberty.  Apparently, in addition to the Statue of Liberty in New York, there are also two replicas of the statue in France (where the New York one was made). One of these was sent to Tokyo in 1998 for "French Year in Japan". It was so popular that a replica was erected in 2000, after the original was sent back to Paris.

It is near a shopping centre called Venus Fort in Palette Town.  Venus Fort is an Italianate style indoor shopping centre with an artificial sky painted on the roof that changes colour from night to day!  Great fun!

First shoes

Seen in a JUSCO bakery...

Cockroach bomb evacuation cycle ride!

Well, it was about time that I did a bit of exploring around here, and I found that within about 10-15 minutes cycling I get to a stream in what counts for definite countryside in this part of Chiba.  It was really rather nice when you blocked out the pylons and telegraph poles!

The path by the stream was gravelled, so not terribly pleasant to cycle along, but I still think I will return there soon for another cycling breakfast!  View from the cycle path, and of a temple that I found with beautiful wisteria.

I also passed lots of old secluded houses, most of which were so surrounded by beautiful trees and shrubs that I couldn't take any pictures.  But this old house amused me, with its basketball net in the front garden...

Apologies that pictures are even worse than usual!  I only had my phone camera with me today.

Cockroach bomb evacuation!

OK, so this one isn't a real one - this is a pull back and release toy that I bought a few years back to wind up the students...  Along with a very realistic centipede.  Although I just came across it on its back in a cupboard just now and did have to give it a 2nd look!  

Well, I moved here last November and that first week saw just one terminator style cockroach.  Since then, and probably my phobia as a result of my first ground floor apartment in Japan that had giant cockroaches and centipedes coming in through the gaps in the walls and up through the tatami, I've been a little worried about this older house...

It's getting warm here, and so I put down some cockroach traps a month ago.  Only seen two cockroaches in them (both in my bedroom...)  Haven't seen any running free inside, but decided it was time to cockroach bomb the place before the rainy season starts.  Cockroach bombing requires planning.  It's a bit of a mission actually.  You have to make sure that you bag up anything that could get contaminated and that isn't easily washable or wipeable.  Your plants and flowers need to be put somewhere safe, out of direct smoke.  I covered all the bedding and soft toys with a blanket that would be washed afterwards.

 Then you need to open all the cupboards and drawers, and decide on the best location for your bombs.  I used 2 large and 1 small bomb.  I guess there is no way that it covered the whole house, but it came close to 3000yen and I want to do this again in 2 weeks to be really sure...!  

Prepare for your few hours out of the house...  The instructions on my bombs said that I needed to be out for at least 2 hours.  I reckoned on 3...  I made a cottage cheese and egg sandwich for breakfast, and made sure I had my bike keys and everything ready by the front door.  Turn off all gas and electrical equipment - not sure if that is strictly necessary, but I read somewhere that it's best.  Place your bombs and prepare with water.  Then, when you're ready to start, set off all the bombs starting from the furthest from your front door.  You have about 1-2 minutes from contact with the water before they go off.

Leave the house!  This is very important!!  A few years ago, a friend was off work with a rather nasty facial twitch.  It was a mystery, no one knew what had started it off but it lasted about a week and a half.  About a month later, some of us were sitting around over a few drinks and the conversation turned to how to rid your old apartment of all things nasty.  Bug bombs were recommended as the best step, but that it was a bit of a performance because you needed to be out of the house for hours and then come back and wash everything.  This same friend casually asked with surprise if that was really necessary because he had stayed in his apartment for most of the time whilst smoking it out...  Coincidence?!

So, it was about time that I explored the surrounding area, and more about that in my next post, but fast forward 3.5 hours to my return to the house.  Let's hope that 3.5 hours was enough, because it gave me a bit of a tickle in the throat when I came back in to open all the windows...  

Then I had to wash, wipe and vacuum everything.  Result?  Well I only found two medium sized and 6 baby cockroaches - mostly upstairs.  Maybe I haven't found all of them yet, but still...  Maybe it's not such a problem?  Anyway, must do it again in a couple of weeks to get any new ones...

Mid-April snow!

This year is proving to be more incredibly odd in terms of weather than ever before! Not only is the temperature yoyo-ing daily by an average of about about 10C, but I also work up this morning to snow and had to pick my way through slush to the station. Hard to believe that it was 21C on Tuesday!

Bicycle lights and locks

Finally I've remembered to write about this. In Japan, everyone seems to cycle.  You see more bicycles in Japan than any other country except perhaps Holland!  When I first visited Japan, I was surprised by how many people cycled everywhere, and that cyclists can use the pavement - not sure if it's strictly legal to do so, but everyone does with the exception of racing cyclists. 

I was also surprised that Japanese cyclists always use an umbrella when it's raining.  I've never seen that in any other country.  I'm sure it's not really safe, but perhaps that's one of the reasons why people tend to cycle on the pavements.  Me, I'm more of a fair weather cyclist!

Basic bicycles with 5 gears are cheap in Japan, maybe about 40-50 GBP.  I bought mine about 3 years ago and recently have found that it has really come into its own, now that I've moved and live further from everything.  I use it to go to the supermarket  (always plenty of bicycle parking), but also sometimes use it to go to one of my schools on fine days - it takes me about 25 minutes. 

In Japan, it doesn't stay light that late in the evenings, even during summer.  So when I leave work it is always dark.  Fortunately in Japan it is very common to cycle on the pavement, so I feel very safe, but even so sometimes the pavements are a bit uneven and I have to slow down. 

Anyway, this post was intended primarily about bicycle lights and locks.  All bikes in Japan seem to come with pedal powered LED front lights, which work pretty well and don't seem to get pinched.  This of course means no more carrying your bicycle lights with you when you get off.  Not sure if this is just a feature of the honesty in Japan, or just that everyone's cheap bicycle already has a front light.  Also, bicycles come with an integrated back wheel lock, so (unless you have an expensive bike) no more carting around a chain lock. 

Using your bicycle is much much easier than in Britain.  I keep mine outside under the front porch to get rusty, but it is just ready to go!

First week of the new school year

The first week of the new school year in Japan doesn't make much difference to me, but became evident yesterday evening when I was coming back from work.  I was going up the stairs at the station behind a group of junior high school girls, who were practising the little bit of English they knew, "Nice to meet you!".  One of them, plainly embarassed about speaking English, turned to check no one was listening, and saw me!  A knudge and a whisper to her friend followed, and when they got to the top of the stairs, one of them said to me "Nice to meet you", so of course I gave the stock reply "Nice to meet you too!", which got a hand punched into the air with a "Yes!" from the girl! 

I followed up with a "How are you?", one of them just repeated "How are you?" back, but her friend said "Chigau (that's wrong) I'm fine".  We then exchanged "See you"s, an amusing little encounter at the start of April!

It's actually not just the new school year.  Many of the new graduates also start their new jobs in Japan - April is the time for starting new jobs too.  So there are lots of young Japanese in evidently shiny new suits as well...

Cherry blossom

These are pictures that I took the other week of Sakura Road in Tokiwadaira, Chiba. I went to a really nice restaurant there with some friends (delicious meal and as many different varieties of bread as you can eat!), but honestly the smell of grilled chicken from some of the stalls almost stopped us getting there!

Coke machine playground bullying

The DyDo machine isn't allowed to play with the other machines...

Japanese Study Resources

Listed in this post are books, gadgets and resources that I have found, or am still finding, either useful or fun for my Japanese study:
Where I can, I have included links to the relevant websites.  This post will get updated from time to time.

Dictionary
I have found the Canon WordTank G55 to be very useful for a beginner-intermediate English-speaking Japanese student.  The kanji lookup tool is easy to use.  From the dictionaries you can quickly jump from the kanji to the reading in hiragana, something that you cannot do with many dictionaries.  A friend of mine has a dictionary where you can draw the kanji you see and get the English meaning, but you can't get the Japanese  reading of the kanji.

Books


Or order from the Japanese site here 
This enabled me to easily remember the hiragana and katakana.  His method of creating stories to remember the characters really worked for me.











Or order from the Japanese site here
I also have this book, but after the first couple of hundred kanji he encourages you to create your own stories, and I haven't been able to devote enough time to doing that consistently yet.  However, once you use this method you are forever trying to make up kanji stories - once you have one you like, you will remember that kanji.

This is a useful website to use alongside the book. http://kanji.koohii.com/









Or order from the Japanese site here
This is a fun book to pick up some useful everyday expressions.












Or order from the Japanese site here
I find this book useful, but a little heavy-going.












Or order from the Japanese site here
This book is ideal for beginners, but I still find it really useful now - probably because my grammar still leaves a lot to be desired...!












 Or order from the Japanese site here
This was great for light relief!  As the crosswords are either Japanese/English or English/Japanese, some of my beginning students have also enjoyed them!










For JLPT Levels 4 and 3, I found the Nihongo Challenge series very useful - see here for an example book
For JLPT Level 2, I am finding the Nihongo Sou Matome (日 本語総まとめ問題集) series very useful - see here

Free websites
http://quizlet.com
http://smart.fm/
http://kanji.koohii.com/

Other resources

• A friend of mine gets me the Asahi Children's newspaper once a week.  Written in kanji, but with furigana, a lot of the kanji get repeated, so it is a fun and interesting way of learning kanji. 
• I've enjoyed reading Doraemon in Japanese.  
• Watching DVDs with English or Japanese subtitles is also a good way of improving listening skills.  I enjoy the Hayao Miyazaki films, but other memorable ones for me were Okuribito which was an academy award-winning film, and a children's film called Kogitsune Helen (which was the first film I enjoyed and followed entirely in Japanese).

Strange floorplans

I was just reading about a new book available in Japanese bookshops called Henna Madori (Strange Floorplans).  Have a look at this website which gives more information.  http://qjphotos.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/japanese-floorplan-fails/。

今ネットで新しい本ついて読んだ。本が「ヘンナ間取り」という。おもしろいそう！

偕楽園、水戸 Kairaku-en, Mito

I went to Kairaku-en in Mito last weekend. I went after work on Saturday and stayed overnight in the Toyoko Inn. The next morning I got up really early and walked along the river to the garden, getting there at about 7:30. Even though it was so early, it was already pretty busy.

Kairaku-en is famous for its vast area of plum trees in late February/March. It was beautiful - especially from above, but a bit too regimented on ground level for my taste. I preferred the bamboo grove which really was very peaceful.

If anyone can tell me what the bird is in this photo, I'd be very interested - I see it a lot in gardens!

Have a look at my photos here!




先週末、水戸の偕楽園に梅を見に行った。きれいだったが多分竹の森のほうがいい。

その土曜日夜に仕事の後で水戸に行って東横インに泊まった。次の朝に早く起きて偕楽園に歩いた。7時半に公園に到着したがもうこんでいた！

写真を見て下さい！

Jougashima 城ヶ島

Well, at last I've been to Jougashima, having wanted to go there for a couple of years at this time of year! Actually, I was really too far at the end of the narcissus season, but it was such a lovely day, and I still found one path that had narcissus at their best.

For those living in or near Tokyo, Jougashima is well worth the visit on a sunny day. It's going to be especially beautiful in mid January to mid February, because lots of narcissus is planted there - not only in the park but also along many of the paths and roads. It seems to have a mild climate - admittedly I was wearing a heatec top, two jumpers and a scarf, but I did take my coat and gloves off, and felt that it was mild!

You get there by going to Misakiguchi Station, and then taking bus number 9 from stand 2 just outside the station. Buses are about every half hour. Take the bus for 30 minutes to the last stop Jougashima Bus Terminal. Walking back up the road past the souvenir shops leads you in a couple of minutes to some metal stairs up to the lighthouse (apparently the 2nd oldest Western style lighthouse in Jaan, built in 1870 - you can't go into the lighthouse, but there's a great view all the same! Going past the lighthouse, you go down some stairs to the road, and turning left after a little while you get to a path to walk around the coastline on the rocks. This is such a beautiful rocky beach. From the black sand to the volcanic looking rocks, it was just my kind of beach! It was easy to sit on some rocks by the sea and just muse for a while... Following the beach around to the Horseback Cave or Eyeglass Rock (you can see the Boso Peninsula in Chiba from here), you can go up some narcissus lined stairs/path around the cliff to Jogashima Park (go right when you get to the road). OK, for my own records, the narcissus along this path were already dead by today (20th February), at least a couple of weeks earlier would be better...

After wandering around the park and down to the other lighthouse on the beach, I went back the same way, out of the park and down the road to the short bridge back to mainland Miura Peninsula. Just before the toll bridge you get to a gap in the fence which doubles back on itself to a short sharp flights of steps down to the port! Turning right leads you onto a road that after a little while has restaurants and shops on it, most selling very fresh tuna in some form or other. At the end of the road, follow the road around the port (see picture at top), and then bear off right again until you reach the port bus stop (Misakiko?) From here there are several buses that go back to Misakiguchi Station. With a lot of sitting and wandering, I spent about 4 hours here, not including lunch.

I had intended to get up early from Yokohama, but didn't in the end - decided I needed the sleep more, being put next to the lift didn't help! It would have been lovely to be there when it was still early morning, rather than arriving at about 10am with everybody else! Still, it was a Saturday and not too busy.

Jougashima is beautiful. There were times when the sea looked as turqoise as it does in Okinawa, and its rugged coastline on the south side is wonderful. More pictures at the link on the right.

にんにく Garlic

じゃあ、にんにくが好きは幸運ですね。今晩、明日に城ケ島へ行くから横浜で泊まる。横浜駅来た時にレストランを探してイタリアのレストランを見付けた、「にんにく」と言ったね。でも関係をできなかった！もちろん、にんにくが一杯でした！

Well, it's a good thing I like garlic! Staying in Yokohama tonight cos I'm going to Jougashima tomorrow. When I got to the station, went to find something quick to eat, and found an Italian restaurant called Ninniku. I forgot to make the connection that ninniku means garlic! There was certainly a lot in my meal! Honestly, I probably　felled the hotel receptionist before I even got to the desk! Nice meal though!

I-Phone Stylus

I don't have an i-phone but have got to see if this is possible on my phone's touch-screen... Surely not...!
http://inventorspot.com/articles/whoops_i_ate_my_iphone_stylus_37772

Sapporo Snow Festival

Have a look at the pictures of this ice sculpture festival -
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/02/snow-sculptures-at-sapporo-snow-festival-2010/

Fantastic eh?! One day I want to get to see this!

A couple of everyday updates...!

Well, it's been over a month since my last post - I've been very busy with work, and my house has been rather too cold to sit down and write on the computer! But last week, a friend of friend was throwing out her kotatsu, and my friend stopped her so that I could have it! She left it on my doorstep yesterday!

Now, the kotatsu is a very special kind of table. It looks like a low coffee table, and has a heater underneath. In winter, you set it up with a thin quilt under the tabletop, switch it on, put your legs under it, arrange the quilt over your lap, and only come out if you absolutely have to! Previously, I've only used them in friends' houses, but everyone says that it's very easy to forget all your household jobs when you're under the kotatsu... I've only set my new one up today and I can already see the draw of it! I'm very lucky with this one, it's got a few dings, scratches and white hot cup marks - but I think I can probably get rid of the white marks with a cloth and hot iron - it's fine anyway!

This page has some lovely drawings of cats under the kotatsu!
http://www.nilab.info/cheapjap/000149.html

I've also renewed my visa again. This involved two very early Monday starts into Tokyo to get to the immigration office in Shinagawa for between 8 and 8:30am when the queue starts to form. For the first visit I stayed in a Toyoko Inn overnight which made it a more relaxed start to the day. I've now got myself a Toyoko Inn loyalty card which has already paid for its 1500yen annual membership fee. It offers various benefits such as early check-in and one free night after ten, but the most useful benefit for me (having a Sunday/Monday weekend) is that it gives a 30% discount on Sundays and national holidays. Very useful! I see a few more evenings away coming on!