Last June I wrote a post about upcoming heavy metal shows in the Tokyo area.
Some of the concerts I wrote about in that post have already occurred but Metallica will have a concert in Japan later this month and next month will be the annual “Loudpark 2010” heavy metal festival with bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, KoRn, RATT and Motorhead scheduled to perform at this year’s event.
But before either of those concerts, the “Thrash Domination2010” festival is coming to 川崎 (Kawasaki, Japan).
This is a two-day event with five thrash metal bands scheduled to perform.
Saturday, September 18 is called “Kill Night”…Agent Steel will go on stage first, then Outrage, followed by Nevermore, then Exodus and Overkill will headline.
Then, Sunday, September 19 is called “Brutal Night”…the line-up is nearly identical but rather than Nevermore, Sanctuary will be the third act on the bill and then Overkill will be fourth, with Exodus as the headliners.
Also, on the day before the festival, Overkill will have their own concert in Osaka on September 17th…and Exodus will have their own concert on September 20th (the day after the festival) in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The official "Thrash Domination 2010" T-shirts
Do you like heavy metal? How about “Thrash Metal”? Would you attend this heavy metal music festival?
「ようこそジャパン」 (Yokoso Japan!) means “Welcome to Japan!“, and is the Japan National Tourism Organization‘s official slogan of their campaign to attract foreign visitors to Japan.
「Yokoso Japan!」 logo
Here are some of their Yokoso Japan! campaign ads.
Most of the scenes in this first one are of Tokyo (there are a few shots of Osaka, etc…but most of it is Tokyo):
These show many parts of Japan:
Do they make you want to visit this beautiful country?
Yesterday, my second daughter’s class took a field trip to 鎌倉 (Kamakura).
鎌倉 (Kamakura) is a city about 90-minutes south of Tokyo. It was the capital of Japan at one time, and it’s an old 下町 (traditional-style town).
鎌倉 (Kamakura) is most famous for the 大仏 (“Great Buddah” statue) that is there.
大仏 (Great Buddah)
Unfortunately, it rained all day yesterday, so my daughter’s field-trip wasn’t as good as it could have been.
We have been to 鎌倉 (Kamakura) as a family many times…Click here to see a post I wrote about a trip we took there last April (with photos of 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery).
My daughter took the photo above of 大仏 (“Great Buddah“), and these photos:
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Today was my youngest daughter’s 学校公開 (Open School / “Parents Day”). Which is the day that parents can come watch their kids classes.
I watched my daughter’s Cooking Class. The class was right before lunch…they prepared a traditional Japanese meal and ate it for lunch.
They did a good job! 美味しそう! (It looked delicious!)
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In about 1992, a store that I liked opened in Tokyo.
It was called the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum“.
The store had sections devoted to The Beatles, The Stray Cats, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Guns ‘N Roses…and KISS (which is why I liked it!).
The store had a large statue of Elvis Presley out front. (Supposedly many Elvis fans contributed to the cost of erecting the statue…including American rock star Jon Bon-Jovi and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi!)
I am using the past-tense when I refer to the store in this post because I just found out that after being open all these years…the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum” closed down about two-weeks ago.
This is right after another landmark store in Tokyo closed recently (Click here).
The last time I went to the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum” was on November 2, 2008. I mentioned it in a post (with a photo)…click here to see it.
I was looking at the pictures on my 携帯電話 (Cell-phone) camera.
I have over 600 photos on the phone’s memory disc that I’ve taken at various places (the disc still has alot of memory space left, too!)
The U.S. Navy Base in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) south of Tokyo was attacked by two rocket bombs last Friday evening.
Noone was hurt. But police suspect it was an attack by activists who are against the American nuclear-powered aircraft-carrier, U.S.S. George Washington, being stationed there starting later this month.
(I wrote a post about this ship coming to Japan here
(I also mentioned it in a few other posts. If you want to see them, you can use the Search function on this blog. A search for posts on my blog “USS George Washington” can be accessed here )).
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Speaking of 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture)…if you visit that town, the US Navy base is in 神奈川県横須賀市本町 (Honcho, Yokosuka-ward, Kanagawa-prefecture).
The closest train stations are JR 横須賀駅 (Yokosuka JR Station), 京浜急行汐入駅 (Keihin-kyuukou Shioiri Station), or 京浜急行横須賀中央駅 (Keihin-kyuukou Yokosuka-chuo Station).
You probably wouldn’t be allowed inside the American base (unless it’s a day of one of their “Friendship Festivals“), but the street across from the base (that many American sailors mistakenly call “The Honch” (because the town’s name is 本町 (Honcho)) is ドブイタ・ストリート (Dobuita Street) with many shops and restaurants that are unique to the area.
神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) is famous for 海軍カレー (Navy Curry) because the Japanese Navy (which also has a base there) brought curry from India to Yokosuka.
Another thing that 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) is famous for are the popular スカジャン (‘Suka-jyan). Which are souvenir 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) jackets that were popular with the U.S. Military but it’s now mostly Japanese people who buy them.
There’s also 猿島 (Saru-shima (which translates to Monkey Island…but there are no monkeys there anymore)), which can be accessed by ferry.
And 三笠公園 (Mikasa Park) with the Japanese battleship Mikasa that you can take a tour of.
Everyone knows the symbol of America, the Statue Of Liberty (or the full name: the Statue Of Liberty Enlightening The World, or in Japanese 自由の女神像 (which would translate to Statue of the Liberty Goddess).
But many visitors to Japan are surprised to see the 自由の女神像 (Statue of Liberty) in Tokyo. Like the one in NYC, it was a gift from France.
I’ve seen the one in New York and, of course, the one in Tokyo (pictured above)…but I was surprised to learn (from this Wikipedia site: in English or 日本語) that there replicas of the 自由の女神像 (Statue of Liberty) all over the world.
How many of them have you seen?
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Wanna see some more various photos that I’ve taken at different times / places around Tokyo?
靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine):
ミルクスタンド (Milk stand) at a train station. (If you buy a drink at one of these, it comes in a glass bottle. You stand there and finish the drink, then return the bottle. You’re not supposed to walk off with the drink):
In a supermarket:
The 大船観音 (Oofuna-Kannon) statue near 鎌倉 (Kamakura):
The first Hard Rock Cafe, Tokyo in 六本木 (Roppongi). When I came to Japan, it was the only HRCin Japan. Now there’s eight or nine around Japan, iｎcluding two more in Tokyo (well, one of those isn’t actually in Tokyo…the Hard Rock Cafe, Narita Tokyo is in 千葉県成田市 (Narita, Chiba) near Tokyo.
The 東京ドーム (Tokyo Dome) area (including the amusement park and 小石川後楽園 (Koishikawa-kourakuen Japanese Gardens)). There happened to be a cosplay event on the day I took these photos:
Kamakura was once, long ago, the capital of Japan. It’s not too far south of Tokyo in 神奈川県 (Kanagawa Prefecture).
Kamakura is my favorite part of Kanagawa Prefecture.
It’s still very “traditional” Japan. There’s a nice beach, 大仏 (Great Buddah), many shrines and temples, lots of great souvenirs and food to buy, and 江ノ島 (Enoshima) and 横浜 (Yokohama) aren’t far.
One reason we decided to go to Kamakura today was because they were having a 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) show (like the one I watched in Tokyo yesterday) today.
My wife’s aunt wanted to join us today. So we woke up early and met her at the train station at 7:30AM and the six of us (my wife and I, our three kids, and my wife’s aunt) got to Kita-Kamakura Station at 8:45AM.
From there, we walked to 浄智寺 (Jyouchiji Temple).
Then we walked to 源氏山 (Genji-yama Mountain) and followed the hiking course.
And we walked to the 高徳院 (Koutokuin Temple) with the 大仏 (Great Buddah).
At the 高徳院 (Koutokuin Temple), there were some children dressed in kimono who were learning 茶道 (Tea Ceremony) (In Japan, preparing and serving Green Tea properly involves an elaborate ceremony). The children and their 茶道 teachers were preparing and serving tea for free. So we decided to have some.
It was very good!
The tea ceremony teacher:
From there, we walked over to 長谷寺 (Hase-dera Temple), which is a beautiful temple with a beautiful garden and Koi (Carp) pond.
The temple is up on a mountain with a beautiful view of Tokyo Bay.
In addition to that view, on the way up to the temple we were able to see 富士山 (Mt. Fuji).
At Hase-dera Temple, we ate a picnic lunch.
After lunch we headed to the 長谷駅 (Hase Station) on the 江ノ電 (Enoden Train Line) and rode the train to 鎌倉駅 (Kamakura Station) and then we walked down the 小町通り (Komachi-doori) shopping street which is lined with many great traditional Japanese shops. We bought some freshly cooked おせんべ (Rice crackers) at a shop here.
We went to the 鶴岡八幡宮 (Tsurugaoka-hachimanguuShrine) which is where the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) show was. Since it was extremely crowded and I watched Horseback Archery yesterday, we didn’t stay for the entire show.
After that, we went back to the shops and got a few bottles of “Kamakura Beer” and some famous “Hato Sable” cookies from the 豊島屋 (Toshimaya) store for souvenirs.
We (me, my wife, and our three kids) went to Yokohama recently.
Yokohama’s the second biggest city in Japan (after Tokyo), and it’s located close enough to Tokyo to often be considered part of the Tokyo general area.
Yokohama’s the largest city in Kanagawa Prefecture, about 45 minutes south of metropolitan Tokyo by train.
We’ve been to Yokohama many times…but this was the first time in awhile.
We went to Yokohama Station (usually we’d go to Ishikawacho or Sakuragicho Station) and walked around. First, we walked around the Yokohama Station area then we wandered over to the Sakuragicho area and went to the 赤レンガ倉庫 (“Red Brick Warehouse” shopping center).
In the warehouse, we found a nice furniture store and bought three desks. One for each of our daughters.
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Yokohama has alot to see a do.
Here’s a quick list off of the top of my head of places in the Yokohama area:
Cosmo World Amusement Park
Landmark Tower (The tallest building in Japan. Has an observation deck on the 69th floor)
Hard Rock Cafe Yokohama
赤レンガ倉庫 (Red Brick Warehouse (shopping center))
山下公園 (Yamashita Park)
Marine Tower
横浜中華街 (Yokohama Chinatown)
Museum Of Cultural History
Maritime Museum
Doll Museum
“An-Pan-Man” Museum (museum and shops dedicated to the popular Japanese children’s cartoon)
