Annoying pop-ups

On this, and other WordPress blogs, an annoying* Snap preview window pops up when you hold your mouse over a picture or website link (* it’s annoying to me, at least).

I disabled that function on my computer…I wish I could just disable it to my blog (as it’s seen on everyone’s computer).

I can’t. But you can disable it on your computer, too.

When one pops up, click the small gear image in the upper-righthand corner.

It looks like this:

Then click “Disable“.

Then check “For All Sites“

Then click “Save“.

If you find those pop-up previews as annoying as I do, this will save your sanity!

(By the way, if you don’t already, you should use Firefox as your web browser (rather than Internet Explorer).

Firefox blocks pop-up windows while you’re surfing the internet.

You can download it for free here ).

七夕

Next week is 七夕 (Tanabata).
Click here to read my short FAQ post about “Tanabata”.

The shopping street near our house has begun to decorate for it a couple days ago. They put up bamboo trees, paper lanterns, and other decorations. The local school children will write their wishes on a piece of paper to be tied to the trees.

Here’s a picture I took of the decorated street:

We’ll put a bamboo tree on our porch next week, as we do every year…and my kids, my wife and I will attach papers with our wishes written on them.

My wife and I always write the same thing: that our kids will have a happy, healthy life.

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Yesterday at lunchtime, a comedian who is starting to become popular was scheduled to perform at a store not too far from where we live.

We planned to go watch him…but we all woke up too late to get there on time, so we went to our kids’ favorite shopping mall instead.

But it started me thinking of famous people that I’ve met on the streets of Tokyo.

I met and talked to:
乙武 洋匡　(Ototake Hirotada) (an author who became a school teacher, who was born without arms or legs),

Eric Singer (the American drummer who was in many bands including KISS),

Bruce Kulick (the American guitarist who was also in KISS),

Carmine Appice (another American drummer. He’s called “Carmine Sensei” in Japan)…I helped design his website also,

Eddie Van Halen,

Sean Lennon (John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s son),

and 琴欧洲 Kotooshu (the Bulgarian Sumo wrestler).

Have you ever met a celebrity?

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We have a pet turtle.

His name is 亀吉くん (Kamekichi).

It’s fun to watch him eat. I took a video of it (it’s not a real clear video and he’s not eating as ferociously as he usually does 😦 Maybe I’ll take a new video of him another day.)

News

Today, my oldest daughter leaves with her school class for a field trip to 京都 (Kyoto).

They’ll travel by 新幹線 (Bullet train) and stay in Kyoto for three days.

My daughter’s very excited! But, as for me, I always have mixed feelings whenever my kids go on a field trip…I’m happy that they get to see many great places and experiences—but I can’t relax until they’re back home safe!

Kyoto is gonna be nice for her to see. It was once the capital of Japan and is very traditional. Kyoto still has many 芸者 (Geisha) (or 芸妓 (Geiko) as they’re called on that side of Japan). There are still Geisha in Tokyo, but not as many as in Kyoto.

I can’t wait to see the pictures my daughter takes on her trip!

Next month, my second daughter’s class will take a three-day trip to 新潟 (Niigata).

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Last month, my wife started a small vegetable garden on our porch.

Last week, we ate 苺 (strawberries) from her garden and tonight we had a salad with ピーマン (green peppers) and トマト (tomatos) from the garden.

They were delicious!

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It was raining all day yesterday. Probably due to that 台風 (typhoon) that hit the Philippines.

I hope it doesn’t hit Japan! (By the way, did you know that typhoon is from a Japanese word…in Japanese, it’s 台風 (taifuu)).

Anyways, the weather forecast for Tokyo this week:

June 23:

June 24:

June 25:

June 26:

June 27:

June 28:

June 29:

The World’s Busiest Train Station

新宿駅 (Shinjuku Station), in Tokyo, Japan, is the busiest train station in the world.

Shinjuku Train Station was built in 1885 and currently services over 3.5 million commuters daily!

For comparison, there are about 3 million people in the U.S. city of Chicago, and the entire population of the country of Singapore is about 4 million.

Japan’s population is 120 million…and 10% of the country’s population lives in Tokyo.

Shinjuku Station is huge. Besides all of the train and subway lines, it also has bus and taxi stops and it’s own shopping center (of course, alot of train stations in Japan have shopping centers, though).

To help you understand how large it is…Shinjuku Station has over 200 exits!

The area called 新宿 (Shinjuku) is a large, popular section of Tokyo. It is said that Shinjuku was the inspiration for the ’80s Hollywood movie “Blade Runner” (Starring Harrison Ford).

It’s a huge town full of skyscrapers and neon. I like it!

Here’s a video I took of one of the exits of Shinjuku Station on a weekday morning recently:

Horoscope

Japan uses three types of horoscopes.

The Western type astrology (based on which month you were born) is taken about as seriously as it is in Western countries…not too much.

I was born in November. Scorpio. Supposedly people born under this sign are organized.

Then there’s the Chinese zodiac which Japan imported. This one is based on which year you were born. It has a twelve year cycle.

I was born in 1969…Year Of The Rooster. Supposedly people born under this sign are organized.

The Chinese zodiac is more popular in Japan than the Western zodiac…but not as popular as blood types.

Japan’s own “zodiac” is based on your blood type.

The most common blood type in Japan is Type A. People with “A” type blood are said to be dependable and organized. I have “A” type blood. I’m an “A” blood-type, Scorpio, born in the Year of The Rooster…so, I guess I’m “organized”!

I’ve heard that the most common blood type in America is Type O. They’re said to be sociable, positive, and friendly.

Type B is wild and reckless.

Type AB is rational.

Everyone in Japan knows their own blood type and Japanese people are often surprised if they learn that many people in other countries don’t know their own blood type.

If you read about a new celebrity in a Japanese magazine, they will tell their name, age, hobbies, and blood type.

Sometimes a potential employer will ask your blood type at a job interview.

It’s quite popular in Japan. Many people take it seriously and are surprised it’s not used in other countries.

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Have you ever heard of the theme restaurants in Japan?

In Japan you can have dinner in a maid cafe, Dracula’s castle, a “hospital” themed restaurant, a “Samurai” themed restaurant, Alcatraz, “Alice’s Wonderland”, etc.

A couple friends and I recently ate the Alcatraz themed restaurant! We were escorted by guards to a “cell”, where we had dinner. Every once in a while, there would be a “prison break”!

It was fun.

I’m sure these types of theme restaurants are an “only in Japan” type of experience!

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Anyways, here’s a few pictures that I’ve taken around Tokyo last Spring (and hadn’t bothered to post them online til now!):

Brazilian-Japanese

This week is the 100 year anniversary of the mass immigration of Japanese to Brazil.

In the early 1900’s, Brazil’s economy (which was still poor) was better than Japan’s…so in June 1908, the first ship of Japanese emigrants left Japan for Brazil.

They were mostly farmers who got jobs as laborers on Brazilian coffee plantations.

Supposedly, the language barrier and culture shock was too much for most to bear and many wanted to return to Japan…but were forbidden by the coffee plantation owners.

Many of the Japanese were finally able to buy their own farmland and start their own farms. And they began raising families in Brazil, so roots were set.

But after WWII, Japan’s economy became much better than Brazil’s…so to return the favor to Brazil for allowing so many poor farmers to immigrate, Japan began allowing Brazilians of Japanese descent to come to Japan and get a special visa to allow them to live and work here.

There are many Brazilians of Japanese descent. Brazil has the largest number of Japanese people outside of Japan.

But most of the Brazilians who come to Japan have a hard time. Many can’t speak Japanese very well. They usually get low paying labor jobs in factories and their children are unable to keep up in school.

Here’s a picture of the first Japanese to immigrate to Brazil in 1908:

Update

I just changed my my main website.

It’s at:

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~tokyo5/index.html

If you visit it and can’t see anything clearly…click your browser’s “Refresh” button (maybe your hard-drive still has the old site as a “cookie”).

Anyways…please visit (and bookmark) my site’s mainpage:

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~tokyo5/index.html

and let me know what you think (and if you find any “bugs”).

Thanks.

ペリー

Yesterday I went to the 江戸東京博物館 (Edo-Tokyo Museum) to see the マシュー・ペリー (Matthew C. Perry) exhibit.

Matthew C. Perry was a Commander in the U.S. Navy in the early 1800’s.

At that time, Japan was closed to foreign countries, and Perry was sent here by the American president to negotiate with Japan to signing a trade agreement with the United States.

The fact that Perry had a fleet of black, intimidating war-ships just off the coast of Japan played a big part in convincing Japan to open to the West.

The museum had, among many other interesting things, some 浮世絵 (Woodblock prints) that Japanese artists painted of Perry.

This was the first time any of them had seen foreigners or heard them speak. So the pictures that they painted of Perry had exaggerated features, such as huge noses and wildly curly hair.

And a couple of them had Perry’s name spelled (in Japanese) incorrectly. They wrote: ペルリ (Peruri) and ペロリ (Perori), instead of ペリー (Perry).

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By the way, I’m currently in the process of redesigning My Website ( http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~tokyo5 )…it’s gonna look nicer, I think.

I’ll let you know when it’s done.

Earthquake

Today (Saturday), was my youngest daughter’s School’s Open House…the day the parents can come watch the classes.

About eight years ago Japan stopped having Saturday be a “school day”…except for special occasions.

Days that parents are expected to come (Open House, Sports Day, etc) are usually on Saturdays…and then the next school day (usually the following Monday) is a day off for the kids.

So my youngest doesn’t have school this Monday.

Anyways, I went to watch her band practice (she plays the trombone) and then her Health Class.

Before we went to her school this morning, though, there was a big 地震 (earthquake) in Northern Japan.

It registered a 6 (out of 7) on the 震度 Japanese Earthquake Scale at the epicenter. It only registered about a “2” in Tokyo…but our house was swaying.

Up in 岩手県 (Iwate Prefecture) and 宮城県 (Miyagi Prefecture), the areas at the epicenter, there were landslides and a broken bridge.

So far, three people have been confirmed dead. One man died when he got hit by a falling rock and another man died in a landslide. Possibly the most tragic death is that of a man who panicked and ran outside…where he was hit by a truck!

Tokyo Sky Tree

東京タワー (Tokyo Tower), built in 1958, is 333 meters tall. Taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France that it was modeled after.

At the time, it dominated the Tokyo skyline. And was used as a transmission tower for Tokyo’s radio and TV stations…as well as, a popular tourist attraction.

The tower’s fifty years old this year and it’s still used as a transmission tower today (and a tourist draw, as well)…but Tokyo now has many buildings that dwarf the Tokyo Tower…and obstruct the radio and TV waves.

So, the government decided to build a taller transmission / observation tower, to be completed by December 2011 and stand at nearly 634 meters tall (2080 feet).

It will be built at 隅田川 (Sumida River), near 浅草 (Asakusa). And it will be the world’s tallest tower.

This is what it’s expected to look like:

I think it’s an awesome sight. But I really like huge towers, skyscrapers and bridges!

The only thing I don’t like about it is it’s name…

Before a final name was decided upon, it was temporarily referred to as 新東京タワー (New Tokyo Tower). That was bad enough…but the official name for the new tower is: 東京スカイツリー (Tokyo Sky Tree)!

What an unfortunate name.

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Did you know that Japan’s Sumo Wrestlers went to America?

For the first time in 27 years, the top-ranking Sumo Wrestlers held matches in the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

It was reported in the Japanese news that it was very popular with the American public.

Is 相撲 (Sumo) catching on in America?

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On Saturday, a new subway line will start running in Tokyo.

The 副都心線 (Fukutoshin Line) will connect Ikebukuro to Shibuya and eventually expand to go from Saitama to Yokohama.

The name of the line translates to something like “Nearly downtown”. That’s my own translation…not an official title. 副都心線 (Fukutoshin Line) is just a name of a train line, not a normal everyday expression—so it’s hard to translate.