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.
A man in Tokyo was arrested after he called an ambulance because of a poisonous snake-bite he received by feeding one of his pets.
The police searched his apartment and discovered he had boxes of snakes. A total of 51 exotic poisonous snakes! And he didn’t have a license to own them as required by Japanese law.
He kept the snakes in plastic boxes stacked up in his apartment. If there was an earthquake, they could have easily spilled out and escaped.
Incidentally, last November, one of the man’s neighbors went to the hospital Emergency Room for a poisonous snake bite. The police suspect it was one of this man’s snakes.
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:
Speaking of sports, a Russian 相撲 (Sumo) wrestler in Japan named 若ノ鵬 (Wakanohou) was recently arrested for possession of marijuana and dismissed from the Sumo Federation.
Japan has very strict drug laws. If he is convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and / or deportation.
What a stupid mistake.
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Last Saturday (2008/8/23), lightning struck the 醍醐寺 (Daigoji Temple) in 京都 (Kyoto, Japan), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, causing a fire which destroyed part of the centuries old cultural asset.
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Also on Saturday we took our oldest daughter to an exhibition of Tokyo high schools and colleges to help us decide which one should attend next school year which begins in April in Japan.
She’ll be starting high school (10th grade).
Here’s a picture I took of the event. It was pretty crowded:
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From there, we went to the 米国空軍有効祭 (U.S. Air Force Friendship Festival) at the U.S. Air Force base in western Tokyo.
This is the only time that the U.S. military bases are open to the public. Actually, going on the U.S. bases is almost like going to America. The food, clothes, and the way everyone speaks loudly (and in English) are all very American. It’s kinda a culture shock for me (and of course, my family)…I guess I’m not used to America anymore.
It was a little bit rainy the day of this year’s festival, so it wasn’t so fun (but it wasn’t hot, so that was nice). We went to this festival three years ago…it was nice sunny weather on that day (although quite hot).
I couldn’t get any nice pictures from this weekend’s festival at the U.S. Air Force base because of the weather…but here are a couple pictures from the event when we went in 2005. They had a sky-diving show and let the public look inside the aircraft:
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And yesterday (Sunday), I volunteered to help set up and run a booth at a local summer festival near our house.
It was still raining (and it’s still raining today 😦 ) but a fairly large number of people still turned up. I helped run the drinks and かき氷 (flavored shaved ice) booth.
The weather was pretty cool, so not many people wanted shaved ice…but we sold alot of drinks. Especially beer!
It was a 盆踊り (Bon dancing) festival…but I was surprised that so many people still did the dancing despite the weather.
I was busy helping out so I didn’t bring my camera. But I took a picture with the cell-phone. It didn’t turn out so good because it was rainy and evening.
First of all, I should mention that I’m a fan of the American rock band KISS (have been since the late 1970s), and that’s why this interests me.
On the 1976 KISS album “Destroyer“, there’s a song titled “Detroit Rock City” (although the band hails from New York City, their first sold-out headlining show was in Detroit, Michigan…this song is a tribute (of sorts) to the city).
In 1999, KISS released a movie also titled “Detroit Rock City“. It starred Edward Furlong (best known for his part in Terminator 2). This movie is basically about the adventures of four teenagers trying to get tickets to a sold-out KISS concert in 1978.
(This was actually KISS’ second movie. In 1978, they released a not very good television movie titled “KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park“. This movie was about the band battling a disgruntled amusement park employee who kidnaps people to create evil robots in their likeness. Seriously.)
So what does any of this have to do with a blog about Japan? (Besides KISS’s 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) style make-up and their use of Japanese written characters (especially 「力」 (Chikara = power))).
Well, a new Japanese movie is being released here about a timid teenager from the countryside in Japan who moves to Tokyo to become a pop-star, but ends up leading a heavy-metal band that wears 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) style make-up.
Today and tomorrow we are taking my oldest daughter to look at a few high schools to help us decide which one she should go to next Spring (she’ll start 高校一年 (10th grade (first year of high school in Japan)) in April).
In December, she’ll begin taking high school entrance exams! (Next year, my 2nd daughter will do the same…then the youngest after that!)
They grow up too fast!
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Yesterday we went to 銀座 (Ginza) and 上野 (Ueno).
Near 銀座 (Ginza), I saw this 新幹線 (Bullet train) pass by (it was going past a train station, so it wasn’t moving so fast at the time):
And at 上野 (Ueno), we went to a junk-food store that sold ラムネ (Ramune), which is a popular (especially in the summer) carbonated drink in Japan.
It has a distinctive bottle with a marble in the neck.
It usually has a lemon flavor…but this store had many odd flavors and there was a sign that said 「まずいラムネランキング」 (“Top Ten WorstRamune Flavors”)!
Some of the まずいラムネ (Worst Ramune Flavors) included
“Wasabi Ramune“, “Curry Ramune“, and “Takoyaki Ramune“…but the “#1 Worst Flavor” was 「キムチ・ラムネ」 (“Kimchee Ramune”)!
So I had to buy it!
I’ve haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it is.
(Actually, I really like 「キムチ」 (Kimchee)…(spicy, Korean cabbage). So I’m wondering how this drink tastes.)
From there, we went to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke Box”), which is a private room for singing Karaoke (you can also order food and drinks from a menu and they’re brought up to the room you’re in).
I’m a terrible singer…but my kids enjoy it.
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In the news,
A wild monkey got into busy 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo. Over thirty police officers attempted to capture it, but the monkey managed to flee the train station.There are wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkeys) in the countryside but in the city they’re usually only seen in the zoos.
The American Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier, U.S.S George Washington, will be stationed in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture) soon. There are a number of Japanese people who are against the ship coming here, mainly because it’ll be the first nuclear-powered ship to be stationed in Japan.The fact that there was a fire onboard the carrier last Spring compounded their worries.
(You can read my earlier post about the USS George Washington coming to Japan).
And now, it’s been reported, two sailors from the ship have been arrested last weekend in California, USA for murder!
I decided to try linking one of my posts to digg.com.
It’s a website where you can vote for the best pages on the internet, theoretically.
Anyways, if you look at the end of my 「深川八幡祭」 post, you should see a button that says “Digg it“…if you like my post, you can vote for it by clicking that button.
(The post is here…and the button’s at the end of the post).
Please take this survey about how many foreign countries you’ve ever visited…and then, please tell which countries you’ve visited, and which were your favorites (and why) in the comments section.
Yesterday was the day for the annual 深川八幡祭り (Fukagawa-Hachiman Festival).
Not only that, it was also the big, full festival that occurs every three years!
You can read a little more about this festival on my Festivals page by Clicking here.
I didn’t mention it before but two years ago I was invited to participate in this year’s festival.
I carried a 神輿 (portable shrine) in this festival nine years ago…and the next day, I swore that I’d never do it again!
It was a unique, fun experience…but my body ached so bad that I decided that I only wanted to experience 神輿 (portable shrine) festivals as a spectator from then on.
But carrying a 神輿 (portable shrine) can be compared to drinking in excess…you enjoy it while you’re doing it, but the next day you’re in pain and tell yourself that you’ll never do that again. But when the memory of the pain fades, you’ll happily agree to join in again!
That’s what happened in 2006 when I was invited to join in the 2008 festival. I gladly agreed.
I’m not saying that I regret my decision. Not at all.
My muscles ache…but it’s not so bad. And I really enjoyed it.
At the end of yesterday’s festival, I was invited to join in the next big, full version of the festival again in 2011! I agreed again.
Anyways, yesterday, I got to the meeting place at 7:30AM and changed into the clothes worn by 神輿 (portable shrine) carriers.
This festival is centuries old and little has changed…including the clothes.
There are over 50 神輿 (portable shrine) carried by different groups in this festival. Each group wears a different 反転 (light jacket).
At 8:00 our leader gave us a few encouraging words and then we picked up our 神輿 (portable shrine) and it began!
Each group has about 70 people (I’d estimate) and only 30 or so can fit around the 神輿 (portable shrine) at a time. So the remaining people who aren’t actually carrying it follow behind and change out with the carriers as they become tired.
What makes this festival different from most 神輿 (portable shrine) festivals is that the people in the crowd throw water on the people carrying the 神輿 (portable shrines)!
Many people stand in trucks with the beds full of water and use buckets to throw the water, some people use garden hoses…and the Tokyo Volunteer Fire Department was there—spraying us with fire hoses!
We got soaked!
At noon, we put the 神輿 (portable shrine) down and all of us (nearly 4000 people, I guess) were given お弁当 (Japanese box lunches).
At that point, we were pretty sore…and cold. Usually getting soaked is a blessing for the people carrying the 神輿 (portable shrines) at this festival since August in Tokyo is sweltering. And it has been extremely hot every day this month…but the day before this festival, there was a storm in Tokyo and I guess it brought a bit of a cold-front. In addition, it was overcast all day.
But we weren’t done yet…only halfway.
After lunch, it began to lightly rain. Noone would’ve noticed since we were already very wet. But that didn’t make the weather any warmer.
At the end, we didn’t just put the 神輿 (portable shrine) away. It was done extravagantly! Turning around and around, throwing it up and catching it. 神輿 (portable shrine) aren’t light…about 2 tons!) with lots of water being sprayed at us!
It was quite a show.
I enjoyed it alot! And I’ll be back for more in 2011!
It was over at 5:30PM…over nine hours! We were given some beer and we had a toast to our success.
Since I was busy carrying the 神輿 (portable shrine) and getting soaked, my wife took all of the photos and videos!
She took some excellent pictures and videos! Better than I do.
Here’s a slideshow of some of the photos of my 神輿 (portable shrine) group:
[rockyou id=120554167]
And here are twelve (!) videos that she took:
(If you enjoyed this post, you can vote for it on digg.com by clicking the “Digg it” button below:)
This is probably the most famous 下町 (Shitamachi) area of Tokyo. (下町 (Shitamachi) is “Downtown” and 山の手 (Yamanote) is “Uptown“. Read this post about a less-touristy Shitamachi area we like…and a brief explanation of the term.)
浅草 (Asakusa) is an area popular with foreign visitors. All Tokyo guidebooks recommend a visit. Yesterday we saw and heard many people there speaking 中国語 (Chinese), 韓国語 (Korean), フランス語 (French), 英語 (English), etc.
The most popular place for visitors to go in 浅草 (Asakusa) is 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple). (Looking at the 漢字 (kanji characters) for the temple’s name, it might appear that it’s name is “Asakusa-tera Temple”. It’s not, though…but there is a shrine nearby called 浅草神社 (Asakusa Shrine). Anyways.)
Here’s a picture of the gate at the entrance to 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple) grounds:
This gate is called 雷門 (Lightning Gate), and that’s what the paper lantern at the gate says. The lantern is flanked by 風神 (The God of Wind) and 雷神 (The God of Lightning).
So, here are five short videos of the area that I uploaded to YouTube:
浅草 (Asakusa) is more lively during one of the numerous festivals that are held in the area. I go to most of the festivals in this area (and other parts of Tokyo, too)…Click here to read a post and see videos of one of the recent festivals I went to in 浅草 (Asakusa)).
Tokyo Five 
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