目黒さんま祭

Today was the 14th annual 目黒サンマ祭 (Meguro Sanma Festival).

The 2009 「目黒さんま祭」 ("Meguro Sanma Festival")

「秋刀魚」 or 「サンマ」 (Sanma) is a kind of mackerel fish.
And 「目黒」 (Meguro) is an area of Tokyo where the festival is held on the first Sunday of September every year (from about 10:00AM-2:00PM).

At this festival, they give away for free a grilled Sanma fish to the first 6,000 people! And they also give away 10,000 スダチ (Sudachi (a Japanese citrus fruit)) or ダイコン (Japanese giant radish), which both taste good with Sanma fish.

If you ever have a chance to attend this festival, I recommend it. 「サンマ」 (Sanma) is delicious!

Grilling the fish at the 「目黒サンマ祭」.

(Also, it doesn’t have anything to do with this post other than his name, but…「サンマさん」 (Mr. Sanma) is one of the most popular comedians in Japan. I enjoy his programs (And his laugh is funny)):

"Sanma-san"

Japanese prince turns 3

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito), the youngest prince in the Japanese royal family, turned three today.

He is third in line to become the Emperor of Japan.
Next in line behind the current emperor is the Emperor’s oldest son (Prince Hisahito’s uncle) Prince Naruhito, and second in line is the Emperor’s youngest son (Prince Hisahito’s father) Prince Akishino.

If the current Emperor’s oldest son (Prince Naruhito) had a son, he would be in line to the throne before 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito)…but he has a daughter (Princess Aiko) and no other children.

And 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) has two older sisters, but no brothers.

So before 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born, the Japanese government was in a quandary about who would succeed the throne.
They considered changing the law to allow Japan to be headed by a female empress, so that Princess Aiko could eventually take the throne…but her cousin 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born, so that issue became moot.

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born on 2006 Sept 6.

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) now at age 3.