Alligator Gar in Tokyo river

Do you know what an 「アリガーターガー」 “alligator gar” is?

It’s a 「ワニ魚」 (“alligator fish”) native to Mississippi, America. I grew up in the south-eastern U.S. (in fact, I was born in Mississippi) but I never heard of this creature until today.

The 「アリガーターガー」 (alligator gar) is a carnivorous fresh-water fish that has the head (and teeth!) similar to an alligator.  They can grow to lengths of 1.8 – 3 meters (six to ten feet).

The freakish "alligator gar"

The reason I heard about the 「アリガーターガー」 (alligator gar) today is because a 1.5 meter (five feet) long 「アリガーターガー」 (alligator gar) has been seen swimming in the 呑川 (Nomikawa River) in 東京都大田区 (Oota-ku, Tokyo).

It’s assumed that someone purchased the 「ワニ魚」 (“alligator fish”) as a pet and set it free when it grew too big.

Due to the danger it poses to the fish, ducks, turtles, that live in the river (and, or course, to children that may be play in the river), authorities intend to catch the 「アリガーターガー」 (alligator gar) and give it to an aquarium.

Sapporo アイスラガー Beer

Today I bought a case of a new “limited edition for 2010” beer by Sapporo Breweries.

It’s called 「サッポロアイスラガー」 (“Sapporo Ice Lager“).

I couldn't resist a "ice" lager beer with polar bears on the can...it gives an image of being a real cold beer---perfect now that the weather is so hot!

Technically it’s not a “beer”, per se…but a 「発泡酒」 (low-malt beer).
Actually I prefer 発泡酒 (low-malt beer) because it tastes the same as beer but it’s cheaper in Japan because it doesn’t have the high beer tax added to it’s price.
So, beer or 発泡酒 (low-malt beer)…I enjoy drinking both but I usually buy 発泡酒 (low-malt beer) because of the price difference.

Anyways, I knew about this 「サッポロアイスラガー」 (“Sapporo Ice Lager“) beer before I bought it because of the funny TV commercial with two polar bears complaining about the heat and looking for something cold to drink.
Here it is:

マダコがビンのフタを開けた

Last December. I wrote a post about Japan’s “Eco” movement that mentioned a X-mas tree powered by an electric eel at the 江ノ島水族館 (Enoshima Aquarium) near Tokyo.

(Click here to read that post).

The 江ノ島水族館 (Enoshima Aquarium) has a YouTube page.

Well, scientists have said that the 「マダコ」 (“Common Octopus”) is intelligent.
If it’s put into a jar and the lid is then screwed shut, the octopus will watch and learn how the top was closed…and then it will reverse the process from inside the jar to open it and free itself.

The 江ノ島水族館 (Enoshima Aquarium) demonstrated this and put a video of it on their YouTube page.

Here’s the video:

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I’ve never been much of a Michael Jackson fan, but if you are…and you’re in Tokyo, the Tokyo Tower is having a special exclusive event since last month until July 11th titled “Michael Jackson – the official Lifetime collection“.

If you want to see Michael Jackson’s personal possessions, including his Rolls-Royce car and many other items, you should go to the Tokyo Tower by July 11th between the hours of 9:00AM – 10:00PM.

Admission is ¥2,000 for adults, ¥1,800 for high school and college students, and ¥1,500 for children between age 3 and junior high age. (Under 3 is free).

Last Friday was the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death.
To commemorate, Tokyo Tower allowed fifty die-hard fans who were willing to pay ¥100,000 (about US$1,000) to spend the night in the exhibit room surrounded by the collection of Michael Jackson’s possessions!
Supposedly, these fans were touched emotionally by the experience and felt the money was well spent.

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Also, this year is the 60th anniversary of the popular Japanese toy store chain “Kiddyland“.
So Kiddyland has decided it’s time to renovate their large multi-storied shop in 表参道 (Omotensando, Tokyo).

So on 2010 August 31, the current store will close for the renovations and a temporary shop will be opened on 2010 September 1st not far from the current location.

A map showing how to get from the current Kiddyland location to the temporary one (which will be above "Snoopy Town")

The new renovated Kiddyland will reopen in the summer of 2012 at it’s current location.

Here’s an artist’s rendition of the new store:

The new ベスト・キッド

I wrote an earlier post about the remake of the classic ’80s movie “The Karate Kid“.

Click here to read that earlier post. In it, I discussed the impact the original made on the world and how it almost seemed sacrilegious to attempt a remake.

Well, the remake version has been released in theaters in America on June 11th.
Here’s the U.S. flyer for the movie:

U.S. "Karate Kid" flyer

Have you watched this movie yet? What do you think? Is it good?

The date that this movie will hit theaters in Japan has been announced. The ロードショー (screen debut) will be Saturday, August 14th in Japan. I was skeptical about this movie until I saw the trailers.
You can see the U.S. trailer for this movie on my other post here or the Japanese trailer on the official 「ベスト・キッド」 (Japanese “Karate Kid”) website.

In Japan, both the original ’80s “Karate Kid” movie and this new remake are titled 「ベスト・キッド」 (“Best Kid“).

Here’s the Japanese flyer for the ’80s 「ベスト・キッド」 (“Karate Kid“):

Japanese flyer for 1984 「ベスト・キッド」 ("Karate Kid")

And here’s the new Japanese flyer for the 2010 remake version:

Japanese flyer for 2010 remake version of 「ベスト・キッド」 ("Karate Kid")

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On a different subject…

It’s now summer in Japan. There are many summer festivals in Japan.
Check out my “Festivals In Tokyo” page for a listing of some of the major festivals in summer (and the other times of year too).

One of the most popular festivals in July and August in Japan is 花火大会 (fireworks shows).

You can see a basic listing in English of the fireworks shows around Tokyo on my “Festivals In Tokyo” page by clicking here.

But for a more comprehensive listing of this year’s fireworks shows for Tokyo and anywhere else in Japan, you can visit the 「花火カレンダー２０１０」 (“2010 Fireworks Calendar”.

This fireworks calendar site is a collaboration between the “Walker Plus” magazine and Suntory 「金麦」 (Kinmugi) beer.

It’s in Japanese only though.
But if you can’t read Japanese and want help finding a fireworks show in your area, Email me and I’ll help you.

Have you ever watched a fireworks show in Japan? It’s crowded but a lot of fun.

カッパさん

Let me introduce you to a Japanese folklore character.

Do you know what a 「カッパ」 (“Kappa“) is?

It’s a fictional character that has been a famous folklore legend in Japan for centuries.
It looks like a creepy turtle-like creature with a “dish” on it’s head surrounded by hair, a turtle-like shell on it’s back, a bird-like beak and webbed fingers and toes.

It lives in the rivers, streams and other bodies of water in Japan.

Kappa love to eat cucumbers. So there is a type of sushi made with cucumber that is called “Kappa-maki“.
But their favorite meal is children. They like to eat children who wander too close to rivers and streams.

As you may have guessed, the “Kappa” is a type of “boogey-man” in Japan that is meant to frighten children from playing too close to water were they might drown.

That’s the purpose of Kappa. To keep small children from playing near rivers and streams.

So, almost every sign near rivers, streams, ponds, etc that warn children from playing there have a picture of a Kappa.
The character is basically a “do not swim” mascot.

 

The sign says "Danger!! Don't play in the water" (The faded blue sign says about the same)

(Signs in Japan for earthquake shelters have a logo too. A catfish. (I wrote a post about that: here).

Kappa can be seen many places in Japan. There’s even a part of Tokyo called 合羽橋 (Kappabashi).

The Kappa has a weak point.
His incredible strength stems from the “dish” on top of his head that is full of water.
Kappa must be careful to never let the water spill out of the dish.
But the Kappa is famously polite…if a person is confronted by a Kappa that person should bow to the Kappa because the polite Kappa will surely return the bow—and then spill the water off his head which would render him helpless.

And there’s another weakness…if someone refills a Kappa’s empty “dish” and restores his strength, the Kappa will be indebted to that person for life.

 

A cuter Kappa-san

What types of folklore creatures are in your country’s culture? And they meant to ensure children’s safety, like the Kappa?

カメデス

Here’s a story that I saw on the TV news and the newspaper recently about this turtle:

Someone painted 「カメデス」 ("I'm a turtle") on his back.

I added the original Japanese article here and below it is my translation of it to English.

雑記帳：「カメデス」カメ捕獲…甲府の舞鶴城公園

「カメデス」と甲羅に落書きされた甲府市の舞鶴城公園のカメが１６日、岸に上がっているところを捕獲された。落書きを消そうと、公園を管理する山 梨県が捕獲作戦を展開中だった。

仕事で外出していた山梨県警の男性警察官がカメを発見。近づくと手足を引っ込めたため、簡単に捕まえられたという。“逃走”を続けていたカメだ が、本職の警察官には手も足も出なかったようだ。

県は落書きされた文字を溶剤などで消すことも検討したが、カメはちょうど脱皮の時期。脱皮によって落書きが消える可能性もあるといい、結局、県の 施設で保護して様子を見守ることになった。

In English:

Journal：The “I’m A Turtle” turtle captured at Kofu Maizurujyou Park

A turtle that someone wrote “I’m A Turtle” on the shell was captured on June 16th at Maizurujyou Park in Kofu (Japan).

Government employees who manage the park had been trying unsuccessfully to capture the turtle to clean off the writing on it’s back.

A policeman was passing the park on his way to work and noticed the turtle. When he approached the turtle, it pulled it’s head and legs into it’s shell and the policeman was able to catch it easily.

The park employees were planning to remove the writing from the turtle’s back, but decided there was a risk of injuring the animal with the paint remover. So they decided to care for the turtle and hope the writing eventually wears off.

I wonder how someone could be mean to an animal. We have a pet turtle and I couldn’t imagine harming it (I have a photo of our turtle at the end of this post).

日本の夏

It’s now summertime.

Currently it’s 「梅雨」 (“Rainy season“) in Japan. As usual for this time of year, it’s forecast to rain a lot for the next few days.
But also, the temperature is rising steadily and it’s quite humid. Today it was a muggy 31°C (88°F) in Tokyo.

Summer is hot and humid here…but it’s still very enjoyable. There’s so much to do.
Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer are all very different in Japan. Of course the weather is different…but I mean the food, festivals, and general atmosphere is different and unique to each season.

In a couple of earlier posts I mentioned that fast-food chains in Japan have spicy items on their menus  (Click here to read one of those posts)…but fast-food isn’t a traditional Japanese summer tradition of course, and actually their spicy summer foods aren’t extremely popular in Japan (I haven’t even tried any of them).

There are traditional foods that are very popular in Japan during the summer to help you deal with the summer heat.
Some of them are:

– 冷やし中華 (“Hiyashi Chuuka“). Cold noodles, cucumbers, ham, tomatoes, and cold soy sauce.

– スイカ (watermelon)

– かき氷 (shaved ice)

– ビール (beer)…Popular all year long, of course. But excellent to help you cool down in the summer.

– うな丼 (Freshwater eel on rice). This is said to help keep up your stamina in hot weather.

うな丼 (Freshwater eel on rice). I enjoy this dish a lot!

Some other aspects of summer in Japan include:

– the beaches and pools become crowded. Especially in August.

– the numerous summer festivals including 花火 (summer fireworks shows).

– insects. The “sound of summer” in Japan is the chirping of the セミ (cicadas). There are also カブト虫 (beetles)…and, unfortunately, ゴキブリ (cockroaches) and 蚊 (mosquitoes).

– 蚊取線香 (mosquito repellent incense).

蚊取線香 (mosquito repellent incense) often is shaped like a pig

To stay cool, there’s also ウチワ and 扇子 (types of paper fans), and ジンベイ and ユカタ (traditional Japanese summer clothing).

This isn’t an all-exclusive description of a summer in Japan, of course. It’s difficult to describe…you should come to Japan in each of the seasons and see “four different Japans”.

What’s summer like in your country?

World Cup news

Japan won their first game in the 2010 World Cup (being played in South Africa now until 11 July, in case you didn’t know).

Japan defeated the African country of Cameroon with a score of 1-0 in the first soccer match for both countries’ teams in this years soccer World Cup.

The Japanese player Keisuke Honda was voted as the game’s MVP as he scored the only goal in the match.

Keisuke Honda (of Japan's "Samurai Blue" soccer team) scoring the only goal in Japan's match against Cameroon, 2010 June 14.

In other World Cup related news…
Islamic militants in the African nation of Somalia are apparently in charge of parts of that country and have imposed numerous, strict and outrageous laws…including making it a capital offense to watch the World Cup soccer matches on TV.

A group of the militants forced their way into private homes of people who were watching the Germany-Australia match.
The executed two of the soccer fans and arrested thirty others!

No country should oppress people like that.

Earthquake

An earthquake (地震) just struck Japan.
Thankfully no 津波 (tsunami), injuries or property damage have been reported as of yet. But it was a pretty big earthquake…it registered as 6.1 on the Richter Scale or as a 5- on the 震度 (Shindo Scale) at the epicenter.

America and most other western countries use the “Richter Scale” to measure the intensity of earthquakes.
The Richter Scale simply measures the strength of the earthquake at it’s epicenter…it’s most intense point.
This scale technically has no upper limit but I believe the strongest earthquake measured on the Richter Scale was at 9.5.

Japan doesn’t use the Richter Scale. The 震度 (Shindo Scale) is used to measure the strength of earthquakes here.
This scale was invented centuries ago (unlike the Richter Scale, which was invented about 75 years ago), and it originally had only four levels.
Later it was increased to eight levels (0-7), and about fifteen years ago it was changed again to it’s current ten levels.
The ten intensity levels on the Shindo Scale are “0” (which is an earthquake too slight to be noticed by humans), “1“, “2“, “3“, “4“, “5弱” (“5-“), “5強” (“5+”), “6弱” (“6-“), “6強” (“6+”), and “7“.

Another difference between the Richter Scale and the Shindo Scale is that unlike the Richter Scale (which simply assigns an earthquake an intensity based on it’s strength at the epicenter), the Shindo Scale assigns an earthquake different intensity ratings for everywhere that it affected.

For example, the earthquake that just struck Japan a couple hours ago was rated as “6.1” on the Richter Scale (as I mentioned above)…but on the Japanese Shindo Scale it was rated as “5弱” (“5-“) in the 東北地方 (“Tohoku Region” of Japan) which was closest to it’s epicenter.
“5-” level is strong enough to cause furniture to fall and even crack walls and damage pipes.
But in the Tokyo area (where I live), it was a level “3” which is strong enough to shake houses but doesn’t usually cause anything to fall over.
Nothing fell in our house…but it was shaking and it’s quite an unsettling feeling!

I hate earthquakes.

Today's earthquake was a level 3 in Tokyo and 5- in Tohoku on the Shindo Scale.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake?

How to improve the World Cup…use binoculars

The 2010 World Cup has begun. The World Cup is the international soccer championship games.

(I wrote this post about a drink Pepsi-Japan released recently in honor of the World Cup.)

I don’t think soccer is a very exciting game. But I remember seeing on TV here about ten or so years ago a soccer game organized by the famous Japanese comedian Beat Takeshi that was much more entertaining than how the game is usually played.

He made all of the players wear binoculars strapped by their faces. It was quite funny. Beat Takeshi always has excellent shows even today.

Of course someone put it on YouTube.

This is how soccer should be played: