A “Sonic Boom” will hit Japan

First of all, as I mentioned in this comment, the “2011 Tokyo International Marathon” was held today.

30,000 people from Japan and other countries ran the 42.195 KM (over 26 miles) course through the streets of Tokyo.
For the past five years now, the Tokyo Marathon has been an annual event held at the end of February.

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Anyways, my friend has just informed me that the American rock band KISS will be coming to Japan this April to play seven shows around Japan to support their “Sonic Boom” album.

(I did an interview with the artist who designed this album cover, by the way.)

The dates of the shows that KISS are scheduled to play in Japan are:

2011 April 13 – Nagoya, Japan at the Aichi Prefecture Gymnasium
2011 April 14 – Yokohama, Japan at the Pacifico Yokohama
2011 April 17 – Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena
2011 April 18 – Kobe, Japan at the World Hall
2011 April 20 – Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan
2011 April 21 – Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan
2011 April 23 – Sapporo, Japan at the Makomanai Indoor Stadium

Tickets for the shows in the Tokyo area (which are Yokohama, Saitama and Tokyo) will go on sale on 2011 March 12th.

I have seen KISS play in Japan in both Yokohama and Tokyo before. In Yokohama, I saw them at the “Yokohama Arena” (not the “Pacifico”, where they’ll being playing this time). In Tokyo, I saw them at both the “Tokyo Dome” and the “Nippon Budokan”.

An interesting thing about this tour is that KISS will play a show in Sapporo, Japan. KISS has played many shows in Japan since their first time here in the 1970’s and they’ve never played northern Japan before. I’m sure that KISS fans in Hokkaido are happy to hear that there will finally be a KISS concert in their area!

The name of the 「日本武道館」 (Nippon Budokan) in Tokyo means “Japan Martial-arts Hall”.
Traditionalists don’t really like the idea of musicians playing pop music in this “sacred” hall. The first pop band to play there were The Beatles when they first came to Japan. The traditionalists protested their concerts. But The Beatles drew huge crowds to the Budokan…and they held the record for the most consecutive sell-out shows there. They played four sold-out shows in a row at the Budokan.
But KISS beat The Beatles‘s record when they played five sold-out shows at the Budokan on their first Japan tour in the late ’70s.

Since then it’s become quite normal for musicians to perform at the Nippon Budokan. Even with the bigger and newer “Tokyo Dome” not far from the Budokan, upcoming Japanese pop stars still consider it a sign of success to play at the Nippon Budokan…not unlike American musicians playing at the “Madison Square Garden”.

The famous "Nippon Budokan"; Tokyo, Japan

Have you ever seen a KISS concert? If not, you’re missing out on the best live show by any band. Their shows are quite exciting…fire-breathing, blood, flying guitars, flying musicians, outrageous costumes, kabuki-style face paint.

To get an idea, watch this music promotion video for the single “Modern Day Delilah” from their most recent album “Sonic Boom”:

And, in a more good news for us KISS fans…the band has announced that a new KISS studio album of brand-new songs is due out later this year (2011)!

A number of newspapers in Japan had articles about the upcoming KISS tour here.
I bought today’s copy of 「夕刊フジ」 (“Yuukan-Fuji“) evening paper:

Here’s a close-up of the article about KISS:

 

The headline says: "Hell's group" KISS return for a Japan tour after four-and-a-half years!

100th birthday of Taro Okamoto

Do you know who 岡本太郎 (Taro Okamoto) was?

Taro Okamoto,
26 Feb 1911 - 7 Jan 1996

He was a Japanese abstract artist and sculptor.
He is quite famous in Japan.
His most well-know piece is probably the huge sculpture that he made for the “World Expo ’70” in Osaka titled 「太陽の塔」 (“Tower Of The Sun“). It still stands at the site of the expo in Osaka.

「太陽の塔」 ("Tower Of The Sun") by Taro Okamoto

I haven’t been to the “Taro Okamoto Museum” but I have seen three of his pieces many times…because these three pieces are displayed in public here in Tokyo.

These are the 「若い時計台」 (“Young Clock Tower“) in Ginza, Tokyo:

「若い時計台」 ("Young Clock Tower") by Taro Okamoto

The 「子供の木」 (“Children’s Tree“) which stands in front of the 「子供の城」 (“Children’s Castle“), which is a fun, educational activity-center for young children in Tokyo. I took my children to this place a few times when they were young and I saw this sculpture in front of the building.
I knew immediately that it was by Taro Okamoto because it matched his distinctive style.

 

「子供の木」 ("Children's Tree") by Taro Okamoto

And I’ve also seen his painting titled 「明日の神話」 (“Tomorrow’s Myth“). This painting is Mr. Okamoto’s depiction of the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.
This painting had been in Mexico for about thirty years and was only returned to Japan a little over two years ago.
It’s now on display inside 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo.

 

「明日の神話」 ("Tomorrow's Myth") by Taro Okamoto

Well, if 岡本太郎 (Taro Okamoto) was still alive he would be 100 years old today.

I learned that today is the 100th anniversary of his birth when I accessed the Google search engine earlier today and noticed that the logo looked like Mr. Okamoto’s artwork.

Google's logo to commemorate Taro Okamoto's 100th birthday.

Pandas: goodwill ambassadors

I wrote a post just over a year ago about Tokyo’s plan to get new ジャイアントパンダ (“Giant pandas”) to replace the one that died in 2008.

Well, now after nearly three years without a panda, Tokyo’s 上野動物園 (Ueno Zoo) has two five-year-old pandas.
Japan welcomed the male 「比力」 (Bili) and female 「仙女」 (Xiannu) the day before yesterday (Monday, 21 February). Those names, by the way, are the pandas’ Chinese names…Ueno Zoo will rename them shortly from a long list of potential new names submitted by people all around Japan.

 

Photos of the new pandas' "publicity shots" and the "welcome ceremony". (These photos: ©Tokyo Metropolitan Zoo)

The pandas were flown to Tokyo from China via Japan’s “All Nippon Airways” on a special “Panda plane”.

©ANA

This plane actually wasn’t painted to look like a panda for this occasion…All Nippon Airways (ANA) had this plane designed like this to commemorate the carrier’s twentieth anniversary from it’s first flight connecting Japan and China.

It took so long for Ueno Zoo to get new pandas after the previous panda died because initially Tokyo declined China’s offer for new pandas because of the steep rental that China charges zoos around the world for a panda.
But there are a number of zoos in the Tokyo area and each one has a signature animal that is a major draw for visitors. Ueno Zoo has been well-known for the panda since it first acquired one in the ’70s.
Without a panda the zoo was losing money…so Tokyo agreed to pay the ¥80,000,000 per year (about US$966,000) for the pair of pandas.

In addition to attracting more visitors to Ueno Zoo, it is expected that the arrival of the new pandas from China will help improve the image of China among Japanese people…and thus help improve Japan-China relations. So, in a way, they are unofficial ambassadors to China in Japan.

It was announced that the two pandas have recovered fine from the stress of their trip. They will be given time to get accustomed to their new surroundings before they make a debut for the public in Japan…which is expected sometime in March (2011).

(“Giant Panda“, by the way, is written as 「大熊猫」 in Chinese…which would translate literally to “Big (or ‘giant’) bear-cat”. But in Japanese, it’s written as 「ジャイアントパンダ」 (simply “Giant panda”), or more commonly as just 「パンダ」 (“Panda”).)

Does your city’s zoo have pandas…or another unique animal?

Is my music collection considered “oldies” now?

In 1986, when I was sixteen years old, if you had asked me my opinion of music that was released twenty-five prior to that (in 1961)…music by artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry was popular at that time…I wasn’t interested in that type of music and I probably would of considered it “ancient”.

It’s now 2011 and 1986 is now twenty-five years in the past!
My taste in music hasn’t changed at all. I still listen to the same great albums that I bought in the ’80s.
My I-pod has a number of albums from 1986.

Look at this list of albums that are now twenty-five years old (listed here in order of release). You can’t deny that they’re all excellent…much better than most of the forgettable “music” that is released today:

• Black Sabbath “Seventh Star” 
  
• Ozzy Osbourne “The Ultimate Sin”

• Metallica “Master Of Puppets“

• Van Halen “5150“

• Judas Priest “Turbo”

• AC/DC “Who Made Who“

• Savatage “Fight For The Rock“

• Loudness “Lightning Strikes“

• Great White “Shot In The Dark“

• Iron Maiden “Somewhere In Time“

• W.A.S.P. “Inside The Electric Circus“

• KiLLeR DWaRfS “Stand Tall“

Have you heard any of these albums? What do you think of them?
As for me, even though they’re twenty-five years old now…and nearly every one of these bands have better albums in their catalog (except Metallica—“Master Of Puppets” is legend!…these albums still stand the test of time!

Valentines

Today is Valentines Day.
In 西洋 (“western”) countries such as America, men give a gift such as chocolate or flowers to the woman he loves…and often he takes her to a restaurant for dinner.

In Japan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated quite differently.

In Japan, women give chocolate to men on Valentines Day.
And not only to the men they love. They will make home-made chocolate or cookies for their husband or boyfriend.
And then they will buy boxes of chocolate for their boss at work (provided their boss is male), male co-workers, brother-in-law, etc. (their father and brothers may get hand-made chocolate or store bought).

Most of the Valentines Day chocolates that women in Japan give is called 「義理チョコ」　(“Obligation chocolate“) because it’s given out of obligation.
「本命チョコ」 (“True love chocolate“) is the handmade (or more expensive store-bought) chocolate that the women give their husband or boyfriend.

And then, on March 14, exactly one month after Valentines Day, is the Japanese original holiday called “White Day“.
On White Day, men must give chocolate or cookies to every woman who gave them a Valentines Day gift in February.
Men don’t normally hand-make White Day chocolates, but just like Valentines…they give “Obligation chocolate” to the women who had given them one and a “True love” gift for their wife or girlfriend.

Click here to see my FAQ about Valentines Day in Japan.

On their website, the Japanese confectioner 「不二家」 (“Fujiya”) is offering free downloads of various “Valentines Day message cards” that you can print and write a message to someone special when you give them a Valentines Day present.

Click here to go to the “Fujiya Valentines Day Cards” page.

McDonalds Japan 40th anniversary

McDonalds opened their first restaurant in Japan in 1971. So this year (2011) is their 40周年 (40th anniversary) in Japan. (That means I came to Japan before McDonalds 20周年 (20th anniversary) here! Hard to believe.)

The sign says "Makudonarudo (McDonalds) Hamburger"

For their 40th anniversary, McDonalds Japan is currently offering the “Big America 2” burgers that I mentioned in an earlier post.

They’re currently offering the third one (out of four)…the “Miami Burger“.

The “Miami Burger” looks good. I’ll probably try it.
The “Texas 2 Burger” and the “Idaho Burger” have already been on the menu…the “Texas 2” was quite good. I didn’t try the “Idaho Burger” though.

In addition to the “Big America 2” campaign, McDonalds Japan is also offering Chicken McNuggets for only ¥100 (about US$1.20) this week for their 40th anniversary.

And if you use your cell-phone to access the McDonalds Japan cell-phone coupons page (only in Japanese), you can get both Chicken McNuggets and a medium-size drink (I prefer hot coffee…which has free refills, by the way) for only ¥200 (about US$2.40).

Next week, instead of McNuggets, the “Filet-o-fish” will be discounted to ¥100.

The breakfast menu is also having specials for McDonalds anniversary.
From now until the end of March, a different breakfast sandwich and drink set will only cost ¥200 for two-weeks each.
Currently, the “Salad Marinade Muffin” and drink is only ¥200. Then the “McHotdog“, “Egg McMuffin” and “Filet-o-fish” will be discounted one-at-a-time for two weeks each.

If I eat fast-food, I usually choose McDonalds because of their ¥100 – ¥200 menu items, cell-phone coupons, and “bottomless” coffee.
If I want to spend more than a few hundred yen on lunch, I’ll go get “real” food.

How to stay warm in winter…Japanese style

The day before yesterday, it was snowing in many parts of Japan…including Tokyo.

(That day (February 11th) was also a holiday in Japan, so we didn’t have to go to work or school in the snow.)

Does it snow in the winter where you live?

It normally snows one or two days each winter in Tokyo. And not a lot of snow. The snow that fell here Friday melted later in the day.
(It does snow much heavier in northern Japan, though.)

How do you stay warm in the winter where you live?
Do you heat your entire house with electric central heating? It’s a waste to heat the whole house all day…especially parts of the house that are unoccupied.

In Japan we stay warm in winter a bit differently.

First of all, rather than heating unused rooms of the house with central heating, homes here use either an electric wall-unit air-conditioner / heater or a gas heater and warm only rooms with people in them.

Japanese wall-unit A-C / heater is high-tech with a timer and remote-control.

The same gas room heater that we have.

The heater isn’t on all day and night. Once the room is warm enough, it’s turned off. Saves money.

But this isn’t the only technique used here.
We also use:

Heated carpet

炬燵　(A "kotatsu") traditional Japanese table with a heater under it to keep you warm in winter and a blanket to keep it's heat in.

"Hanten" winter room coat

湯たんぽ (Hot-water bottle)

Also, bathtubs in Japan are separate from the shower and they have a thermostat that keeps the water warm…so, unlike bathtubs in America, Japanese baths are used daily—especially in the winter.

Outside the house, during the cold months in Japan you can buy hot canned coffee, tea and other drinks from vending machines.

And many people carry　「ホカロン」 (charcoal hand-warmers).

Charcoal hand-warmers

Does your country have any useful techniques like these to stay warm during the winter?

Japan’s first train station

Outside of the JR新橋駅 (JR Shinbashi train station) in Tokyo there is a steam locomotive.

This is because Shinbashi Station was the first train station in Japan. It was built in 1872 and at that time trains were powered by steam.

The steam locomotive is outside of JR新橋駅 (JR Shinbashi train station) but that’s not where the first station stood. It’s near the same site…but not exactly.

A ukiyoe painting of the first train station in Japan by Hiroshige

In April 2003 a replica of the original Shinbashi Station was built as a monument and also as a small museum of the history of Japan’s rail service.

It’s called 「旧新橋停車場」 (“Former Shinbashi Train Depot”).

We went there last Sunday because the 「旧新橋停車場」 (“Former Shinbashi Train Depot” (or “Old Shinbashi Station”)) is currently exhibiting photos taken of Tokyo decades ago by Koyo Ishibashi.

Click here to read a post that I wrote about that exhibition.

 

「旧新橋停車場」 ("Old Shinbashi Station")

It’s an interesting place to see if you’re in Tokyo. Admission is free and if you go before 2011 March 21 you can see Mr. Ishikawa’s excellent photos there too.

After we left 「旧新橋停車場」 (“Old Shinbashi Station”) we walked around the 新橋 (Shinbashi) area of Tokyo.

Tokyo utilizes all space available...restaurants and shops can often be found under train overpasses. This one has a street sign telling cars that the clearance of this narrow road is 2.1 meters

More restaurants under the train overpass

I've never eaten at the "Budweiser Carnaval", but supposedly the waitresses there wear tight "Budweiser" mini-dresses.

How Japan was 75 years ago…

I like photo exhibits.
I usually go to the annual Press Photos Exhibit in downtown Tokyo every December.

There is currently another photo exhibit in Tokyo that I want to see.

The 「警視庁カメラマンが撮った昭和モダンの情景　・　石川光陽写真展」 (“Koyo Ishikawa – Documentary Photographs of the Showa  Era by a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Cameraman”) exhibit.

石川光陽 (Koyo Ishikawa) was a photographer with the Tokyo Police Department and was tasked with taking photographs of the city just prior to, during, and after World War II.

Tokyo Police photographer, Koyo Ishikawa

The period of time that Mr. Ishikawa lived and photographed is called the 昭和時代 (Showa Era) in Japan. This period was from late 1926 until early 1989.

I came to Japan in 1990…just after the Showa Era ended, but I’m very interested in this period of Japan’s history. So I’m planning to go to this photo exhibit.

The 「警視庁カメラマンが撮った昭和モダンの情景　・　石川光陽写真展」 (“Koyo Ishikawa – Documentary Photographs of the Showa Era by a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Cameraman”) photo exhibit is currently at the “Old Shinbashi Station” which is near 新橋駅 (Shinbashi train station) in Tokyo.
It will be there until 2011 March 21st. The hours are 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM and is open everyday except Mondays.

Admission is free of charge.

Here are some of the photos that were taken by Koyo Ishikawa:

 

Asakusa, Tokyo in 1937

Ginza, Tokyo in 1933.

Tokyo train station in 1936

Ueno, Tokyo in 1935

Tokyo looks so very different today!