Legendary illustrator Noriyoshi Ohrai, RIP

In Tokyo, even the guinea pigs are orderly!

My family and I have often enjoyed watching the guinea pigs and other animals return to their pens in an orderly line. It’s cute and amazing!

Kawagoe Festival

川越 (Kawagoe) is a town in 埼玉県 (Saitama Prefecture) north of Tokyo.

Kawagoe has many old traditional temples, shrines, statues and other structures standing, so it is nicknamed 「小江戸」 (Ko-Edo), whcih means “Little Edo” (Edo was Tokyo’s name centuries ago).

Kawagoe has connections to the first shogun, Ieyasu. When the shogun died, his remains were brought to Nikko for burial. On the way there, a ceremony was held at a temple in Kawagoe.
Ieyasu died 400 years ago…so this year’s annual Kawagoe Festival was special.

The Kawagoe Festival was held yesterday and the day before. We went to it yesterday. (Click here to see this images in a slideshow):

About 90 minutes north of Tokyo, we went to Kawagoe yesterday.

The giant floats is what Kawagoe Festival is famous for.

The excitement of the festival with the floats, traditional music, crowds and food can’t be appreciated with just photos!

These “lions” are a popular part of Japanese traditional culture.

The “lions” will take donations to the temple…and eat it!

It’s popular to let the Shishi lion “bite” your child’s head to make them “healthy and strong”.

Often the kids cry. Just like when cry when they sit on Santa’s lap, they’ll get over it soon.

This is a old traditional 火の見櫓 (fire watch / warning bell tower).

The bell in the fire watchtower can be seen in the distance.

A Japanese fire hydrant.

500 statues of Buddah. Each one has a different pose and expression.

「わたあめ」 (“Cotton candy”)

In the evening is when the Kawagoe Festival becomes more lively.

When two floats meet, they “battle” for the right-of-way.

The team that “loses” must back up and make way for the other team.

Quarter Century!

On 1990 October 17th, I came to Japan from America. Twenty-five years ago today!
I have been living in Japan longer than I lived in the U.S.

Twenty-five years already! 1990 doesn’t feel like it was all that long ago…but twenty-five before 1990 was 1965 and that was before I was even born! America saw a lot of changes between 1965 and 1990…and Japan has seen many changes since 1990.

I wrote a post on this date last year and told about some of the many changes I’ve seen in Japan since I first arrived.
(Click here to read it.)

In this post, to mark the quarter-century that I’ve been living in Japan, I decided to list (in no particular order) twenty-five reasons that I love living in Tokyo. (Many of them have to do with the fact that Japan is a very safe place to raise children!)

1. No guns – I dislike guns and see no reason for “common people” to own one. In Japan, only the military, the police and hunters (after passing an extensive testing and screening procedure) legally have guns. The Japanese police are armed, but very rarely draw their weapon…it would be an absolute last resort.So, there aren’t shootings in Japan. I witnessed a deadly shooting at my high school in Florida when I was a teenager…that’s something I never wanted my children to experience.
2. Low crime rate – Tokyo is a huge, densely-populated metropolitan city…but still has very little crime.
3. Punctuality – Everything and everyone is on time. Trains, and even city buses, arrive on the scheduled time. Almost 100% of the time.
4. Convenient – There are so many stores, restaurants, and services in Tokyo! You can get anything you need…without going too far.
5. Health care – Health insurance in Japan pays for 70% of hospital, clinic, dental and ambulance costs.
6. School system – I wrote a post about how I feel that Japanese schools are better than American ones.
7. Prices – Many people have an image that Japan is very expensive. But, in my experience, it’s mostly cheaper than America! Amusement parks, movie tickets, groceries, restaurant meals, haircuts, and on and on are all similarly priced, or even cheaper than, in America! Gasoline is about the only thing priced lower in America.
8. Restaurants – The restaurants in Japan are well-known for being the best! Everything from fast-food to family restaurants to gourmet establishments all have excellent food and service. There are more Michelin starred restaurants in Tokyo than any other city in the world!
9. Convenience stores – Japanese convenience stores are great! You can get beer, whiskey, snacks, hot meals, and more 24 hours a day. But also…you can buy postage stamps, concert tickets, mail packages, pay bills, and use an ATM.
10. Vending machines – Japanese vending machines are everywhere and they sell all kinds of things: hot drinks and cold drinks (such as tea, coffee, water, juice, cola and beer), umbrellas, stamps, snacks, fruit, and much more. They accept payment by coin, ¥1000 bill (about US$10), cell-phone, or IC card. Many have digital displays that show the weather forecast and use facial recognition to recommend a drink.
11. Kindness -Even in a big city such as Tokyo, you can often see acts of kindness shown to others.
12. Thoughtfulness – Japanese people are very good at considering other people’s feelings, and that makes living in a densely populated city much easier.
13. Politeness – Japanese are well-known for their politeness.
14. Sightseeing – Modern architecture, traditional castles, shrines and temples, and beautiful nature…Japan has a lot to see.
15. Amusement parks – Japan has all kinds of amusement parks…big, small, water parks, and theme parks. Probably most well-know is Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea…they’re the only Disney parks in the world that aren’t owned by Disney. Rather, they’re owned by a Japanese company and licensed from Disney. Tokyo Disneyland is actually a lot cheaper than Florida’s Disney World!
16. Service – Service is always top-notch in Japan. Even at fast-food restaurants and convenience stores!
17. Quality – Even Daiso (Japan’s version of a “dollar store”) sells quality merchandise.
18. Statues and robots – Gundam (both a statue and a “life-size” robot), Statue of Liberty, Godzilla, Hachiko, and so many more. I’ve written many posts, with photos…click here.
19. Four seasons – I grew up in Florida. There’s no snow, no colorful autumn leaves…basically only one season there. I know many places in the world have four seasons…but many don’t. And in Tokyo, each season is an even 1/4 of the year. And each season in Japan is so unique!
20. Festivals – There are so many excellent festivals in Japan! I’m a member of a great one! (Click here to see photos).
21. Museums – Museums of art, Japan’s history, ramen, cartoon characters, beetles, and so many more! They’re all so interesting!
22. Peaceful and quiet – Tokyo can be noisy, but generally, Japan (even the big cities such as Tokyo) are nice and quiet! Have you ever ridden a train in Japan. Most people don’t talk…and the ones who are talking do so quietly. It’s nice.
23. No tipping – Not restaurants, not hotels, nor barbers or taxis. Leaving a tip isn’t done in Japan.
24. Unique areas – Different cities and areas of Japan are unique. But, not only that…even in Tokyo, the different areas are unique. Ginza, Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno, etc…what do you want to do or buy? There’s a section of Tokyo that’s best for whatever you’re looking for.
25. Never boring – I have been living in Japan for twenty-five years now…and I still enjoy going out and about.

Could you find the proper restroom?

In Japan, nearly every public restroom has a blue picture of a man on the men’s room door and a red picture of a woman on the ladies’ room door.

But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, especially at places that don’t get many foreign customers, the doors with be marked with black kanji symbols for male and female on the respective doors.

Would you be able to find the correct restroom? Take this two-question quiz to see.

For this quiz, this symbol will be “no. 1”.

 

For this quiz, this symbol will be “no. 2”.

How did you do? Did you know the answers, of just guess them? Tell me in the comments section!

The “Information Age”

Unlike people my kids’ age or younger, people my age and older grew up before there was an internet. Young people can’t imagine it, but we grew up without telephones in our pockets, without cameras on our person at all times (and when we did carry a camera, we didn’t take photos of things such as what we ate for dinner…because cameras used film with a very limited number of photos)…and we also weren’t under a constant barrage of trivial information.

I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate the internet and modern technology…but I’m glad I grew up in the 「昭和時代」 (period before the ’90s). We can understand and use the internet…but we also know how to get along without it – I’m not in a panic if I forget my cell-phone and I know how to find an address in Japan without “Google Maps“.

I do appreciate Google though!
Today I noticed that the Google logo (in Japan, at least) looks like this:

When I hovered my mouse over it, a caption explaining it was displayed:

It says 「プラハの天文時計　建立　６０５周年」 which means “The 605th anniversary of the building of the Prague Astronomical Clock“

I had never even heard of the “Prague Astronomical Clock” before. In fact, I didn’t even know what an “astronomical clock” was!
But, after the clicked the Google logo, I could read about it.

The clock tower of the 「プラハ天文時計」 (“Prague Astronomical Clock“)

I only read a little bit…but now I kinda understand that an astronomical clock shows the current relative location of the sun, moon and some planets, as well as the current time.
And I learned that the “Prague Astronomical Clock” is the world’s oldest astronomical clock that still works properly! It was built on 1410 October 9th! 605 years ago.

The clock face of the “Prague Astronomical Clock“. I have no idea how to read it!

Since I was kid, I’ve always been interested in monsters (here’s a post I wrote about monsters)…so I like that the Prague Astronomical Clock has “death” ring in each hour!

“Death” ringing in the hour on the Prague Astronomical Clock.

Thanks Google for teaching something new today that I probably never would’ve learned otherwise!

How about you? Have you already known about this clock? Have you seen it (in person)?

My Number

Beginning today, the Japanese Government will begin issuing every resident in Japan a twelve-digit Social Security Number.

In Japan, it won’t be called “Social Security Number” in English. It’s called 「個人番号」 (こじんばんごう), which means “personal number”. It has a more commonly used nickname in English, though…「マイナンバー」 (“My Number”).

It says “Beginning October 2015, each and every person will have a ‘My Number’ delivered”

America has long had a Social Security Number system. American Social Security Numbers are nine-digits long and arranged in a three-digit, two-digit, four digit pattern (xxx-xx-xxxx).

This is a new system in Japan. The new Japanese “My Number” system will be twelve-digits long and arranged in 3 four-digit number pattern (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx).

Just as in America, everyone who lives in Japan will be issued a Social Security Card…but, unlike the American ones which simply have a person’s name, signature and the SSN, the Japanese ones will have a photo of the person, their name, address, gender and date-of-birth on the front, and the “My Number” on the back side. They will also be embedded with an IC chip.

An example of the new Japanese “My Number” cards. (Front (left): photo, name, address, gender, DOB; Back (right): 12-digit SSN)

Do you live in Japan? have you gotten you number yet?
Does your country have a Social Security Number system?

 

Review 22: Tokyo Secrets

I was recently given two e-books to review from the author.

They are: “Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea Secrets” and “7 Secrets to the Perfect Tokyo Cherry Blossom Festival Vacation“.

“Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea Secrets”

“7 Secrets to the Perfect Tokyo Cherry Blossom Festival Vacation”

The author has lived in Tokyo and still continues to visit often.  Both books are full of helpful tips and useful advice to see the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) in Japan…which are beautiful but have a short life. If you’re planning a trip here to see them, it could be difficult to decide on which dates to come.
The book “7 Secrets to the Perfect Tokyo Cherry Blossom Festival Vacation” helps with that and more.

The book “Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea Secrets” offers, as the title suggests, tips for visiting the Disney amusement parks near Tokyo.
Personally, I have never felt that it was particularly difficult to go to Tokyo Disneyland, but I suppose it could be stressful for first-time overseas visitors.
This e-book would be very helpful for them, I’m sure. One point where I would give contrary advice on is purchasing tickets…Japan has “discount ticket shops” all over the place. They sell all kinds of tickets…for movies, museums, concerts, sporting events, and amusement parks at discounted prices. I always buy tickets there.

Visit Tokyo-top-guide.com to purchase these books and for other helpful tips.

Pepsi Ghost

I’ve written posts before about the numerous unique flavors that Pepsi Japan has offered.
(Click here to see them.)

Starting on October 6th, for a limited time, Pepsi Japan will offer 「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost“) for Halloween.

「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost”)

They will be sold in a bottles with various original monsters on the labels. And, most interestingly, the bottles say that they’re 「ミステリーフレーバー」 (“Mystery flavor”)!

Would you (will you) try these once they go on sale?