Shinjuku

We went to 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo) yesterday.

Saw the giant Godzilla over the Toho Theater building, went to the 45th floor observation platform in 東京都庁 (Tokyo Government Building) to see the sunset over the city skyline.

And then we went to an 居酒屋 (izakaya restaurant).  While we were there, a big earthquake struck near Tokyo. I’ve experienced numerous earthquakes in Japan over the years…but will always hate them!

When we went home, it took longer than usual because, as we feared, the earthquake caused train delays.

No more Golden-gai

On Saturday (2013 September 7th), the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will decide which city will host the 2020 Olympics.

Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul are the three candidate cities.

If Tokyo is chosen, the famous 「新宿ゴールデン街」 (“Shinjuku Golden-gai“) might torn down and renovated.

If it does, that would be unfortunate. Golden-gai is a unique, well-known section of downtown Tokyo that consists of hundreds of very small restaurants and bars all with a small section of back alleys.

Very “Tokyo”.

Even after over twenty years

I have been living in Japan for most of my life.
I came here when I was twenty years old…and that was over twenty years ago now.

I think Japan is the most beautiful country in the world and Tokyo is the best city.

I wanted to show some scenes that I see regularly in Japan and I may have started taking for granted but they are a part of what makes Japan so special.

Rather than go through the photos in my camera’s memory cards, I decided to be a bit lazy and see what I could find online.
I found a website called Getty Images that has many stock photos…some of them of Japan.
The people who take these photos must have cameras that are much nicer than mine because they took some really nice photos.

I use photos that I took myself in most of my blog posts, but the following photos are from Getty Images.

Every January, when the "Tokyo Stock Exchange" reopens after the New Years holidays, the female staff wear kimono.

A"bird's eye view" of Tokyo

A traditional Japanese breakfast.

A Japanese garden.

The symbol of Japan: 富士山 (Mount Fuji).

Tokyo's "Rainbow Bridge".

Japanese "Green Tea".

The Shibuya area of Tokyo

The Shinjuku area of Tokyo.

新幹線 (Bullet trains)

Tokyo Tower

By the way, today is the seventh day of the New Year.
On this day it is Japanese custom to eat 「七草粥」 (“Seven Herbs Porridge“) for breakfast.
I will have it for breakfast today as I usually do on January 7th.

Click here to see my post that explains this tradition in more detail.

The tallest structure ever built…and still climbing

The Tokyo Sky Tree broadcast tower and observatory is now standing at a height of 407 meters tall…which makes it the tallest structure ever built in Japan.
And it’s only 74% complete. When construction at it is finished next year, it will be 634 meters tall.

I had to go past the construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree yesterday, so I brought my camera and took a few photos of it.

The sign says that the tower is currently 470 meters tall.

I have been up in many observatories in Tokyo…some have free admission, such as the government building in Shinjuku (click here to see my post about that building)…and some aren’t free, such as Tokyo Tower (click here for one of the post I wrote about that tower).

Are there any tall towers or observatories in your city? What the tallest one you’ve been in?

Japan is Eco

Japan is becoming more and more 「エコ」 (“eco”).

How do you say “eco” in English? I’m not even sure. 😉
It’s a Japanese abbreviation for “ecological” or “ecology”…and it describes acting out of concern for the environment.

In Japan, most convenience stores won’t give a plastic bag for small purchases anymore until the customer requests one.
And supermarkets often give bonus points on the customer’s point card if they use their own personal shopping bag rather than taking bags from the store.

Also many restaurants now use regular, washable 箸 (chopsticks) instead of 割箸 (disposable chopsticks).

Japanese automakers are working on making cars that use rechargeable batteries, solar power, or hybrid vehicles.

Every household in Japan separates their garbage.
And large, unnecessary appliances such as clothes dryers and dishwashers are virtually non-existent in Japan.

And even people who have cars in Japan use public transportation such as the trains and buses as often as possible. And when going short distances, most people walk or bicycle.
It’s possible to buy auto insurance in Japan that is only valid on weekends, because many people only use their cars on the weekend and use the trains for their work commute.

Also, last year, a few of the busiest train stations have begun using the footsteps of people walking through the train stations to generate electricity to run the station.

This sign says that the foot traffic over this special mat in Tokyo Stn generated over 3600 watts of electricity so far that day.

And then, if you go to 「江ノ島水族館」 (“Enoshima Aquarium“) south of Tokyo by 2009 December 25, you can see the 「デンキウナギのクリスマスツリー」 (“Electric Eel X-mas Tree“).
The electricity to power the lights on this Christmas tree is generated by an electric eel.

How about your country? Is there an “eco movement“?

McCafe

Yesterday McDonalds Japan opened a number of “McCafé” shops around Japan.

They offer seven types of coffee that aren’t available at regular McDonalds restaurants, as well as the two that are (“Premium Roast Coffee” and “Premium Roast Ice Coffee”).

The hot coffees are shown in red. Ice coffees are in blue.

The “Premium Roast Coffee” and “Premium Roast Ice Coffee” are available for ¥120 and ¥220 (depending on size) just like they are at the regular McDonalds restaurants.

The other coffees are:

HOT

• カフェラテ (Cafe Latte) ¥190 / ¥240
• カプチーノ (Cappuccino) ¥190 / ¥240
• カフェモカ (Cafe Mocha) ¥250 / ¥300
• キャラメルラテ (Caramel Latte) ¥250 / ¥300

ICED

• アイスカフェラテ (Ice Cafe Latte) ¥190 / ¥240
• アイスカフェモカ (Ice Cafe Mocha) ¥250 / ¥300
• アイスキャラメルラテ (Ice Caramel Latte) ¥250 / ¥300

To promote the McCafé in Tokyo, they’re giving away free cups of hot カフェラテ (Cafe Latte) in specially designed paper cups for a few days.

It says in this ad above that from 3:00PM on 2009 November 3 (yesterday) until 2:59PM on November 6, the McCafé in 渋谷 (Shibuya, Tokyo) will be giving away the small hot カフェラテ (Cafe Latte)…and that the first 1000 customers will receive a special ceramic mug as well.

There will also be a McCafé truck giving the free latte coffees and it’s scheduled to be at Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Yurakucho, and Akasaka at various dates and times this month. (If you want to know when and where it’ll be at, then visit the McDonalds Japan website. (if you can’t read it and would like to know the details, then tell me which area or date you’re wondering about in the comments section of this post and I’ll reply)).

回転寿司

Today my wife and I went to a Levi’s outlet sale in 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo).

We bought some clothes for our kids.

While we were in 新宿 (Shinjuku), we had lunch at 三葉回転寿司 (Mitsuba conveyor-belt sushi).

Do they have 回転寿司 (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurants in your country?

At this type of sushi restaurant, the sushi chef prepares various types of sushi and puts them on different colored plates. Each colored plate represents the price for that particular sushi.

Then the sushi is placed on a conveyor-belt and goes around and when the one you want passes in front of you, you can take it off and eat it.

When you’re ready to leave, the restaurant staff calculates how much you owe by counting the colored plates from all the sushi you ate.

You can also request the sushi chef to make a particular sushi that you want, if you don’t see it on the conveyor.

Here are a few photos I took of the sushi and around 新宿 (Shinjuku):

フグ (Blowfish) skin

This building in Shinjuku has banners advertising Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympics.

The banner says: 「Tokyo 2016.　日本だから、できる。 あたらしいオリンピック！」 ("Tokyo 2016. This is Japan, so we can can do it...a new Olympics!")

Yokoso Japan!

「ようこそジャパン」 (Yokoso Japan!) means “Welcome to Japan!“, and is the Japan National Tourism Organization‘s official slogan of their campaign to attract foreign visitors to Japan.

「Yokoso Japan!」 logo

Here are some of their Yokoso Japan! campaign ads.

Most of the scenes in this first one are of Tokyo (there are a few shots of Osaka, etc…but most of it is Tokyo):

These show many parts of Japan:

Do they make you want to visit this beautiful country?

新宿御苑

Today my daughters each went out with their friends.
My oldest daughter went to お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo) with her friends,  my second daughter went to the 動物園 (zoo) with her friends, and my youngest went to 東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland) with her friends.

So, my wife and I decided to go to 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) together at 新宿御苑 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden).

新宿御苑 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden) is a very large, beautiful park with both Japanese and Western-style gardens right in the center of metropolitan Tokyo.

We had a nice picnic lunch in the gardens and went home before our daughters were due home and we all had dinner together.

Here are some of the photos we took today:

「東京体育館」 (Tokyo Metropolitan Gym) was used in '54 World Wrestling Championship and '64 Olympics

「新宿御苑の千駄ヶ谷門」 (Sendagaya Gate to Shinjuku-Gyoen)

桜 (Cherry Blossoms)

The skyscrapers of Shinjuku can be seen from the gardens.

ツバキ (Camellia)

There were many people enjoying 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) today.

ボケ (Flowering Quince)

Japanese garden

(Click here if you want to see the official 新宿御苑の花見 (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden‘s Cherry Blossom Viewing) page.)

My wife and I also stopped by 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) to see the 桜 (Cherry Blossoms) there. It was very crowded there (as expected).

The crowd at Ueno.

三連休

Today is the last day of a 三連休 (three-day weekend).
(Click here to read why Friday was a holiday).

As I mentioned in an earlier post (Click here to read it), we paid a visit to our family grave on Friday…then we went to the 「アンパンマンとやなせたかし展」 (”Anpanman & Takashi Yanase Exhibit“) at the 日本橋三越本店 (Mitsukoshi Dep’t Store head store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo).

Here are some photos I took:

Advertisement for the exhibit near the store

"Roll-panna chan" has a split personality. She can turn on her friends.

Some of the main "good guys"

They've become bugs!

「カキクケコちゃん」って！ Funny name!

「だいこんやくしゃ」 His name sounds like "Radish-actor"...but it means "Bad actor"

The "Hamburger Kid"

After we left the exhibit

+++

Yesterday the weather was really nice in Tokyo. Clear sky, comfortable temperature…perfect weather. So we walked around downtown and stopped in a few stores to get my kids some things that they need for the new school year.

+++

Yesterday’s weather was perfect…but today’s rainy and very windy. And a bit cold.
It’s too bad because today’s the Tokyo Marathon!
It started at 9:05AM this morning in 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo) and is still going as I type this.
I’m watching it live on TV. It’s scheduled to end at 4:30PM.
The finish line is in お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo). As of 3:20PM (when I writing this), about 26,000 runners have crossed the finish line…there are still about 9,000 people running it.

It’s too bad they didn’t hold the marathon yesterday when the weather was so much better!

Anyways, I mentioned the Tokyo Marathon in a post a few days ago. (Click here to read it.)

At the beginning of the marathon all 35000 people were crowded together