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:

Bob Gruen interview

I just added another great interview to my site.

This is an interview that I did with the famous rock ‘n roll photographer Bob Gruen.

Click here to read my interview with Bob Gruen (and my other interviews, as well).

I rented an apartment in Harajuku and spent most of a year there…I like life in Japan very much. I think it is much more civilized than most of the world…

Bob Gruen

Forever 21

I’m not really interested in fashion brands. I’m especially unfamiliar with the latest brands in other countries (outside Japan).

But I heard on the TV news today about a clothing store in America called Forever 21.

Do you know this store? Do you shop there?

First of all, it seems that Forever 21 has a clothing line titled “Shibuya Mon Amour“.
It’s supposedly a cross between Tokyo fashion and French fashion. (Shibuya is a part of Tokyo popular with young people).

I was surprised by that! Is 渋谷 (Shibuya, Tokyo) famous overseas?
Before I came to Japan, I had never heard of Shibuya, Akihabara, Roppongi, or any other sections of Tokyo (I came to Japan in 1990. Before the internet. So it was a different world back then).

I also heard that the American pop singer Gwen Stefani loves the 原宿 (Harajuku) section of Tokyo, which is popular with a different group of young people that those who like 渋谷 (Shibuya).
There are “Harajuku girls” and “Shibuya girls” in Tokyo. Even though those two areas are close to each other, the fashion of each is quite different from the other. That singer, Gwen Stefani, calls her back-up dancers “Harajuku Girls”.

Anyways, the reason that the American clothing store chain “Forever 21” was on the news in Japan today isn’t because of their “Shibuya Mon Amour” line…it’s because they opened their first store in Japan today.
It’s in the 原宿 (Harajuku) section of Tokyo.

Whenever a new store opens in Japan, they almost always have a big “Grand Opening Sale”…which results in a crowd of customers waiting to get in even before the store opens.

Here’s a picture of the crowd that was waiting to get into the Forever 21 Tokyo store today for their Grand Opening sale:

Grand Opening of "Forever 21" in Tokyo.

Kamakura trip

Yesterday, my second daughter’s class took a field trip to 鎌倉 (Kamakura).

鎌倉 (Kamakura) is a city about 90-minutes south of Tokyo. It was the capital of Japan at one time, and it’s an old 下町 (traditional-style town).

鎌倉 (Kamakura) is most famous for the 大仏 (“Great Buddah” statue) that is there.

大仏 (Great Buddah)

Unfortunately, it rained all day yesterday, so my daughter’s field-trip wasn’t as good as it could have been.
We have been to 鎌倉 (Kamakura) as a family many times…Click here to see a post I wrote about a trip we took there last April (with photos of 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery).

My daughter took the photo above of 大仏 (“Great Buddah“), and these photos:

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Today was my youngest daughter’s 学校公開 (Open School / “Parents Day”). Which is the day that parents can come watch their kids classes.

I watched my daughter’s Cooking Class. The class was right before lunch…they prepared a traditional Japanese meal and ate it for lunch.
They did a good job! 美味しそう! (It looked delicious!)

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In about 1992, a store that I liked opened in Tokyo.
It was called the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum“.
The store had sections devoted to The Beatles, The Stray Cats, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Guns ‘N Roses…and KISS (which is why I liked it!).

The store had a large statue of Elvis Presley out front. (Supposedly many Elvis fans contributed to the cost of erecting the statue…including American rock star Jon Bon-Jovi and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi!)

I am using the past-tense when I refer to the store in this post because I just found out that after being open all these years…the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum” closed down about two-weeks ago.

This is right after another landmark store in Tokyo closed recently (Click here).

The last time I went to the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum” was on November 2, 2008. I mentioned it in a post (with a photo)…click here to see it.

巣鴨

Today we went to 巣鴨 (Sugamo).

Do you know 巣鴨 (Sugamo)?
It’s a part of Tokyo often referred to as 「おばあちゃんの原宿」 (“The Old Ladies’ Harajuku“). This is because 原宿 (Harajuku) is an area popular with young people because that area is full of clothes stores, restaurants, etc that young people like…and 巣鴨 (Sugamo) is popular with the older generation because it’s full of clothes stores, restaurants, traditional Japanese snack shops, etc that they like.

My oldest daughter didn’t join us because she and her friend, ironically, went to 原宿 (Harajuku) together today.

This is the entrance to the popular 地蔵通り (Jizou-doori), the shopping street in 巣鴨 (Sugamo) that has many shops and restaurants that old people like. (You don’t have to be old to appreciate them, though…I like traditional Japanese snacks, food, and souvenirs, too 🙂 ).

Here’s a video I took of this area:

This street can be compared to the popular 竹下通り (Takeshita-doori) in 原宿 (Harajuku)…except for the age difference between the shoppers on these two streets.

The 地蔵通り (Jizou-doori) shopping street in 巣鴨 (Sugamo) was especially crowded today and there were many vendors because many people were going to the 高岩寺 (Kouganji Temple) for 初詣 (first Shrine visit of the year)…usually people go to a 神社 (Shinto Shrine) for 初詣 (first Shrine visit of the year), but going to a 御寺 (Buddhist Temple) is fine.

This is the entrance to 高岩寺 (Kouganji Temple)…the sign with the temple’s name is written right to left (寺岩高), which is the way Japanese used to be written (now it’s either written horizontally, left to right (→) and top of the page to bottom (↓) (like English)…or vertically, top to bottom (↓) and right of the page to left (←)).

So we went to 巣鴨 (Sugamo) for 初詣 (first Shrine (Temple) visit of the year) and we bought some 大福 (a traditional Japanese snack).

Speaking of snacks, soon Japanese kids will be taking entrance exams for high school or college. My oldest will be taking her high school entrance exam.
When we went into a convenience store, I saw a shelf of snacks that are supposed to be lucky for kids taking exams. One of the more popular ones is the American chocolate bar 「キット・カッツ」 (“Kit-Kat“). The reason that Kit-Kat has become popular for kids taking exams is because the chocolate’s name sounds like 「きっと勝つ!」 (Kitto-katsu!)…which means “I’ll definitely pass!”.

Supposedly, Japan has the most flavors of Kit-Kat in the world. I’ve have seen many flavors including some like “Green Tea Kit-Kat”, “Exotic Tokyo Kit-Kat”, and “Banana Kit-Kat”. (Although I’ve never tried any of them. I don’t eat much candy or chocolate.)
But this one was obviously made especially for kids taking college entrance exams in Japan since the package is decorated with Sakura Cherry-Blossom flowers (and symbol of Springtime in Japan (when the school-year begins)) and a school uniform hat. The flavor is 「大学いも味」 (“College Potato Taste“). Sounds odd for a chocolate bar! Could be good, though…I don’t know—I didn’t buy it.

渋谷フェスタ

This was a three-day weekend that just ended. Monday (November 3) was 文化の日 (Culture Day).

There were are always a number of festivals on Culture Day weekend.

On Sunday, we went to 原宿 (Harajuku) because my kids like to go shopping there (just like all teenagers in Tokyo do!) and from there we went to the 渋谷フェスタ (Shibuya Festival).

Harajuku is very crowded…especially 竹下通り (Takeshita Street):

Outside the World-famous Laforet store, I noticed that they already have their X-mas tree up!

We stopped by 明治神宮 (Meiji Grand Shrine). They were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the shrine’s being restored after the damage from WW2.

They were having a festival in the evening…but we didn’t stay for it.
At the shrine, we saw little girls aged 3 and 7 and little boys aged 5 who were there dressed up in 着物 (kimono) for their 七五三 (7-5-3 Festival). (You can read my short FAQ about that holiday by clicking here )

From there, we walked to 代々木公園 (Yoyogi Park). Every Sunday, many people gather in groups in or near the park and some groups are dressed as Cosplay and some are rock bands practicing and others are dancing groups, etc.
These are their hobbies and they like to meet at Yoyogi Park on Sundays and relax. But visitors to Tokyo might be surprised by some of them. (Until about ten years ago, there used to be alot more groups there on Sundays. The street outside the park would be closed to traffic on Sundays to accommodate them all!)

One of the most famous groups (beside the Cosplay) are the Rockabillies. “Rockabilly” is an early style of rock ‘n roll from the 1950’s that is basically a combination of rock and country (which was sometimes called “hillbilly music” back then).
The Stray Cats are probably the most famous rockabilly band…and they still have many fans in Japan.
Rockabilly style is leather, ’50s style tattoos, greased hair and hot rod cars…and ’50s rock music.

The Rockabilly groups in Yoyogi Park gather on Sundays and listen to their old rock music and dance. Many foreigners mistake them for Elvis impersonators. They listen to Elvis style music…but they’re not impersonating him.

Here’s a couple of videos of them:

Elvis is in 原宿 (Harajuku), though:

This statue of Elvis Presley is outside the Rock N Roll Museum store. They have sections devoted to Elvis, The Stray Cats, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, KISS, etc.

From there, we walked to the 渋谷フェスタ (Shibuya Festival).
There were lots of booths where you could buy food and beer, or crafts and goods, or play a game, etc. It was similar to 区民祭り (Residents Festivals).

At one booth they were making mochi, which is pulverized rice. And they gave it away until they ran out. We were able to get some each. It was quite good.

Here’s a video of them making the mochi. It’s called 「もちつき」 (“Mochi-tsuki”):

It was a fun day.

Here are some other pictures I took:

Here’s the CC Lemon Hall. (I hate that name. It used to be called 渋谷公会堂 (Shibuya Koukaidou) since it was built in 1964 for the ’64 Tokyo Olympics…until they sold the naming rights to a beverage company).
I saw my first concert in Japan here (Death Angel in 1991):

And we were surprised by the size of these cabbages:

And finally, we went home from 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station). The intersection in front of this station is said to be the busiest intersection in the world.
Here are a couple videos of it that I took:

ハロウィーン

It’s now 十月 (October), and ハロウィーン (Halloween) is at the end of this month.

Do you celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween)? What do you do?

When I was a kid in America, I used to enjoy doing what most American kids do at ハロウィーン (Halloween)…dressing up in a costume and walking around the neighborhood knocking on people’s doors to get candy.

Of course I’ve long outgrown any interest in ハロウィーン (Halloween) for myself…but I have three kids and once they were old enough, I wanted to take them Trick ‘R Treating. But knocking on your neighbors’ doors and asking to be given candy (or anything else, for that matter) is not something people in Japan would feel comfortable doing.

In fact, when my kids were little there was no ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan at all to speak of. So, a couple times, my wife made ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes for our kids by hand and we invited some of their friends over for a “Halloween Party” at our house. We painted rabbit or mouse faces on the kids and gave them candy and played some games with them.

That was back when they were in 保育園 (Nursery School). But we still buy some candy and small bags now and let our kids give some ハロウィーン (Halloween) presents to their friends.
The only difference now is that many stores in Japan sells ハロウィーン (Halloween) merchandise and candy and costumes! So we can buy ハロウィーン (Halloween) candy and ハロウィーン (Halloween) bags with pictures of “Jack ‘O Lanterns” and black cats.

ハロウィーン (Halloween) is still pretty new to Japan though, so many people see the ハロウィーン (Halloween) stuff being sold in the stores and think it looks fun and interesting…but relatively few people actually purchase any of it because they wouldn’t have any use for a ハロウィーン (Halloween) costume (even if they have kids) or imported American candy (which is usually too sweet for Japanese tastes).

But some people do buy the ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes because there’s beginning to be more and more to do to celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan (even if the average Japanese person isn’t 100% sure exactly what date in October the holiday falls on…or how the holiday is celebrated in other countries).

Here are a couple pictures of ハロウィーン (Halloween) pumpkins, candy, and other goods that a store was recently selling. I didn’t have my camera with me…so I took these two photos with the camera on my 携帯電話 (cell-phone):

So, if you’re in the Tokyo area at ハロウィーン (Halloween) time and you want to celebrate it “Japanese style, here are some of the places you can go:

• Tokyo Disneyland…from mid-September until October 31, Disneyland has special ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and events (for example, if kids see any staff dressed as a witch, then can say “Trick ‘R Treat” and get a treat. There’s also face painting available).You can enter the park during ハロウィーン (Halloween) time wearing a costume…provided that it’s a Disney themed costume.

  The Tokyo Disneyland Halloween 2008 website page is here.

• ハローハロイィーンパンプキンパレード (Hello Halloween Pumpkin Parade) in 表参道 (Omotesandou, Tokyo)…on the last Sunday of October at 11:00AM-6:00PM.Their website is here (日本語 (Japanese only)).
• ハロウィーン in 多摩センター (Halloween In Tama Center) in Western Tokyo on the last weekend in October.Events include Trick ‘R Treating, Jack ‘O Lanterns, etc.

  Their website’s in 日本語 (Japanese only) here.

• Roppongi Hills Happy Halloween Parade

…on the last Saturday in October.

Their website is here.

• Kawasaki Halloween…on the last weekend in October in 川崎 (Kawasaki (south of Tokyo)).They have a Halloween parade and kids 12 and under can go to stores in the shopping center that have the Halloween poster in their window and say “Trick ‘R Treat” to get candy. The kids don’t necessarily need to be in costume.

  When my daughters were under 12, we went to this event. A couple pictures that I took of people in the Halloween parade can be seen on this post.

  The Kawasaki Halloween 2008 website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.

• 元町ハロウィーン (Motomachi Halloween)…in 横浜 (Yokohama) on October 31.Their website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.
• Tokyo American Club Halloween Monster Mash…on the last Saturday in October.The Tokyo American Club is a very exclusive club with membership by invitation only (plus their membership fees are extremely steep). But if you’re a member, they have a Halloween event (but you’d probably already know about it). I don’t have a membership…so I’ve never been.

  Their website is here.

• 山手線ハロウィーン・トレイン (Yamanote Line Halloween Train)…late October on the Yamanote Train Line in Tokyo.This is an unauthorized (and unapproved) event started by foreigners in Tokyo. Every year, some (adult) foreigners meet at a designated time and train station wearing Halloween costumes. I haven’t ever participated in this (I haven’t worn a Halloween costume since I was a child)…but I’ve heard that the police and train attendants try to stop it every year because the participants usually drink alcohol and act rowdy on the normally quiet Tokyo trains.

Photos

I went thru some of my photos and decided to post a bunch of them on my blog. Mostly as Slideshows.

For convenience, here’s a menu of the pictures, slideshows, and video on this post:

Turtle	Butterfly	Beetle
Cicada	Kawasaki Halloween	Kamakura Horseback Archery
Asakusa Horseback Archery	Asakusa New Years	Tokyo Disneyland
Park	Cherry Blossom Viewing	Ibaraki
Yokohama	Kameido-Tenjin	Harajuku / Shibuya
Ueno	Tokyo Tower	Tokyo Dome area
Tokyo Stn / Imperial Palace	University of Tokyo	Tobu Zoo
Ryogoku		Bottom of this post

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First are some of the small animals that have been living in our house recently.

Our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):

My YouTube video of our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):

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The アゲハ蝶 (Swallowtail Butterfly) (and his 蛹 (cocoon)).

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Here’s a slideshow of our カブト虫 (Rhino beetle) eating gelatin.

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A slideshow of our 蝉 (Cicada) emerging from it’s moult (outer shell).

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Here’s ハロウィーン (Halloween) at 川崎 (Kawasaki):

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And here’s a slideshow of the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 鎌倉 (Kamakura):

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And the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 浅草 (Asakusa):

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And here’s a slideshow of New Years at 浅草 (Asakusa):

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東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland):

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A park near our house:

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花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing):

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茨城県 (Ibaraki) is a countryside prefecture to the north of 東京都 (Tokyo):

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横浜 (Yokohama):

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亀戸天神 (Kameido-Tenjin Shrine):

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原宿 (Harajuku) and 渋谷 (Shibuya):

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These photos are from 上野 (Ueno):

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東京タワー (Tokyo Tower):

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The 東京ドーム (Tokyo Dome) area (including the amusement park and 小石川後楽園 (Koishikawa-kourakuen Japanese Gardens)). There happened to be a cosplay event on the day I took these photos:

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東京駅 (Tokyo Train Station) and the 皇居 (Imperial Palace):

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東京大学 (The University of Tokyo):

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東武動物公園 (Tobu-Doubutsukouen Zoo):

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両国 (Ryougoku), the area of Tokyo with the 国技館 (Sumo Arena):

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Please leave a comment of what you think of these photos!

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Random

Just some random thoughts and observations, and some photos of various places around Tokyo.

First, when we visited Florida a few years ago, I went to the 7-11 convenience store to buy a six-pack of beer late one evening. But when I went to open the beer cooler, it was locked. The cashier told me that it’s illegal to sell alcohol in Florida after 1:00AM!

I was surprised by that. In Japan, alcohol can be bought at anytime day or night at 7-11 and elsewhere. There are even beer vending machines in Japan.

I looked at the internet and it seems that Florida’s laws are fairly liberal when compared to other states in America (In America, states make their own laws. Unlike other countries, like Japan, that have only federal laws).

For example, in Mississippi, not only are there hours of the day that you can’t buy alcohol…it also isn’t to be sold on Sundays and Christmas!

Missouri seems to be one of the strictest. In that state, alcohol isn’t sold after midnight or 1AM (depending on the day), public intoxication is illegal, and drinking outdoors is, as well.

I guess I have been living in Japan for a long time, because that all seems medieval to me.

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Speaking of 7-11 in America, they are quite different from the ones in Japan.

In Japan’s 7-11 stores, there are no “Slurpees” or “Big Gulp” drinks, nor nachos or aspirin or gasoline (there’s no “Slurpee”, “Big Gulps” or nachos because those don’t appeal to Japanese tastes…but 7-11 Japan doesn’t sell medicine or gas because, in Japan, medicine can only sold by licensed pharmacists and gasoline at petrol stands).

But at Japanese convenience stores, you can pay your bills, mail packages, buy DVDs, toothpastes, underwear, boxed lunches, ice cream, spaghetti, おにぎり (rice balls), squid, beer, whiskey, おでん (Japanese boiled “hot-pot” food), and more.

7-11, by the way, has over 34,000 stores worldwide. 6,200 of them are in America…but Japan has the most—over 12,000 Seven-Eleven stores are in Japan!

The Japanese department stores chain, Ito-Yokado bought the controlling shares of 7-11 stocks years ago.

Ito-Yokado‘s logo is a white dove and it used to be used above all of their stores. But since most of their profits come from the 7-11 stores, they decided to emphasize the 7-11 name. So now all of their department stores have a “7 & i Holdings” sign above the stores (“7” for “7-11” and “i” for “Ito-Yokado”).

Not only does Ito-Yokado own the 7-11 worldwide chain, they also own the “Denny’s” family restaurant chain.

Here’s the “old” Ito-Yokado sign (I took a photo of it a few years ago when I heard that they were changing the signs nationwide):

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Mariah Carey was on TV here recently because she came to Tokyo to promote a new CD.

I’m not a fan of her music so I don’t know much about her, but she seems right weird!

She was doing an interview on a popular morning talk show that I like to watch…and her young husband tagged along and they were snuggling the whole time.

Then the next day, she threw the opening pitch at the Tokyo Dome for a Tokyo Giants baseball game.

She wore stiletto heels on the field and rather than throw the ball…she dropped it right it front of herself.

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Did you hear about the homeless woman in 福岡 (Fukuoka, Japan) who was living in a single man’s closet for a year?

In Japanese homes, there’s a small storage space above closets that many people seldom open, and that’s where this woman was living.

She got into his house and stayed in the closet when the homeowner was home, but whenever he’d leave, she’d get out and take a shower and eat his food.

He found her because he installed a security camera in his house when he noticed food missing.

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Anyways…

here are a few pictures I took around Tokyo: