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:

けん玉

My family and I like to play 「けん玉」 (“Kendama“).

Kendama is a traditional Japanese toy.
Much like a yo-yo, with practice you can master the basics of Kendama…and with a lot more practice, you can learn to do the “fancy tricks”.

Basically, Kendama is a wooden hammer-shaped toy with a small, a medium-size, and a larger “dish” and also a “spear”.
It also has a string attached with a wooden ball at the other end of the string. The ball has a hole in it.

To play, you have the ball hanging freely and move the Kendama in a manner that makes the ball swing up and then you catch the ball on either one of the “dishes” or the spear.
And then make the ball move to one of the other “dishes” or “spear”.
You have the ball go from one to the other as many times as you can before the ball misses.

Here’s a video of someone who is excellent with the Kendama.
The video tells the names of a number of Kendama “tricks”, and then the man in the video demonstrates them (and he makes them look easy):

Have you ever tried a Japanese 「けん玉」 (“Kendama“)?
Are you good at it?