I have been to this (and a few other Japanese Firefighter Ceremonies). Click here to see my post (with photos) about it.
The 「横浜消防出初式」 (“Yokohama Fire Department’s New Year Ceremony“) is on the second Sunday of January every year…so it will be held on January 10th this year.
If you’re unable to attend one of those festivals this month, there is a similar one in the Asakusa area of Tokyo in May every year.
It’s not as grand as the New Year’s ceremonies. And it’s actually a memorial ceremony for fallen firefighters.
It’s called the 江戸消防慰霊祭 (Edo Firefighters Memorial Ceremony).
I watched this ceremony a couple times. Click here to see photos I took of it almost six years ago. (There are also photos of the Tokyo Sky Tree under construction in that post because it’s near where the ceremony is held, and it was being being at that time).
Here are some videos of last year’s 「横浜消防出初式」 (“Yokohama Fire Department’s New Year Ceremony“):
The train to Odaiba is fun because it’s driverless and it goes over “Rainbow Bridge”, but we went there by car today.
It had been awhile since our last visit to Odaiba. Kinda surprising how many more foreign tourists were there this time! I guess Tokyo tourist guidebooks feature Odaiba more prominently now.
Anyways, here are photo I took:
We ate たこ焼き (grilled octopus) for lunch.
The “lifesize” Gundam robot.
France gave Japan a 自由の女神 (Statue of Liberty) too.
Sunset over Tokyo Bay, Rainbow Bridge and 自由の女神 (Statue of Liberty)
I like 「台場一丁目商店街」 (Odaiba Retro Shopping Street), designed like post-WW2 Japan.
The “Odaiba Takoyaki (Griled Octopus) Museum”
In the evening, the lifesize Gundam robot is lit-up and moves a bit.
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.
At this event, a number of firefighters from fire stations all over the Tokyo area come for a day of fire drills. It’s also a day to teach the public about fire and earthquake safety and to let people look and the fire trucks and fire-fighting equipment.
There are also hands-on things to try…such as practice fire extinguishers, trying on a firefighter’s uniform, and an earthquake simulator.
But the highlight of the event is definitely outside the venue.
First, the Tokyo Fire Department band plays and an official opening ceremony commences.
Then, there’s a parade of firefighters wearing various Japanese firefighter uniforms, rescue dogs, and all of the various fire trucks, fire cars, motorcycles, super-pump trucks, firefighting cranes, 救急車 (ambulances), super-ambulances…and in the water, the fire department boats, and in the sky, the fire department helicopters!
And then, some firefighters, dressed in traditional Japanese fire-fighters garb perform amazing aerobatics on traditional Japanese bamboo ladder. Long ago in Japan firemen had to be able to climb these ladders and hang on with their legs while they fought fires.
Japanese firemen still practice this skill for strength and dexterity.
And after that, another amazing show began.
Two buildings on either end of the court were set ablaze, “civilians” were in one of the buildings and needed rescue, an “earthquake” toppled telephone poles and cars, and other “civilians” were in need of rescue at sea!
Firetrucks, cars, motorcycles, cranes, ambulances, firefighters, rescue dogs all rushed to the scene with sirens wailing!
Rescue workers rescued the civilians from the burning building, rescue helicopters pulled people from the water, rescue dogs found “people” in the earthquake rubble!
Meanwhile, cranes lifted the telephone poles and the toppled truck!
And at the same time, hosemen fought the blaze in the burning buildings!
It was quite a show! So much action…I was swept up watching it and forgot to take many pictures!
In the closing ceremony, the fire boat and fire trucks sprayed water into the air and the ladder trucks all lifted a fireman each as high as their ladders went straight up…and then the firemen dropped streamers of flags down.
It was alot of fun to watch this event.
If you’re in Tokyo on January 6 in the future and you have a chance, I recommend checking out the 「東京消防出初式」 (“Tokyo Fire Departements New Year Drill“).
There were a number of news outlets there.
Here’s ANN News report on this event today:
And click here for information about the 2010 「東京消防出初式」 (“Tokyo Fire Departements New Year Drill“) from the 「東京ビッグ・サイト」 (“Tokyo Big Sight“) website (in Japanese only).
In Tokyo right now, until the end of August, is the biggest Gundam robot ever made.
I wrote a post about it (Click here to see it).
Well, from 2009年8月31日(月) ～ 2009年11月30日(月) (Monday, August 31 – Monday, November 30 (2009)), 日清カップ・ヌードル (Nissin Cup Noodles) will give away the smallest Gundam figures ever made.
Just like the giant 18 meter tall Gundam robot in お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo), these figures that come in the top of the noodle package are in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Gundam‘s debut.
The Gundam figures
Only 1000 of this red and white figure will be made (making this one the most valuable):
梅雨 (The rainy season) will be over soon in the Tokyo area and then the rest of summer will be filled with hot, humid, sunny days.
In Japan, 夏 (summer) means スイカ (watermelon), 祭 (festivals), 海 (the beach), 小鳥線香 (mosquito repellent coil)…
and 花火 (fireworks)!
宮島水中花火大会 in Hiroshima.
In the evenings of July and August (usually on the weekends), there are summer 花火大会 (fireworks shows) all over Japan.
If you go to a fireworks show in Japan,
– you should bring a picnic style food and drinks for yourself and your group…there’s no BBQ grilling done at fireworks shows in Japan,
– bring a plastic tarp sheet for your group to sit on…but, although many people do it, you’re not supposed to use the sheet to reserve a spot for yourself ahead of time,
– if you want to use 線香花火 (sparklers), don’t wave them around…it’s considered dangerous in Japan,
– you can wear 「ゆかた」 (summer kimono) or 「じんべい」 (Japanese traditional summer shorts / shirt outfit) if you want to,
– and Japanese people call out 「たまや！かぎや！」 (“Tamaya! Kagiya!“*) when the fireworks go up…you can yell that out too, if you want. (* Long ago, Tamaya and Kagiya were competing fireworks companies in Japan. Fireworks spectators began to call out their names to egg on their competition to make bigger and bigger displays. Today it remains popular to shout it out at fireworks shows.)
There are too many fireworks shows around Japan to list them all, even just in the Tokyo area there are too many to list.
But here’s a list of the main ones in the Tokyo area and the date of the summer 2009 shows (also you can click here to see a list of some of Tokyo’s Fireworks shows on my “Festivals in Tokyo“):
宮島水中花火大会 (Miyajima Suichu Fireworks Show) in 広島 (Hiroshima) – Friday, August 14
(It’s far from Tokyo…but this show gets special mention. The photo in this post above is of this fireworks show. (The rest of the shows on this list are in Tokyo.)).
調布市花火大会 (Choufu-shi Fireworks Show) – Saturday, July 18
葛飾納涼花火大会 (Katsushika Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, July 21
足立の花火大会 (Adachi Fireworks Show) – Thursday, July 23
隅田川花火大会 (Sumida River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, July 25
飯田橋花火大会 (Iidabashi Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
江戸川花火大会 (Edo River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
青梅市納涼花火大会 (Oumeshi Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
昭島市民くじら祭夢花火 (Akishima-Residents Whale-Festival Dream-Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 2
江東花火大会 (Koutou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 4
日刊スポーツ主催2009神宮外苑花火大会第30回記念大会 (30th Nikkan Sports Shusai Shrine Outer-Garden Fireworks Festival 2009) – Thursday, August 6
東京湾大花火祭 (Tokyo Bay Grand Fireworks Festival) – Saturday, August 8
八丈島納涼花火大会 (Hachijyoujima Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 11
第五回せいせき多摩川花火大会 (5th Performance Tama River Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 11
世田川区たまがわ花火大会 (Setagawa-Ward Tama River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 22
If you want any more information about these or other 花火大会 (Fireworks shows) in Japan (such as how to get there, the times of the shows, etc), please feel free to post a comment (click here), or contact me with this E-mail form, and I’ll help you as much as I can:
お台場 (Odaiba) is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay that is most famous for the beautiful view that it offers of Tokyo’s skyline, the driverless train that connects the island to the downtown Tokyo, the shopping centers, the ferris wheel, the unique Fuji TV‘s headquarters, and the 自由の女神像 (Statue Of Liberty) there.
Fuji TV head-quarters
「自由の女神像」 (Statue Of Liberty) at Odaiba
Also, in お台場 (Odaiba) is the “Himiko” Tokyo Cruise boat that looks like a spaceship.
It was designed by the famous anime artist 松本零士 (Leiji Matsumoto).
"Himiko" Waterbus ship
My wife and I bought some 持ち帰り (take-out) 牛丼 (rice and beef) from the “Yoshinoya” Japanese ‘fast-food’ restaurant and a couple beers from a convenience store and had lunch near the “Himiko” ship.
From there, we went to the nearby 潮風公園 (Shiokaze Park).
This park is popular for family barbeques (BBQ). You don’t even need to bring anything to have a BBQ there…you can rent everything you need: utensils, plates, charcoal*, and even the food* (*the charcoal and food are sold…not rented, of course).
The reason that we went to this park today was because they have displayed an “actual size” 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot! It stands 18 meters (59 feet) high!
This 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot is on display in Odaiba until August 31 in honor of the 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) anime series’ 30th anniversary. (The anime debuted in 1979).
When we went there today they were still working on the “actual-size” robot, but it looked about finished.
Here are some of the photos I took:
Also, last year at 上井草駅 (Kami-Igusa train station) in Tokyo (not far from 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo). there is a brass statue about three meters tall of the same 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot.
The reason this statue was built there is because the anime studio that draws 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) has their headquarters there in 上井草 (Kami-Igusa).
「ガンダム」 ("Gundam") statue in front of 上井草駅 (Kami-Igusa Stn).
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
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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.
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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
Tokyo Five 
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