Kamakura at night

Yesterday we drove to 鎌倉 (Kamakura, Japan). We have been there many times but it had been awhile since we went there by car.

I drove there because we wanted to see the autumn illumination (light-up) at the famous, beautiful 長谷寺 (Hase-dera Temple).
At certain times of the year, the temple is lit up and it looks even more spectacular than usual.

During our drive there and back, we could see Tokyo Tower, a beautiful sunset over Tokyo Bay and a clear view of Mt. Fuji.

So many beautiful scenes! Here are some of our photos:

Tokyo Tower in my wife’s passenger side-view mirror.

We could see Mt. Fuji clearly. This photo doesn’t do it justice!

Tokyo supports Paris

The Tokyo Tower (which was modeled after France’s Eiffel Tower) is illuminated the colors of the French flag to show solidarity with France in the aftermath of the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris.

So is Tokyo Sky Tree:

And 東京都庁 (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building):

(Photos from @naokiss )

Zombies in Tokyo!

Today there was an event at the Tokyo Tower to promote the U.S. TV series “The Walking Dead”.

About 1,200 celebrities and locals were made-up as zombies!

At the top of the world’s tallest tower

Yesterday I went up the Tokyo Sky Tree.

634 meters tall … the tallest tower in the world!

First of all, the elevators move at 600 meters per minute! But they’re so smooth, I could hardly feel them move!

The sky was clear, blue and sunny … so I could clearly see Mt. Fuji, Tokyo Tower, Shinjuku, Tokyo Disneyland, the Tokyo Dome…all of Tokyo and beyond!

The shadow of Tokyo Sky Tree

Tokyo Tower darkened for Earth Hour

About five years ago, Australia began turning all non-essential lights off for an hour on the last Saturday of March.
They called it “Earth Hour” and it was done to remind people to conserve energy.

The following year most major cities around the world followed suit and now Earth Hour is a world-wide annual event in which all lights (except those that are absolutely necessary) are turned off from 8:30 – 9:30PM on the last Saturday in March.

Yesterday was Earth Hour 2012.

It says 「つながる気持ちが 世界を変える」 ("This attitude can change the world").

—(The “60” in their logo represents the sixty minutes that lights are dimmed)—

So, last night from 8:30-9:30PM (Japan Standard Time (JST)), all non-essential lights were turned off…including the usually illuminated Tokyo Tower (it was only lit enough to prevent planes from hitting it).

The darkened Tokyo Tower at Earth Hour 2012.

Tokyo’s new, bigger tower…the Tokyo Sky Tree won’t be opened to the public until this May—so it’s not illuminated at night yet (except for the lighting necessary for air safety).
But, beginning next year, the Tokyo Sky Tree will be joining the world every year in dimming it’s lights for Earth Hour every year.

Mu-sa-shi

On the news today they said that the construction of the 東京スカイツリー (Tokyo Sky Tree) reached a height of 634 meters tall at 1:34PM this afternoon.

That means that they are finished building it upwards because it was designed to stand at 634 meters tall.
This height was decided upon for two reasons…first, it is now the world’s tallest free-standing tower, and also in Japanese “6-3-4” can be pronounced as “Mu-sa-shi” which sounds like 「武蔵の国」 (“Musashi“) which is the old name for the area of Tokyo that the towers stands in.

Even though the Tokyo Sky Tree now stands at it’s full height, there is still construction yet to be completed on the tower which isn’t scheduled to be completed until sometime in 2011 December.

The tower is due to open to the public in the spring of 2012.

Last October, they did a test of the tower’s lighting, so we had a preview of what the Tokyo Sky Tree will look like when it’s illuminated every evening.
It’s quite beautiful.
Click here to see the post I wrote with a few photos of the lighting test and a preview of what it’s expected to look like completed and illuminated.

Can’t decide what to drink? This machine knows what you’d like…

When you think of Japan what is the image you have?
Many people who’ve never been to Japan imagine it to be ancient and traditional. Others imagine Japan is futuristic and high-tech.

Both of these images are accurate. In Tokyo you can often see the ultra-modern side-by-side with ancient traditional.

Another thing that visitors to Japan are often surprised by is the number of excellent convenient 自動販売機 (vending machines) here.

Vending machines are plentiful in Japan and can be found everywhere. And Japan has vending machines that sell everything you can imagine…newspapers, hot and cold drinks, fruit, eggs, rice, beer, umbrellas, magazines, videos, stamps, sandwiches, and so much more.

And the machines themselves are modern and convenient.
In Japan, you can make pay for purchases at most vending machines, train and subways stations, convenient stores, etc with cash of course, but also with your train pass card or your cellular phone!

Well, as if the vending machines here weren’t high-tech enough…now many vending machines across Japan are being replaced with new futuristic vending machines.

Rather than having a display of cans and bottles of the drink choices available in the machine, these new machines have a digital interactive display.
When there aren’t any people in it’s immediate vicinity, it displays a cartoon face and randomly has a “speech bubble” that offers random questions…such as “Are you thirsty?” or “Would you like to buy something?”

Japan's newest vending machine

But once someone moves closer to it, the digital display shows the choice of drinks…but the most amazing aspect of this new machine is that it scans the faces of potential customers and then offers a few 「おすすめ」 (recommendations) based on the person’s approximate age and gender.

Check out this TV news broadcast about it:

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.

Top 5 X-mas Illuminations in Japan

In Japan, Christmas isn’t a national holiday. If December 25th falls on a weekday then it’s just a normal workday in Japan.

But that said, クリスマス (X-mas) is still a big holiday in Japan. Not the biggest though…the most important holiday in Japan is 正月 (New Years).

I wrote a post before that explains a bit about Christmas in Japan…and another one that explains a bit about New Years in Japan.

To summarize though, Christmas isn’t the same in Japan as it is in Western countries.
Even though New Years is Japan’s biggest holiday, stores and streets in Japan put up X-mas decorations on November 1st (as soon as the Halloween decorations come down) and take them down on December 26th.
On December 26th in Japan, the Xmas decorations are quickly replaced with New Years decorations which stay up until around January 5th.
So Japan is decorated for the imported holiday of Christmas for fifty-six days but only about two weeks for New Years.

Basically the image of X-mas in Japan is a romantic evening for couples on クリスマス・イヴ (Christmas Eve) and a day for families with children on クリスマス (Christmas Day).

One of the popular dates spots for couples on and before X-mas Eve is to look at クリスマス・イルミネーション (X-mas lights (or, as they’re called in Japan, “Christmas illumination“)).

X-mas illumination at "Roppongi Hills" in downtown Tokyo.

There is a website that shows some of the best 「全国イルミネーション・スポット」 (Illumination Spots around Japan).

One part of that website lists 「イルミネーションおすすめスポット Best 5」 (“Top 5 Recommended Illumination Spots”).

The list is:

• 「六本木ヒルズ Artelligent Christmas 2010」　(“Roppongi Hills Artelligent Christmas 2010” in Tokyo, Japan)
• 「神戸ルミナリェ」 (“Kobe Luminarie” in Kobe, Japan)
• 「２０１０SENDAI光のページェント」 (“2010 Sendai Light Pageant” in Sendai, Japan)
• 「第３０回さっぽろホワイトイルミネーション」 (“30th Sapporo White Illumination” in Sapporo, Japan)
• 「OSAKA光のルネサンス２０１０」 (“Osaka Light Renaissance 2010” in Osaka, Japan)

Also, check out this post that I wrote with photos of the X-mas illumination at Tokyo Tower and in Roppongi, Tokyo.
And also this one that I wrote about Omotesando, Tokyo turning the X-mas illumination back on last year after eleven years of not decorating.

How is Christmas celebrated where you live? Are stores already decorated for X-mas? Is looking at 「クリスマス・イルミネーション」 (X-mas lights) popular?

東京スカイツリーライトアップ

The 「東京スカイツリー」 (“Tokyo Sky Tree”) tower will stand an incredible 634 meters tall once it’s completed next year and every evening it will be illuminated blue and purple on alternating nights (blue one night, purple the next, and so on).

 

What the Tokyo Sky Tree will look like illuminated in blue, once it's completely built.

 

What the Tokyo Sky Tree will look like illuminated in purple, once it's completely built.

Well, as I wrote in this comment I made last Saturday, the Tokyo Sky Tree was illuminated in both blue and purple from 6:30PM until 9:30PM tonight in a test run of the LED lights that will be used to light up the tower every evening once it’s done being built.

As expected, many people turned up with their cameras to see the Tokyo Sky Tree light up the night sky for the first time (and only time until next year).

The Tokyo Sky Tree lit up in purple tonight.