My pet turtle is getting big!
So cute, isn’t she?
Tag Archives: turtle
Live from Tokyo…it’s Saturday Night!
5 JunWhat to write this blog post about…??
Well, yesterday (Saturday, 2011 June 4), the Japanese version of the long-running American late-night comedy sketch TV show called “Saturday Night Live” debuted on Fuji TV here.
"Saturday Night Live, Japan"
I watched it and it’s similar to the U.S. version. Just like the American “Saturday Night Live”…it’s nothing special enough for a blog post.
—
Also, I was reading this month’s issue of the Japanese heavy metal magazine “Burrn!“…
In the back of the magazine, there was an ad for a charity album for the earthquake / tsunami victims in northern Japan. It will be titled 「ワン・フォー・オール,オール・フォー・ワン~東日本大震災チャリティ・アルバム」 (“One For All, All For One…Sendai Earthquake Charity Album”).
And it is due to be released on 2011 June 22.
I couldn’t find a picture of the album cover online…but the picture in the magazine ad was of the Japanese flag. A similar album cover to the earlier Sendai charity album titled “Song For Japan“.
But, unlike that album, the “One For All…” album will have songs by heavy metal artists such as Sonata Artica, Fair Warning, Gotthard, Edguy, Soilwork, Riot, Harem Scarem and others.
Not enough info about that album is available yet to make an interesting blog post.
—
Better than either of those stories is seeing my very cute turtle 「ルンルン」 (Lun-Lun) leaning on her favorite concrete block to dry off after a swim in her pool yesterday afternoon:
Isn’t she cute? She’s a 「草亀」 (“Chinese Pond Turtle”).
Do you have a pet? Have you ever had a pet turtle? If you want a turtle, I recommend the 「草亀」 (“Chinese Pond Turtle”)…they are very friendly and easy to care for.
Rainy day in Nezu
23 MayIt was forecast to rain today but my wife and I decided to go to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine).
I’ve written posts about this shrine before when we’ve gone there on sunny days and during festivals.
When we left our house the weather was sunny and warm. It was hard to believe that the TV weatherman said it would rain in the afternoon.
At lunchtime the weather was still nice, so we stopped at a convenience store and bought some beer and sandwiches and ate lunch in a park not far from the shrine.
After lunch we headed to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine) as the sky was turning dark and the temperature began to drop.
It was a good thing that we brought our umbrellas because it began to rain hard as we were leaving the shrine.
Here are the photos that I took:
These turtles were cute…but our turtle is cuter! 😉
I think this bird was a type of 「白鷺」 (Egret).
- The torii at the entrance to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine).
Japanese lamp.
Sign says 「根津神社」 ("Nezu Shrine")
A row of over 150 "torii".
Click here to see my post with a video I took while walking through these.
Pet contest
29 OctI like animals a lot (but not as much the the famous animal expert “Mutsugorou-sensei” 😉 ).
We have a cute pet turtle and we’ve had a cat, rabbit and a bird in the past…and every summer we have a few カブト虫 (Japanese Rhino Beetles).
We also like to visit the many zoos in the Tokyo area and also look at the cute animals in pet shops.
I found on the Yahoo! Japan the 「Yahoo!ペット・コンテスト」 (“Yahoo! Japan Pet Contest”).
On this site people can upload cute photos of their pet and visitors to the site vote on the best ones.
Currently this cat is in first place on the Yahoo Japan Pet Contest.
This one's in Second Place now.
Third Place.
Of course, not all of the pets are cats. There are also cute photos of people’s dogs, hamsters and rabbits. I even saw a pig and a ハリネズミ (hedgehog) while I was browsing through the photos.
Here are few more pictures that I liked:
Do you like animals too? Do you have a pet?
If you want to look at the 「Yahoo!ペット・コンテスト」 (“Yahoo! Japan Pet Contest”) then click here.
Half a million hits
22 JulMy blog reached the half-million hits mark today.
Thanks to everyone for visiting my site…and for leaving comments. That’s what makes writing a blog worthwhile.
+++
Anyways, would you like to see some pictures of our pet turtle?
I think she’s cute.
What kind of pet do you have?
カメデス
20 JunHere’s a story that I saw on the TV news and the newspaper recently about this turtle:
Someone painted 「カメデス」 ("I'm a turtle") on his back.
I added the original Japanese article here and below it is my translation of it to English.
雑記帳：「カメデス」カメ捕獲…甲府の舞鶴城公園
「カメデス」と甲羅に落書きされた甲府市の舞鶴城公園のカメが１６日、岸に上がっているところを捕獲された。落書きを消そうと、公園を管理する山 梨県が捕獲作戦を展開中だった。
仕事で外出していた山梨県警の男性警察官がカメを発見。近づくと手足を引っ込めたため、簡単に捕まえられたという。“逃走”を続けていたカメだ が、本職の警察官には手も足も出なかったようだ。
県は落書きされた文字を溶剤などで消すことも検討したが、カメはちょうど脱皮の時期。脱皮によって落書きが消える可能性もあるといい、結局、県の 施設で保護して様子を見守ることになった。
In English:
Journal：The “I’m A Turtle” turtle captured at Kofu Maizurujyou Park
A turtle that someone wrote “I’m A Turtle” on the shell was captured on June 16th at Maizurujyou Park in Kofu (Japan).
Government employees who manage the park had been trying unsuccessfully to capture the turtle to clean off the writing on it’s back.
A policeman was passing the park on his way to work and noticed the turtle. When he approached the turtle, it pulled it’s head and legs into it’s shell and the policeman was able to catch it easily.
The park employees were planning to remove the writing from the turtle’s back, but decided there was a risk of injuring the animal with the paint remover. So they decided to care for the turtle and hope the writing eventually wears off.
I wonder how someone could be mean to an animal. We have a pet turtle and I couldn’t imagine harming it (I have a photo of our turtle at the end of this post).
江戸消防慰霊祭
26 MayYesterday my wife and I went to a festival that I had been wanting to see for years but never got a chance until this year.
We were a bit early for the festival so, since the festival was in 浅草 (Asakusa, Tokyo), we decided to go by the Tokyo Sky Tree tower and walk to Asakusa from there.
Tokyo Sky Tree behind 押上駅 (Oshiage Stn)
The Tokyo Sky Tree, currently under construction, now stands at 389 meters (it will be 634 meters tall when completed).
The Asahi Beer HQ is in Asakusa
Cruise boat
The Sensoji Temple in Asakusa was covered while it's being renovated.
Once we got to 浅草 (Asakusa), we went to watch the 江戸消防慰霊祭 (Edo Firefighters Memorial Ceremony).
This is the festival that I wanted to see yesterday.
It’s a ceremony to honor fallen firefighters. The ceremony involves the firefighters dressed as firefighters in Japan did centuries ago and doing stunts on bamboo ladders.
In ancient Japan, firefighters had to balance on such ladders while fighting fires and they would practice such stunts on the ladders in order to improve their strength and balance.
Modern firefighters in Japan still practice these stunts…for tradition and to improve their strength and balance.
Actually, last January I went to the 「東京消防出初式」 (“Tokyo Fire Departments New Year Drill“). That ceremony had many exciting shows including a similar ladder show. But it was still fun to watch again yesterday.
They use these hooks to steady the ladders.
After the ceremony was over we stopped by a store and I saw these vending machines. One looks like Ultraman…it sells, among other things, 「ウルトラコーラ」 (“Ultra Cola“).
We saw this pretty cat.
We don't have a cat...but this is our pet turtle.
さ・く・ら・ま・つ・り
5 AprToday we went to a nearby 桜祭り (Cherry Blossom Festival) and enjoyed a 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing) picnic that my wife and daughters made.
Our lunch was おにぎり (rice balls), 卵焼き (Japanese grilled eggs), broccoli, chicken, 苺 (strawberries), cookies, and beer*!
It was an excellent picnic lunch! ♥
(*Of course, only my wife and I had beer. Our daughters had tea. 😉 )
Here are some photos we took:
Many people were enjoying 花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing)
There are many turtles, ducks and carp in the pond.
Drying in the sun
Cherry Blossom tree next to a bus stop
「かき氷」 (Shaved Ice) vendor
敬老の日
15 SepToday is 敬老の日 (Respect For The Aged Day).
(I wrote a short FAQ about it here).
My kids bought a small gift for their 94-year old great-grandmother. They took it to her house and paid her a visit.
—-
Yesterday we went to 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo).
As we were leaving 上野駅 (Ueno Train Station), we passed the Hard Rock Cafe, Ueno Stn Tokyo. We didn’t go in, but I noticed this poster outside the cafe:
I like the American rock band Mötley Crüe, and I know that they’re coming to this year’s Loudpark Heavy Metal Festival in October (see my “Festivals In Tokyo” page)…but according to this poster, they’ll be playing dates in Japan after the festival, too.
From there, we went to the big 「やましろや」 (Yamashiroya Toy Store), and then we went to a lake that has rental boats.
We rented a boats for our daughters and they had fun paddling around the lake for a half-hour.
Here are a couple of videos of the boats on the lake (none of the videos of my kids are online):
After that, we saw some people feeding the 亀 (turtles) and 鯉 (carp).
It was crazy. They started swarming to get the bread:
A nearby shrine:
At shrines in Japan, you can buy your fortune. After you read it, you tie it to one of these:
You can also buy an 絵馬…which is a wooden board that you write your wish on and then tie it near the shrine so your wish may come true.
Here are some people’s 絵馬 with their wishes written on them:
The shrine was setting up in the evening for the 祭 (festival) the next day (today):
My wife and daughters folded bamboo leaves into boats:
We stopped at an Okinawan store in Ueno to buy some Okinawan food. I really like Okinawan food.
This シーサー (Shiisaa) was outside the store. They are Okinawan mythological guardians (usually found in pairs):
And here’s an intersection in Ueno at night:
Photos
28 AugI 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:
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):
The アゲハ蝶 (Swallowtail Butterfly) (and his 蛹 (cocoon)).
Here’s a slideshow of our カブト虫 (Rhino beetle) eating gelatin.
[rockyou id=121255942]
A slideshow of our 蝉 (Cicada) emerging from it’s moult (outer shell).
[rockyou id=121304472]
Here’s ハロウィーン (Halloween) at 川崎 (Kawasaki):
And here’s a slideshow of the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 鎌倉 (Kamakura):
[rockyou id=121313498]
And the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 浅草 (Asakusa):
And here’s a slideshow of New Years at 浅草 (Asakusa):
[rockyou id=121314652]
東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland):
[rockyou id=121257747]
A park near our house:
[rockyou id=121256593]
花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing):
[rockyou id=121263734]
茨城県 (Ibaraki) is a countryside prefecture to the north of 東京都 (Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121260602]
横浜 (Yokohama):
[rockyou id=121261159]
亀戸天神 (Kameido-Tenjin Shrine):
[rockyou id=121269921]
原宿 (Harajuku) and 渋谷 (Shibuya):
[rockyou id=121271108]
These photos are from 上野 (Ueno):
[rockyou id=121304850]
東京タワー (Tokyo Tower):
[rockyou id=121315444]
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:
[rockyou id=121316712]
東京駅 (Tokyo Train Station) and the 皇居 (Imperial Palace):
[rockyou id=121320484]
東京大学 (The University of Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121322650]
東武動物公園 (Tobu-Doubutsukouen Zoo):
[rockyou id=121323921]
両国 (Ryougoku), the area of Tokyo with the 国技館 (Sumo Arena):
[rockyou id=121324845]
Please leave a comment of what you think of these photos!
Tokyo Five 
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