Song is ID by Kasabian
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Kawasaki- Daishi, Yokohama, and the Marine Festival
This past Monday (Marine day), I went to two different festivals (sort of). Monday was a national holiday for Japan known as Marine day. Marine Day according to Wiki:
"Marine Day" was declared a national holiday in 1995 as a day of gratitude for the blessings of the oceans and to hope for the economic prosperity of maritime Japan. First observed on July 20, 1996, the Happy Monday System (ハッピーマンデー制度 Happī Mandē Seido?) legislation moved the date from July 20 to the third Monday of July from 2003.
I decided to take advantage of this and go to the "festival" being held in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama (or what I like to refer to as downtown Yokohama) and the wind chime festival being held in Kawasaki- Daishi.
When I got off the train, the environment was a little surreal. It almost felt like I was back in Kyoto. Kawasaki- Daishi is a very traditional area that is mainly comprised of the Heiken-ji temple complex. Every year, Heiken-ji has a wind chime celebration, and I toted myself out there to go see it.
The main shopping strip was pretty filled with people. Every where you looked, there was food and traditional items being sold alongside the wind chimes.
The temple complex itself was packed with people. This is a view of the complex looking down from the steps of the main temple building. You can see the smoke from the incense "cauldron" in the center of the image.
As with every celebration in Japan, there is a TON of delicious food being sold. I indulged in strawberry shaved ice and okonomiyaki (a type of egg omelette).
All in all, the wind chime festival was awesome. I only stayed for a couple of hours as there wasn't much to do, but it was still really cool to go see. I also compiled some short video clips together that I took while I was there.
After the wind chime festival, I headed south towards downtown Yokohama to see fireworks and the events being held at the Marine festival.
Monday was the last day of the 3 day long festival and there were supposed to be fireworks and a lot of performers and cool things going on. The fireworks never happened (they were cancelled for some reason) and there really weren't any events going on either. The official website, which can be found here: http://www.yme.gr.jp/index.html, lied. Not knowing the fireworks had been cancelled, I knew I had to kill some time to wait for them to happen. The Pokemon Center of Yokohama was having a little festival as well, so I decided to head towards Landmark Tower. First, I passed through Cosmo World, seeing as I had never been there.
Pictures weren't really allowed in the area (to my knowledge), but I snapped a quick one with my phone. I bought a cute little clutch that I now keep my phone and flip cam in alongside my key and passmo, and they were handing out free shitajiki (pencil boards) at the entrance. The Pokemon Center in Yokohama is just as awesome as the one in Tokyo. Also very cool is the Moe Garden shop next door and the Jump Shop. The Moe Garden sells all Studio Ghibli items and the Jump Shop sells all Shonen Jump things. Pretty cool and very moe. :3
After leaving the Landmark Tower, I stumbled upon another magic show going on (this was actually the 3rd one I saw in a day). Magic shows in Japan are quite different than ones in America. Here, they comprise of magic, balancing and juggling acts, and small feats of acrobatics. They also typically have some sort of balloon animal routine involved. I guess they are more like jack-of-all-trade shows, really. This guy had a huge audience though. I didn't really stay to watch. :/
After all of that, I waited around 2 hours for the fireworks to start, which never happened. The Marine show pretty much was a bust, but it allowed me to see parts of downtown Yokohama I had never been to before. I did take a series of videos though.
"Marine Day" was declared a national holiday in 1995 as a day of gratitude for the blessings of the oceans and to hope for the economic prosperity of maritime Japan. First observed on July 20, 1996, the Happy Monday System (ハッピーマンデー制度 Happī Mandē Seido?) legislation moved the date from July 20 to the third Monday of July from 2003.
I decided to take advantage of this and go to the "festival" being held in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama (or what I like to refer to as downtown Yokohama) and the wind chime festival being held in Kawasaki- Daishi.
When I got off the train, the environment was a little surreal. It almost felt like I was back in Kyoto. Kawasaki- Daishi is a very traditional area that is mainly comprised of the Heiken-ji temple complex. Every year, Heiken-ji has a wind chime celebration, and I toted myself out there to go see it.
The main shopping strip was pretty filled with people. Every where you looked, there was food and traditional items being sold alongside the wind chimes.
The temple complex itself was packed with people. This is a view of the complex looking down from the steps of the main temple building. You can see the smoke from the incense "cauldron" in the center of the image.
As with every celebration in Japan, there is a TON of delicious food being sold. I indulged in strawberry shaved ice and okonomiyaki (a type of egg omelette).
All in all, the wind chime festival was awesome. I only stayed for a couple of hours as there wasn't much to do, but it was still really cool to go see. I also compiled some short video clips together that I took while I was there.
After the wind chime festival, I headed south towards downtown Yokohama to see fireworks and the events being held at the Marine festival.
Monday was the last day of the 3 day long festival and there were supposed to be fireworks and a lot of performers and cool things going on. The fireworks never happened (they were cancelled for some reason) and there really weren't any events going on either. The official website, which can be found here: http://www.yme.gr.jp/index.html, lied. Not knowing the fireworks had been cancelled, I knew I had to kill some time to wait for them to happen. The Pokemon Center of Yokohama was having a little festival as well, so I decided to head towards Landmark Tower. First, I passed through Cosmo World, seeing as I had never been there.
Pictures weren't really allowed in the area (to my knowledge), but I snapped a quick one with my phone. I bought a cute little clutch that I now keep my phone and flip cam in alongside my key and passmo, and they were handing out free shitajiki (pencil boards) at the entrance. The Pokemon Center in Yokohama is just as awesome as the one in Tokyo. Also very cool is the Moe Garden shop next door and the Jump Shop. The Moe Garden sells all Studio Ghibli items and the Jump Shop sells all Shonen Jump things. Pretty cool and very moe. :3
After leaving the Landmark Tower, I stumbled upon another magic show going on (this was actually the 3rd one I saw in a day). Magic shows in Japan are quite different than ones in America. Here, they comprise of magic, balancing and juggling acts, and small feats of acrobatics. They also typically have some sort of balloon animal routine involved. I guess they are more like jack-of-all-trade shows, really. This guy had a huge audience though. I didn't really stay to watch. :/
After all of that, I waited around 2 hours for the fireworks to start, which never happened. The Marine show pretty much was a bust, but it allowed me to see parts of downtown Yokohama I had never been to before. I did take a series of videos though.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Tokyo Journeys
So on 6/25 I met up with Alison from http://niconico-shiteiru.blogspot.com/. We had a fun Tokyo shopping day. First we met up at the cosplay bridge in Harajuku (since she was coming from Kimitsu and I from Yokohama), wandered into several lolita and music shops and I bought a cute dress (MAM) because Closet Child was having a sale. :D
Afterwards, we went to Shibuya, shopped around a little there and got some food over at Outback.
I'm proud to say that the screens are now back on in Shibuya. The last time I was in Tokyo was only a couple weeks after the earthquake. Now, it feels like Tokyo has gone back to normal (as normal as it can I suppose).
The effects of the Tohoku tragedy are still quite present. At Hachiko crossing there was a nuclear energy protest that we stumbled across. There were hundreds of people there with signs and flags. I took some video too.
On a more random note Alison and I stumbled across this van in Shibuya outside the Tower Records. I don't even know why there was deer puppetry happening in the window.
The Tower Records was also decked out in AKB48 everything!
After lunch and shopping in Shibuya, we headed up to Shinjuku to check out the lolita shops and record shops there. I got an A Knot DVD (Dir en grey) from one of the shops there. Then it started raining and we parted ways to go home.
While walking around Tokyo, I found some graffiti too. Happy to see some Fairey.
All in all. I had a ton of fun. We are planning another Tokyo meet-up in August. :D
Friday, June 3, 2011
Yokohama. Holiday. Melon Slushies. Art.
Yesterday was Yokohama day! I’m in love with Japanese holidays. Since I don’t get 2 ½ months off for summer vacation, the mass amount holidays make up for it (mostly). Yesterday, I cleaned my apartment and balanced my budget. Fun times! It’s always fun trying to figure out the bare minimum one needs to survive monthly. I have monthly student loan payments to make, which amount for almost half my paycheck every month. Needless to say, it’s a buzz-kill.
On Wednesday, I did an hour of karaoke by myself. It was my first time to do it and I will probably do it more often. There aren’t many places where you can sing at the top of your lungs and not be embarrassed. In Japan I’m thinking there are 2 places (as an adult): karaoke and live concerts. The best part about my karaoke place is that it is all you can drink free soft drinks and they have melon slushies. SO GOOD. The price per hour is 280en too so it is a really good deal. I love the melon slushies! Here’s a short clip of me singing an Ikimonogakari song. I love them.
I also wanted to post a newsletter from the PTA I received this week. Most of it is blurred out because I wasn’t sure what I could and couldn’t show as far as privacy. This is a list of all the teachers from my school with what subject they teach. I’m the only one not blurred out. The two people with the little text blurbs are the principal and vice principal of the school. They are talking about how wonderful the PTA is.
Next week I go back to my other school (the one with the taiko club) and maybe I can get the students to film me being an idiot trying to learn the drums. Tonight, I stayed late at school to record the student’s listening tests. I also got to draw for 30 min with the art club. They were doing landscapes and this is what I contributed. It was fun drawing from life again. I haven't had a chance to do it in a while. Very good practice.
Also- check out the huge azalea bush near one of my schools.
On Wednesday, I did an hour of karaoke by myself. It was my first time to do it and I will probably do it more often. There aren’t many places where you can sing at the top of your lungs and not be embarrassed. In Japan I’m thinking there are 2 places (as an adult): karaoke and live concerts. The best part about my karaoke place is that it is all you can drink free soft drinks and they have melon slushies. SO GOOD. The price per hour is 280en too so it is a really good deal. I love the melon slushies! Here’s a short clip of me singing an Ikimonogakari song. I love them.
I also wanted to post a newsletter from the PTA I received this week. Most of it is blurred out because I wasn’t sure what I could and couldn’t show as far as privacy. This is a list of all the teachers from my school with what subject they teach. I’m the only one not blurred out. The two people with the little text blurbs are the principal and vice principal of the school. They are talking about how wonderful the PTA is.
Next week I go back to my other school (the one with the taiko club) and maybe I can get the students to film me being an idiot trying to learn the drums. Tonight, I stayed late at school to record the student’s listening tests. I also got to draw for 30 min with the art club. They were doing landscapes and this is what I contributed. It was fun drawing from life again. I haven't had a chance to do it in a while. Very good practice.
Also- check out the huge azalea bush near one of my schools.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Karaoke Passout
This past Saturday I was supposed to go see my friend Judy and her friends compete in the Dragon Boat competition. The Dragon Boat race is an annual competition in Yamashita park where people race in traditional dragon boats from Hong Kong. More can be found out about it here (in English): http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090616ev.html
Or here (in Japanese): http://www.yokohama-dragon.com/
Since the race didn’t happen due to being rained out from the ever- encroaching typhoon (which I’m not sure has happened or not due to the lack of severe rain) everyone ended up meeting up at the karaoke place near Kibogaoka station. LUCKY! It was around 700en for around 3 hours. CHEAP! I’m super in love with this place. I took a short video of the fun. I had a blast! I love love love karaoke!
One of Judy’s friends sang a song called Secret Message and all of the characters were messed up on the screen too. We were dying. XD
After karaoke, we went to the house of Judy’s friend. Her husband made us this amazing meal. I felt like royalty. We met up with more people there too. I didn’t end up getting home until around midnight. Saturday was so amazing… so amazing I slept most of Sunday. :3
Yesterday, on my way home from work, I took a video of what I see on the train from Futamatagawa to Kibogaoka; just one stop. I had my phone pressed to the window to steady it, but most of the images are still blurry. I’m going to try and take the same video with my flip cam and see the difference in image quality.
And finally as a general update, here are some random images I’ve taken around town and a video in my apartment.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Taiko sickness
Quite a lot happened last week. I got to see 2 taiko performances given by my JHS taiko club (that I’m a forever “new member” of) and I got sick. Though I have to say, for every new experience that I have, it seems I’m always behind my self-expectations. I was hoping I would know how to cook a lot of Japanese food, be fluent in katakana, and have some Japanese children’s books translated by this time in my mind but… I’ve been here over 2 months and I’m nowhere near completing any of those things (well the katakana thing is improving A LOT). I can now read a lot of foods and signs that I used to just look at puzzled. I am also learning where and when to purchase the cheapest foods in my area and what a good deal is (ie: getting a “loaf” of bread for under 100¥).
So back to the taiko thing- I recorded part of the ichinensei’s dance routine from my phone. I tried to record the encore performance that the sannensei’s did, but the file didn’t save properly. I was kinda bummed about that but I took 2 pictures also and a small video of what the little festival looked like too. I only stayed for about 2 hours, but I had fun and the students were glad to see me there.
The taiko performance happened on Sunday and on the Thursday before, after teaching passive tense to the sannensei’s, I got really nauseous and sick to my stomach. Around the same time, I started to get a headache and felt really clammy. I ended up leaving school early and sleeping the rest of the day. I went to work normal on Friday, but obviously wasn’t as energetic, drank a lot of water in between classes, and sat more than normal. After school Friday I slept and slept all day Saturday as well. I also loaded up on medicine for those 3 days. Tums and Tylenol Sinus. Yeah. I was feeling great! Actually by Sunday, I was feeling well enough to support my taiko club, but I’m glad I wasn’t asked to perform in any way. I would have probably vomited everywhere.
So back to the taiko thing- I recorded part of the ichinensei’s dance routine from my phone. I tried to record the encore performance that the sannensei’s did, but the file didn’t save properly. I was kinda bummed about that but I took 2 pictures also and a small video of what the little festival looked like too. I only stayed for about 2 hours, but I had fun and the students were glad to see me there.
The taiko performance happened on Sunday and on the Thursday before, after teaching passive tense to the sannensei’s, I got really nauseous and sick to my stomach. Around the same time, I started to get a headache and felt really clammy. I ended up leaving school early and sleeping the rest of the day. I went to work normal on Friday, but obviously wasn’t as energetic, drank a lot of water in between classes, and sat more than normal. After school Friday I slept and slept all day Saturday as well. I also loaded up on medicine for those 3 days. Tums and Tylenol Sinus. Yeah. I was feeling great! Actually by Sunday, I was feeling well enough to support my taiko club, but I’m glad I wasn’t asked to perform in any way. I would have probably vomited everywhere.
Monday, May 16, 2011
My Apartment
This is actually the second video I've taken of my apartment, but the first I'm posting here. This was also a test to try out the camera function of my Android phone. I normally film with an old flip cam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)