Festivals 祭り

If you are planning to come to Japan in summer, you may bump into a festival one day on the street. Different kinds of summer festivals have been going in different parts of Japan. I came across with one in my town 2 weeks ago and another  one yesterday in Utsunomiya.

It was so crowded!

 

Wanna try your luck? Here is another way out except for lottery – Goldfish scooping!

One round for 300yen. They will give you 2 fish as souvenirs even if you can’t catch any in the end.

 

Fireworks festival in my town 2 weeks ago:

 

I was given a watermelon!

Summer has arrived. I have been teaching summer classes run by the government in my prefecture. In one of the classes, a student gave me a watermelon after the lesson! A watermelon probably doesn’t mean much if it happens in any other country, except for Japan. Unlike other countries, fruits are luxuries in Japan. This medium sized watermelon surely costs you at least $15 (or 1500yen).

1 minute later:

Japanese raincoat

When was the last time you saw someone using raincoat, instead of umbrella?

While raincoat has obviously phased out in modern days, it is still being used – not by humans – but by animals. Yes, by animals!

You may wonder: How? Here are the raincoats I saw last week in a homeware store. They are for dogs and cats.

 

吉祥寺 Kichijoji、西荻窪Nishi-Ogikubo-雑貨zakka continued

We talked about zakka last month. While this time, the topic is still the same – 雑貨zakka, yet we change the location from 自由が丘 Jiyugaoka to吉祥寺Kichijoji and 西荻窪 Nishi-Ogikubo. Hope you like the photos I took last week in these two places.

Once you get out from the JR station, we will see these shopping arcades. One of them is called SunRoad.

SunRoad south entrance:

North entrance:

What a big floor plan (of SunRoad) hanging up on the wall!

 

After asking the staff at the tourist counter, I was told that there are two streets on which zakka are most concentrated. One is Nakamichi Dori,中道通り one is NishiibashiDori　七井橋通り.

 

Chinese restaurant

Some of my girlfriends told me they wanted to find a studio to take some Kimono 着物 (traditional Japanese clothing, as below) photos. Here is one you can try. Just 4725yen, including someone helping you wear your Kimono and setting your hair! If you go with your darling, it costs only 6300yen for two people. What a bargin!

Loads of people take their cats and dogs for a stroll.

Luck draw in front of a department store:

BookOff – the largest second hand book chain in Japan. http://www.bookoff.co.jp

Seiyu 西友 department store. It’s an old one so it’s not as well lit and clean as other department stores. You may skip it if time doesn’t allow.

Freebies are everywhere in the street these days in Japan. This time, soul has become free too!

Tokyu Department Store 東急　www.tokyu-dept.co.jp/：

Yodobashi ヨドバシ – the biggest electric chain in Japan http://www.yodobashi.co.jp

Bumped into a boxing school while I was walking from Kichijoji吉祥寺 to NishiOgikubo西荻窪. The first time in my life to see such a school on ground level! Amazed!

 

A pool for children to play with water and it’s free~!

Don’t be mistaken. Kinokuniya 紀伊国屋is not confined to bookstores本屋. This Kinokuniya紀伊国屋 is actually a supermarket.

Wrapping up 1st term

Time flies. This is the last week that students have school until the 1^st term marks its end. It means that summer vacation is starting next week. For me, all my lessons were already finished yesterday so I will be sitting in the staff room doing nothing for the next 2 days while I still get paid 🙂

The staff room in my school:

Summer hibernation

It’s been over 35 degree for most of the days this week in the Tokyo region. Cases of people die of heat stroke come up on news almost every day. It’s particularly hard for those who work and study at school (ie. teachers and students) as there is no air-conditioner in most of the schools in Japan. Plus, there are few fans installed in each classroom. If you are not from east Asia, you may not understand why everyone’s screaming hell, it’s only 35 degrees anyway.

The situation in Japan and other south Asian countries are very different from those in the United States, and even Africa. There is a teacher from Africa who said that, though he is from the country where temperature is much higher than that in Japan, he finds in more difficult to cope with the heat in Japan than in Africa because of the lack of open space so air is trapped in a small, enclosed area without proper ventilation.  The summer in Japan is not only hot, but humid, very humid to the extent that your tops and pants keep sticking to your skin, making you feeling really uncomfy. You will find yourself out of breath if you stay in a small area with a lot of people. Also, unlike other countries where open space is much more available than the number of people, Japan is quite a crowded country and houses are built right next to each other. Also, due to lack of space, buildings and structures are designed to accommodate more people per unit of area. Open space is really limited, particularly in or near Tokyo region.

So, unlike last summer, I have decided to hibernate this time– simply staying in my room as much as I can and not going anywhere.

I got a tummy ache!

I touched on the topic of Sprite in Japan last year. I said that it has a unique flavour which is so different from other Sprite’s I have ever tried in other countries. As a brand name soft drink which caters for those from little kids up to the elderly, from manual blue collars to top CEOs, it is expected to carry a commonly accepting flavour. Yet, the Sprite here does it the other way. It is sour, which is in stark contrast to most of the common soft drinks on the market which taste sweet.

This topic came up in a chat between me and a Japanese co-worker in the school. I was told that because Japanese people are conscious of their health, they think that (too much) sugar is not good for health, especially in soft drinks in which they are well known for high sugar level.

This week, I was in this grade 1 class in which I used ice creams as a means so the kids could use them to learn numbers 1- 10 in English. I led in to the topic by asking whether they liked ice cream. As anyone can tell, kids love sweets and ice cream so I got overwhelming response. To keep the ball rolling, I replied that I like ice cream too and I eat it every day. Everyone was dumbfounded! They said that I would get a tummy ache if I really do it.

This is Japanese people.

Meguro(目黒), Jiyugaoka(自由が丘), Ginza(銀座), Yurakucho(有楽町)

If you are into the Zakka(雑貨) in Japan, like me, you may want to check out the shops in Jiyugaoka(自由が丘), Meguro(目黒).

As far as I can see, there are over a hundred zakka shops in that area so you can spend a whole day. I took these pictures yesterday.

Jiyugaoka(自由が丘)

Jiyugaoka Station

Square:

Here you will find tons of zakka shops Muji has got a shop there too Docomo

Getting tired after a long walk? How about a lunch in a Chinese restaurant?

Alleys there also packed with zakka shops

Ginza 銀座

Mitsukoshi (三越)

Streetscape

Fujiya (不二家)GAP flagship store
Lindt

Sony showroom – a must visit for every tourist

Matsuya(松屋) Department Store

LV

Lastly, Apple flagship store. Suggest you try their elevators. You just won’t find them anywhere else!

Alexander McQueen

One of the most visited landmarks in Ginza for tourists – Wako(和光) Department Store

Nissan showroom

Yurakucho 有楽町

Fujiya 不二家

When was the last time you shopped in the deli section in a department store in Japan? As you are browsing, did the colorful foods caught your attention, especially the cakes? Yes, cakes (and cake shops) are one of the things that you should pay special attention to as you do your shopping in Japan. Their wide variety of types, colors, tastes, etc are all great enough to capture your eyes.

Fujiya (不二家) – one of the largest cake shops in Japan – has been selling one of the series of their cakes for 1000yen only. I got a chocolate one 2 weeks ago after work. To my surprise, except for the cake, I was also given a plate for souvenir so that’s free!

A dump or not a dump

Everything is expensive in Japan and everyone is trying save every little penny they can in the country. After the burst of bubbles in the 90s, Japan has been through a long long period of recession. What can you do, if you live in Japan, so you can save money?

Like many other countries, Japan has got this thing called second hand shops , or commonly called recycle shops in Japan. One of the biggest is Hard Off (or Book Off, Mode Off, Garage Off, Hobby Off, Mode Off etc according to the particular type of second hand things a given store sells). They have got … branches throughout Japan, which means that there must be one close to you wherever you live in the country. They have got a website: http://www.hardoff.co.jp/