2015 Kanda Festival in Tokyo, Japan! Article in English and Japanese. Great photos too! http://bit.ly/1Rx7Ewz The Kanda Matsuri is one of the three great Shinto festivals of Japan, along with Gion Matsuri in Kyoto and Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka! Kanda Shrine was founded in 730 AD.
It's a Sunday morning at 10:30 am here in Tokyo and I've been up since 4 am doing work. I'm pooped and it's hot as heck out there! So, since it is Sunday, I want to relax.... How about a Japan photo mini-matsuri? Here's some photos that my friends have taken in Japan recently that I thought were wonderful and, simply enough, these were taken with cell phones.
That's Sheena (OK, that one is not taken with a cellphone!)
I took this photo of my mini-barbecue (Shichirin) and my favorite BBQ squid!
InterFM DJ George Cockle took this wonderful photo of the shore off Enoshima (Look very closely and you can see the outline of Mt. Fuji)....
Alright, already! A friend says he can't see Mt. Fuji. There it is marked in red. The arrow shows the snow line:
Tsukasa Sato took this breathtaking view of Tokyo
Toru Tsuno captured this great shot of Mt. Fuji in spring
Takatoshi Uchiyama from 76.1 InterFM shot this great photo of Zushi beach
I was going to work one day when I came upon this gentleman and his friends going to play baseball. I loved that handlebar moustache! I shot the photo with my iPhone then used Photoshop to add the baseball diamond in the background to give it a "Baseball card" feel.
James F. Setz took this great late afternoon shot of Tokyo (Shinjuku)
My ex-wife, Masako, with my daughters Wendy and Sheena at Narita Temple. (That's Sheena who was in the kimono at the very top of this article).
This is part one of a series of Japanese folks music for your enjoyment. The summer Obon holiday is just about upon us so I thought it was a good time to present some of these songs to you.
Obon, which was July 15 in the old calendar, is held on August 15 (one month later or 'tsuki-okure') in most areas, and there are many companies which have set the period around this day as Summer holiday (the Obon holiday). Now people celebrate Obon as the summer holidays and with a festival.
Obon (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.
The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When the lunar calendar was changed to theGregorian calendar at the beginning of the Meiji era, the localities in Japan reacted differently and this resulted in three different times of Obon. "Shichigatsu Bon" (Bon in July) is based on the solar calendar and is celebrated around 15 July in eastern Japan (Kantō region such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the Tohoku region), coinciding with Chūgen. "Hachigatsu Bon" (Bon in August) is based on the lunar calendar, is celebrated around the 15th of August and is the most commonly celebrated time. "Kyu Bon" (Old Bon) is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and so differs each year. "Kyu Bon" is celebrated in areas like the northern part of the Kantō region, Chūgoku region, Shikoku, and the Ryukyu Islands. These three days are not listed as public holidays but it is customary that people are given leave
And, as I said, to coincide with these holidays, he is the traditional Japanese song. "Sakura Sakura." From Wikipedia:
"Sakura Sakura" (さくら さくら?), also known as "Sakura",(Cherry Blossoms) is a traditional Japanesefolk song depicting spring, the season of cherry blossoms. Contrary to popular belief, the song did not originate in ancient times; it was a popular, urban melody of the Edo period and was adopted as a piece for beginningkoto students in the Tokyo Academy of Music Collection of Japanese Koto Music issued in 1888 (in English) by the Department of Education.[1] The song has been popular since the Meiji period, and the lyrics in their present form were attached then. It is often sung in international settings as a song representative of Japan.
I am in the midst of writing a longer post about cockroaches and collective punishment. But in the meantime I thought you'd crack up at this hilarious picture sent to me by a friend of mine.
His name is Toshitaka Taniguchi and he is the guy standing on the right. He's pretty flipped out and works as a tattoo artist. He also plays guitar in one of the worst punk bands you'll ever see... So, I guess, that could be construed as meaning, one of the better ones.... Well, they would be good if they'd practice and not drink so much that they can barely stand up when they are on stage.
The guy on the left is dressed for a matsuri (festival), probably in Meguro as his happi (shirt) says, "Yagumo." Yagumo is an area of Meguro.
The really funny part is that the guy on the left has his hair cut so that it says, "Matsuri" on the back. I've never seen that before!
Funny stuff by Japanese punks... There's something that seems complimentary about Japanese tradition and the colors (and some of the craziness) and punk rock... Can't put my finger on what it is exactly, but it seems to match.
Japanese punks and Kabuki... I don't know, but this guy looks like he could be the lead singer of a very loud rock group.
And yet another example of yet another good thing about Japan. Even though these guys are punks, they still follow Japanese tradition and respect their elders and participate. I think it's cool.
I am astounded that the media can actually report such nonsense as what I have just seen. The headlines read: Japan Falls Back Into Recession After Quake. Are you kidding me? Japan has been in a recession for two decades. What kind of rubbish reporting is this?
Yahoo reports:
Japan's economy plunged back into recession in January-March, contracting sharply on the impact of the nation's biggest recorded earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear crisis, data showed Thursday. The economy shrank by a much worse-than-expected 3.7 percent year on year, marking the second consecutive quarter of contraction, which economists define as a technical recession. In the aftermath of the disasters, output saw its biggest ever fall and spending plunged while consumer and business confidence took a tumble.
Consumers have held off spending on non-essentials such as entertainment and travel.
Well, of course they did, Einstein. The mayor of Tokyo told us that we weren't to celebrate the cherry blossom season with the traditional festivities, the biggest festival in Japan, Sanjya Matsuri was cancelled, our electricity was cut in many places, and we couldn't even buy water - we still can't - in many areas.
And these Keynesian clowns think this is falling "back" into recession? They must be joking. We've been in a recession for over twenty years.
My favorite of the smaller local festivals is happening next Saturday and you are all invited. It's the Sakurashinmachi Nebuta Festival (Matsuri) and it starts next Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. Of course, the biggest, and most famous of the Nebuta Matsuri's is in Aomori, but I already get enough of festivals that have 3 million people attending them when I go to the Asakusa Sanja Festival every year. That place is a packed zoo!
日本語文は下をよんでください！
Photo from Aomori Nebuta Matsuri - the most famous Nebuta Matsuri in Japan
The Nebuta Matsuri is just right for us; it is comfortable, safe for kids, and not packed wall to wall with revelers from far away. Most of the people who come to Sakurashinmachi Nebuta Matsuri come from close by.
Entertainers at Sakurashinmachi Nebuta Matsuri
The event starts at 4 pm with the big festivities and the Nebuta float starting at 7 pm. Nebuta refers to a float of warriors that is taken down the main street. Wikipedia describes it as:
"Nebuta" refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the center of the city, while dancers wearing a unique type of costume called haneto (ハネト) prance around in time with the chant Rasserā (ラッセラー). In the local dialect, participation in the festival is inquired using the adjective haneru (ハネル, ex. "今日もハネル?" or "Are you going tohaneru today?"), which was derived from the Japanese spelling of thehaneto costume and the adjective haneru (跳ねる, "bounce").
Of course the Sakurashinmachi Nebuta matsuri has tons of food, drinks, and entertainment. Be there for a truly fun and memorable family time.
I love this kind of food!
To get to Sakurashinmachi: Take the Den-en-Toshi local subway line from Shibuya station towards Chuorinkan. 4 stops to Sakurashinmachi. When you get to the station, go outside, you can't miss the festival.
Good Sunday morning! It's now 6:15 am on Sunday in Tokyo. It's a beautiful day and the morning brings the winds of early autumn to my window. I hope this day brings you bliss and some of your dreams, however great or small, closer to you.
For your Sunday pleasure, once again, I'd like to show you a wonderful time-lapse video I've found of Japan. This is beautiful.
Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. This is my Japan. This is one of the many reasons why I love Japan. I shot this in many locations around Japan in the summer of 2009. Some of the location include Tokyo, Matsuyama, Imabari, Nagano, Gifu, and Ishizushisan. I started this as a personal project to try and capture the beauty that I see in Japan. It started as just that... But now that I have finished, I see it only as a beginning. This video, along with SAIJO MATSURI is just the start of a much larger project that I have now decided to do.
