Wandering GINZA

Going to Ginza is always fun.

Ginza is one of the most luxurious shopping place in Tokyo. Do you want to spend time and money for shopping at CHANEL, LOUIS VUITTON, HERMES, DIOR, GUCCI, TIFFANY and so on? You can get all of them in Ginza!

There are many department store too, for example, Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, Matsuzakaya, Printemps...

And don't forget to visit Sony building, UNIQLO, Apple Store and Ginza's signature jeweler, MIKIMOTO for beautiful pearl accessory.

meeting my friend in the front of Yurakucho Marion building.
Yurakucho is about 5 minutes from/to Ginza.
this building has a movie theatre, so I found MIB3!
when can I go to watch it...

I bought a candle and an olive oil soap at SABON in Marion.
girls enjoyed shopping soaps, candles, perfume, hand creams, lotions
and many other products from Israel.

Apple Store Ginza. many people tried new i-Pad.
this store locates near  MATSUYA department store.

Do you know, is there any real person?

vehicles were shut out for temporarily.

WAKO's show window.

many people took pictures of these cats on the street near WAKO.
because they wore unique collars and....

their pal, this cat actually.....

could follow their master like a dog!!
everyone were surprised.(me too).

saturday night has just began.
where do you want to go?
there are so many places where you can enjoy at night.

can you see a big fish in a show window?
this fish is taiyaki(bream shaped pancake) inspired art object.

before leave ginza, I took a tea break at "Meal MUJI".
Meal MUJI is produced by MUJI,
which have been known their simple and clean design products.
so, you can enjoy simple but really delicious foods at Meal MUJI.
many foreigners, mothers with her babies & kids enjoy their food.
locates at 2nd floor at MUJI Yurakucho.

Ginza always has something new, and also something never changed.
That's why I feel I want to go there regularly.

Waiting for MIB3

Men In Black will be back.

MIB3 will be shown on 25th May...... 25? Yes, Today!
(But now is midnight and I must sleep before going to work)
I can't wait to watch it anymore!

Because it was long time ago when I watched MIB(1997) and MIB2(2002), I really didn't expect to watch MIB3. But finally agent K(Tommy Lee Jones) and agent J(Will Smith) will be back!

They are secret agents who dressed in black suits, and try to keep people who saw UFO or aliens quiet.

Well, in MIB2, there was an unique agent. His name was Frank, actually he was a dog(pug).

This is my favorite scene. Cute, isn't it?
Agent Frank was singing "I will survive"(Gloria Gaynor) and "Who Let the Dog's Out?"(Baha men).

Can I see agent Frank again? Well, I think it's skeptical... but I hope that MIB3 will be amazing even agent Frank will not be shown.

An Annular Solar Eclipse

In Tokyo, this rare phenomenon was occurred for the first time in 173 years.

Could you watch it?

In my case, I could luckily watch it. When I arrived the station near my office, an annular solar eclipse had already started. It was cold and dark like evening, so I had strange feeling.

People stopped and just looked up at the dark sky, chatted and took pictures. Only a few people kept walking.

I looked up at the sky too and found a golden ring in the sky.

I tried to take picture
but couldn't catch a golden ring like eclipse.

It was reported that there were some guys proposed to their girlfriends just on the moment of eclipse.

So it means watching eclipse should be really memorable moment for them.

A diamond might be lost, but memory of special moment can last forever.

Pieces of Japan (19 May 2012)

I love small pieces of life.

Because sometimes small detail can tell more than a small story.

So, about Japan, there are so many aspects too.

I just want to collect them, since they might be old memories someday.

May- the rice planting season

an area for parking bicycles near a station

a public telephone

there is no telephone in the booth.
it is difficult to find a public telephone nowadays
since most people have their own mobile phones.

from a subway station

an apartment building at night

Everything is changing, so am I.
Let's start a new day every single morning...

"Thermae Romae" movie!

Did you watch the Japanese movie "Thermae Romae"?

I have just watched that movie on Saturday.

This Japanese comic/manga(by Yamazaki Mari) based movie has a simple story about an ancient Roman Public Bath Designer, Lucius.

Lucius was played by Japanese actor, Hiroshi Abe who has unbelievably an ancient Roman Like appearance.

His acting was really funny and people in the theater couldn't stop laughing!

You know why? Because Lucius was suddenly transported to today's Japan and found unique Japanese bath culture. So he brought many ideas to ancient Roma.

How about you try to watch trailer first?

A Flower Garden

One day I met a beautiful flower garden.

Oh, pretty marguerites...

Do you know where they are?

They're in a carport!

Mother's Day Weekend

13th May was Mother's Day.

But before going to buy some flowers for my mom, I needed to go to hospital on Saturday.

I was troubled with a bad cough in a week, so I decided to see a doctor.

a hospital locates in tokyo-bay area.

there is a river and a bridge.

many huge apartments in this area.

and also marina.

The location near hospital is really unique, there is a river, a bridge, so many apartments, marina, stadium and a really huge seaside park.

I saw many young people enjoyed running along the river,  and also many kids playing, while elderly person enjoyed walking near my house. Ummm.. interesting.

enjoy running!

After consulting with a doctor, I went to my favorite flower shop in my home town.

the shop locates in a small lane, about 5 minutes from the station.

I chose this lilac.

and violet carnations not red.

lunch at a thai restaurant.

After lunch, I went to a fish market to get fresh fish for my mom.
And my family had a tempura dinner on Sunday.
My mom cooked.
My brother gave her her favorite English tea and red carnations.

So this is my "Mother's Day" weekend.
I hope that  she will happy every time she has flowers.

Day-3 Oigawa-River in Films

On the 3rd day, I got on a train in Jina sta.  I had 3 destination, Kawane-Onsen Sasamado sta., Ieyama sta., and Shimada sta.. Sasamado and Ieyama are Oigawa-Railway Main Line's station and Shimada is JR Tokai's station. Those 3 locations are famous as shooting locations.

□Kawane-Onsen Sasamado- SAYURI-Memoirs of a Geisya(2005)

next to Jina sta.

small lane to the Oigawa-river.

a citrus fruits tree in the garden.

the oigawa-river, a steam locomotive will cross this bridge shortly.

a steam locomotive shows up.

I found a small cafe which next to the station,
young lovers enjoyed coffee at the front porch table while watching trains passed.

well, in my case, enjoyed cafe au lait inside.

□Ieyama- Poppoya/Tetsudoin(The Railroad Man/1999)

an old wooden building.

I could ride a steam locomotive by chance, sooooo happy!

□Shimada- Otoko wa Tsurai yo/Tora-san's Shattered Romance(Tora-san movie series/1971)

a vending machine with a mail box, red and red company.

the horaibashi-bridge is the longest wooden pedestrian bridge in the world,
built in 1879,  897.4m long.

my last destination of this trip, horaibashi-bridge over the oigawa-river.

you need to pay the fee to cross this bridge.

a view from the bridge, it's time to go back to tokyo..

Traveling is energy for life.

I'm happy because I can go anywhere if I want to,
I'm happy because I can share my happy moment with you.

And special thanks to all people who I met in this trip,
Thank you!

Day-2 Kawane Youth Hostel

Jina sta. is a small station in country town along the Oigawa-river.

Located in Kawane-Honcho and famous for the shortest tunnel in Japan(about 7m) .

Kawane's one of the main products is tea, so you can see a tea garden in everywhere in this country town.

Kawane Youth Hostei also stands in the middle of a tea garden!

Jina sta.

 

the shortest tunnel in Japan.

a way to the youth hostel. tea gardens on both side.

Oigawa-river. kawane youth hostel is on the opposite bank of the river.

kawane youth hostel.

entrance of the youth hostel.

mr.mya welcomes you!

entrance of a dormitory.
Japanese traditional folk house was used as youth hostel.

a clean and simple, charming woody bed room.

"oden"-dinner party in the room with traditional hearth.

everyone want to play with this adorable cat!

tea-picking experience is available on the season.

on the next day, before leave youth hostel.
a view from the tea garden.

Kawane youth hostel is small but comfortable place to stay in beautiful country side.

People who love motorcycle/car/railway/traveling gather in this youth hostel and enjoy to have good time in warm atmosphere.

Thank you Kawane Youth Hostel!

I really enjoyed to stay.

☆ Kawane Youth Hostel(Japanese: link to English page)