Hope everyone can make it to the Thai Festival this weekend, it is the 8th year this festival is held, with lots of food and drink and music.
Thailand and Japan are celebrating 120 years of diplomatic relations this year.
Location: Yoyogi Park (near NHK) in Tokyo
Website: Thai Festival in Japan
สถานเอกอัครราชทูต ณ กรุงโตเกียว กำหนดจัดงานเทศกาลไทย ครั้งที่ 8 ระหว่างวันที่ 12-13 พฤษภาคม 2550 ณ สวนสาธารณะโยโยงิ เขตชิบุยะ กรุงโตเกียว
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May 13th is Mother’s Day.
Have you decided what you are going to give on such a special day to your mom?
There was four-pages-long advertisement for Ghana chocolate on Asahi Newspaper yesterday. Ghana chocolate is not only using Newspaper, but it extends to a popular TV commercial in these days with six Japanese young actresses saying ‘Thanks’ to their mom for Mother’s Day. These six young actresses are not only popular among teenagers, but also among parents age. The advertisement is effective in a way that it makes the viewers feel like I want to give chocolate as a part of gift for my mother on the 13th. Not to mention, my friend said giving only a chocolate is little cheap/light for our age. Though it is all about thinking and thanking mother for what they have been doing everyday for each of us.
So, have you decided what you are going to give on Mother’s Day?
Asahi Evening Newspaper from May 7th http://www.asahi.com
Lotte Ghana Chocolate youtube http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4it_Ony2VSA
After the long holidays, I got little tired. I mean I bet many Japanese are in the same way.
I decided not to travel during this busiest time of Spring, instead I spent many days with my friends.
It was really great Golden Week to get together to just chill.
On the other hand, my brother was busy traveling to Kyoto with his GF.
Coming back from work yesterday, he had souvenirs from cucumber to ramen.
Not to mention he also bought kyougashi(sweets from Kyoto) from his trip.
So, even though Japanese people enjoy the Golden Week, they always have to think
about their job at the corner of their mind…
Unfortunate to such a terrible accident happened on a roller coaster in Osaka,
I hope many people had a great vacation.
Tonight, I found a number of magazines about organic foods, sustainable development, environmental issues, global warming, and “eco” in my local bookshop.
I had to take photos and make this collage. I am really pleased Japan is embracing this trend to such a degree.
When workers in Tokyo get their well deserved breaks such as Golden Week, many tend to travel to other parts of Japan; some go to visit relatives, others for relaxation and excitement. However, regardless of the reason, domestic travel can be an expensive endeavor.
A one-way ticket to Osaka from Tokyo will run about 14,000 yen, making your wallet almost 30,000 yen lighter in travel expenses alone! But don’t fret. There are other options but you will need to sacrifice some convenience and comfort to reap the benefits.
Overnight buses are great ways to get around Japan’s major cities on the cheap. There are three major types of buses. The cheapest one can get you all the way to Osaka for about 4000 yen in 8 hours. Unfortunately there is no restroom on board, meaning the bus will need to make periodic stops. If you are a light sleeper, this bus is to be avoided. There isn’t much leg room and the announcements that accompany the stops will have you waking every few hours.
The second tier bus improves the experience by having an accessible restroom. This allows for fewer stops so that the driver can rest. But the most expensive bus (6,000 yen plus) is obviously the most comfortable. In addition to the restroom and fewer rest stops, there are only 3 seats per aisle with more leg room per person. This makes for an easier sleep without medical aid.
There is one catch to all of this: You’ll need to speak Japanese to decipher and navigate through the websites to get the best rates. To make things easier however, links to some of the best rates are provided below. Enjoy the uncomfortable ride knowing that your wallet doesn’t need to go hungry. Just don’t go competing for seat space with me.
May 5th is called, Kodomono-hi/ Children’ day. A week to few days before this date, households that have boys in the family decorate Koinobori. There is wide range of size, but generally it is 30~50cm long. However, some families decorate large koinobori that are as large as 2m long, such as the picture below.
There are usually three to four koinobori that are father, mother and children and the size follow accordingly. Although this day is called, children’s day, it is a day for celebrating boys in Japan. Girls on the other hand have a day called, Hinamatsuri back in March. However, the day of girls is not a national holiday. I have always wandered why May 5th is called ‘Children’s Day,’ but only boys are celebrated, but also why only boys day is a national holiday, but not for girls. Maybe we can rename it to ‘Boys’ Day’??
Whatever the name is going to be, for adults having Golden Week is definitely a plus. I am just happy to have a break from everything!
What is the future of Japan? There are many things that Japan has to deal in order to compete and maintain its status in Asia and the world in the next decades. Such issue as how Japan is going to cooperate with the States is a big key. Moreover, as China and India are growing dramatically especially for the past decade, what Japan has to do in the greater Asia region? Yesterday was one of the Golden Week’s national holidays, the day of Constitution. Do we need to alter the current constitutions or should we maintain? There are many issues on the constitution that were discussed on the Asahi News paper yesterday such as below.
-The use of soft power instead of hard power to compete in Asia?
-Is Japan going to apologize for what it had done in the past?
-The environmental issues in Asia… Japan can be the key to reduce or tolerate the damage that growing China is creating? Will it lead to new business chance for Japan?
-The constitution 9… Is Japan going to alter it or will it remain; knowing the terrible usage of nuclear power, is Japan going to have a new constitution to fight war?
-Who can have nuclear power and who cannot?
It is a very delicate debate that Japan is facing. Personally I am against war and Japan has to say to the world that we should never let a single victim to be hurt or lost life by nuclear power. However at the same time, can Japan say NO to America to send troops to Iraq? Isn’t it quite odd considering the Constitution 9 which Japan and the U.S. made after the WWII that Japan should not have power to fight war or self-protect, but U.S. asks Japan whenever they need to send troops to the fields? Can Japan never really stand up for itself to be considered a real State?
Homeless people (in the blue-sheeted shacks) living under a road next to the Sumida River in Tokyo. They share life under the heavy traffic with apartment-dwellers, whose view of the river was swapped for a highway.
Posted from my mobile phone
So this week’s weather is very important for many Japanese. It is the week of consequential national holidays, called Golden Week. Last week’s weather forecast projected the weather for yesterday and today to be cloudy and rainy. However it ended up that it rained only little yesterday and it was such a beautiful day today. Today’s highest temperature was 25.8 Celsius in Tokyo. It was really hot; I only needed a T-shirt, but no spring coat on. Today is also called Hachijyuhachiya;88th day since the New Year day when new tea leaves come out. For the next four more days till the end of long holidays, the weather seems stable keeping the highest temperature around 23~25 Celsius.
I passed the May Day parade in Tokyo today and took a few photos. Union members are demanding higher minimum wage and more stable employment to fight the income gap and the problem of the so-called “working poor” who are struggling with low wages. I was also impressed by the banners and floats aiming to protect Article 9 of Japan’s Peace Constitution, that renounces war.
42,000 people participated in the events in Tokyo today.
