With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s sudden resignation today, I think the Peace manifestation on September 15 in Tokyo will be a very, very cheerful event with a lot of enthusiasm from peace activists who have maintained their support for Article 9 of Japan’s Peace Constitution, that clearly says, Japan is a country that will not wage wars. Especially not now, and not in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tokyo says “No War” and “Peace for everyone”!

Now I’m really looking forward to Saturday!

Place: Shiba Park (by Tokyo Tower)
Time 11:00AM - 17:00PM
More details on the World Peace Now Website and at the Peace Day Tokyo Blog.

Last weekend I have been to the great SuperDeluxe club to attend the evening session of Pecha Kucha University Vol.1, a cooperation between the regular Pecha Kucha Night (organised by Klein Dytham Architecture) and Temple University. It was a very interesting night with so much input that I needed some time to get things in my brain in order to write about it. The overall topic of this first Pecha Kucha University was “Youth and Imaginative Labour: East Asia and Beyond”. There were in the fashion of the Pecha Kucha Night several speakers and every one of them had the time of 20 slides à 20 seconds (6min40sec) to present their idea, paper, research, whatever in connection to that topic. Most talked about various efforts to earn money with the internet, some were representing their favourite niche of youthculture and I didn’t really see the connection to the term “labour” all the time. But who cares, most of the prestentations were quite interesting and some very entertaining - like the one by a guy who was costumed as Goku from Dragonball. He came with a dancing crew of mostly male (!) cosplayers dressed in “moe” style who performed their dance two times - because of the great response from the audience… But there were also informative and rather academic lectures, all held by students from abroad (mostly Korea and HongKong). I wonder why there were no Japanese speakers?! Because the speech had to be hold in English, I guess.. the old problem.
After those presentations followed the screening of the fantastic movie Avalon, introduced by THE guru in the field of Japanese cinema, Donald Richie.
And as if all that wasn’t input enough there was a HipHop afterparty hosted by Zulu Nation Japan, with a Spoken Word performance by Marcellus Nealy and live painting by Rinpa Eshidan. I strongly recommend to have a look at their website - their work is amazing and they are something like “youtube celebrities” with one of their videos been watched more than 2 MILLION times.

As I said, this was Pecha Kucha University, not the regular Pecha Kucha Night, which is about architecture and design. If you are interested in that, going to SuperDeluxe club should be your plan for tonight, when young designers, architects and so on meet there again for another round of Pecha Kucha. And for all those of you who are not in Tokyo: Pecha Kucha Night has spread all over the world and you can attend it in more than 80 cities! All of upcoming events are listed on their website.

In my first article as a guest blogger in Tokyo I want to write about one of the most enjoyable things here in Japan: O-matsuri! When I arrived end of May I was told I am just in time for matsuri season - yay, many festivals that offer a fun glimpse on Japanese culture!
Matsuri offer the opportunity to relax, to celebrate, to have a lot of fun - even when you are just watching and eating (like I did) and not actively taking part in carrying a mikoshi. At the shrine-festivals you won’t see any earnest salary men in black suits, no: here people are enjoying themselves and many are dressed in yukata and special matsuri gear. That can look very pretty and sometimes.. uuhm.. quite exciting ;)
What amazes me the most is the array of games for children never seen before somewhere else in that form. Those distinctly Japanese (correct me if I am wrong) kid’s entertainments include many water games, which are thought to be refreshing during hot summerdays. For example fishing rubberballs or other toys out of a swiftly moving water stream, which is enjoyed mostly by the little ones.
Although the animal rights activist in me had to keep both eyes shut, it is great fun for schoolkids to try to catch real goldfish (and I read sometimes even tiny turtles - aaw) with round paper-covered frames. This demands a lot of skill because the paper soaks and rips easily, especially when the victim flounders and struggles not to get caught and the little fisherman keeps his scoop underwater for too long. But some way or the other the kids seem to become experts pretty fast and you can see many of them walking around proudly with their prey in small plastic bags.
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Koen Dori in Shibuya, the main street from the station to NHK, will continue to have eco events until June 10. Here is the NHK Kankyo website. The tema is 明日のエコではまにあわない (”Eco tomorrow will not be enough”) or a sense that we had better start doing something today, or it will be too late. And June 5 is Environment Day in Japan.

I had a great time at the Eco Life Fair last weekend and took some photos which I put on my regular blog, Kurashi News from Japan. Hope you enjoy seeing what is going on here in Tokyo and Japan. This event was sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and some large companies, so it wasn’t as wild and crazy as for example Earthday. Having said that, I also felt Japan is indeed taking a lead in the field of sustainable development and environmental protection.
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Here we go again, another Tokyo festival this weekend with the word “Eco” as the theme. This time the sponsor is Japan’s Environment Ministry and it looks huge, judging from the booths they have already set up in Yoyogi Park, in front of NHK Hall, in Shibuya. The event is Saturday and Sunday June 2-3. Also, NHK is promoting “Eco Style Street” this weekend.

Eco Life Fair 2007 is a very nice website, but couldn’t they have at least some information in other languages? I’m not saying English only, but how about Chinese, Korean…?

Lectures, music, booths and foods… Another fun-filled weekend ahead! If you are interested in what NGOs are doing in Japan, this is also a great opportunity to get information and make new friends. List of participating NGOs/NPOs with websites here.

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

NHK and the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives are hosting the Nippon no Shoku Festival at NHK’s Shibuya broadcasting center on March 17-18 from 10am-4pm. The event offers opportunities to explore Japan’s regional food culture, especially for families with small children. Should be a load of fun if the weather is nice.

A variety of cooking styles and cuisines from all over Japan will be showcased. There will also be a booth that allows guests to experience farming chores, such as polishing rice and milking cows.

Introducing Domo-kun, NHK’s mascot, also used to scare viewers to pay their fees.

Update: I took a couple of photos today of the event and posted on my blog. Yoroshiku!

Halloween doesn’t seem to be big in Tokyo (apart from the over-commercialization of course).


However, there is plenty going on round Metroblogging.
Check out LA for example.

Nippon 2007 Worldcon Main Page

Although it is held next year, anyone who is planning to come ?