Shinto Wedding

The predominant religion in Japan is Shinto (神道), which means "the Way (道) to Gods (神)".
In a traditional Shinto wedding, the bride wears the traditional white wedding kimono dress called shiro-muku (白無垢, where 白 means "white" and 無垢 means "pure, innocent"). The bride's wig is usually prepared in a style called bunkin-takashimada (文金高島田), and decorated with golden accessories and decorations that resemble a spike, symboling fertility. This wig is usually fitted in the place of the wedding, since it cannot fit in the car. In these pictures, however, the bride is wearing a white hat, named 角隠し (Tsunokakushi), which is traditionally worn to veil the bride's horns of jealousy, ego and selfishness. It also symbolized the bride's resolve to become a gentle and obedient wife. （→いいお嫁さんになります！） Another name for 角隠し is 綿帽子 (Wataboushi).
It takes at least three hours to dress up woman in bridal kimono.

The groom is dressed in a Montsuki kimono (紋付) with a short haori overcoat (羽織) bearing the family crest with pleated hakama (袴) pants.

World Champions... 1 year later

Red dawn in Tokyo

Being awake because of jet-lag has its advantages, after all ^_^

Paris

A few pictures taken in Paris...


La Seine, and Notre Dame on the background

Le Louvre

Gare du Nord

Walking in the rain

Waseda won the Big 6 Baseball League

Yesterday, Waseda University beat Keio University 9-5 to win its second consecutive Tokyo Big Six League title.
おめでとう！

The Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (東京六大学野球連盟) is an intercollegiate baseball league that features six prominent universities in the Tokyo area:

1. Hosei University;
2. Keio University;
3. Meiji University;
4. Rikkio University;
5. University of Tokyo;
6. and, last but not least, Waseda University.

Before the establishment and subsequent growth of Nippon Professional Baseball, the Big6 League was widely considered the highest level of baseball in Japan.

To celebrate the victory, thousands and thousands of students and supporters gathered at Nishi-waseda Campus. It was incredible!

Living in a box

Artist: Living in a Box
Album: Living in a Box
Year: 1987

Woke up this morning
Closed in on all sides
Nothing doing
I feel resistance
As I open my eyes
Someone's fooling
I've found a way to break
Through this cellophane line
Cause I know what's going on
In my own mind
Am I living in a box
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box
Life goes in circles
Around and around circulation
I sometimes wonder
What's moving underground
I'm escaping
I've found a way ...
I've found a way ...
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living am I living am I living
Am I living am I living am I living
(In a box)
Am I living am I living
Am I living in cardboard box
Am I living in a box
Am I living am I living
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box

Namahage

Namahage is a tradition that is observed throughout the Oga Peninsula peninsula that juts out into the Sea of Japan from northern Honshū, Japan. The ritual is carried out to cleanse the soul and offer prayers that the year to come will be a good one.

On New Year's Eve, villagers dress up as fierce monsters (鬼) called Namahage enter the houses of the village asking if any misbehaving children live there. The Namahage, wearing large masks, straw raincoats and waist-bands, holding wooden knives and pails, go around visiting the houses at night, dancing along as they give out strange cries. They shout out menacing cries such as: "Any children crying?" "Any children disobeying their parents?" or "Any lazy daughters-in-law neglecting their work?"
The small children are often frightened and run and hide. The parents will reassure the Namahage that no bad children live in their house, and offer the Namahage refreshments.

An obvious purpose of the festival is to encourage young children to obey their parents and to behave, important qualities in Japan's heavily structured society.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices - 東京都庁

The Metropolitan Buildings consist of three main buildings:

1. Tokyo Metropolitan Main Building No.1: 243 meters (797 ft) high with forty-eight stories above and three stories below ground.
2. Tokyo Metropolitan Main Building No.2:163 meters (535 ft) high with thirty-four stories above and three stories below ground.
3. Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Building: 41 meters (135 ft) high with seven stories above and one story below ground.

The two pictures below were taken from the observatory deck at 45th floor of the North Tower.

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil originated in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec (Canada). It is now based in the city of Montreal. From the 73 people who worked for Cirque du Soleil in 1984, there are now over 3,000 employees worldwide, including close to 900 artists.

This year Cirque du Soleil presented Dralion in Japan.

Dralion is the fusion of ancient Chinese circus tradition and the avant-garde approach of Cirque du Soleil. The show's name is drawn from its two main symbols: the dragon, representing the East, and the lion, representing the West. Dralion derives much of its inspiration from Eastern philosophy with its perpetual quest for harmony between humankind and nature.



Suspended in time between the past and the future, Dralion is a celebration of life and the four elements that maintain the natural order: air, water, fire and earth. Innovation soars to new heights as it defies the laws of nature. Dralion is a dynamic performance that transcends the boundaries of the imagination and leads us into a dreamscape with a new and sparkling perspective.

In Ballet on lights, presented for the first time in the world, seven young women, wearing pointe shoes, perform a ballet on light bulbs.


I couldn't believe this is physically possible!

Oh, by the way. If Cirque du Soleil is coming by your place, definitely you should take the chance and go and see it!

Free Hugs!

Free Hugs Campaign started a few years ago when Juan Mann went back to Sidney after several years in London.

This is the description of how it all started:

I'd been living in London when my world turned upside down and I'd had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles. No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown.

Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family, with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words "Free Hugs" on both sides.

And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling.

Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven't compared. But to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment, is worth it every time.

Recently this campaign arrived in Japan, too! But this girl didn't really like this experience, as she started to cry just after a few minutes she arrived. Hugging people definitely didn't work well for her. Too bad.

人間銅像

Living statue in Harajuku.



Too bad there was too much wind, and this guy couldn't work at all.
Good luck next time, Kevin!

I dance alone

One of the most fascinating things about Harajuku over the weekend is the insane amount of people acting weird.

For example, this guy spent all the afternoon smoking and dancing by himself, completely ignoring all the people around him (and there were hundreds of people watching).

Were he a good dancer, it would have made some sense!
^_^

Sakura 2007 - Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen was constructed on the site of a private mansion belonging to Lord Naito, a "daimyo"(feudal lord) of the Edo era. Completed in 1906 as an imperial garden, it was re-designated as a national garden after World War 2nd and opened to the public.





58.3 hectares(144 acres) in size and with a circumference of 3.5 km, it blends three distinct styles, French Formal, English Landscape and Japanese Traditional, and is considered to be one of the most important gardens from the Meiji era.

Sakura 2007 - Chidorigafuchi

Chidorigafuchi (千鳥が淵) is probably one of the most famous cherry-blossom viewing spot in Tokyo. Almost everybody all over the world has already seen it in some movie, or anime, or manga.