Japanese Anemone Flowers

 Japanese Anemone Flowers are gracefully in full bloom in my garden.

This is my home town NAGOYA

[BTep02] Longboard around Nagoya from BoardTraveller on Vimeo.

Just take a look at this exciting video! It was taken just a few days ago and already uploaded. Great job!
It's my home town , Nagoya. Nagoya has the forth largest population in Japan with over 2 million people.
Every place in the video is so familiar to me. Nagoya Castle, the Nagoya Castle Park, downtown Sakae where you can enjoy shopping or strolling around , Nagoya TV Tower, downtown Nagoya Station. It's amazing that everyone can take a quick look at how Nagoya is alike. They are all standard sightseeing spots.
But, I'll tell you, next time you'll ever have a chance t0 drop by Nagoya, I'll show you around my favorite places to visit. Maybe I'd better make a list and show you here. One by One. Wow, it might be a good resolution for me to make!

And here is a link of the song in the video. Isn't it a fantastic music? Once you hear the music, it'll never leave you.

Love Letter To Japan Lyrics: "The Bird and The Bee Love Letter To Japan lyrics in the Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future Album. These Love Letter To Japan lyrics are performed by The Bird and The Bee Get the music video and song lyrics here. From the west to the east, I have flown to b"

One month since then

One month has just passed by. Nothing has been improved so dramatically. We still have aftershocks over and over. People in Tohoku area are facing lots of realities to confront. Now getting free from the fear of death , they started their lives from " being nothing." Some went back and forth between their wrecked and muddy houses and the evacuation places to clean up their properties. Some just abandoned their hometown to another cities to let their children begin their school lives as they used to. I heard many families had made a hard decision to live in separate for various reasons. Boy, there are lots they have to face with.

Then, it is so encouraging to see dozens of volunteers and organizations are stepping into these areas to help them out to rebuild the land along with the Self Defense Force parties and other public support organizations from abroad.

However, there are many other people who don't move out to the safer places. They just stay each home that was damaged partly and try to find the way to clear their houses. Yet most of their conditions like those areas being away from the officially appointed evacuation spots, the daily necessities are not delivered enough. Even electricity, water and gas are not all back in full at places where piles of debris and rubble still sit, not to mention some mountainous and remote areas. The condition is not always satisfactory sanitary wise. It looks like hard to draw an exact map as for where to go distributing goods due to lack of detailed information.

One support organization called "HOPE International Development Agency" was asking people to make hygiene kits to hand out to people in heavily distracted Tohoku area. They claimed specifically 9 items to be set in a plastic bag. I read a flyer and when I finished reading it, I knew what to do next. I had checked the items at home and ran to the shop to get the rest in short supply.

When I got the donation drive of this agency at the Hilton Nagoya the day before the due date, there were several staffs working on the donated goods and sorting them out. I was surprised to see it was outside a hotel doorway. It was a bit windy. When they saw me approaching, they soon recognized my large paper bag full of kits. I was so glad they smiled at me. I hope our support will bring people over there lots of smile on their faces as well.

One month has passed but it will be a long long way to go for a recovery. I only pray for all those who are struggling and fighting against an on-going hardship -----for desperate residents, each member sent into devastated areas from organized bodies and of course for people working in the crippled nuclear stations.

(from Peace Boat website)

We can't miss it

Nagoya Castle is one of the popular spots you can't miss in Nagoya.
It's especially beautiful in spring time when more than 1,600 cherry trees around the castle are in full bloom almost at the same time. All the trees grow blossoms first then fresh green leaves come next after the blossoms fall on the ground. So it is really something to our eyes when all the trees are full of light pink blossoms. It makes a breathtaking view against the donjon.
I drove there for a quick visit the day before yesterday. It took only 15 minutes or so.

(click!)

Since the TV weather forecast reported it would rain the next day, I didn't want to miss the best time. Cherry blossoms are in bloom only for a week and all the petals start scattering onto the ground like snow flakes dancing in the air. We have to enjoy the beautiful blossoms before the rain ruins the best time. For Japanese, spring never comes along without admiring them at first hand. And yes, the forecast was bingo!

Weekend!

Take a break.
Get flowers in a living room.

I want to believe that the arrival of spring will surely bring HOPE
to those who lost everything by the disaster.

My goodness! It's still snowing!

Well, when I woke up this morning, the snowfall was just moderate enough to enjoy the beautiful scenery. However I must say now, "No more thank you." The transportation is getting paralyzed. Trains delayed, cars trapped, people slipping. I don't feel like driving on such a awful day. So here I am sitting at my laptop making the slide show. What a good way to spend the Sunday afternoon.

Too bad, however, there are many senior high students who have been taking the entrance exams across the nation since this morning despite this bad weather.
Some students could not arrive at the exams venues on time due to the paralyzed transportation system so many exam organizations made it possible to give them a full time right after they sit at the desks. That's the way it should be. Yet,I know how much stressing for the students to concentrate on the exams all after the fuss.

It's the season of the entrance exams in Japan for these three months. Two-day unified college entrance examinations, known as the National Center Test, started at 706 venues across the nation yesterday. Today is the last day. It's the beginning of the exams season. With today's results, students are to go on to the next exams at each university which they apply for.

I don't know why but the snowy weather often falls on around the date of the National Center Test. I remember it did snow on the day when my daughter went to take this exams almost six years ago.
No more hardship on them. Hope they will finish the exams making their best.
Their own "spring" will be arriving soon.

Volunteers also worked hard

COP10, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity, Nagoya, Aichi was closed on early Saturday reaching to the agreement through the long and tough meetings in a row by the representatives from the 192 countries and the European Union.

Unlike the World Expos which is held every four year, the Conference is not open to the public. Yet during the Conference, there were more than 10,000 people coming in and out from home and abroad. They are delegates, representatives from governments levels, NPO, scientists, researchers, native people and not to mention the press.


During the 17 days, there are more than 1,200 volunteers also were completing their missions at the huge conference venue or at the important spots of the every transportation systems such as the airport, subway/train stations in and around the city to help participants.

Besides them, many volunteers who speak the foreign languages were stationed at each of 200 exhibition booths adjacent to the main conference venue. I was appointed at the booth which the city of Nagoya produced the exhibition on the history of biodiversity in Nagoya and we provided the short guided tour in the huge tent during the period.
It was really fun when I have many visitors and explained our panels in English. Visitors were mostly Japanese citizens or the conference participants from abroad who walked in in between the sessions. We both enjoy exchanging our ideas on what we can do for the preservation of the rich natural environment.

Click here. You can have a glance at what the COP10 were all alike.Photos are just beautiful.

The origin of cell phone straps

(picture from http://hanakagesho.blog17.fc2.com/page-1.html)

I believe there are lots of people here regardless of ages who collect straps as well as enjoy putting them on their cell phones. Young ones love cute and pretty items or anime(cartoon) characters and grown-ups may prefer more crafty and artistic ones.

I have posted about a cell phone straps before but still there are a little more I want to tell you why we adore straps.

Although our dressing style was changed drastically after the western culture was introduced more than 200 years ago, it doesn't necessarily mean we have abandoned our traditional clothing "kimono". Kimono still remains in our daily life along with its accompanying accessories like sashes,sash bands, fans, hair ornaments and the like. Among them there are "netsuke" (miniature carvings), which we believe, the origin of today's cell phone straps. We just take it for granted that straps are not only for fun but also for its function.

Here is a video on this topic. You may also like to read this site.

Does your cell phone have a hole?

Here! Actually it's like a thread hole------one in and one out.

Japanese cell phone models regardless of manufacturer companies have holes at either upper side of bodies.

What about yours? Does it have a hole? What is it for, then?

These are for cell phone straps!

See more below in an album. Some are mine and my friends' and from the web.

Why do we love to put straps on our cell phones so much?
Well, it is probably related pretty much with our
ancient custom of using "netsuke" which is a hanging object we use in kimono.
It might be fun if I talk about it in my next post.

Until then, enjoy a bit more images of cell phone straps from google images.
here!

See I told you

(click to view more pictures)

Since our house locates downtown in Nagoya, the fifth largest city in Japan, there are lots of fun and excitements of a urban life within a few minutes' walking, biking, driving, taking a subway, city bus-----whatever. This evening I had a time to stop by at this shopping mall and I took some pictures.

Well, one thing you've got to be careful about windowshopping is that you have to keep your purse tight. Otherwise, you are tempted to whisper to yourself,
"Just one thing won't hurt me."
So here I am. I got a piece of Roquefort blue cheese from Dean and Deluca and chocolate from Pierre Marcolini.
"See I told you."

the 91th National High School Baseball Tournament

Chukyo High School baseball team from our city, Nagoya won 1st national high school championship in 43 years!!! Gee, it was a good and thrilling game. The school team from our city, Nagoya pulled out a 10-9 victory over the Niigata school but Niigata showed their tough spirit in the last inning with two outs almost catching up to 10.
Every year in August the National High School Baseball Tournament takes place for about two weeks at Koshien Baseball Stadium, which has the oldest history in Japan. For all the high school baseball players, playing games at Koshien is their final goal. However, there only 49 high school teams out of about 4000 schools can come to Koshien as the representative team of each 49 prefectures in Japan.
The National High School Baseball Tournament is so popular and loved by most people across the country. Why? It's only a high school baseball. You might think. Most Japanese love the young players' pure sportsmanship, their enthusiasm to baseball, effort, teamwork, dedication-----most Japanese see the spirits of good old days on those high school players. I'm not so much crazy about watching professional baseball games in general but this "Koshien" is something different. There are many more people like me regardless of ages and sexes. People are paying so much attention to the games during the tournaments. In the end I just feel proud of two team respectively. Here is a slide show from a Japanese newspaper. Seeing is believing. ( be aware of background sound volume)

How I enjoy myself after good-bye

I usually drive my husband to the airport when he goes out of town on business abroad. After he checks in at the airline counter, we have coffee together then say good-bye each other at the gate. Just after I see him off at the gate, I feel just empty. He's gone for about two weeks. Well, let's get back home. There would have not been any reasons to stay at the airport any longer? Oh, oh, wait a second. As I had talked about this airport before, it has many functions besides an airport itself. Why should I make myself enjoy to cheer me up. After I saw my husband's jet taking off, I started with strolling around for window shopping.

Would you like to see those 26 pictures one by one. Then, Click here.

More about the treasures

Today I decide to post another blog on the goodies from Jo because I knew I was not satisfied with my last night post. Pictures were too small to tell what I had received from Jo. As I wrote yesterday, I can tell Jo is really talented with "handmade" and I can tell how much she enjoys it in her every day life. As I explained it yesterday her scraped book is really lovely. Besides her own hand made items, she picked up a book on water color paintings and magazines introducing the way of American women enjoy handmade in crafts, house-living, cooking and all sorts. How inspiring ! There were some other nice goodies like a box of chocolate, a fragrant candle, a box of bath flowers, a frame she added her art on, handmade tags and a collection of cute little, colorful buttons and a roll of tapes in a drawer of the paper Efel tower, writing pads and finally and unexpectedly cute summer pajamas in beige bordered with lace! This is really something to know how much she devoted her time out of her busy life to make this surprise for me. I'm so happy!

Well, well, for those who want to see the pictures much closer, click the picture above and you will see the slides show starts.
Hope you will be able to see the lovely treasures I received from Jo.
Thank you everyone that left each comment in my last night post.
And Dionne, thank you so much again for hosting this Summer Swap.

Good luck charm

I got this cute little ceramic miniature clogs from the shop at the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo this past March. This pair is a product of Arita-yaki, one of the famous porcelain wares in Japan. Since this is such a little miniature, the price is quite reasonable for Arita-yaki. Then I just wondered why they made a miniature of Japanese clogs. There must be some reason for it. I saw a small card behind the clogs. See, it had its own meaning. The card says,"Put this pair on the shoe board at your house entrance then more friends will come to visit you." It's a good luck charm! There were some more explanations about this miniature clogs. It said that originally it has been used as a charm that small children and aging people won't fall down and hurt themselves. I liked the idea so much. I thought it would make a nice souvenir for my husband mother. So this pair is now on the shoe board at our home. Speaking of a good luck charm, we have many other charms in our culture and might be interesting to know each story.

Do you have any good charms in your culture? What is your favorite?

these are more pictures from the online shop.

Why the carps streamers are flying in Japan?

(sorry, the sound is terrible)

Well, this style of flying carp streamers is not an ordinal way in a private house.
Usually we set a tall pole in a family garden and fly carp streamers like a windsock.
This is the way they put a large number of streamers for display at the museum garden downtown in Nagoya for the Children's Day on May 5.
The museum sets these streamers weeks in advance and many family visitors enjoy them every year.

Why do we put the carp streamers?
In Japan a carp represents one of auspicious items in Japan.
It has originally come from a Chinese traditional legend that a carp upstreams a river to become a dragon. That is why a carp is considered as a symbol of strength and success.

I love watching colorful carp streamers flying in the wind as if they are summing in the river.

(this image from a website for children)

Farewell luncheon for a friend

I went out with my friends of china painting to the Chubu International Airport. It's a unique airport because it's not only the place for passengers leaving or arriving on planes but the fun place for visitors like a group of families, friends or study tours to spend a whole day eating, shopping, visiting small galleries in the building, and what's more enjoying the spa with the airport view.
Since there is one fancy restaurant at the head of the observation deck, we've decided to have a farewell luncheon for a friend who is going to move to another city located in northern part of Japan. We enjoyed a lunch and strolled around the shopping area and most of all, we enjoyed the endless talks. It was such a good day.

Cherry blossoms in full bloom

For these days we had unexpectedly cold days about a week. The chilly morning air has delayed the cherry blossoms buds for blooming. It is about a week delay, according to the weather forecast. We've often started our conversations about the arrival of the cherry blossoms with families, friends, neighbors and even store clerks. And finally yesterday the weather turned to be perfect for viewing cherry blossoms. I drove to the Nagoya castle park where more than a thousand cherry trees have been planted. Some of them are really old like 100 years-old. I went out with my daughter and my husband's mother. We are very happy that we can enjoy the cherry blossoms right in the center of the city. It won't take more than 15minutes by car.
We used a rental wheelchair for my husband's mother who feels much safer on it for a long walk. We strolled around the park about an hour. The cherry blossoms were just in full bloom and it was really a breathtaking view.
Our national flower is said to be chrysanthemums but in fact for many Japanese, cherry blossoms have been so much special and so much loved since the ancient era. People see their own lives in delicate features of the cherry blossoms. We are so much touched by the fragile blossoms and short range of full bloom. They surely give us a courage to live up our own lives with all hopes.

Nagoya Sightseeing Route Bus

Nagoya is quite a big city in Japan. In fact, it is the fifth largest city and has many historical spots of the anceint ara. I visited some spots using a shuttle bus.
I parked my car at the Toyota commemorative museum where I took a shuttle bus bound for the Tokugawa Museum. A shuttle bus runs every one hour and that gives me enough time to visit the spot. I joined the guided tour by a volunteer guide. I leared some of the knowledge about the history and ancient culture of the Tokugawa period. That was really worth of it. Then, I strolled around the Japanese garden next to the museum. After I spent 2hours, I took a shuttle bus dropped at the center of the commercial area of the city. I went up to the TV tower where you can take a view around the city from 100meter high. Then finally I went back to the Toyota museum.
Though I've lived in Nagoya just about 25 years, there are so many things I don't know about this city in all aspects including history. It was really fun and I'm sure I'll be taking this shuttle bus again some time soon to see some other spots I've missed this time.

positive aspect of the rainy weather

Through June to July, we have a rainy weather so called "Tsuyu" in Japan. Strictly speaking, it starts from May in the most southern part of Japan, Okinawa and the rain front ends up to the northern part of Japan but not as far as Hokkaido by the end of July. During the rainy season, the weather is humid and dump with occasional rainfall under the thick clouds. Though it is somehow a unpleasant season, it has several positive elements as well. The sufficient amount of rainfall blesses our land for water. It help all the plants grow. Hydrangea especially symbolizes the rainy season as one of the welcoming aspects of the season. People enjoy all kinds of Hydrangea flowers growing in their house gardens, visiting public gardens, looking at them along the sidewalks and at the historical sight spot like ancient temples and shrines.
The other day I visited one Buddhist temple in the neighboring town. There you can enjoy more than 10 thousand Hydrangea trees of various kinds with full of flowers at the best.

Birthday surprise

I have a very nice group of friends who used to work together in the office. Now we're in a different circumstances just getting together once or twice a month. Though we are not colleagues anymore, we are united one another keeping up with each life. What 's more we make it a rule to send a bouquet of 100 gerbera flowers on each one's birthday. It's really a big joy to have it on time and to know someone remember my birthday.Here is a bouquet of 100 gerbera flowers that I got the other day.
Click the image and you'll see how I was excited about this.