Maiko in Kyoto

Walking through the Geshia district in Kyoto, you may cross paths with an apprentice Geshia known as Maiko-san.

It was just a quick glimse through the crowd, but as you can see they're are quite easy to spot.

The International Festival UTAGE Osaka (a.k.a food festival)

This event, I was told only occurs once every 4 years, since 1985! The theme of this year was "learn about and enjoy food", which I sure did! The festival also featured innovative techonology to help bring more declicious food to your mouth, faster and more effeciently.

I had the opportunity to try dishes from each continent of the world. My stomach went home very happy.

For more information visit: http://www.shokuhaku.gr.jp/en/index.html

Children's Day (Kodomo no hi)

Today is the national holiday where all children are celebrated and their mothers are honoured.

Symbol of children's day:

"The carp kites which are flown for this festival are called 'koinobori' and are colourful - usually decorated with red or blue - and made of white cloth. They symbolise success due to the carp's long life and golden colour and are also supposed to drive away evil spirits. They are believed to represent strength and determination of spirit in the same way the carp travels against the current. In some houses, a carp is flown for each family member with the father's being the largest at the top down to the youngest child's at the bottom".

Under the process of globalization, even KFC's Colonel Sanders is celebrating the day!

The following information was provided by http://www.essortment.com/all/kodomonohijap_rnsd.htm

Hanshin Tigers!

Inspired by Prof. Fedorowicz at Kansai Gaidai, I felt obligated to see a Hanshin Tigers game in at the Korien Stadium in Osaka. The day we went we saw the Tigers get crushed by the Carps. Even though I don't really like baseball, in fact, you might say I hate baseball, I decided it was an experience that living in Osaka compels you to do.

Regardless, I had a good time--on our way to the game we decided to get all decked-out and buy as much as we could to support Tigers! Made friends with some random group of middle-aged Japanese folks who were very generous to share their alcohol. This was one of things that shocked me--not that I was getting free alcohol from people I didn't know, but that you could so easily sneak your own booze into the stadium. In fact, if you showed up to two cans of beer at the stadium gates they poured it into a disposable glass for you! I couldn't believe this!



I wasn't surprised by the Japanese style food that was offered at the game, curry rice, noodles and the like. They also offered KFC and nachos and cheese!

Even though we lost, towards the end of the game almost everyone to the stadium bought long balloons that were released near the end of the last inning.

Baseball, and any professional sport back home for that matter was nothing like this. The crowd even had songs prepared to cheer on each player up to bat! It was truly an experience I will never forget.

North East West South

On my way home from a night out, I caught a glimpse of some workers unloading the daily newspaper. This was at about oh, I don't know...1:00AM!

1 bike, 2 bike, 3 bike 4...You're bike isn't here anymore

I have been living in Japan since September..and maybe I shouldn't mention this, but for the purpose of this post I feel I have no choice! I have been parking my bike illegally all over Japan. And much to my dismay, it has been towed.

I, of course, first noticed it was missing when I went to pick it up outside of the train station where I had left -- probably for longer than 24 hours. Fortunately, there was a note taped onto the ground saying where the bikes were taken and had an address and other contact information regarding the pick-up location. It also mentioned how much it would cost to get my bike back, and if I didn't pick it up by the said date--GARBAGE; they would recycle it!

So, actually this whole situation (other than the fee of about 1,000 yen -- roughly 10 bucks) worked out pretty good for me. Not only was the bike was transported closer to where I reside (Seminar House), but it there was also air pumped into my tires and the breaks and gears were well oiled! The condition of the bike was actually better than it was when I bought it from the local bike shop!

So, the moral of the story here is, if you are looking to get some work on your bike for 10 bucks...have it towed!

Panyasan (Bread Shop)

Bread. I love it. And when I return to the Great White North, I will miss it oh so much!

In Japan, bread shops specialize in all sorts of delicious pastry. There are sweet breads filled with whipped cream, chocolate, Japanese green tea, and the like. There are cheese breads, garlic breads and breads that are paired with curry or meat -- like little pizza breads or stuffed with potato and bacon.

I literally could continue... I really love it. So, when I passed this particular bread shop in Osaka I thought it was worthy of a blog post. Aren't they cute???

Turtle, turtle!