Tokyo Fire Department New Year Review (東京消防庁出初式)

Seem like visiting Fire Department new year kickoff review, (Dezome-shiki 出初式) is a famous To-do in town during new year. This is an annual ritual dating back over 3 centuries when it first held in 1659. The Wikipedia entry only written in Japanese, but you can read more about it on this tourism page.

I wasn't expecting a big crowd, but apparently this event manage to draws lots of attention, and I hardly found a spot to stand. If you plan to visit it next year, my advice is wake up earlier!

So let's the photos tell the stories.

This is team is called  Hyper Rescue Team (ハイパーレスキュー隊), set up since 95's Kobe earthquake.

"Hyper Rescue"...sound strange, but typical Japanese English ,  I guessed...

Besides parade with fire trucks and choppers, the event features a Hollywood style firefighting drills with explosive, and a ladder stunts performance by firefighters in Edo-era which always impressed me how well the Japanese preserved their culture.  

I'm not sure how this stunts on the ladder helps firefighting during Edo-era, but you get the idea that you need lots of people to held the bamboo ladder straight! 

Reporters at the sidelines.

The best shot of the day, likes the blue sky, the lens flare and the silhouette of scaling ladders

Father & Daughter

Spring, father & daughter. What a wonderful moment that should make time stayed forever.

Just a quick post to share the joy.

2012 spring @ Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑)

I know that this blog do not have many readers, but if some of you happened to recognize who is the man photographed in this photo, please let him know that I would happily pass the print to him. Let's see how internet can help :)

Wind Chime Maker

My previous post about Penang last silversmith, reminded me another man that I want to write about. A wind chime maker.

His tiny little wooden shop sit quietly next to the main road leading to Kamakura-Daibutsu (鎌倉大仏殿高徳院), with only a wind chime hung right at the entrance, tinkling with each summer breeze, chiming welcome message to whoever passing by.

Wind chime is one of the most popular souvenir to get when you travel in the ancient part of Japan like Kyoto, Nara in Kansai area or Kamakura in Kanto area. But what you might get is an industrial product with a little sticker - "Made in China". I"ve nothing against products made in China and it's contribution as the wold's factory, but when you consider something as a piece of art or craft, the artisan & stories behind them is what you should seek into, and it worth way more than the souvenir itself.

Mr. Kikuchi (菊地　眞さん), the wind chime maker, is an artist as well as a scientist. Besides the appearance, the colors, he demands a perfect sound. He recorded the wavelengths for each of the wind chimes showcased in his store. "Each chimes have its own unique note, its identity, depends on the pressure applied during the hardening and tempering process, " he said, "And to achieved the desired tone with certain wavelength, repeated tuning is needed."

The chimes is finished with a layer of silver coating and smoked with bamboo fire.

Try look for this shop on your next trip to Kamakura, Mr Kikuchi is kind and speak good English :).

Address: 〒248-0014鎌倉市由比ガ浜1-10-11

Ring of Fire

I din't pay notice at all when this will happen.

Dream was lost by the annoying alarm clock and found myself in extremely dark room wander if another storm is approaching. Peeping through the window, everyone was pointing at the sky.

I was looking at an event that won't be seen again till year 2030.


It reminds me of an American series - "Heroes".

In one episode: one's said

" A global event. Makes one appreciate just how small our planet really is. And we're all quite small really, aren't we? "

In real life, a full eclipse will never be visible from all places on Earth at the same time. But I resonance with the later parts, indeed, we are the tiny ones.

Merry Christmas!

Walked pass a big illumination decoration in Ebisu Garden Place today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mount Fuji

We were not lucky. The weather was bad on our way up to the mountain. But no matter how bad it was, every group of challengers were set to go. They said you can never predict the weather on the mountain. And you not going to quit the adventures after a long ride from the city.

They rain came and gone within a second, making the hike even nasty mixing sweat and rain. Each step became heavier with oxygen density in the opposite direction. The heavy fog also minimize our vision, unable to tell where we were.

It poured like hell, when we took a short stop at station no.7. Luckily just before we considered to postpone our departure, the rain stopped without any sign.

9p.m. A full 6 hours hike. The mission was to beat the sun. And to be honest, I was pretty impressed with myself :p. I'm still in a good shape despite having a life sitting in front of the computer most of the time.

Our hard work was paid with breath taking scenery on top of the mountain. The cloud was dense and we even doubted that we will miss the sunrise, but god did not disappointed us. It was spectacular.

We wish the journey will ended here. You know what I meant, we have a bus to catch 1500m below us....

On the Top of the Mountain

After approximately 6 hours of endless hiking. I was there - Mount Fuji.

To be continued....

Travel Diary: Yanaka, Kamakura, Enoshima

Have been travel to Tokyo for a few time last months for seminars, test and interview. Transportation paid by Uni or the company really a big help for me and shorten the distant between Osaka & Tokyo from 7 hours bus to 3 hours Shinkansen which is normally too expensive to pay on my own budget.

I had make used of one of the trip and travel around. A little bit sick with the congested Tokyo central city lanscape, I head to Yanaka, a historical neighborhood in Tokyo. No big temple or big shopping mall, no specific attraction but simple residential area with old temple, historical market place, wooden house. Simply walk around and enjoy the atmosphere and ambivalence of the neighborhood.

Spent another day in Kamakura and Enoshima, 2 lovely place to walk around when you want to spent a day trip out from Tokyo. One day rail-pass is highly recommended, economical and saved you plenty of time when you move from one attraction to another. Anyway, I was enjoying my time in Kamakura, when I arrived at Enoshima, I was only able to catch the sunset, and explore the small island in dark.

You can find a lot of travel info of these places by just googling their name, so I won't repeat the same fact. Some photos to share with you and hope you like it. Thanks again for stopping by.