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“Sadako 3D” demonstration in Shibuya

Sadako is a fictitious popular Japanese evil ghost of  J-horror  “Ring” series whose movie editions were also remade in Hollywood.

Sadako’s movie “Sadako 3D”was made this year for the first time in 12 years and is going to be released on this May 12th.   As a promotion event of the newest movie of the popular series, more than 50 women in  “Sadako’s costume” made a “parade” in Shibuya station area in Tokyo ,where they all took a pose of  jumping out of a TV monitor, on May 6th.

The parade was divided into three groups and they distributed “a letter from Sadako” to passers-by at Shibuya entrance, Shibuya MarkCity, and Moyai statue respectively. There were 12 kinds of contents in the letters. Some are written as, “This time I jump out of a screen, for I have got fed up with coming out of a well”, “See my new movie, or I will curse you, even you will see it , I will curse you anyway”, ” I have a surprisingly nice body. ” and others. Totally 10,000 letters were handed there, while  promotion trucks of the movie were driving around the town.A lot of excited young people took photos of the parade, some being shouting , screaming in joy or fear…

 

Shibuya Hikarie grand opening

A huge commercial complex called “Shibuya Hikarie” opened on this April 26th. http://www.hikarie.jp/ This new facility is adjacent to Shibuya station in Shibuya Tokyo, which is one of the busiest stations in Tokyo or even Japan.

The facility has 34 floors above ground and 4 below whose total floor space is 144000 ㎡　and consists of “ShinQs”, a commercial area having about 200 various stores and business area with “Theater Orb”, a musical theater, a disaster-prevention center of Shibuya ward, business offices. Some of the stores are restaurants,food shops, and so forth ,at one of which an ex Takarazuka actor gives advice concerning aesthetic matters to customers.

 

At the grand opening ceremony, the three presidents of Tokyu group’s companies that manage and support the facility showed up and conducted a ribbon-cutting and other activities. They are Chihiro Nihashi, president of Tokyu Department Store that manages ShinQs, Hirofumi Nomoto of Tokyu Corporation conducting a big project of  renovating Shibuya town as a whole, Atsushi watanabe of  Tokyu Bunkamura that runs Theater Orb. They have a strong intent to reinvigorate the town by launching this new store institution setting a target of  having 14 million customers in the first year and this is a part of  their “big project of the century” of renovation of Shibuya including constructing five new buildings, which is planned to be complete in 2026. This time’s Shibuya Hikarie is the primary part of the series of the new construction project.

Actually, my mother visited this Hikarie today, the very opening day, and found so many people there which made a surprisingly crazy situation, yet she received a special small gift as a token of  the opening at a Tokyu store near there.

“Bus-Anno” of “Fukuoka Open Top Bus”

Fukuoka City , the captal of Fukuoka prefecture in Kyushu now has a unique bus sightseeing tour service system provided by  Nishitetsu(Nishi-Nippon Railroad  Co.,Ltd. http://www.nishitetsu.co.jp/bus/) . The bus tour service launched on the March 24th is called “Fukuoka Open Top Bus” at which  open-roof double deckers are in use. And what is sepacial and popular about the service is the bus guides called “Bus-Anno” (Bus Announcers).     

 

The Bus-Annas, whose current number is eight, are professional announcers or fashion models who register at a local entertainment agency.

 

The Bus-Annos make much of their special talents as entertainers and performers to serve passengers.

 

The tour service currently comes in three courses; (1)”Seaside Momochi Beach Park & the Ruin of Fukuoka Castle ”(about 60min.), (2) “Bay-side & Hakata streets “(about 60min.), and (3)”Fukuoka Sparkling Night Scenery”(about 90min.).  The tour fee of a course (the same price for all the three courses) is 1500 yen for an adult and 750 for a child ( four years or old and a elementary pupil. Three years or yougner cannot join a tour)

The Spring Imperial Garden Party

The Spring Imperial Garden Party was hosted by the imperial couple of Japan at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on this April 19th.  

1956 people in total who have made remarkable feats to society were invited to the party, such as Satoshi Furukawa, an astronaut who completed tasks at International Space Station, a sumo stable master Hanaregoma who is an ex president of Nihon Sumo Kyokai (Japan Sumo Association),  Yoshihiro Murai, the governor of  Miyagi prefecture which is a damaged area  of the huge disaster last year, and others.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new style Ginza-line train car “Series 1000″ started operation

A new train cars “Series 1000″ of Ginza-line started operation on this April 11th.(http://www.tokyometro.jp/series1000/index.html)

A grand launching ceremony of the new car series was hosted at Asakusa station  on that day, where Emi Takei, a young popular female actor, clad in a station staff uniform, was in charge of  emcee who conducted  ribbon-cutting, giving bouquet flowers, and so forth. Takei is the image character

of “We are the Tokyo Navigator” the promotion campaign of Tokyo Metro.

The cars structure and the color of lemon yellow resemble the original cars’ appearances of Ginza-line when it started its operation 85 years ago. This time the first train of the new series cars departed the station at 12:11pm.  

The new series cars are operated as “Photo gallery Trains” whose cabins are decorated with old photos describing 85-year history of the line, the clock tower of the main building of Wako in Ginza 80 years ago, and others up to this April 30th.

“Tokyo Sky Tree Station”

Tokyo Sky Tree, the currently most popular new tourists’ destination in Tokyo, which is planned to start its operation on this May 22nd, has a new phase now (http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/english/);  ”Tokyo SkyTree Station”(/とうきょうスカイツリー駅)-a new name has now been given to the closest train station to the newest Tokyo’s landmark.

 

The station was originally called “Narihirabashi-station”(/業平橋駅) of Tobu Isezaki line but was renamed “Tokyo Sky Tree Station ” on this March 17th.  A lot of people, such as railroad fans and locals stood in line to buy  the memorial tickets in token of the changing names, all of which were sold out so soon.

Tobu, the operation railroad company of the line also changed some parts of the station’s design and the time tables related to the Isezaki Line, so, super express trains has come to  stop at the station. The part between Asakusa/Oshiage and Tobu Dobutsu Koen-station along that line has got a new nickname of “Tobu Sky Tree Line”.

The stationmaster Nobu Shiiki says, “People from all over the world will be coming here, so, we would make every effort to live up to the name of  “the threshold station to Tokyo Sky Tree.” ”

Actually, those rennovations are highly expected to improve promotions and the groundwork for the internationalization of  Tokyo Sky Tree and that area.

One Year Anniversary of 3.11 DISASTER

3.11; the unforgettable day has come again… March 11th 2011 was the most tragic day for Japan in its postwar history.  There are a lot of TV programs featuring  the one year anniversary of the national tragedy and  many memorial rituals and ceremonies to commmorate it are hosted alL over Japan and even some foreign countries, such as France, US, and others.

And now,  3.11 2012, a  special one year  annversary and  commemorative ceremony  for the souls of the victims of the worst disaster in Tohoku and East Japan at The National Theater in Chiyoda ward where The Imperial Palace is located in Tokyo.

 

Our emperor, empress, each head of the three branches of  the government including  Prime Minister Noda,and about 1,200  survival family members from Miyagi, Fukushima, and Iwate attended this special memorial ceremony.

The emperor, to whom this was the first official activity since discharged from the hospital after having undergone a bypass heart surgery,  gave a remark, saying,”I do expect all of our people keep making constant efforts to sympathize with the sufferers in order to improve the circumstances of the damaged areas and “ , extending deep condolences to the sufferers and areas.

Noda said, “I shall complete reconstructing damaged areas asap. I will give utmost supports to strife of those who are trying to restore their home lands. Our strife with the nuclear plants are still going on, and I shall restore Fukushima whatever it may takes.”

Some survival family member says, “Considering the chagrin and despair of the victims and huge grieves of the breaved families, i am entirely speechless.”   Even young children who are sufferers  participated in the solem ceremony.

A Special Event of The Girls’ Day at Nadeshiko-sushi

March 3rd is “The Girls’ Day”, which we celebrate a festival  for a girl’s health and happiness , setting special adorned dolls, eating special sweets, drinking sweet rice juice, and others.

This year Nadeshiko-sushi, the popular sushi restaurant in Akihabara that I sometimes write  about here, hosted a special event for that day. One excellent young female sushi chef there cut wonderful sea breams quickly,elaborately, and even elegantly… rolled   

while some  made colorful hand-rolled sushi, Read the rest of this entry »

The 35th Japan Academy Prize

The 35th Japan Academy  Prize Awarding  Ceremony was held at Grand Prince New Takanawa in Shinagawa Tokyo on March 2nd. http://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/

“The Eighth Day Cicada”, directed by Izuru Narushima received  the awards in 10 sections ,namely, the Best Film Prize, the Best Actress Prize, the Best Director Prize, the Best Supporting Actress Prize,the Best Editing Prize, the Best Music Prize,the Best Script Prize,the Best Cinematographer Prize,the Best Recording Prize, and the Best Lighting Prize.  

The story of the work is about a girl who was kidnapped by her father’s mistress when she was very young and  becomes pregnant in an infidelity after having grown up. The originl novel was also popular and dramataized for TV as well.

Mao Inoue, who played the main part in “The Eighth Day Cicada”, received the Best Actress Prize, saying, “In th beginning I thought it was too early for me to receive such a great prize, but now I am so happy and have pride in this award. I shall keep making efforts to contribute to the film world as an actress, dignified with this award, ” , and as for the Best Film Prize,  “The Best Film Prize is what I have really wanted to win, and  though I felt like running away from our director Mr. Narushima many times, I am  very happy now for not having done so !”

Atsuko Maeda, the ace member of AKB48, received the Popularity Prize with “What If a Famale Manager of  a High School Baseball Team Reads Drucker’s”Management” ?”, the movie of her first leading role in. She says,”I still don’t know much about actresses’ job as I have just started my actor’s life, but  I am very happy for this award for energy source and being able to work with wonderful directors,actors, and staff, for I love movies.”     

“SHINOBIDO” being run at theaters

“SHINOBIDO”(/忍道), the special movie to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Edo Wonderland  Nikko (http://www.edowonderland.net/) is being shown at theaters. http://www.shinobido-movie.com/

The story is about a tragic love between a shinobi(or Ninjya) girl and a samurai warrior of her enemy, depicting energetic and lively actions and battles of shiboi and warriors.The mainpart is played by a young and popular actor named Aimi Satsukawa(/佐津川愛美), and a young shinobi girl who longs for her is played by Ayaka Kikuchi(/菊地あやか), a member of AKB48.

 

The work is produced by Edo Wonderland which usually provides live  action shows of ninjya performances of the ninjya actors there.  Some important parts in the movie are played by famous actors, such as Toshio Kurosawa(/黒沢年雄), Naoko Ken(/研ナオコ), Ryouichi Eki(/エキリョウイチ), Mayuko Iwasa(/岩佐真悠子), Hatsunori Hasegawa(/長谷川初範),and others.

“Hello Kitty”‘s special shop & “Miffiy”‘s special shop at Tokyo Station

“Hello Kitty Tokyo Station shop” and “miffy style Tokyo Station shop” are going to open, at the same time, on coming March 16th along Tokyo Character Street on First Avenue Tokyo Station in Tokyo Station. http://www.tokyoeki-1bangai.co.jp/en/

 

This Hello Kitty’s newest store(the second one in Japan after Kichijoji shop) is planned to sell about 1200 kinds of Kitty’s popular items, while miffy’s shop(the third one in Japan) is going to sell about 400 sorts of miffy’s items. The two stores are both to be run by Sanrio and the latter is to be managed jointly by Sanrio(http://www.sanrio.co.jp/english/index.html) and Dick Bruna Japan (http://www.dickbruna.jp/).

 

Hello Kitty(http://www.sanrio.co.jp/characters/hellokitty/english/index.html) and  miffy(http://www.miffy.com/) are quite popular animal characters worldwide, so,  Tokyo Station  which is the central station of  both Tokyo and Japan known as one of the most popular tourists’ destinations as well, is expected to be visited by a lot of  tourists and passengers. I hope those new stores will be  popular sites to draw people to contribute to enhancement of tourism in Japan  a lot.

Reconstruction Agency inaugurated

Reconstruction Agency(/Fukkoucho, 復興庁)  came into being to boost the rebuilding activities from the aftermath of 3.11 disaster on this Feb.10th. http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/ The agency’s duration is planned to be 10 years and will be over at the end of March 2021.  The post of  the first  Reconstruction Minister was assumed by Tatsuo Hirano, an ex- Minister of State for Disaster Management.

The agency is directly controlled by Prime Minister and the Minister of  Reconstruction is in charge of  managing the total operations to assist the Prime Minister.  The agency ‘s  “Main Office” is in Tokyo,  a “Reconstruction Bureau” and a “Branch Office” is set in  Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima respectively,and an “Office” is set in Hachinohe City Aomori and Mito City Ibaraki respectively. The above prefectures and cities are all damaged areas of the 3.11.  The agency is in charge of  planning reconstruction strategies, approving the budgets for rebuildings, disgnating Reconstruction Special Zones, and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »

The 25th Tourism English Proficiency Test

The 25th “Tourism English Proficiency Test” was held  and the final results of the second stage tests held on the last December 11th was notified to the test takers respectively on Jan.20th via snail mail.

I took the Grade 1 test for the first time and fortunately I passed it  and, as the photo shows, I have got  a Grade 1 Certificate.

The Tourism English Proficiency Test is hosted by ZGB (Zenkoku Gogaku Business Kanko Kyoiku Kyokai,  national language tourism education association) , consists of three grades namely Grade3, 2, and 1.  http://www.zgb.gr.jp/index.html

Tests of Grade 3 and 2 which are more basic level tests consisting of  only the first stages of written parts and listening parts are held twice a year, in summer and in autumn. Yet Grade 1 the top level test is held only once a year; the first stage in autumn on the same dates with those of Grade 3 and 2 tests and the second stage test consists of  an interview test with an examiner of native speaker.

The Grade 3 is a test of  basic tourism information such as on world heritage sites in the world or Japan, festivals held in prefectures and areas, pamphlets , billboards, basic English conversation texts related to tourism,  and others. The Grade 2 is of intermediate level test of  tourism- related knowledge a little more detailed and  higher than that of  Grade 3.  And Grade 1 is for targeted  professional workers with a- few- or- more year  experiences in tourism- related business, especially, at its second stage of English interview, test takers’ aural abilities including communicative skills to work as a server for tourists are tested. At the second stage, a test taker is given a question sheet of the test in advance and ten minutes to prepare the tasks of the test, so test takers’ abilities to organize the answers using their knowledge  is tested as well. You have to choose  either “Task A”: questions for “Tour guides for foreign tourists to Japan” or “Task B”: questions for “Tour directors for Japanese tourists to overseas”.

I chose Task A because I “am” a pro tour guide and at the test I needed to answer questions such as explaining  popular Japanese world heritage sites, Hiraizumi the newest world heritage cultural site, TPP matter ,and others.All the course of the interview being recorded put me under a pressure.

I am very happy for passing the test and prove my knowledge was good as a pro guide. And I do hope  this test system will be well-known in the public in order to encourage a lot of people to take an interest in tourism, English, and inbound tourism in Japan.

 

The day of Azuki bean porridge on the first full moon’s day

Today  Jan.15th is a special day called “Shou-shou-gatsu(/The Minor New Year’s Day)”, ”Mochi-no-hi(/望の日)”, a full moon’s day,  and used to be the New Year’s Day in the lunar calendaor.  And traditionally, it has been customary to eat  “Azuki-gayu”( /小豆粥, sweet bean porridge) on this day since around 1200 years ago, for people have believed in the fact that  that food contains special secrad  power to ward off evil and  keep people from suffering every disease.

 

That idea and custom of  dispel evil with the beans were originally introduced from China maybe  in early days in Heian Period(794-1192).  Azuki sweet beans have  color of  red or purple, which were believed to have a magic power to repel evil.

On this date, Yoneura-sai(/粥占祭, a festival of  fortune-telling using azuki beans) is hosted at a lot of  Shinto shrines, where people put rice and azuki in a long bamboo tube and boil them to read outlooks of  timing of the prospective paddy harvests of the year as well.  In some areas,  people also host a festival of tug-of-war between a “land team” and a “sea team” to read if they can enjoy rich field harvests or rich fishey yields in the year.

The world’s first Hello Kitty’s dental clinic open

“Hearts Dental Clinic”(http://www.hearts-dental.jp/), which is featured with Hello Kitty, a worldwide super popular kitty character of Sanrio(http://www.sanrio.co.jp/english/index.html) was open on Jan.10th in Koto ward Tokyo.

The clinic is fully supporetd by Sanrio, and Hello Kitty is adopted as its official mascot. The clinic’s building is coverned with a lot of  Hello Kitty’s pictures and its other designs.   The clinic has a basic policy of “full of smiles with bright and pleasant atomosphere”, wiping away a generally negative image of scary and bad dental clinics, and had drastically remodelled since last November.

This is the very first clinic with Hello Kitty as its mascot in the world, and plans to host introductory tours on this Jan. 13,14,and 15th.