Archive for 'Fukuoka' Category

The Word(s) of The Year 2015

The Word of The Year 2015 hosted by U-CAN was announced on Dec.1st and two words were chosen.  One of them is “Triple Three” and the other is “baku-gai”(/ explosive shopping).

 

The first one is a great titles of a baseball player who has achieved “a batting average of 300 or higher, 30 or more home runs, and 30 or more base stealings in the same   single  season”.  To achieve this is so difficult that only eight players have achieved this title during the 80 years of the Japanese pro-baseball history and the last one was made in 2002. However, this year two players have achieved the remarkable title for the first time in 13 years, namely Yuki Yanagida of Doftbank Hawks and Tetsuhito Yamada of Yakult Swallows.

 

And the second word “baku-gai” or “explosive shopping” is a nickname of the current phenomenon of  huge or even binge shopping done by Chinese tourists in Japan.  This year the number of  Chinese tourists visiting Japan has increased so rapidly and a lot of them enjoy shopping at comodity stores, electric appliance stores, restaurants and so forth. At the award’s ceremony of the Word of The Year,  Luo Yiwen from China, the president of LAOX, one of the major home appliance  store chains popular among foreign visitors including Chinese “explosve shopping customers” received the award on behalf of the the baku-gai phenomenon. The store chain prepares a various services for those customers, such as providiing chinese speaking staffers. The situation is expected to maintain and satisfy even more foriegn tourists to Japan.

 

Rino Sashihara regaining the No.1 postion at the AKB48 general election

The 7th “general Election of AKB48” was held at “Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome ” in Fukuoka City , Fukuoka pref. on the Jun.6th. (http://www.akb48.co.jp/)

 

Totally 272 members of  AKB48 and its sister groups(SKE48,NMB48,HKT48 and some members from JKT48,SNH48,NGT48, and Nogizaka46) ran for the election and the Selected Members for the new single CD(1st-16th), the Under Girls(17th-32nd), the Next Girls(33rd-48th),the Future Girls(49th-64th),the Upcoming Girls(65th-80th) were announed out of 272 candidate members of the groups.  Rhie election event now draws attention of not only fans of the groups but also mass nationwide and the course was broadcast live at CXTV.   Rino Sashihara, a memeber of Team H of HKT48 won the No.1  for the first time in two years and regained the “queen’s throne” of the event.  Yuki Kashiwagi, a member of Team B of AKB48 rated the second, and  Mayu Watanabe, a member of Team B of  AKB48  who was the No.1 winner of the event last year got the third and could not get the first position in a row.

The Selected members are as followes;  1: Rino Sashihara(194,049 votes,TeamH of HKT48), 2: Yuki Kashiwagi(167,183 votes,TeamB of AKB48 & NGT48), 3: Mayu Watanabe(165,789 votes, TeamB of AKB48), 4: Minami Takahashi(137,252 votes, TeamA of AKB48), 5: Jyurina Matsui(105,289 votes,TeamS of SKE48 & TeamK of AKB48), 6: Sayaka Yamamoto(97,866 votes,TeamN of NMB48 & TeamK of AKB48), 7: Sakura Miyawaki(81,422 votes, TeamKⅣof HKT48 & TeamA of AKB48), 8: Sae Miyazawa(75,495 votes, TeamSⅡ of SNH48 & Team S of SKE48), 9: Haruka Shimazaki(73,803 votes,TeamA of AKB48),  10: Yui Yokoyama(63,414 votes, TeamA of AKB48),  11: Rie Kitahara(61,566 votes, NGT48), 12: Miyuki Watanabe(55,715 votes, TeamBⅡof NMB48  & TeamB of AKB48), 13: Kaori Matsumura(53,667  votes, TeamKⅡof SKE48) , 14: Akane Takayanagi (52,609 votes, TeamKⅡ of SKE48 ) ,  15: Aya Shibata(49,199 votes, TeamE of SKE48), and 16: Tomu Muto(44,637 votes, TeamK of AKB48).

 

Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution recommeded as a World Heritage Site

ICOMOS, the official advisory panel of UNESCO, reccommeded some sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial revolution as a world heritage site to UNESCO on this May 4th.  (http://whc.unesco.org/)

The recommended candidate consists of 23 facilities in 8 prefecturessuch as nagasaki and Fukuoka, mainly southwestern parts in Japan in total. They all represent the rapidly developped processes of the heavy industry at the turning point of Japan from the pre-modern to the modern society about 150 years ago in the Meiji era, explains the japanese government. For example,  Gunkan jima island in Nagasaki pref. which worked as a plant island including schools, residents of factory workers and their families as if  it were an independent city on the sea 40~50 years ago is one of those symbolic facilities. Now those   places and areas are so popular and not only Japanese but  foreigners visit to know about Japanese historical and societal changes.  The candidate will be on the item list and examned at the upcoming UNESCO committee at Bon Germany Jun.28-Jul.8.

Hakuho Sho marked the equaling all-time high winning at the official Sumo tournanment

Hakuho Sho, a Yokoduna (grand cha) sumo wrestler from Mongolia marked the equaling all-time high winning record of 32 after Taiho’s record at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournamennt in Nov.23rd in Fukuoka.

Visit Japan Travel Mart and JATA Toursim EXPO Japan 2014

Two huge international travel marts were held at Tokyo Bigsight in Tokyo. One was “Visit Japan Travel Mart 2014″(Sep.24-26)(http://www.vjtm.jp/) and the other was “JATA Toursim EXPO Japan2014″(Sep.25-28)(http://t-expo.jp/en/index.html).  

More than 310 foriegn buyers and about 390 Japanese sellers joined VJTM2014 and had passionate exchanges of information and ideas and hosted busines seccions.  Buyers from Asian countries were especially a lot and about the half of the Japanese sellers were municipalities or relating associations of such local governments.

On the other hand,  a lot of domestic and foreign sellers and buysers joined  JATA Tourism EXPO Japan 2014. Such participants were embassies, tourism bureaus, travel agents, food companies, municipalities, railroads, airlines, hotels. universities, guide associations and so forth.  The main targets were end users of travel services and a lot of  lay Japanese people visited there and the total number was 157,589.  Upon the opening of the event, an ward ceremony  of  good  services and efforts of related promotions was hosted and the Best Tourism Award was given to The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Embassy awards were for  Thailand and Mexico, the best transporatation award was for Japan Railways East, the domestic inbound award was for  the tourism department of Tokyo Metropolis, the publicity award was for a TV show of CXTV, and the chairperson special award was for Okinawa Convention Bureau. (http://t-expo.jp/en/program/cms.html)   I personally visited the two big events and collected a lot of interesting information and exchanged ideas with the participants, some of whom were my friends or those I sometimes work with. I enjoyed the delicious food provided by tourism- related restaurants and local specialities and impressed by the greatly enthusiastic atmosphere of energies of the expos as well.

Hagakure Ninja recruiting new Kunoichi(female Ninjas)

“Hagakure Ninja”, a performance group of ninja activities in a theme park “Ganso Ninjamura  Ureshino- onsen Hizen- yumekaido”(/元祖忍者村　嬉野温泉　肥前夢街道, The original Ninja village in Ureshino hotspring resort of a dream road)(http://www.hizenyumekaidou.info/) in Ureshino hotspring in Saga pref. begian to recruit for new staffers who are to work as its new members as “kunoichi”(female ninjas).

The application requirements  are ; female 13-29 years old (a student can keep her school life), a minor applicant needs her parents’ permit. A successful applicant will be trained to be a good kunoichi (so, no previous experiences as ninja activities are required) and will be a member of the first generation of “Hanagumi”(/華組。,flower group) which is to debut as a ninja girl idol group with “The Magic”, the theme song of  Hizen Yumekaido. The new group will perform in Urshino and other areas in Kyushu. The deadline of the application of  resume is the Oct.10th.

Sadako threw the first ball

“Sadako”, the evil ghost  character of a popular horror series of “Ring” threw the first ball at the opening ceremony of the baseball game of Seibu Lions vs Fukuoka Softbank Hawks at Seibu Dome on Aug. 24th.  This was a part of  promotion of  “Sadako 3D 2”,the newest movie of the “Ring” series which was to be released on Aug. 30.    Sadako appeared and threw a ball with some “petty Sadako”.  Her ball speed was 103 km/h and Sadako was taken away on a strecher as planned.

 

Exhibition – The World of Leiji Matsumoto

From Apr. 26 to May 13, a large scale exhibition of renowned SF manga artist Leiji Matsumoto will be held at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum.

Original drawings and treasured collections will be displayed at the exhibit. Celebrating his 60th anniversary since his debut, “The World of Leiji Matsumoto” exhibit will circulate Japan and overseas.

Matsumoto was born in Kurume, Fukuoka in 1938 and raised in Kokura. He was elected from the general public as Rookie of the Year for the first Manga Shonen magazine hosted long-piece manga award at the age of 15. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo and created the big hit “Otoko Oidon” series for “Weekly Shonen (Boys) Magazine.” “The Galaxy Express 999” and “Space Pirate Captain Herlock” were produced into animations and caused a stir in the 70s to 80s.

This exhibit displays over 200 items at once including original drawings and collections exhibited to the public for the first time. Through the exhibit, one can enjoy learning about the story behind the creation of plots and characters. Matsumoto carefully stored his archives and the exhibit will introduce early works, production materials and other treasured items some of which are very difficult to obtain in the current market. A visuals corner is also set up.

On Apr. 28th, Leiji Matsumoto will visit the museum to hold a talk event and autograph session. The exhibit will circulate Japan and is also planned to be held in Paris, France.

“The World of Leiji Matsumoto”

Dates: Apr. 26th (Fri.) to May 13th (Mon.)

Time: 10 am to 8 pm (closed Wednesdays)
Venue: Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
Organizer: Mainichi Shimbun West Headquarters Business Department
Admission: general 1,000 yen high school and university students 800 yen elementary and middle school students 500 yen

In WBC, Japan came from behind against Brazil for a 5-3 victory

Japan won Brazil by 5-3 in the opening game of the World Baseball Classics (WBC)(http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/index.jsp)  at  Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome in Fukuoka City on the March 2nd. The development of the game was quite dramatic and Brazil had got the first score in the first inning but under the  2-3 state, Japan got the winning 3 scores  intensively with the winning hit of  a pinch hitter  Shinnosuke Abe in the 8th inning and finally received a memorable come-from-behind victory at last.

This WBC series is the 3rd one and  Japan was the winner of the both of the past two series.  Kouji Yamamoto, the manager of Samurai Japan (the Japanese team) said ,”It was really a tough game as Brazil was a formidable opponent. I am happy my players honorably brought a come-from-behind victory. And Shinnosuke was the one I believed in to count on in that critical situation. He was full of high morale and I did sensed his passion.  Though the game was a tough one, I believe this experience will be our energy source for tomorrow.”

On the other hand, Barry Larkin, the manager of the Brazilian team said, “It was a very good game. The two teams did the best and our team tried to be dominant, making much of our tactics and strategies, but Japan was one level higher,for which we were defeated.  We had known it would be difficult to defeat Japan. Though we lost we have been confident in ourselves and  are dignified. Our players also shared the tense in our team  just like the time when we defeated Panama in the preliminary game. ”

Parco Fukuoka

Parco is a department store chain that is located through out Japan from Sapporo to Kumamoto. It caters for the mass fashion market ranging from local brands to international brands. On March 19, 2010, Parco opens a new department store in Japan’s southern city of Fukuoka. Parco Fukuoka offers 155 stores.
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PARCO to open in Fukuoka on Mar.19, 2010

PARCO announced to open new store in Tenjin (天神）, Fukuoka on Mar.19, 2010.
It is an 8-story building and total floor area is about 24,090㎡. PARCO aims annual sales at 10 to 12 billion. Read the rest of this entry »

BAPE STORE Fukuoka

BAPE STORE Fukuoka
1-11-28, Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
092-732-7735
Mens/Ladies
MAP:BAPE STORE Fukuoka

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Burberry Blue Label Kokura Colet Izutsuya

Burberry Blue Label Kokura Colet Izutsuya
バーバリーブルーレーベルコレット井筒屋店
At Colet Izutsuya Kokura store, 3-1-1, Kyomachi, Kokura-kita-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka 093-513-7060 　
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Burberry Blue Label Kokura Izutsuya

Burberry Blue Label Kokura Izutsuya
バーバリーブルーレーベル小倉井筒屋店
At Kokura Izutsuya store, 1-1, Sembamachi, Kokura-kita-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka 093-522-2464 　
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Burberry Blue Label Fukuoka Tenjin Daimaru

Burberry Blue Label Fukuoka Tenjin Daimaru
バーバリーブルーレーベル大丸・福岡天神店
At Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin store, 1-4-1, Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
092-771-7913 　
Ladies Read the rest of this entry »