Tour of this month : Local Shopping Street Not Covered in You Guidebook

Got tired of places that are too touristic? Want to shop and eat like a Japanese? Here is a tour for you.
In our monthly tour this Saturday, we will guide you through to a shopping district which is popular among local people, but probably not covered in your guidebook.


You can enjoy Japanese soul foods such as yakitori or takoyaki at food stalls, or take away typical home-style dishes such as oden or various sort of cooked vegetables, fish and meat.

-Here are details.
Tour Date & Time: 10:00-12:00 am, Saturday May 27th
Meeting time: 9:45am - 10:00am at the No. 1 exit of Toyocho station (T14) on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line.

No need to book in advance. Just find us wearing the deep blue short coat with the name of "KEV" at the Toyocho station. But if you want to make sure, or have any question, please contact us using the this form, so that we can serve you better.
(choose course M:monthly course)

For more information regarding the tour, visit here:

See you soon!

IHI Stage Around Tokyo

A new theatre opened at Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo on 30th March, 2017. The unique mechanisms inside the theatre set it apart as most innovative design in the theatre architectures in Asia – the new unheard-of stage around the rotating seating floor.

An opening performance is “Seven Souls In The Skull Castle” (30/March – 12/June) as series one out of four (each performance with new casting of artists), with leading roles by Messrs. Shun Oguri and Koji Yamamoto, both of them are most rightly matured actor in their career.  

Date goes back to after a decade or so of The Civil War Age (1467～1573 in Japan) when numerous young commanders of Samurai army with ambition to establish his regime fought each other or overthrown their superiors until nearly whole country laid waste.  

The eastern plain villages far away from the Capital were the only places left intact.  Now the villages were raided by Eastern Plain Demon Skull Corps, lead by Tenmao.

A wandering Samurai without lord (Sutenosuke) and an owner of red-light district in the villages (Ranbei) fight against Tenmao. 

In fact, the three of them (all under the false names) spent time together in the past.  They were some of the defeated warriors on the run who lost their military commander during the Civil War Age – escaped, hidden and managed to live to the present day.  

Ranbei, in particular, was the late commander’s military aides who supposed to fight to the death (according to the traditional code of ethics and behavior of Samurai warriors in the feudal society.)  

The three of them struggle for restoration of their lives again, each one with hopes being distorted, shattered or even severed.

(I cannot wait to see the performance for the 2nd time in June!)

(by Kyoko)

For more information, please visit here.

Flowers here and there

The beautiful cherry blossom season was over.  Then what comes next?
Lots of flowers such as Azalea, tulip, rose, wisteria and iris. They make us feel relaxed. Here are the flowers in Koto-city.

Azaleas on Kiyosumi Street

Roses at Kiba park

Tulips at Kiba

Wisterias at Furuishiba

These are the irises at Kiba Park. Iris means rainbow in Greek and was named after the Goddess of Rainbow in the Greek mythology. In the language of flowers iris means ‘hope, message, faith, friendship, wisdom’.


In Minato-city, at Nezu Museum, kakitsubata(rabbit-ear iris) is in full bloom in the garden. It’s the special season you are able to see the amazing colors of purple and green. Irises are aquatic plants so you feel relaxed watching them in the pond.

There is a Japanese art exhibition at Nezu museum until the fourteenth of May 2017.
These are Kakitsubata screens (detail) the National Treasure painted by Ogata Korin in eighteenth century. These screens are opened to the public only this limited period of time. Lots of people including foreigners visit the museum to see the paintings and irises in the garden. Let’s enjoy the beautiful flower season here and there in Tokyo.            

  (by Jacky)

Buddha’s Birthday Ceremony

April 8 is the birthday of the Buddha. This is called as “the flower festival”, people go to a temple and pour amacha(sweet tea) water on an image of Buddha.

Above picture shows a person who was pouring sweet tea over an image at a temple at Koto city in Tokyo on April 8, 2017.

The small black statuette at the center is Buddha of birth, the water like liquid is sweet tea made from hydrangea leaves.

Why people pour sweet tea over the statuette? According to the legend, honeydew felt down from the sky at Buddha’s birth. So we take after it with sweet tea. In this way people celebrate Buddha’s birthday and appreciate for His Divine protections.
I hope you will try this on next April here in Japan.

(by Shoichiro)

Please also see our post ?   Another Flower Festiva

The Art of a Bamboo Craftsman

A worker uses his chisel to cut in one of a pair of thick bamboos in a lumber yard in Tokyo. The bamboos are used as part of the stage settings in Kabuki plays, said Takashi Hoshino, a skilled worker for a lumber/bamboo company in the capital’s eastern city of Koto. In the world’s great city of Tokyo, it is a very rare scene that you can observe a craftsman in the works in the open air.

Located just east of the capital, the waterfront area, called Fukagawa, lumber/bamboo business was one of the most lucrative industries during the Tokugawa Period (1603-1868).

Today, bamboos are crafted into a bamboo fence, a bamboo screen, a fishing rod, and ceremonial use such as utensils for the tea ceremony and New Year’s ornaments.
The bamboo yard in the photo is located near the Basho Memorial Museum in Koto City.

(by Kozo)

Basho Memorial Museum:
Please visit the website for information and other details.

Cherry blossom viewing aboard Japanese boat

Amid the cherry blossoms being reflected in the water, a boat carrying holiday-goers moves through a canal in Tokyo's eastern city recently.

For Japanese people, it is a great time to be out as cherry trees burst into bloom at this time of the year. Even in northern Japan, it will be not be long before such a harbinger of the spring comes around. 

The canal in Koto City shown in the photo is called Oyoko River, one of several canals built during the Edo Period (1603-1868) as major navigable waterways for shipping wood, rice, salt, vegetables and other goods to the Shogun's capital from around the country. In that respect, part of the present Koto City used to be the center of lumber business. 


Today, the canals are mainly used by those enjoying canoeing. Even if you are visitors from abroad, it would be fun to take a time-out and feel refreshment to be a canoeist. If you are beginners, I recommend that you get a 30-minute lesson for a reasonable price: 600 yen per adult, including a kayak, paddle and life vest. The younger is half that price.

Please go to the website for information and other details: http://www.tatekawa-park.com/eng/guide/canoe

(by Kozo)

YASUKUNI SHRINE HONO-SUMO (Sumo Ceremonial Tournament)

YASUKUNI SHRINE HONO-SUMO (Sumo Ceremonial Tournament) 

held in the shrine’s precincts, Monday April 17th 2017 .

If you are interested in, or do want to know more about, “Japanese traditional SUMO ceremony”, this is an ideal event you cannot miss!

Once a year, 3rd Monday in April, here in Yasukuni Shrine, the significant dedication Sumo is held and open to public.

Sumo is one of national sports in Japan, and has a history of 1400 years.     

Referring to the official brochure prepared by Japan Sumo Association, it is said that “the first Sumo matches were a form of ritual dedicated to the gods, with prayers for a bountiful harvest and were performed together with sacred dancing and dramas within the precincts of the shrine. Since then Sumo has been maintaining its religions protocol and formalities.  And Sumo has managed to survive with its formalized ritual and traditional etiquette intact making it unique among sports.”

If you happen to be in Tokyo Monday April 17th, and if you have time, WHY not visiting Yasukuni Shrine, and experiencing Hono Zumo!

The word “Hono” means, dedication to the gods, and Zumo is dullness of Sumo.

The first Hono Zumo was held at 1869, comforting the Spirit of Yasukuni Shrine, at the enshrined festival.  Since then, this event has been held every year, without interruption.

In this event, you can have very rare opportunity to appreciate Sumo traditions, such as, comic Sumo performances, Sumo Jinku (Sumo Lively Song), Original dividing drums.  

You can see the tournaments given by 200 wrestlers, representing by Grand Champions (highest rank in sumo), Champions (second highest rank in sumo), and all rank will be lined up at this event.

The Details;  

The dedication  :  Japan Sumo Association

Date and Time  :  Monday, April 17th  2017  from 9am to 3pm

Place           :  Sumo amphitheater , Yasukuni Shrine

Admission      :  Free

Program

1. Dohyo (sumo ring) festival     9:00am  
2. Tournament starts            10:40am

Comic Sumo Performances,  Sumo Jinku,  Drumming,

3. Worship                      1:30pm
4. Intermission and Tournament (Yokozuna and higher rank of wrestlers)

2:00pm

5. End of tournament            3:00pm

Capacity

     6000 people, First come, First Served based

Useful information   

1 The main gate of Yasukuni Shrine is open at 6am.

2. The Sumo ground Amphitheater entrance is open at 8:30am or little earlier, from Central entrance, or South Entrance.   

3. All explanation and announcements are in Japanese only.  

4. Due to “First come, First Served base” , early entry is strongly recommended. These couple of years, all seats are fully occupied by 12:00pm. Once 6000 seats are fully occupied, nobody is allowed to enter the Sumo amphitheater. .

5.  Once the intermission (2pm) , you are not allowed to leave the seat till the end of the event (3pm).

6.  The nearest station to Yasukuni Shrine is either Kudanshita (Tokyo Metro Y14,  Toei Subway (T07, S04) , or Ichigaya (JR, Tokyo Metro (N09, Y14) Toei Subway (S04).  

This event is not held within Koto ward, where KEV is located, however, considering the value and richness of this Hono Zumo, KEV introduces this event.

We hope you could have a chance to see this wonderful event, and enjoy Sumo wrestling..

Using this opportunity, we express our appreciation to Public Relations Section, Yasukuni Shrine for their approval and support with regard to Hono Zumo introduction.

Please note that during most of April,  all Sumo wrestlers are on the tour around Japan. For the details, please access their home pages. http://www.sumo.or.jp/En