Ikemen

Interesting ad in the Hankyuu Umeda train station the other day...


Apparently there's a new TV show called, basically, "Cool Guy Paradise."

(No, I didn't watch it.)

Tanabata & 5000

Last weekend was the holiday Tanabata in Japan. Japanese people put up bamboo and hang fancy paper decorations on it. Then they write their wishes/hopes/dreams on pieces of paper and tie them to the bamboo.

In the basement of the Hep 5 department store in Osaka, they had one set up for the public to use. I wrote a wish down, too. Mine said "いいしごとをみつけるように".

I took a picture of the tree when I had finished. I tried to wait until the people left, but the longer I waited the more people came to write their wishes...


When I opened up this picture to send to my photo blog file, I noticed something. The filename my camera automatically assigned to this picture was DSC05000.

That means that this is officially the 5000th picture I've taken with my camera.

...wow.

Coincidence!

Today.
Triangle Park, Ame-mura, Shinsaibashi, Osaka.

There is a mysterious crowd, hanging out and watching the building with the big TV screen. There are crowd control people, keeping the general public away from the front of the shop there. There are people with t-shirts, bags, etc. from a band called An Cafe, which is a band I actually know and like.

I decide to hang out and see what's going on.


2 PM. There is a rush of excitement from the crowd. The screen is showing an ad for An Cafe's new single (which will be released in August). They play through one entire song in the ad, to much cheering and clapping and exclamations of "kawaii!" ("cute!").



The video ad ends. The video screen slowly raises. (I didn't know it could do that.)

Standing in the second story of the building are the members of An Cafe, wearing cute summer yukata. (For the record, they are all guys. Even the one in pink.) There is more cheering. They talk about their new CD and their next concert in Osaka (which is free! but unfortunately it's also after I leave). Then the screen goes down again and it is over.


...until they come out and got into the van that's waiting. Then there is more screaming and cheering and waving. Also, the distribution of free postcards by staff people.

See? Postcard! (image from their website):


Hooray for coincidence!

Temple!

I think this is Kiyomizu temple. I'm pretty sure. The stairway looks a little different than what I remember...but where else could it be?


So...um...Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, taken last year.

What do you need?

(Hep 5 is a big shopping center in the middle of Umeda.)

Asakusa

Asakusa, Tokyo.


...the text on the banner is reversed. It must have blown around in the wind - or else I just took a picture of the back side of it.

Kobe

Building, ads, and park...taken near the train station in Sannomiya, Kobe.

Let's go shopping!

If there was a neat shopping center like this nearby, wouldn't you want to go?

Triangles

Apologies for yesterday...I was at school really late, then I had errands to run and I got home late, and I just didn't remember about uploading a picture...oops.

In penance, I bring you three views of Triangle Park in Shinsaibashi, Osaka.




(You might recognize the bunny/boy statue in the last shot from Saturday ^_~ )

Triangle Park

This is Triangle Park in Shinsaibashi, Osaka...complete with graffitied boy-looking-at-bunnies statue.

Pretty Building!

...this picture may or may not be from Akihabara in Tokyo. I'd prefer not to say.


(Okay...so I keep forgetting my camera at school. I brought it in to take a class picture, then stuck it inside the podium to keep it safe afterwards. Unfortunately, it's a little too safe, since even I don't notice it in there. So I'm posting a few older pictures for now, until I get a chance to take some new ones.)

Kitty Building

This is part of Umeda in Osaka...the building with the kitty on top is the Namco arcade.


I love Japan :) Where else in the world would I be able to find a building in a major downtown area with a giant kitty on top?

Akiba (3)

Cosplayer surrounded by otaku in front of JR Akihabara, oh my!

Akiba (2)

There was a big crowd gathered here...for something involving video game with the big sign, I imagine.

Someone may also have been fliming for a TV show/movie. My friend said she saw people with cameras, and soon after this was taken, a large portion of the crowd dispersed (mostly the crowd on the right side, out of my picture...they were covering a good part of the huge 4-lane road) as if, perhaps, they'd just finished watching the filming?

So if anyone sees a scene resembling this in a movie or something, let me know!

Akiba

Akihabara street scene (1)


(I have a few more to post in the coming days)

It's giant...it's purple...

...it's a penguin?


McDonald's has put out ads with purple penguins to promote McFlurries over here. (Or would it be McFlurrys? Hmm.) Either way, they had their mascot hanging out by the JR train station in Akihabara, Tokyo.

For some reason, it was a little creepy. I have nothing against mascots in general - in fact I ususally like them - but I felt no inclination to go pose with this one. I was actually trying not to attract its attention...

Tokyo Pictures!

I'm back from Tokyo! My friends and I had a great time :)
Here's a quick run-down of our Golden Week activities:

Day 1 - Thursday, May 3rd

We went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was amazing!

Look! It's a totoro in the ticket booth!

This is the entrance to the museum. The architecture of the building is great - it really feels like it could be from a Ghibli film. And there was so much beautiful, beautiful greenery!

We also went to a restaurant called Ninja Akasaka for dinner. We were guided to our table and served by ninjas. It was cool. And tasty. (And expensive.)

Day 2 - Friday, May 4th

Comic City Tokyo! It was fun and big and crowded. No pictures allowed inside, but here's a picture of Tokyo Big Step, the building where the event was held.

That night, we had dinner in Shibuya, which I think is comparable in size, traffic, and atmosphere to Times Square in New York. I took a picture of the station building, complete with blurry crowd (...and ads for a movie I'm looking forward to seeing. Yay pirates!)

Day 3 - Saturday, May 5th

We went to Akihabara, the part of Tokyo famous for electronics/anime/video games/etc. See? Big billboards!

Then my friends headed back on the Shinkansen. I went to Harajuku to shop and watch all the fashionable young Japanese people until it was time to catch the night bus back to Osaka. And surprisingly, to not take pictures...somehow I ended up without a single shot of Harajuku. At least, not from this trip :p

And now I'm home! Yay Osaka! Though it was rather ironic...we had *beautiful* weather for the entire trip in Tokyo. When I got off the bus in Osaka, it was pouring, and it's been raining all day. I'm glad today was my rest-and-recover day. And tomorrow it's back to school! (eep!)

Namba at Night

Shiny!

Oops (^_^;)

So on the bus home today, a thought suddenly came to mind..."Did I post a picture yesterday?" I was pretty sure I'd forgotten.

Sunday I had an excuse...I was gone Saturday. Didn't come home, couldn't post.
Today I have no excuse. I forgot :p

So I will post three views of DenDen Town :)

DenDen Town is the electronics/anime/manga/game center of Osaka. It's like Akihabara in Tokyo. It even has fancy electronic signs above the walkways, (above), huge electronics stores, and big anime-style billboards (below).


...also, maid cafes.

Takoru Shock!

...only they pronounce it "sho-ku".


That's the name of the TV Osaka exhibit I went to.
(...and this is the building it was in.)