Kadomatsu

About 6 hours to 2007.

2006 is leaving and 2007 is coming.

People are preparing for 2007 and Kadomatsu is one of Japanese decorations in a New Year.

Kadomatsus are a pair of pine decorations and are placed in front of gates of a house in New Year season. It is consisted of pine, bamboo and others. Pine and bamboo are symbols of long life and gods are said to descend to pine.

Have a happy new year!!

Preparing for celebrating a New Year Day

We are now preparing for a New Year's Day in Shinto, something of a Japanese domestic religion, way, though we were busy celebrating Christmas Day!!


The picture below was taken a week ago at the same place.

What are these flowers for??

These flowers are set in line in front of a bar, called club, and set by many guests of the club only to a woman for celebrating a new member of the club.

Anyway, what is a club?? A club is a place for men to drink and talk with dressed and beautiful women in a decorated interior. Ginza, a district in Tokyo, has many luxury clubs and it costs more than 500USD just only to drink and talk with them at least, though you cannot understand why men pay for it!! Yes, the clubs are for rich people.

Oh, look out!!

The car accident is about to happen!!

Merry Christmas from Tokyo

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

This is Christmas illumination in Roppongi Hills, one of the most beautiful illuminations in Tokyo. The tower behind, Tokyo Tower, looks like a lighten-up tree.

Yokan, one of Japanese sweets

This shop, Toraya, sells yokan. Yokan is a kind of Japanese sweets and comes from China. This is made of agar-agar, kanten in Japanese, sugar and some ingredients. The texture is a little harder than that of pudding and jelly. The taste is, roughly speaking, almost as sweet as that of chocolate cake. The sweet go well with Japanese green tea since this is rather sweet and green tea is bitter. Perhaps this sweet also may go well with extra sec sparking wine.

By the way, one of Japanese customs is Oseibo, sending presents to elder people in December. This yokan is popular items as a present.

Motorola hacks into a temple?

This is a famous temple in Tokyo, called Tsukiji Honganji temple. In the site of the temple were promoted a new cell phone of motorola. I saw the company's product for the first time and motorola is not so familiar in Japan now.

By the way, I don't know why the company promote in the temple....

Christmas illumination 3

The streets in shopping districts of Tokyo are totally decorated with Chirstmas illumination.

Many homes, many tastes

This is a shop selling miso in a classic style. Many miso shops used to sell miso in this way in those days, but now individually packed misos are sold at supermarkets. Miso are slightly different from one area to another, like Japanese sakes.

By the way, miso soup made by blended miso is more delicious than that made by single one, I hear. The taste of miso soup are mainly composed of miso, dashi or umami and ingredients. Many homes, many tastes.

Beautiful thing or cost-effective one?

This article might not make women feel so good. Excuse me if it does.

I confess that I love to give a girlfriend a rose or bouquet of roses.

Mainly because the flower(s) make her happy and more beautiful. But to tell the truth, partly because the flower is not so expensive. Giving her a rose make more happy than treating her to dinner, I think. But the flower is by far more reasonable than the dinner. The flower is much cost-effective to make her feel good. That doesn't mean that I don't want to treat her to dinner.

I don't know why Japanese men hesitate to give their wife or girlfriend(s??). Japan would be more peaceful if they present the flowers.... (Japan is peaceful country? Umm, I'm afraid no! I know many small wars are happening at homes here and there.)

Peko-chan

This mascot doll, peko-chan, is put in front of a confectionery shop, Fujiya, familiar to people in Japan.

When I was a little boy, my parents used to give me assorted sweets in socks-shaped case. This was Fujiya's one. The doll reminds me of a good memory in Christmas.

another ariticle on peko-chan

Christmas illumination 2

This is another Christmas illumination. This one is more classic than the previous post. Which do you like?

Christmas illumination

This is a simple Christmas illumination. This building is designed by Kengo Kuma, one of great architects in Japan today.

Only the vertical lines makes the decoration.

Red of decoration, green of bamboo behind and brown of wooden floor go well, though it is hard to comprehend in this photo.( I need to learn the photo technique more....)

Have a nice weekend:-))

City lights

This facade is a Louis Vuitton's building.

The lighting is so mild and I prefer the way to the flashy one.

A man and a wristwatch

A man is waiting for someone at the crossing.

Perhaps he might need a wristwatch.

like a ballet dancer dancing...

This is a shop selling chopsticks, hashi. Many chopsticks are exhibited and most of them are coated with Japanese lacquer, urushi.

Japanese chopsticks are made of wood; Korean are stainless or steel and Chinese are wood or bamboo or ivory(or something like ivory).

Some American said before, looking at Japanese using chopsticks at a restaurant,
"they use chopsticks as if a ballet dancer dances above a dish."

A winter's night with a crispy air

I live near these buildings and even after I turn off the lights in my room, the room is not so dark. Because the light comes into the room from outside.

A glimpse of lights in a city

The wall reflects neon sign boards in the city. Flashy neon have changed into abstract art through the wall.

Cheers!!

Many bars are lined with a path. I was able to hear people in bars saying "Kanpai", cheers, when taking this picture.

Anyway, have a nice weekend!!

Est! Est! Est!

This is called Izakaya, serving foods and alcohol. Many labels on the door and wall are the one of Shochu, a kind of Japanese sake. Shochu is distilled alcohol and made from sweet potato, barley, rice, sugar cane and soba.

These label draws me into the restaurant.

Ishiyaki Imo, hot baked sweet potatoes

The car sells hot baked sweet potatoes in winter. I used to eat it when I was a boy. This food reminds me of winter.

a park on weekend

This is a park on sunny weekend.

Each old man sits on a chair in a certain distance.

I wonder what they think of....

Blowfish, fugu

This is a fugu, a blowfish.


And, this is many pieces of sliced blowfish. People eat them, dipped in soy sauce with a kind of citrus, sudachi, juice, chopped raw Welsh onion, grated Japanese radish and a little powdered hot pepper.


This is fried fugu. This fish goes with Japanese sake!

Rice porridge, flavored with soup stock made with boiled fugu, is also yummy.

By the way, the liver and ovary of a blowfish contain deadly-poison, killing ten people. Eating fugu is very thrilling, like Russian roulette. (Oh, just kidding:-) Fugus have much poison but eating them is very safety because trained chefs cook them.)

Many kinds of cigaretttes

These are vending machines in the streets and sells many kinds of cigarettes. 13 kinds of Marbolos are surprisingly sold at this machine.

Which do you like?

These are many kinds of sushi and I especially like hamachi(yellow tail), aji(Japanese horse mackerel), saba(chub mackerel) and anago(conger eel) of all kinds.

The theme Day, "A photograph from the Waist Down"

This is a Buddha image and about more than 1000 years ago. I went to a museum to see the special exhibition of deities images in Buddhism.

The image was originally come from India and the style and ornament is like the images in Hinduism.



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52 Daily Photo sites are participating in the 1st December theme, "A Photograph from the Waist Down".

Due to time zone differences and other factors, the theme photo may not be displayed until later if you are viewing early in the day.

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