Super Yosakoi Festival

This weekend was a double header of fun and entertainment. After taking in the Asakusa Samba Festival yesterday I trotted up to Omote Sando today to view the annual Super Yosakoi Festival. The Festival was a short 10 minute cab ride from my apartment and was even within walking distance. But as always I left a little later in the day to avoid the heat and humidity so I wanted to get there quickly and not miss too much of the action.

This festival was spread over a pretty large area with groups performing on the street as well as

stage performances in Yoyogi park. The event went from about 12:30 to 4:30 and was filled with non-stop performances. I must have missed the first few group performances but I still got about 2 hours worth of action. This was an incredibly fun event with the performers being more concerned with enjoying themselves than competing, I am not even sure if it was a competition. They ranged in ages from young kids up and even though it was again mostly women, there were quit a number of men performing as well. Here are some clips that I took of the event.

It was incredibly difficult to pick a favorite performance, although some were better than others. One thing that stood out as I was watching the groups perform is how peaceful and tranquil the audience was. Even though there was nothing but tape separating the performers from the spectators no one got carried away and interrupted the performance in anyway. This is one of the aspects of living in Japan that I have quickly grown to love.

Yosakoi (よさこい) is a unique style of dance that originated in Japan. Yosakoi started in the city of Kōchi in 1954, as a modern rendition of Awa Odori, a traditional summer dance. Yosakoi-style dancing has spread throughout much of Japan. The style of dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music. The choreographed dances are often performed by large teams. Along with a number of professional yosakoi schools and town dance teams, yosakoi is also a popular event during the sports festivals held by Japanese elementary, junior, and senior high schools. Yosakoi participants include men and women of almost all ages – sometimes within a single team. - Wikipedia

I think the video clips tell a much better story than I can possibly try to, so enjoy.

I will be uploading pictures soon. I have tons to sort through.

Here are the links to the individual video clips:

• Video 1
• Video 2
• Video 3
• Video 4
• Video 5
• Video 6
• Video 7
• Video 8
• Video 9

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Samba, Samba

Another Saturday and, oh yes, more action in Tokyo. Today I ventured about an hour away from home and got into some samba action in Asakusa. It was the 30th showing of the Asakusa Samba Festival and it is a must see for those who ever visit Tokyo in late August. This time of year is filled with some uniquely Japanese festivals, and other borrowed novelties.

I must admit that I was a bit skeptical when I heard there was a samba festival in Tokyo. Being Caribbean I am a bit of a carnival snob. No one do carnival like we do carnival, Brazil being the exception, and even though it is billed as a parade it's pretty much a carnival. Oh, how good could this possibly be, I thought? Well the answer is good, very good.

I was highly impressed by the samba parade. The dancing was well choreographed across all the groups, the music was authentic, and the colors, quality, and flamboyance of the costumes was some of the best I've ever seen. Plus, there was a small contingent of Brazilian dancers who definitely stood out for a number of reasons.

The parade was short, maybe about half a mile total, which was a good thing because it was also hot and humid. The dancers, many wearing 6 inch heels, danced choreographed to live samba music sang by locals as they made their way along the parade route. The groups looked like they were having the time of their lives and it made the experience more enjoyable.

The crowd at the parade was intense. I arrived too late to be close enough to the action and I could barely get a shot off without somebody jumping in front of my lens. However, being no stranger to adversity in photography, I hunted until I found a clear spot with good enough light at the very end of the parade. I had less than one hour before I had to be back at the apartment for an appointment so time was definitely not on my side. As the masqueraders exited the parade route I was able to rattle off a few shots of them heading back to take off their costumes.

The majority of the masqueraders were Japanese with very few foreigners here and there. They ranged in age from teens to older adults and were mostly women. And even though my pictures may lead you to think otherwise there were some men to be found performing.

The Asakusa Samba Festival is certainly worth the time if you're in the area. At the very least you'll be able to say you had the chance to experience carnival in Tokyo. Please see the link to more carnival pictures at the end of the post.

Today was also the first time that I took the Tokyo Metro (subway). Coming from NY I am no fan of subways, hence the reason I delayed riding the metro for so long. I'll sum it up in three words, it's a

subway. It was certainly cleaner than the NY subway like everyone says, and the trains were impeccably on time like everything else in Japan, but it's still a bunch of tunnels underground that you use to get around. I rather travel by bus or taxi above ground where I can take in the

sites. Maybe that's just the gaijin in me and I'll get over it eventually, but I felt the same way in NY.

The pictures are located here.

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Azabu Juban Noryo Matsuri

Another Saturday afternoon in Tokyo and there is no shortage of fun, new activities to get into. Today I decided to check out the Azabu Juban street fair which is a yearly event held on the main shopping streets of, you guessed it, Azabu Juban. It was an easy 15 minute walk from my apartment so I really had no excuse. The street fair was not unlike one you'll find in the US with food and drink stalls lining the main path. Vendors brought out their goods and an army of shoppers and sightseers paraded up and down the street sampling anything that looked good. I packed my camera bag and headed to the fair around 4:30PM, which is perfect because it's wan't too hot and there was still good light outside for photography. The pic to the left is of the tastiest deep fried chicken I've ever had.

I came hungry because I knew I would want to try anything that looked strange. The dishes consisted mainly of seafood but there were plenty of chicken, beef, and pork stalls to keep the land lovers happy.

The crowd was a bit much at times and I had to squeeze and push my way through some parts of the street. One benefit of being above average height, well above average in Tokyo, is that I didn't have to stretch much to record my video above the crowd. Actually, I didn't have to stretch at all.

By the time I had walked the length of the path, which took over an hour, I was full and ready to head home. If you're ever in Tokyo during this time of year the Azabu Juban street fair is certainly worth checking out.

Here are some pics of the fair.

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Shang-heezy

Today I hopped on a plane and headed to China for the week. This is my fourth time in China this year but my first time on business. The first stop on my trip is Shanghai, or as I like to call it Shang-heezy. I can never get enough of Shanghai, it's like really good ice cream. You know too much of it is bad for you but you just can't seem to stop eating.

On the flight from Tokyo I got a window seat and couldn't help but admire how serene Japan is from the air. But then we got closer to China and what was a clear blue sky with perfect views of the ocean turned into thick, brown, opaque fog fed by pollution and dust plumes. The difference was startling and I am alway surprised by it each time I see it. The air is so bad that I've caught strep throat the last two times I've been in Shanghai - but it was worth every painful swallow. Something else that always stands out when I visit China is the contrast in service and pleasantries between the Japanese and Chinese. The Japanese will always over service and over deliver with surprising amounts of courtesy while the Chinese take a different approach. All these things aside, however, Shanghai is my second favorite city to visit outside of New York. Though I must admit I couldn't live here, the pollution is just too much.

I managed to book a Japanese hotel for my stay

totally by accident and got a room upgrade when I checked in. I am sure the upgrade had something to do with my hotel being booked under our corporate Google account and nothing to do with my powers of persuasion. I got a high floor with a great view and lots of room. The Shanghai skyline is pretty amazing, even after living in NYC for 17 years. Shanghai is the city with the most skyscrapers in the world. The tall towers seem to go on for miles and it gives you the feeling of being in a high tech futuristic movie.

My days were packed with meetings and dinner

with colleagues but I still managed to catch up with a few friends on both nights. On Tuesday I met up with a friend and headed to a wine bar in the French Concession area of Shanghai which is

definitely one of the cooler parts of the city. The

bar, much like the entire neighborhood, was filled with foreigners with a sprinkling of locals. The wine selection was great and the atmosphere was something out of Greenwich Village in NY. As it turned out we saw some other folks that we knew at the wine bar so we decided to make it a group thing. I was too tired to stay out very late however, and ended the night relatively early.

The foreigners in Shanghai always seem a little

rough around the edges. I am not sure if that's because the city is rough and they're just adapting or they were rough when they got here. Many of them look like they came here back packing and just never left, which I am sure is the case in some instances. This blend of foreigners and locals with the same tough exterior gives the city a unique feel and personality. Many people would say that NY is a tough place to live, but it's nothing compared to Shanghai. If you're gonna live in this city you've got to sharpen your edges.

Tuesday was Chinese Valentine's day and the streets were filled with couples and young ladies

carrying flowers. It was certainly a big day here and many restaurants were packed. This made it almost impossible to catch a cab, though I eventually did - 40 minutes and many blocks later. When Shanghai comes alive it cannot be matched by any other city in the world. The size and scale of the city coupled with the total number of residents, 19MM, separates it from any other place I've ever visited.

The next stop of my China tour is Beijing. I wasn't too thrilled with the city the last time I was there but I am looking forward to seeing the forbidden city and summer palace during the summer as oppose to the brutal winter that was last December.

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Another Random Saturday Night

Today I went for a long walk, a very long walk. I started out with my usual trip to the sushi restaurant for lunch and then decided to take a look at some of the other neighborhoods in the area. Three hours later I made it back to my apartment after trekking through Roppongi, Azabujuban, Motoazabu, Hiroo, Ebisu, and Shibuya. I must have traveled about 5-6 miles in total. What's great about walking is that you get a chance to absorb your surroundings. If you're in a car everything seems to go by in a blur and your sense of direction and orientation gets skewed. Somebody recommended that I get a bike, but it's not my thing.

Tokyo has some very distinct and interesting

neighborhoods with a small community feel. Azabu Juban, for example contains a collection of small roads filled with cafes, restaurants, and little boutiques worth trying. It remind me a lot of some parts of Europe. Walking through the neighborhoods also allowed me to grasp just how close, or how far in some instances, they were to each other. Maps can tell you distance, but unless you walk through it you really don't know. While on my walk I was also able to check out my future home which is a very cool, ultra-modern high rise in a central part of town. The building doesn't open until September 1st but I was able to get a tour to check out some of the model rooms. This is my first high rise living experience and I am definitely looking forward to it. I do admit that I generally hate living in big buildings, but this allows me to give it a try without the need for a long term commitment.

Once I got back to the apartment I ran into my German neighbor, Jan. He was on his way to a friend's apartment to check out the Tokyo-wan O-Hanabi Taikai, the largest fireworks festival in the region (fact check). One thing about the Japanese is that they love their fireworks. I mean they're fanatical about it. In August alone there must be about 6 major fireworks festivals within an hour of my apartment. This particular show lasted an hour and 20 minutes. Most other firework displays that I've seen would last maybe 15-20 minutes, but not in Japan and certainly not in Tokyo.

I decided to roll with Jan to see what it was all about even though I didn't really know Jan or his friend. We went to the top of the Akasaka Tower Residence in Akasaka where the common area on the 44th floor was cleared out for the event. The building itself isn't very tall but it sits on top of a hill which amplifies its height by at least 20 stories. From here we were able to see most of Tokyo and all of the fireworks display by the wharf.

After the fireworks were over I went along with a bunch of folks to have dinner, most of whom I'd just met. I couldn't tell you exactly where it was, but I know it was within walking distance from the hotel. It was about 15 of us across two separate tables and we ate and talked into the night. This would be the last time I saw Jan before he headed back to Germany so we went for a drink at a bar not too far from our apartment building. Jan had lived in Tokyo for many years while he was in college and speaks fluent Japanese. He comes to town multiple times a year on business and mentioned that he'll be back in a couple months. He schooled me on his version of the do's and don'ts in Tokyo and even recommended a few places that I should check out outside of Tokyo. Once I got back to my apartment I completely collapsed from exhaustion. It has been a very long and tiring day, but definitely worth it.

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Benkyō Shite Imasu

Japanese language class kicked my butt today. Not because it's hard but mostly because I seemed to have pre-read the wrong chapter, doh. I am at the stage where I understand what the instructor is saying, well at least for the simple sentences we're now learning, but I can't seem to make sentences of my own. The language structure is different, trivial in fact when compared to English, but completely different from anything I've seen before. Semantically, however, I also think it trumps anything I've seen before.

Learning Japanese as a native English speaker feels like going from a Windows PC to a Mac all over again. Even better, it feels like going from C++ to Lisp - for my computer programmers out there. It's so straight forward that it makes you feel like you're doing something wrong. We can learn a lot from this language. There are so many useless aspects of English, like subject-verb agreement. Who needs that? Does it help us be more descriptive? Why do we need "he is", "you are", "they are", etc.? Let's get rid of it. Everyone "is", no matter what's the subject. While we're at it, let's dump singular and plural as well. That gave me too much grief as a child.

By comparison English is such a harder language to learn that I am happy I started with it. I must admit though that writing Japanese is a whole different story. And I haven't even gotten to Kanji yet, that thing scares me. Katankana and Hiragana, no problem. We'll see how it goes from here, but I am completely thrilled to be learning a new language that is not romanic. Once I conquer Japanese I'll take a whack at Chinese, but I can't promise anything there.

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Exploring Omote Sando

Today I decided to get off my bum, break out my camera kit, and hit the streets of Tokyo on a random walk. My first stop was Roppongi Hills. I wanted to take a photo of that cool Spider outside the new office building. The complex has a lot of really cool attractions that I've yet to explore, even though it's only 10 minutes from the apartment. Not the least of these attractions is a natural history museum at the top of the Mori Tower. I must get to that someday. I've already experienced the movie theatre a couple times and the mall inside. Let's not forget the restaurants. It'll take some time before Roppongi hills gets old to me.

Once I was finished with that I decided to go generally north

since I almost always go south. I ended up heading towards Omote Sando which turned out to be a very high priced and trendy shopping district in Tokyo. The shopping district was filled with the usual high end brands, Gucci, Cartier, Omega, and a very cool looking Prada store to name a few. I didn't take a picture of the Prada store, doh, but I will next time.

Omotesandō is known as one of the foremost 'architectural showcase' streets in the world, fe

aturing a multitude of fashion flagship stores designed by internationally renowned architects within a short distance of each other. These include the Louis Vitton store (Jun

Aoki, 2002) Prada building (Herzog & de Meuron, 2003), Tod's (Toyo Ito, 2004), Dior (SANAA, 2004), Omotesandō

Hills (Tadao Ando, 2005) and Gyre (MVRDV, 2007), amongst others. Yay Wikipedia!

The area was a lot cooler than I thought it would be even though I knew it was a great shopping district. I stayed away from the stores however, as I didn't plan to upset my wallet today. Except for the occasional browsing of various watches, which I couldn't help, I came away with nothing in tow. There were a number of little side streets filled with boutiques of all kinds which I thought were cooler than the big name luxury brand stores. The food looked delicious as well with ample Japanese desserts to satisfy any sweet tooth. The picture to the left is of a cemetery which I wondered through and not Omote Sando.

I continued walking until I ended up at

Shibuya station conveniently, even though completely

by accident. From there it was an easy bus ride back to the apartment. But, before I called it a day I

stopped off at my favorite sushi spot to get my weekend fix. I think they've come to know and love me there. :-) Three hours after I left I was back in the apartment well fed and ready for the evening. Now it's time to practice some Japanese. Here are the shots that didn't make the blog post.

For those of you who're curious, I shoot with a variety of Canon cameras. I've tried other camera brands but I prefer the image reproduction of the Canon line of cameras. I must admit, however, that Nikkon does make some killer cameras as well. Also Sony seems to have some of the best colors I've every seen straight out of the camera, but everything else about Sony falls second to Canon. Oh, I also break out my iPhone when I have nothing else and it does a pretty good job in good light. The below shot of my kit was taken with my phone. While taking this shot I realized that I might have left a lens and some other pieces at home. Oh well..

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It's Saturday Night

Saturday night started out with a restaurant hunt in the Roppongi area. I went looking for Shunju Roppongi which was supposed to be a great restaurant by some renowned designer or the other. What I found was an empty commercial space that looked like it had been locked up for some time. I guess they went outta business, oh well. Luckily Roppongi is filled with great places to eat and finding a substitute was just a matter of taking a leisurely stroll down Gaien Higashi Dori. I decided to go Chinese for dinner and stumbled into this little family ran resturaunt that turned out to be delicious. It seems that almost any food I find around Tokyo, no matter what the ethnicity, tastes great. This Chinese food was better than most I've had in China, but that's not saying a lot.

After dinner it was time to tackle Tokyo Tower, which was a 15 minute walk away. I got to the tower just when it was being lit for the night. The bright blue lighting dotting up the tower made a great contrast to the intense red lights at the base. This would be my first time going up into the observatory and I was ready. As I got to the ticket booth I noticed that there were actually two observatories. The one at the very top takes about an hour to get to considering the lines, etc. The main observatory, which is a few hundred feet lower, takes about 5 minutes and costs less. I went for the main observatory this time around. I'll come back for the other one another day.

The view from atop the tower was worth it all. From the main observatory you have a panoramic view of Tokyo in all directions. Very few buildings obstruct the view at that level and you can see the city disappear into the horizon. On a very clear day you should be able to see mount Fuji and the rest of the mountain range in the distance. The next time I come I'll have to bring an actual camera with me. For this trip I relied on my trusty iPhone to snap my pics.

After Tokyo tower it was back to the apartment to change and then out to a nightclub, or two. This would be my first time hitting the party scene on this trip to Tokyo. I made it to a couple recommended places which were off the main Roppongi area and had very few foreigners. Both places had great music, multiple levels, and incredibly over priced drinks. I stuck with water for the night but that still cost me 5 Yen a bottle - ouch. The clubs were your typical metropolitan night clubs with 90% Japanese attendees and zero disorderly conduct. And now I'll leave you with a little video to end my post, enjoy.

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Tokyo Nightclub

Last night I decided to head out to one of the nightclubs here in Roppongi. I am past the nightclub scene but I wanted to get a feel for what a night out on the town is like in Tokyo as opposed to New York City. I headed to a-life on Roppongi Dori which isn't far from where I am staying in my temporary apartment. The club was entertaining with the same songs, scene, and vibe as any NYC night club. The only difference was that 90% of the people were Japanese. For your enjoyment I've included a video clip of the club action below. Enjoy.

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More Food... Oh yeah, And The View

The Spanish omlette, as it was called, was awesome.

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The New Office

Today is the first day in the new Google office in Tokyo. I must say that it is the coolest office I've seen thus far, and I've spent time in at least 12 around the globe. The view is excellent and you can tell they spent a lot of time thinking about the small details. The wallpaper, for example, consists of artistic interpretations of the various Google product logos. The micro-kitchens, breakout rooms, and game rooms are all very modern chic with a touch of Japanese style. The lighting is perfect, not too bright so your eyes start hurting around 2PM, nor too dim so you don't fall asleep while trying to work.

The cafe is not as good as New York's Hemisphere Cafe IMHO, which still holds the crown for

best cafe in all of Googledom, though the Japanese flare is new and exciting to me. The main entrance was filled with flowers and arrangements presumably sent by clients to welcome us to

our new home. Funny enough the receptionist has bad allergies and was teary eyed all day. She told me she hated flowers.

The highlight of the new office is certainly the panoramic views. The windows are huge and completely unobstructed in most places. Roppongi Hills is, as you might guess, on a hill in Tokyo so from the 26th floor you get a great view of the various parts of Tokyo. My desk, enjoyably enough, is right near the window so I get to enjoy Shinjiku in the distance. This shot was taken while sitting. En

joy the pics.

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