Categories
Various

The invention of Dr. Nakamats

Can you remember about Dr. Nakamats? He is the most prolific inventor in history; this month he reached 3,500 patents. He is already more than 80 years old but he is still in good shape and maintains a really active lifestyle. A Danish producer came to Japan to film a documentary about the popular inventor called “The invention of Dr.Nakamats”. There is still not a release date set but we already can enjoy the trailer:

The trailer looks great; I am really looking forward to watch the whole documentary. Notice the details in the logo, for example “Till 2072” 😉

Dr. Nakamatsu

I am already a big fan of Doctor Nakamatsu, if you want to follow the latest news and inventions of Dr. NakaMats you can become a fan of him on the Fan Page I created on Facebook.

My brain is very important – Dr. Nakamats

Categories
Traditional

Hanazono festival

Lately I’ve been enjoying “traditional Japanese festivals” (matsuris 祭り) more than ever. Matsuris are usually held next to a temple and one of the main activities is to eat. Omikoshi processions and traditional dances are common activities as well; but somehow I have the feeling that what is really important and brings people to the festivals is the food, the sake and having a fun time with family and friends. During the festival there are several food stalls, some of them with tables and chairs and some without them. These pictures are from the last festival I attended at the Hanazono temple (in Shinjuku), a temple dedicated to Inari, the Shintoist god of rice and fertility. It is a small, but quite enjoyable, temple trapped in between the skyscrapers of Tokyo; when you go inside it makes you relax and escape from the stress of the big city. If you want to enjoy some matsuri, in this Wikipedia page you can find the name, date and location of the most important festivals in Japan:

花園神社祭り Hanazono festival

Yakisoba
Yakisoba

Yakitori stall
Yakitori stall

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Japanese lanterns
Lanterns sponsored by local businesses.

Yakisoba
More yakisoba

Japanese spiritual bouquets
Spiritual bouquets blessed by gods; if you put them on your house or company they will bring good fortune.

Japanese bouquets
More bouquets.

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival snakes
This woman was performing a weird show with snakes.

Hanazono festival snake
There is a snake in that box.

Hanazono festival

Hanazono festival

Maid - 花園神社祭り
These idols dreessed as maids were selling candies and their DVDs (videos of them in bikini shaking their boobs). It was one of the most popular stalls in the festival.

Other festivals, matsuris:

Categories
JapanGuide

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park is a really beautiful park located in the west of Tokyo which is not as popular among tourists as other parks like Yoyogi or Shinjuku Gyoen. Many times I prefer to come to Inokashira because it’s much more quiet and some parts have a nice Japanese style touch.

Inokashira Park belonged to the imperial family but the emperor donated it as a gift to the Japanese people almost a hundred years ago. The green area of the park surrounds a quite big lake which is called Inokashira as well; at the end of the lake there is a temple dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. One of the most popular things to do in Inokashira Park is to rent a duck-shaped pedal boat. Legend has it that couples that go together into a pedal boat in Inokashira lake will see their love strengthened. If you like manga and anime maybe you will recognize Inokashira Park, as it is usually seen in series like GTO or Video Girl Ai (if I remember well there are at least a couple of romantic scenes set in one of the bridges over the lake).

The get to Inokashira Park you have go to Kichijoji station (JR Chuo line in Tokyo) and then walk five minutes south. A great way to spend a pleasant day is to combine a walk in Inokashira Park with a visit to the Ghibli Museum, which is right at the end of the park to the southwest.

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park temple
Temple dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten.

Inokashira Park ukiyo-e
This is the same temple painted in ukiyo-e by Hiroshige.

Feeding pigeons and carps
Feeding pigeons and carps at the same time.

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park sakura trees
All those trees are sakura trees that will blossom very soon.

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park