About the Emperor's Birthday

It seems that another year has come and gone. And tomorrow is again the current Emperor's birthday. Every year on the 23rd of December, the Emperor and his family appear before throngs of people about once every 30 minutes and wave, say a greeting and then disappear again as the crowds are heralded out through the exit gate. Once they disappear, yet another throng of thousands are admitted through the entrance gate and the whole process begins anew. This happens from about 10 am until 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. Every year. Until the man dies. Every year, the Emperor and his family know exactly how they will spend the Emperor's birthday. It's considered a duty of the Imperial family. And they all show up dressed in the frumpy designer digs that have been allocated for them on that day. They don't even attempt to look majestically Japanese. They all wear "yofuku" or western style clothes.

The real irony to this is that about 10 days later, everyone has to do it all over again as the Imperial Palace is once again open for tourists and well-wishers wishing to come and pay homage to the Emperor and his family.

I went last year on the 2nd of January to the Imperial Palace. We went because it was one of the few things you could do in Tokyo over the holidays and ... let's face it, it's not something you can do throughout the better part of the year. Now as both days draw near, I shudder to think of the crowds and the crowd control planning that are again taking place. If I ever felt the need to delve into the psyche of cattle to know what it feels like to be herded or prodded, rest assured, it is a need that should never arise again after last year's experience. The only thing missing from the experience was the branding. Can't say I regret not getting that experience though.

I will say this --- last year, I didn't know enough Japanese to understand what was being said when the Emperor delivered his message. But if I decided to go again this year, I would be able to understand enough ... to get me into trouble. I feel no urge to go. I feel no urge to be herded again. Right now, it's nice to be out and about during the day as most office workers are still in the office working... but come next week when the Oshougatsu arrives, the train stations, bus stations, and airports will all be packed. I think I will breathe a sigh of relief and welcome again, the downtown Tokyo that I haven't seen in over a year. In about 10 days, it's like a ghost town --- the streets are quiet and peaceful. Hardly a car passes you by on the road. You can get almost anywhere without touching another person on the train --- even during the normal rush hours.

The only time, it didn't feel like a ghost town was when we were at the Imperial Palace packed in like sardines and when we were at Sensoji Temple on New Year's day, again packed in like sardines. This holiday season, I'm going to do my best to avoid being part of a huge crowd. To that end, tomorrow's event at the Imperial Palace is a no-go. Skipping it like I skipped a bad class in my youth. Happy Birthday Emperor-sama... but you'll have to celebrate this one without me.

An explosion of Fall Colour

View from the bus: I tried to get a paraglider, but the bus was moving so fast, I only managed to snap scenery!

View from the bus: I saw a lot of valleys with colour and large, fluffy white clouds overhead.

At the public park, there was a tree going through all the colour stages of autumn: green, yellow, orange, and red

Since coming to Japan, I've noticed that the Japanese have an inherent appreciation for nature. So far, I've taken photos of snowfalls (really... not massive snowfalls... but just snow falling in Tokyo), taken photos of the cherry blossoms blooming in the spring (it's a really, REALLY BIG thing here), taken days off for the spring and autumn equinox, and now I've gone on a Kouyo tour as well. Kouyo is the pronunciation for the kanji that means "changing leaves".

The tree in the foreground only has brown leaves and they are hanging on for dear life! The trees in the background are still going through their explosion of colour!

This the 375m long Ryujin Tsurubashi. This name means something like dragon luck suspension bridge. This bridge is so strong it can hold the weight of 30,000 people! As you can see, at this point in the day, it started to get overcast and a bit chilly!

Fukuroda Waterfalls. This name literally means "bag of ricefields". I can't see the rice fields in the falls.

It was another Hato Bus tour departing from Hamamatsuchou station. The first stop on the itinerary included getting to a national park and walking around, taking photos, and enjoying some small waterfalls. We then had a bento lunch served on the bus, but we waited until we got to the next destination, Ryujin Tsurubashi to eat a picnic lunch. The last stop was the Fukuroda Falls in Ibaraki Ken, supposedly famous for being one of Japan's prettiest 3 waterfalls.

I've included some photos. For this post, I've decided to put captions on them because I have a sore arm and I don't feel like writing long descriptions of all my impressions for the day.

On the suspension bridge, there were a number or grates where you could look straight down. Under this grate, there was a beam and apparently, like at the shrines and temples, people threw coins through the grate. Much farther below the grate, you can see the changing leaf colours.

At the very end of the day, we were lucky to see a Heron down in the river flowing out from the waterfalls. He stuck his head in the water a number of times and I managed to get a snap of him in flight!

"Twitter"ing in Japan

Last night, I attended a session of Tokyo2point0. It was my first one. Not bad. The presentations are given in bilingual English / Nihongo. The 2nd presentation last night was on Twitter Japan.

What's all a"twitter" about Japan Twitter? It seems that almost 40 percent of international (outside USA) twitter traffic comes from Japan. Of all the large cities in the world, Tokyo has the largest number of twitterers. Japan Twitter is the testbed for twitter with ad-sidebars. Apparently all other twitter countries don't make money on advertisements on the website. Tokyo's twitter population is greater than that of San Fran and New York's populations combined (they rank 2 and 3, respectively). Tronto (yes, it was spelled like that on the slides last night), or for all those who don't like to pronounce it in such a slangy way, Toronto, is ranked 14th in terms of number of tweeters.

The creator of twitter is also the creator of blogger (he has since sold the site to Google). FYI, this blog is hosted on Google's blogger site in case you didn't already figure that out from the web address. It seems that Tokyo Twitters tweet the most often on any given day. What's a tweet? A tweet is a mini-blog that tells all your tweety friends what you're up to at this exact moment. It's micro-blogging, 140 characters at a time. It's like IM'ing, but instead of one of your friends seeing what it is that you are up to, all your tweety buddies see it. Think: small message, wider audience.

If you, like me, are a Facebook user, you may be asking yourself, "How is this different from updating your Facebook status?". Yes, I wondered last night ... "How?". All the die-hard tweeters would tell you that it is so vastly differently. I guess it's a one application wonder without all the silliness of getting invites to useless applications like Vampires vs. Werewolves or the like. Don't ask, don't tell. It really is as ridiculous as the name suggests.

The addicted Facebook user will tell you that you there is something to one-shop time wasting with the current plethora of Facebook apps. The fact that the status update sidebar comes standard with all Facebook accounts tells you just how important the makers of Facebook think it is to broadcast your by-the-second status.

But, how many tweets is enough in a day? How much is too much? Do my friends and colleagues really need to know when I'm a washroom break? Or that I've gone to get some coffee? Or that I've ripped my pantyhose and am seriously contemplating pretending that I don't see it so that I don't have to run out and buy a new pair?

Last night, I learned that Twitter does have it's workplace uses, but I only learned this in the post-presentation networking and "dinner" time (dinner in quotes because ... well... that was such a sad dinner - sad like bad in the same way that phat means good). For instance, if you have a team of people reporting to you and you are a control freak, then why not get your entire team to sign up to Twitter and add you as a fellow tweeter. That way you can tell when Johnny is going to be late for the team meeting because customer X is hounding him with more questions than he had expected or prepared for. Also, you can monitor when Sue is going to the bathroom and how often. If it's too much, she may be pregnant and you may not want to put her on the team that must be ready to do anything at any moment. Not that I would ever advocate this as a team-building strategy but the cynic in me sees some potential for nefarious uses. Maybe I should just stick to being an optimist.

And like most people who IM, they probably have work friends and social friends and even family that they keep in the loop. But does your wife / husband need to know that you were late for 2 work meetings during the day? Or only that because of that, she/he will now be late/not present for dinner at home? I personally would only want to know when/if. All the other stuff, is just stuff.

I have read in two independent sources that Twitter is superbig in Japan. But still I am resisting. However, you can twitter on your keitai. If only my ability to read Japanese characters quickly on a monitor a third the size of my palm were better or at least adequate. There is also a Twitterfox add-on. Now we're talking.

Not sold on being a tweeter, but being a twitterfox just sounds so sexy doesn't it? Who wouldn't want to be one?

If I were a twitterfox, I would write, "I am now doing pilates".

FIVB Volleyball Grand Prix - Live game in Yokohama

This photo was taken from Row 1, in the section right behind the players bench. I was so thrilled to get seats so close to the court. I could see the players' expressions. I didn't expect to get such good seats for the day, I was just going there to see if I could buy any tickets at all for any day.

Last week, I tried to call the ticket office to try to get tickets for the weekend's volleyball game. I called aobut 6 times on 3 different days. No one ever picked up the phone. So on Thursday morning on July 10th, on a whim, I decided I was going direct to Yokohama Stadium to see if I could possibly get any tickets to the game.

After getting directions from the internet, stopping for lunch and getting lost a couple of times enroute from Shin Yokohoma station to the stadium (I mean there were only directions to Nissan Arena and I figured 'how many large stadium like venues in this area could there possibly be?' - apparently at least 2), I finally arrived in front of the ticket office. I knew I was in the correct place this time, because I could see all sorts of volleyball and FIVB paraphernalia in front of the entrance doorways. I arrived at just before 3 pm and at this time, there are literally no crowds. I guess most people are working or going to school. It didn't take too long to arrive at the head of the line. I asked if I could order in English and the hesitation I received forced me to tell her that it was okay, that I would use Japanese to order tickets. She looked much relieved. I was shocked to find out that there were still tickets to today's game. At the international volleyball tournaments, usually, there are 2 or 3 matches during the entire day but your ticket allows you stay for the whole day. The headliner of course, is Team Japan, so they always place them at the 6:30 timeslot. It's at this time that the audience becomes full. But when I arrived, it was just before 3 pm and it really didn't look that busy outside or inside.

Even though, I was sitting in row which was unbelievable close, in front of me there was still a Row 0. Apparently all those seats were reserved a long time ago. The guy beside me was a huge fan of Team Brazil and he brought a tripod and Fuji camera with a huge lens. The guy in front of him also brought a tripod and an even bigger lens. I think at this distance they would have been able to get full face shots, with great expressions. Being surrounded by such greatness in the camera realm, I felt funny pulling out my keitai (cellphone) to snap a shot. But this is the only proof of the view I had that day. And it was a fun day. It especially got pretty lively when Team Japan came out. As you can see behind the players on the opposite side, the seats are all full. And just about everyone buys the clapping balloons. These ones had the Volleyboo mascot. He's a black pig with rising sun bandana.

I can't wait for my next game.