This guy is already tired from work, its 1pm.
He is managing to sleep right on his motorbike.
お疲れ様です！
I hope he can get some rest.
I am working busy on a video showing my April 2008 in Japan.
I am well, I am healthy!
Loving Tokyo!
Golden Week in Japan ゴールデンウィーク
Don’t stop Till you get Enough…Sakura
I found this Japanese folk song translated into English:
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
On Meadow-hills and dale,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the Spring sky,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air.
Come now, come,
Let’s look, at last!
Today I went to eat a bento under the trees again. Leaves falling and watching the pedals dance!
Here is a hit from 2003 (a remake of another Japanese song)
by: Naotarou Moriyama 森山 直太郎
Song: Sakura
Turn your speakers up!
This song touches the heart of every Japanese person.
I love Sakura!! Cherry Blossoms 桜 さくら サクラ
I love Sakura!
At lunch today, I bought a 500Yen bento - awesome deal and it was homemade too! Listening to Snoop Dogg’s new album Ego Trippin’ on my 2 GB iPod.
Strolling towards Yotsuya Station and a little beyond to sit under the sakura.
I was walking in this direction and you can see where I ate lunch under the cherry trees (thanks google maps):
It was raining sakura pedals! Very beautiful and I can say that this time is the best season (well, its really only 10 days) to be in Japan. Second would be autumn.
Here is another pic of the Yotsuya park entrance. You can see all the trees lined up. Gorgeous.
I read on John Jay’s honeyee blog that it snowed in Portland, Ore. today?! Wow!
It was about 17 degrees at lunch here in Tokyo.
For my lunch, I enjoyed eating a roll cabbage, chicken, rice, umeboshi, daikon, konnyaku.
Tonight I have 2 students, and plan to upload more videos this week to my youtube channel gabuchan123.
Also last night I enjoyed some sake with members of Recruit company as I got invited by them as I was sitting on a bench after work enjoying the falling sakura pedals - poor sentence there. Ah, no time. しょうがない。
Thats it for today.
夜景列車 Nightview Train - Yurikamome Line, Cherry Blossoms too
March 22, 2008 was a special evening.
Normal train ride, but all the lights are turned off in the train so riders can enjoy night views of the city.
Yurikamomome (black sea gull) train line offered a 1-time train ride through Odaiba, Tokyo Bay and over Rainbow bridge.
Here is the route:
And from space, the approximate area in Tokyo:
This year was only the 2nd time they offered the train ride. In early March, I sent in a postcard stating why I wanted to get on this tris train and was selected.
Lucky.
I completed this video over the last week and uploaded it for your viewing pleasure.
It is a view of Tokyo and footage from around the Odaiba area.
It was a lot of fun and encourage all those to apply next year!
Enjoy the video? Hate the video? Please comment!
I went cherry blossom viewing in Yoyogi park on Saturday and Inokashira Park on Sunday (even in the spitting rain). It was amazing!
Here is a pic of Inokashira Park and me.
Anothe pic of me and Go (shun’s friend) in another park south of Shinagawa.
Pecha Kucha Night, Pika Pika Doodle Project
On the the last wednesday of every month, Pecha Kucha ぺちゃくちゃ ナイト takes place inside SuperDeluxe a lounge bar in Roppongi not far from Heartland and Roppongi Hills. I attended this past Wednesday’s event with a friend Shin whom is a Copywriter friend. It starts at 8:20pm so I showed up at a little before 8.
Small crowd.
As the night progressed they manage to put 300 people in the place.
What is pecha kucha?
Well, it means chattering in Japanese. But the REVOLUTION that is Pecha Kucha started in Tokyo in 2003, by 2 architects, Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. Concept is that presentations are boring - “we really have to listen to this?” and so keep each slide to a MAX of 20 secs with 20 slides per presentation. Simple. Sweet. Smart. This idea has spread virally to over 110 cities in the world now.
Gotta love Tokyo.
Its the inspiration.
At this months Pecha Kucha, the light doodle project “PiKA PiKA” ピカピカ (which means glitter or sparkle) gave a presentation highlighting some of their work. You can see their site at http://tochka.jp/pikapika/
Just incredible stuff. I first heard about them when I was living in Portland and then moved to Japan - I saw their site via some design sites and thought it was cool. It turns out that they have travelled to Ottawa twice. At the event I bought a DVD of their work and got it signed by the co-founder Takeshi. Thanks Takeshi!
So I was inspired and did my own and went all out with my roommates to make some cool pics last night.
No photoshop used. We did over 49 photos, but here are just 4.
Drawing flowers
Heart, Mask, colour waves (Yes, I am canadian and spell colour with a u!)
Green Man strangling himself.
Jon the Devil. This was done with 4 people. Tail, pitch fork, red horns.
Why don’t you try some of your own pika pika?
Hanami parties (sitting under the cherry blossoms, eating, drinking, having fun) this weekend in Yoyogi park and Koganei Park. Cherry Blossoms came early this year - its seems it came quickly too. They already announced 満開 or Mankai or Full bloom in Ueno Park.
Its Friday and its lovely here in Tokyo!
Sakura In Japan Cherry Blossoms, Perfume
It is nearly time for cherry blossoms to be blooming in Japan. They are already starting to bud and you can see some select trees full of pink flowers.
It is such a delicate and precious time in Japan. Everyones heart is lighter.
People are graduating, starting new jobs too.
I’m listening to “Baby Cruising Love” by a girl band, Perfume, that is clearly lip singing on TV.
Update I found a video of the song. and I found out they are from Hiroshima. I love this song. The beat, the rhythm and the cute dancing.
Chorus:
“For loves destiny, its loves proof….” “I want to come and meet you, its the ship of love, baby cruising love”
Still have to upload pics of disney sea.
Planning on seeing some cherry blossom trees this weekend.
I bought a new bike at Don quihote for 9000 yen. its bright orange with a big basket on the front.
Here is a video from a couple weeks back. It is on the train platform at Ginza station for the Hibiya line to Roppongi.
Today is a day in Tokyo!
Random Japanese girl from the Drug Show I went to 2 weeks ago.
Is this Japanese girl cute or pretty?
Things on my mind this day:
- Blueberries and how to sell them in Japan.
- Crepes in Tokyo - I want to eat one - they are so yummy.
- Yurikamome Line and the “Night View Train” coming up on this saturday march 22, 2008. The train runs through Odaiba and back through tokyo - but they turn off all the lights to make it easy to see the beautiful lights of Tokyo views from Tokyo Rainbow Bridge etc. Thanks Mari for posting info about this night train. I then sent in a postcard and got chosen to attend the event!! Look for video of that next week on Gabriel Times (this blog hehe).
The train only runs once a year - so this is a rare event.
- I got an email from Wieden+Kennedy in regards to their “seeking” job application “project” that they did - you had to send in a 20-page pdf trying to impress them enough to bring you to PDX and potentially hire you. I sent in 1 page white typed letter - just summing the last 8 years of life in about 5 lines. Fun times. I will see you again PDX - dont worry!
- Cooking a lot of dinners at home these days and bringing a lunch pack aka bento to work for lunch - えらい！
- Have been using Bittorrent a lot to dl movies - but funny thing is I have no time to watch them.
- My dad sent me a random email the other day - no reaction yet. 反応なし。無視したいけどお父さんだらか、返事して送ったが、連絡しても意味ないじゃないですか？だって俺は２６才！今まで出来たからお父さんが居なくても大丈夫でしょう。さて、お母さんがすごいと思う。尊重しているぅ！！ありがとう！ありがとうネ！
- Recently went to Tokyo Disneysea and will be posting pics of that soon (have to first upload them to flickr, then choose the fun ones and put them on this blog). I got a two-shot photo with Mickey! “two-shot photo” is Japanese-English describing a photo with 2 people in it - like couples etc.
-Been loving hearing my roommate Tyler play guitar - he is pretty good, and we tried to play some Billy Jean guitar rifts.
- Shoulder muscles in some areas are still on the sore side as I havent been doing any exercise at all except for “dancing with my gf”
Thursday March 20 is a holiday in Japan - so no work. It is 春分の日 しゅんぶんのひ or Vernal Equinox Holiday.
Edo Harumi エド はるみ
Edo Harumi is a female stand up comedian - the most popular thing going right now on TV and in popular culture this middle of March 2008.
Wait until 40 seconds into the video to really see her performance and punch line that has all of Japan repeatingu her.
Here is the video:
You will be saying guuuu! in no time.
If you can’t figure it out: “guuuu” is short for the english “good.”
Two thumbs up Edo Harumi!
エドはるみは、現在日本で一番大人気な漫才だよ。
RanKing RanQueen
Awesome play on words for this shop that is more or less selling the same things as a convenience store, but it is all ranked TOP 5 according to category and product type.
Here is a photo taken near the east exit of Shinjuku Station.
Here is a giant ad for FIRE can coffee. Sells for about 120yen.
Here is a very colourful (YES! I’m canadian) distribution ad outlet in the station. JobAidem (root or origin of word is unknown to me) is a job searching free magazine. Love your job! Is that an order?! I think it is playful.
Finally, I got this anime figure from a ufo catcher (crane game) in Shinjuku. It took me 4 attempts at 200 yen each. Now she is sitting on my coffee tables. The roomates dont seem to mind. Her name is Crystal.
I am going to DisneySea tomorrow!
and no, I am not going with Crystal
National Art Center - Roppongi, Tokyo
Last month I visited the National Art Center in Roppongi for the 11th annual Media Arts Festival.
The main entrance:
Awesome looking building
