Warp Station Edo -part2-

Like I said before, Japan consists of something very new and old. In the urban areas of Japan you would see many modern things, but our rural areas are full of old buildings, traditional food and so on. I can experience both of the new and old in my neighborhood. And I think I'm very lucky to have this theme park in a nearby city. Anyway, this is a sequel to the last posting.

I walked toward the bridge. As it was very warm like March, this walk was a bit surreal with birds singing and the reflection of the clear sky on the surface of the channel.

 

This is called "Nihonbashi" or a Japanese bridge.  Upon hearing this name, people would think of the bridge of the same namesake in Chuo ward, Tokyo. Here is the link to a pic of the bridge in Tokyo.  I guess people in the Edo period would have walked on a bridge comfortably without any cars.

 

This is the nameboard of the clothes shop you're seeing. It reads "Gofuku Futomono Donya". "Gofuku" is close to the meaning of clothes, and "Donya" is like the word "wholesaler". And as for "Futomono", it means clothes made of hemp or silk.

 

This is also the nameboard of the inn in the pic. The inns in the Edo period were called "Hatago", in which worriers or ordinary people stayed. "Hatago" originally means "a serving dish" or "a place where food is served".

 

 I sit on one of these chairs to rest for a while. There were carps in the pond.

 

A TV drama called "Animitsu Hime 2"was broadcast last year. It is a drama that has the Edo period setting. The heroine of the TV drama was then 22 year old Mao Inoue. You can go to her official page by clicking this link. I think she is really beautiful in the eyes of Japanese people.

 

These are fans that are called "Sensu" in Japanese. We use more oridinary fans like "Uchiwa" in the summer, but older or decent people would use the fans shaped like these. You can fold a "Sensu" and put it in your pocket.

 

A shirt with the picture called "Ukiyoe", which was invented in the Edo period. You can buy this shirt for 1500yen or about 16 us dollars. The words on your left say, "This shirt has the picture on its back only".

 

You can buy these pickles called "Tsukemono". I have some for dinner once in a while. It goes very well with rice, and I could have a few bowls of rice with some Tsukemono.

 

The round-shaped object you're seeing is an old-styled umbrella called "Douchuugasa". There wasn't the umbrella in the Edo period that you use now, and this hat kept people from the rain. Its price was 840 yen or about 9 us dollars.

 

I was going to have a canned coffee on my way home, but that would bore you. Instead I bought this canned juice called "Youkai-jiru", or "Monster juice". I have to say if it tasted like something out of a monster, nobody would buy it anyways. Instead it tasted more like lemonade.

I think the area I live in is pretty interesting as it has many fashionable shops, scientific laboratories, and something very old. I sometimes wish I could write about Tokyo as a blogger, which I'd like to do once in a while, but I think foreign people might like to visit other areas in Japan as well =)

Warp Station Edo -part 1-

 I went to a theme park called "Warp Station Edo" in Tsukuba Mirai City. It is one of the places where movies and commercials that have old Japanese settings are shot, and the reason why it is named "Warp" is because you would feel like being in the 17th century of Japan. Let me show you some of the pics I took.

 The entrance of this park. An adult has to pay about 4.3 us dollars to enter. I thanked for this good weather that allowed me to take good pics. 

 

This is a doll that dances on a rope and it should be manipulated by several people to move around. The dance is called "Obari Matsushita Ryuu Tsunabi" Obari is an area in this city. And "Tsunabi" would be "Fire Rope Dancing" in English. Some fireworks are involved in this dancing.

This video is an example of Tsunabi.

 

The white paper on your right says "metalware". These are called "Yajiri" and they were used in the battlefields from B.C. 10 to A.D. 3 in Japan. A Yajiri is often made of steel.

 

This is one of the movies that were shot here. This one is called "Sakuran" and the women is a renowned model called "Anna Tsuchiya", who is also a mother. She plays roles as a model, actress, and singer. I saw her being interviewed on CNN as a successful celebrity from Japan.

 

This is a drama called "Koumyou ga Tsuji" that was broadcast on NHK in 2006. It features now 30 year old Yukie Nakama as the heroine. It is based on a novel by Ryoutaro Shiba that has the same title as this drama. 

 

This is another movie that was shot here. This movie has two guys as the heroes and one of them is a good-looking tall idol Tomoya Nagase from a group called Tokio. He is really popular among girls in Japan. This movie is called "Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san".  "Mayonaka" means "midnight".

 

This building was modeled after "Shibai goya" , which existed in the Edo Period(1603-1868). Shibai means "play" and goya is "hut". Do you know a kind of play called "Kabuki" that was in fashion in the Edo period? Take a look at this Kabuki video.

 

This must be a picture called "Ukiyoe". It depicted the secular aspect of the Edo period and was considered a very modern artifact back then.

 

A street in the 17 century in Japan would have been like this. 

 

A boat like this can be still seen in today's rivers. One has to have a long stick to hit the ground to move it to the other side of the channel. 

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This is an old-styled well. Does this look very different in your eyes from the old one in a western country?

I'm not good at explaining something very old that existed in the Edo period. But I chose the Japanese history as one of the subjects in high school, and that helped me a bit to explain. Since I'm a Japanese, I don't know how these kinds of thing would look from the perspective of foreign people, but I enjoyed this surreal setting. =)

The Super Sports Xebio

Literally this sports store is super in that it sells a variety of sports goods.           

 

People take a picture of these deer and bear with their kids in front of them.

 

I sometimes think I need to work out more to play tennis in a better way.

 

Outdoor goods were also sold. I used to have a BBQ party once in a while.

 

You would find the best racket for yourself from these. 

 

There were many kinds of shoes. I could find the right shoes in accordance with which type of tennis court I play in, like a clay or hard court.

These shoes that are called "Crocs" are said to be very comfortable to walk in. I think you would also find these in your countries as it is a foreign brand.

When I introduced some of the parks in my city, I often said I play tennis on weekends. And as I need to have the strings of my racket replaced so often, I need a sports store nearby. But it was reported in the newspaper the number of people who enjoy skiing has been on the decrease. And due to the prevalence of the Internet, people prefer to stay at home and even do shopping online.

But according to a survey done last year, the athletic performance of the students in my prefecture ranked within the top 5, and as my city has lots of parks that have not only tennis courts, but a baseball field and soccer ground, it seems people in my city are enjoying some sort of sport over the weekend.

Whether in response to this tendency or not, this store opened in the biggest mall in my city 2 years ago and it seems to be thriving.

Chococro

This is another posting on a Japanese coffee shop. You might think me to be weird 'cause whenever I go out I have canned coffees or a glass of iced coffee at a shop. But like other countries, coffee is very popular among people in Japan.

This coffee shop opened in a city called Moriya 3 years ago. I had heard from my friend that he had a coffee at a Chococro shop in Tokyo, and since then I had wanted to try it. This Chococro's official name is Saint Marc Cafe, but people call it Chococro, which is one of the specialties this shop serves. 

And these bread in the orange holders are called "Chochocro". A piece of Chococro costs 160 yen or 1.75 us dollars. You can see other bread beyond, and this shop can be called a bakery because of several kinds of bread it sells.

 

What do you think of its shape? Those who know Lucky Star might associate it with the Choco Korone that Konata was having in the episode 1. It doesn't really differ from Korone, but this tastes much better in that it has a piece of chocolate that is warm, soft, and sweet. 

 

 As an iced coffee maniac, I'd like to say this coffee is very bitter. Probably much bitterer than any other coffee I've ever tasted. But the reason for this bitterness is because it goes well with this very sweet Chococro. I didn't put any syrup in this and had it black.

 

 This is the logo of this Saint Marc Cafe. I wonder why almost all the cafes in Japan have similar logos to the Starbucks'. Why does it have to be round-shaped? I don't know, but people would easily recognize this cafe wherever they are. 

What is the most popular drink in your countries? I think Japanese people have green tea when they're at home, but somehow there are just a few green tea shops in my city. But when we go to Japanese-styled restaurants that serve things like sushi, they always put a cup of green tea on the table.