Local burger shop

A man was doing the painting job.

The shop owner would have taken care to make the interior look like an American burger shop.


An old-styled thermometer.

I ordered a chili dog for a change. And an iced coffee was a must for me also on this day.


I went to a burger shop that operates only in my city. I said before there are not many "Japanese" burger shops, and that they're trying to solicit customers by offering unique menus. But, you know, true burger aficionados do exist also in Japan, and they sometimes avoid Japanese burger shops and instead prefer really tasty burgers. But those tasty burgers often cost much money.

Some of you would know "Burger King", and it started its operation in Japan in '93. Those who know how good the burgers of BK frequented it, but as our economy worsened in '01, Japan's BK went out of business. I mean, some didn't want to pay much for a hamburger when the economy was stagnant, and that was the reason why BK stopped running and got in business again in Japan in '06, when Japan's economy almost bounced back.

But even when we're now in the middle of recession, some still visit a good burger shop, and this Hi-5 is what I'm proud of as the best burger shop in my city. This shop offers American-styled burgers, and that's what people like about this shop.

Smoking

People usually buy a pack from a vending machine.

All the tobacco vending machines read an ID card called Taspo. The section that reads "taspo" recognizes your card.

This was my favorite brand. As you see in the first photo, they sell some of this in the vending machine, which shows the popularity of this Marlboro. The message below the logo suggests, "Smoking could worsen your emphysema".



I used to smoke a lot but I quit smoking last year. But even now I sometimes feel the urge to smoke especially after hard labor. There were many smokers in Japan a decade ago or so, but according to the survey that was done in May, the percentage of the smoking people shrunk to : men 38%, women 11%. And the smoking sections in restaurants have been on the decrease for many years.

This is because people started to think it is not cool to smoke, and some began to prioritize their health over pleasure. And our government has started to offer subsidies for people who want to have their toxic symptom treated at hospital. And last year an ID card called "taspo" was introduced nationwide. Now the tobacco vending machines in Japan recognize one's age by reading the ID card. Of course people who are at or over 20 can apply for the card and buy cigarettes, but the problem is that to have the ID card people should take an ID photo and fill in the application form. This irksome procedure was a trigger for some people to quit smoking because people usually buy cigarettes from vending machines not face to face at a tobacco shop.

And the newly formed government led by the political party called DPJ started to think of hiking tax for cigarettes, and the price of a pack will be up to around 6 dollars. People say this is relatively cheap compared to other developed countries, but this amount of tax hike would lead more people to kick the habit.

I don't think all the people should quit smoking, as I might smoke again anytime. And I think it's up to individuals to decide whether to smoke or not.

Educational festival

The purpose of this event is making students interested in jobs.

She is making "Yuuki" pongee fabrics. Yuuki is one of the cities in my prefecture.

This is the Niou gate of a temple. Any Niou gate has a pair of statues called Niou on both sides of the entrance.

A traditional house that has a thatched roof. This kind of houses are seen in Ishioka city in my prefecture.

The head of a lion called "Shishi". People put on a mask that looks like this at the festival in Ishioka city.

There is a very big hall called Capio in my city and it holds numerous events throughout a year. It holds some indoor sports events as well as cultural ones that often have to do with schools' education programs. And when I was going to pass by the hall it was holding an event that had something to do with "producing" things related to my prefecture.

The southern part of my prefecture is a bit populated but if we go north for hours I can reach areas where there are not so many houses or buildings. And the northern part has traditional sides, and a city called Ishioka holds a very traditional festival in September. And I think it is one of the places in my prefecture where there are many people who cherish the traditional sides of Japan.

This event was aimed at nurturing young people to let them get a creative job in the future. You can call making a video game creative, but this event seemed to put emphasis on protecting jobs that have been handed down from generation to generation for centuries.

As seen in other countries, the number of people who want to be engaged in traditional craft is decreasing and my country is not an exception. As I said before I want many foreign people to come to Japan, and in such a case these traditional art works shown in the pictures above would also appeal to them.

Anime goods available -part 4-

They were displaying Gundam figurines at a WonderGoo.

Since Sunrise studios keeps producing new mobile suits, I'm not familiar with all of these.

Some are not satisfied with just watching Gundam anime.

What is different from Haruhi figurines is that people have to try hard to make a good Gundam figurine or plastic model.

The right one is called "Guntank" from the first Gundam series.


I went to see the life-size Gundam in August that was displayed in Odaiba, Tokyo. As a Japanese man I grew up watching many Gundam series. It's not only Otakus that watch Gundam anime, but ordinary boys and men are or were also fans of Gundam. As I told before, the first series of Gundam was aired in '79, so the people who watched it then must be now around 40. So some companies are cashing in on the fact Gundam is accepted by many generations.

For example, one of Japan's three mobile phone companies called DoCoMo aired radio commercials in which Seyuu of Char Aznable and Amuro Ray played roles as brothers. And this year a company released an arcade Gundam game that has a cockpit in which a person can operate a mobile suit. Here is its video.


I think the ones most Japanese people think of as great anime must be Doraemon or Pokemon, but Gundam differs from them in that people remember some lines spoken by Char and Amuro. And the Japanese men under 40 are so familiar with the voice of Toru Furuya (Seyuu of Amuro) that they can easily recognize his voice. It was rare for an anime production company to hire then very young Furuya(he was in his 20s in '79). But I think it is he that made it possible for young Seiyuu to be successful in getting a job today.