tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303751082024-03-07T19:03:19.861+09:00I'm A Seoul Man in TokyoJon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.comBlogger314125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-8521882296239299992023-01-07T15:25:00.002+09:002023-01-07T15:25:33.546+09:00Blog not dead. <p> This blog is not dead, it's just resting. </p><p><br /></p>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-18061929382122816542016-04-03T23:44:00.001+09:002016-04-03T23:44:55.506+09:00Standup Comedy Tokyo - April 6 / 7 2016Just bringing the blog back to life to promote some proper standup comedy coming to Tokyo this week at a local pub called Good Heaven's. British Comedian <a href="http://www.philwang.co.uk/" target="_blank">Phil Wang</a> will be putting on two shows on April 6th and 7th. More details here at <a href="http://www.standuptokyo.com/event/april-headliner-phil-wang-uk/" target="_blank">Standup Tokyo</a>.Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-31344986928739637972014-09-21T20:51:00.001+09:002014-09-21T20:51:55.934+09:00Is Blogging Dead?This blog is not dead, it's just resting. (to coin a phrase from a certain well known British comedy show).<br />
I still maintain the <a href="http://japanbloglist.com/">Japan Blog List</a> but the number of submissions is down to a small handful every month. Very few people are starting new blogs, and existing blogs are slowing fading away. <br />
One blogger who has NOT faded away is <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/">Diamond Geezer </a>his recent post about <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014/09/twelve.html">starting his blog 12 years ago</a>, and he is still going strong, posting something every single day, without fail. <br />
I continue to post details of stuff I find interesting on <a href="http://facebook.com/JonAllen1966">Facebook</a> but I also spend a lot of time on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/JapanBlogList">JapanBlogList</a>, so if want to continue to keep up Japanese stuff please catchup with me there.<br />
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<br />Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-82785698731467350552013-11-23T21:06:00.000+09:002013-11-24T20:43:45.706+09:00Japanese Driving License RenewalJust a few tips and observations on renewing your Japanese driving license.<br />
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First, if you have not set yourself a reminder for three years after you got your first license, then look out for the small and innocuous little note you get in the post get about six weeks before it is due to expire. The only way I had to identify that it might be something important was the web site address <a href="http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/">http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp</a>. They also give a telephone number for an English Guide 03 5463 6000.<br />
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The telephone guide very clearly explains that you only need to bring three things with you : The reminder notice, your current driving license and your residence card. However when I arrived it was clear that is no longer true. You now need to provide a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%ABminhy%C5%8D">Jyuminhyou</a> ( certificate of residence) as well. This has changed since the last time I renewed three years ago due, I assume, to the abolition of the Alien Residents Card.<br />
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So I had to go back to the Driving License centre at Samezu the next day after a trip to the Setagaya Ward office. [They were very efficient and I was issued with the required piece of paper in less than five minutes.] The other item you should also bring is a recent, very small, photograph of yourself. Otherwise you have to pay 700 Yen at the machine there to get one. And this is the crazy thing: they then take their own photograph of you to put on the driving license! Quite why they need you to provide a photo for them to stick on the paper form they process I really cannot fathom.<br />
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The renewal process consists of visiting various different numbered stations: Payment is at one desk, then there's one for the very brief vision test, another station for creating a PIN code, back to the main counter, and then you get sent upstairs for the lecture. This was a sly photo I took of the inside of the license issuing office (there are a couple of small signs indicating no photographs, so don't tell anyone.. ) The last time I went it was the old building next door which was a very tired and old looking place, but it seems like they have very recently moved into this brand new building :<br />
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The lectures are given every thirty minutes, in Japanese only, during the morning and last just over an hour. I have very little idea what they cover, but mercifully there is no test at the end, so you just need to stay awake. There is a short video about avoiding accidents; I think they covered what to do if driving during an earthquake, and they explained the four different stickers you might see on the back of a car. I did a quick google search when I got back home to find out what they all mean and the second link in the search results is a great post from the prolific Japan blogger <a href="http://www.tofugu.com/">Tofugu</a> about <a href="http://www.tofugu.com/2013/04/10/what-are-those-stickers-on-japanese-cars/">them</a>.<br />
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Finally you get to pick up your new license, and there is the very last station where you get to configure it with your PIN code, [Does anyone have any idea when or what you might actually use the PIN code for? ] and you are free to go:<br />
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Renewal time came just in the middle of <a href="http://movember.com/">Movember</a>, so my moustache will stay with me on this card for the next three years! For those that remember I did Movember two years ago. Once again I am raising money for Men's Health issues: research into prostrate and testicular cancer, and mental health for men. So please go to <a href="http://mobro.co/JonAllen">http://MoBro.co/JonAllen</a> and donate to me, or to my team the <a href="http://moteam.co/miso-strainers">Miso Strainers</a>, thanks.<br />
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Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-35456442456382122312013-11-23T18:59:00.000+09:002013-11-23T18:59:47.274+09:00Yakushima : Island of SugiYakushima is an island off the south coast of Kyushu, famous for it's ancient Cedar trees known as Sugi. My wife and I enjoyed a week on the island at the end of March. The easiest and fastest way to get to the Island is by flying and there are five flights a day from Kagoshima airport every day. Cheaper options are to take a Jetfoil from Kagoshima, or a slower ferry, but, as we looked down at the choppy seas from the airplane on the way in, and our previous experiences with sea sickness on boats, we were very glad to have paid the extra to arrive at <a href="http://www.airportcentral.com/yakushima-airport">Yakushima's small airport</a> on the west coast of the island.<br /><br />It was a short taxi ride to our accommodation at the <a href="http://www17.ocn.ne.jp/~yakusima/lodge/index.html">Yaedake Lodge</a> just outside the port town of Miyanoura. We arrived while they were serving the evening meal, but, as we'd not booked a meal for that evening they were not able to serve us. The staff were very apologetic and immediately volunteered to drive us back into the town to find a restaurent. The first place was full, but the second option could serve us. We declined their generous offer to come back and pick us up afterwards and instead we walked back after our meal. The last 10 minutes was down a winding road with no street lights, but we navigated is successfully with only one fright when a deer made a loud call.<br /><br />We visited the Environmental Culture Village Center the next day, a stylish modern building beside the port in Miyanoura. It houses a small exhibition about the Island including: highlights about the weather, up to 8000mm of rain per year on some parts, ( yes 8 Meters of rainfall!) ; the wildlife : a number of endemic species including Yaku-Monkeys and Yaku-Deer; the ancient cedar trees, of course, and the people and their customs.<br /><br />It has an IMAX size cinema screen that they use to show a 25 minute documentary 'Yakushima, Symphony of Forest and Water' (with English subtitles) about the island every hour. I must admit my memory of that is impaired by having slept through most of it.<br />The Center also has a good supply of tourist information in English including Bus timetables, Maps, leaflets and accommodation list. They stock a few books in English , 'Yakushima Diagram' is the most comprehensive, but surprisingly not the book we had already purchased 'Yashima A Yakumoney Guide'. Written by an English man living on the Island the book is the distilled information from his highly informative website <a href="http://www.yakumonkey.com/">YakuMonkey.com</a><br /><br />Our original plan had been to stay at the Lodge for the whole week, but they were full on one day in the middle. We decided to seek accommodation for the second half rather than move out and then move back again. One of the ladies at the Centre very kindly called one of the minshikus on the list and book us in. <br /><br />There are two main areas where you can see the ancient cedar trees, <a href="http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4654.html">Shiratani Unsuikyo</a> and <a href="http://www.alternative-tourism.com/Japan/Tourism/Natural_places/Kyusyu/Yakushima/Yakushima_sightseeing1_eng.html#Yakusugi_land">Yakusugi Land</a>. We enjoyed both forests and it's difficult to pick a favorite. If you are pushed for time and on a budget then the Shiratani Unsuikyo is quicker and easier to get to from Miyanoura, if you only have one or two days on the Island. <br /><br />Before we flew to the island my wife and I discussed how we might hire a car,but after we arrived on the island we realised we'd forgotten to bring our driving licenses.. Ooops.. So our transport was limited to the local bus and the occassional taxi. The bus service is frequent enough that we did not feel we missed much. There are certainly a few extra sights we would have seen if we'd hired a car, and we might have spent longer at some places rather than have to worry about the next bus back. Shirtani Unsuikyo is certainly one of those places. There are four buses to the recreational forest per day, we took the second bus of the day and arrived at about 10:30am we had enough time to do the three hour 'Genseirin (Primeval Forest) course.<br /><br />This route takes in seven of the magnificant named YakiSugi trees including the Yayoisugi Cedar , one of the top 100 Megaflora of Japan. The path was very well marked and easy to follow, it's classed as a 'mountain climbing path' and sometimes involved some steep and rocky tracks. We were there on a weekday and saw a few people. The quiet of the forest and the variety of trees and vegetation was fascinating. There is a one hour course which can be walked in almost any kind of footware.<br /><br />We we also keen to see the Okono taki waterfall, considered one of the top 100 waterfalls in Japan. The bus only goes to the waterfall from Kurio twice per day and careful planning we arrived after the ninety minute bus ride around almost three quarters of the island. The 88 meter high falls were an impressive spectacle, the clear blue water of the basin was nice.<br /><br />After admiring the waterfall and eating our sandwiches on the deserted sea shore just a short walk away, we came up with a plan. The only bus back from the waterfall was in three hours it goes back the way came anti clockwise on the island road, the Seibu Rindho forest road continues clockwise around the island. We would walk ninety minutes onward and hope to hitch hike a lift on to Nagata to get to the start of the bus route, or walk back to the bus stop if no one stopped.<br /><br />It was a clear sunny day, the road was deserted and we walked peacefully along the road for almost an hour before the first car going our direction appeared. We held up our thumbs expectantly and were pleasantly surprised when the young man stopped and picked us up. He spoke enough English that we could have a reasonable conversation and exchanged details of our respective holidays on the island. The single lane road winds its way through the unspoilt scenery offering glimpses of the sea and the mountains. The monkeys and deer were also common sights along the way to Nagata. He dropped us off by the bus stop and we had time to enjoy the sandy beach which is very popular with turtles for laying eggs. <br /><br />On one of the days we planned to do slightly more strenuous walk starting along one of mountain trails. We caught the bus to Yakusugi-land and stayed on to Jumon Sugi, the last stop. This tree was probably the most impressive of all the trees we saw. <br /><br />We didn't feel we could leave the island without visiting the other forest Yakusgi-land to see the Sugi, so we once again caught the bus. You have to catch a second bus (changing at Gomae) for the trip up into the mountains. It was a cold damp morning and our choice was to catch the next bus back in one hour, or wait for the one after in five hours, so we decided on the former and followed the 50 minute tour route around the ancient cedar tree forest. <br /><br />Our accommodation for second half was the Shiratani Minshuku in Kusugawa. It is well positioned: close to the bus stop, not far from Miyanora or the airport, It's a modern house but the land lady does not live there, and because we were the only guests, and we opted for no meals, we had the whole place to ourselves. I'm sure you are not normally allowed to do self catering when you go to a <a href="http://www.minshuku.jp/english/list.html">minshuku</a>, but it worked out perfectly for us because my wife much prefers her own cooking to eating in restaurants. The supermarket in Miyonora provided the raw ingredients for all our meals.Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-58711248325156559882013-03-31T23:11:00.002+09:002013-03-31T23:11:29.121+09:00Meguro Sky GardenThe front page of the <a href="http://japantimes.co.jp/">Japan Times</a> today has a photo of the Meguro Tenku Teien ( <a href="http://www.sipa.com/en/feature/2566975/japan-meguro-sky-garden/page/1/SN/NEWS">Meguro Sky Garden</a> ) from the air that opened to the public yesterday. It demonstrates the huge size of the construction that the new garden sits on top of.
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It is just fifteen minutes walk from our house and I have been observing the construction of this massive edifice for the past five years. The Garden is between three and four floors up, on top of the Ohashi Expressway junction. <br/>
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The junction allows traffic from the Expressway on the overpass to join the recently built tunnel three floors below ground. One access route is an elevator up from the center of the building.
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Over a thousand trees and shrubs have been planted in the 7,000 square meter garden.<br/>
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The tiling here looks very nice, but elsewhere they have put it in the flower beds and that does not look so good.
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The footpath access is from under the expressway.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTtLog8rQaYWRe5rSx7Zklcvw4NJ82jTu0mI0tTOEnk-MiCfVLJxvRbZ4dJEZNZbqULKCZqadPj0fENVw7CHAZx_YDbfMgu51kmOd1I5atiK3jrsx08_2UZJmF9OLOMUojNQh/s1600/R0017803.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTtLog8rQaYWRe5rSx7Zklcvw4NJ82jTu0mI0tTOEnk-MiCfVLJxvRbZ4dJEZNZbqULKCZqadPj0fENVw7CHAZx_YDbfMgu51kmOd1I5atiK3jrsx08_2UZJmF9OLOMUojNQh/s320/R0017803.JPG" /></a>
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Entry to the park is free and it's open from 9am to 9pm. The nearest station is <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place?ftid=0x6018f4a90931fbf5:0x417ef46b6c294e02&q=type:transit_station:%22Ikejiriohashi+Station%22&t=m&dtab=2&ie=UTF8&ll=35.65268,139.682955&spn=0.000004,0.000005&z=18&vpsrc=6">Ikejiri-Ohashi</a> on the Den-en Toshi line, one stop from Shibuya.
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Some more photos from my visit this afternoon are <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111706921148560966224/MeguroSkyGarden#">here</a>, or if you prefer video there is short panorama video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuO8V_DSzJI&feature=share&list=UUV_LzRHHKWPF7QN4npx0c9w">here.</a> Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-83392067019941896822012-11-06T21:45:00.003+09:002012-11-06T21:50:27.422+09:00Scenes from the Streets of KochiKochi city in Shikoku was one our favorite towns to walk around. Here is a selection of some of the sights that caught my eye.
This cat was sat on top of a restaurant beside the <a href="http://seoul-man.blogspot.jp/2012/09/onagadori-long-tailed-rooster-center.html">Onagadori</a> centre
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The whale was buried in the pavement in the covered shopping plaza in the centre of the town.
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Along with these fishes stuck on the side of the building a bit further up the road
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This Koban (Police station) was quite stylish. I've sometimes considered the idea of doing a photo series on the huge variety of Koban you can find, from these eye catching modern ones, to tiny, eldery cabins. My main worry would be getting arrested for suspicious behaviour.
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Cafe Mephistopheles, looked quite interesting, but we were not looking for coffee when we walked past.
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There are two Tramlines in Kochi, one running north / south, and the other east / west. Trams are of a variety of ages and styles from the elderly to the modern. Fares are 190Yen in the city centre and increase as you go beyond that.
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Temple with very large straw <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimenawa">Shimenawa</a> (on the south side of the main road heading west out of the city centre).
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<br />Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-75500844641894003412012-10-14T00:23:00.000+09:002012-10-14T00:32:20.442+09:00Railway Technical Research Institute - Open Day 2012 Thanks to a posting on the <a href="http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/jtrains/">Yahoo Japan Trains group</a> I got to hear about the <a href="http://www.rtri.or.jp/eng/index.html">Railway Technical Research Institute</a> Open Day. The research complex at Kunitachi is usually open once a year to allow the staff to show the public what they work on.<br />
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I went along this afternoon and took a few photos.<br />
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The rail welding demonstration is quite a spectacular display of pyrotechnics
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Several of the large machine shops used for testing railway technology were open. This one is used to test the tensile strength of rails: <br />
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The pantograph testing device was very interesting, and the rail fastener testing device was also in operation and you could watch it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx2-DjadIXA">rattle the rail</a>.
You could take a two minute ride on the Hi-Tram, if you were prepared to queue for, what looked like, quite a while.
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Inside there are plenty of indoor attractions too. Model railways were very popular:<br />
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There were various displays and demonstrations including superconducting magnets, one involving a lot of what I guess was liquid nitrogen to demonstrate the effect of low temperatures.
Another 40 photos of the event are <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111706921148560966224/KunitachiRTRIOpenDay">here</a> if you would like to see more.<br />
<br />Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-54786355069049890082012-10-07T12:04:00.002+09:002012-10-07T12:08:44.987+09:00Chinkabashi (Sinking bridges)The shimanto river is famous for a particular kind of bridge called <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Shimanto_sada_chinkabashi.jpg">Chinkabashi</a> : Sinking or Subsidence bridge.
They are designed so that the river can flow over the bridge during high water. (I've just discovered from Wikipedia they could also be called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_water_crossing">Low water crossing</a> rather than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersible_bridge">Submersible bridge</a> as that implies that the bridge actually moves to submerge itself) The southern most bridge of this type on the Shimanto river is the Sada bridge.
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Further upriver was the Takase bridge :
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And this is what they look like when the river is over the top at Katsuma:
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We almost did not get to see these bridges but I am glad that in the end we did. We walked over the first one, and the sensation of the river being so close and the power of the rushing water was quite an exhilarating experience. Standing on the edge while the cars pass is also not for the faint hearted.
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There are more photos of what they look like when not covered in water in this forum <a href="http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=526682">thread</a> and on the Japanese Wikipedia page for <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B2%88%E4%B8%8B%E6%A9%8B">Chinkabashi (沈下橋)</a>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-24360660933705593902012-09-30T21:12:00.000+09:002012-11-06T21:52:38.574+09:00Bloglovin' and blogging I'm doing the regular(ish) <a href="http://japanbloglist.com/">JapanBloglist</a> '<a href="http://www.japanbloglist.com/2012/09/japan-blog-list-aug-sep-2012-updates.html">latest blogs added</a>' post today and I keep on seeing links to this <a href="http://bloglovin.com/">BlogLovin</a>' website, so I thought I'd sign up. Please <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/1501424">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>. It seems I already have one follower which is a nice surprise!<br />
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Big shout out <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/">Diamond Geezer</a> and thanks for the <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012/09/blogroll-2012.html">link back to this humble blog</a>. Every year DG does a report on what blogs link to him. Last year I was rightly dropped off his list due to my lack of posting. He is one the reasons I started blogging back in 2006, but I have never been able to match his prose, style and 100% reliability in posting every single day since he started in in 2002: Yes, over ten years of blogging. I agree with his observation about how many blogs these days have abandoned the bloglist as a way providing links for readers to their favorite blogs, however I disagree with his observation that the number of bloggers is decreasing. I continue to get new blogs submitted to The Japan Blog List, there is usually at least three or four a week.<br />
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In other blogging news I've been helping Rick start up <a href="http://tokyohometown.blogspot.com/">Tokyo Hometown</a>. He approached me via <a href="http://japanbloglist.com/">Japan Blog List</a> looking for some help to setup a blog and I volunteered to help him get started. He has got some interesting anecdotes and photos about life in Tokyo. He does not want comments, which I have so far been unable to change his mind on, so if you want to give him any feedback you have to find his email address on his 'about' page.<br />
Update : He has changed his mind and now allows comments!
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<br />Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-53525326982897324762012-09-23T14:24:00.000+09:002012-09-23T23:04:17.745+09:00Onagadori (Long Tailed Rooster) center KochiWhen my wife was preparing our itinerary for our trip to <a href="http://shimanto-kankou.com/doc/map/eg.pdf">Shikoku</a> we got a number of tourist brochures posted to us from the local tourist information office. One such brochure had an attraction that immediately caught my eye. It had merely three sentences and a small photo: "The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onagadori">Onagadori</a> is a rare bird that has been adopted as a natural treasure and bred in the Onagadori Centre. The tail of the male bird can grow to over <b>ten metres</b> long. Onagadori have been bred in Kochi since the Edo era to improve the species". There was no address or phone number and just a red blob indicating it's location somewhere vaguely near Kochi City. Ten meters? are you serious ? this I have to see.<br />
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After a little more research I found a map that included the location and we set off to visit the birds in the afternoon on a Wednesday. After stopping to ask for directions at a petrol station, we arrived at the centre to find it firmly closed, even though it was only around 3pm. There was no indication as to why it was closed or even if was still in business, however the sound of a cock crowing convinced us it was worth coming back for.<br />
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The next day the hotel receptionist managed to find a telephone number for the centre and called them to confirm the opening times. Apparently yesterday had been some sort of chicken holiday and they had been closed, but they were open today. So we set off for a second time and arrived back here:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Onagadori centre Kochi city</td></tr>
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We paid the 500 Yen entrance fee and the lady behind the counter took us around to the back. She apologised profusely for not speaking any English, and we apologised for not understanding any Japanese. The bird cages were all closed, but soft clucking and shuffling noises indicated that each cage was indeed occupied.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Custom built cages for the roosters.</td></tr>
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The lady produced a battered copy of National Geographic magazine from 1970 with a fascinating article regarding the birds and a Polish bird fanciers magazine with an item on the birds as well. She then opened just one cage and allowed us to admire the bird inside.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mighty fine bird</td></tr>
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The tail is absolutely unbelievably long!
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It is so long she keeps it coiled up neatly and attached to a hook inside the cage you can just see on the left above. She gently uncoiled the tail and allowed us to gingerly lay the fine black feathers over our arms for a photo opportunity:
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We admired the bird and his feathers and I took a few more photos, before he was soon closed up again in his custom built cage. I got to take a few more photos of some the exhibits of photos of the birds with celebrities and various other momentos. I also noticed a 1982 copy of the <a href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/">Guinness Book of world records</a> (sadly the record does not appear to be on their website).
On our way out, as the lady once again apologised for not speaking English, she gave us a tail feather from one of the roosters.
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I just measured it at 2.22m. We are at a bit of a loss as to what do with it. Any suggestions?<br />
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I really hope the centre survives and continues to breed these <a href="http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Phoen/ReederOnag.html">wonderful creatures</a>. <br />
The address is 4-8 <a href="https://www.google.com/maps?q=33.567303,133.634865&num=1&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&ll=33.567444,133.634648&spn=0.001886,0.003063&t=m&z=19&iwloc=A">Shinohara, Nankoku-shi, Kochi-ken, Shikoku</a> ( if you head out of Kochi city towards the airport, it's on your left on route 55 just beside the Yellow Hat tyre garage.<br />
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Opening times are 09:00 to 17:00 from March to October, and 09:00 to 16:00 the rest of the year. Tel: 088 864 4931.
Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-82837891516711927892012-09-12T23:08:00.000+09:002012-09-12T23:12:58.287+09:00Ginza Art Gallery tourI <a href="http://seoul-man.blogspot.jp/2011/10/improv-comedy-in-tokyo-tomorrow.html">have enjoyed the Improv</a> comedy shows from <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TokyoImprov">The Pirates of Tokyo Bay</a> on several occasions and every time I go I always buy some raffle tickets for the prize draw they hold each time. The last time I went to <a href="http://www.whatthedickens.jp/">What the Dickens</a> to enjoy the show, I was delighted to win a free voucher from the <a href="http://www.findjpn.com/">FindJpn.com</a> team for an <a href="https://www.findjpn.com/activities/find-your-favorite-art-gallery-in-ginza">Art Gallery tour in Ginza</a>. It made a nice change to take a half day off work and spend it visiting six different art galleries earlier this afternoon.<br />
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Our tour guide Yoko selected a range of galleries to visit that cover a variety of different styles. One of my favorites was the <a href="http://www.japanese-finearts.com/">Shukado gallery</a>. In contrast to the other galleries, where the paintings are hanging on the walls, here we were treated to examine some fine Ukiyoe prints carefully extracted from storage. The gallery assistant explained that collectors have to keep the wood block prints away from light to prevent them fading. There were some <a href="http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108727500/">Views of Mt Fuji</a> from the famous artist Utagawa Hiroshige, and other prints including one with a giant spider which was very striking.</div>
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At another gallery the walls were filled with the works of <a href="http://web.artprice.com/artist/6427/andre-cottavoz">André Cottavoz</a>. Now there's an artist that really laid it on with a trowel. I casually enquired about the price of the one of the, almost three-dimensional, works of art: it was 2.7million Yen. The <a href="http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2012/BECA.en">gallery owner</a> also admitted that the price had come down from the previous price tag of 3.2 million yen. For Cottavoz, who died recently, it seems death has not brought on a increase in the price of his paintings.</div>
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In the final gallery we visited, three of <a href="http://www.leemingwei.com/projects.php#">Lee Mingwei's</a> installations are on display. The works were not for-sale, I leave it to your imagination why that is so.</div>
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Our guide was friendly and enthusiastic. If you were a tourist visiting Tokyo with limited time and a very keen interest in purchasing art, I think she would be helpful in locating galleries and talking with the staff. For residents: have a wander around Ginza, drop into some of the over 200 galleries and let me know what you see.</div>
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</div>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-14787294353358799222012-09-11T22:27:00.000+09:002012-09-12T06:58:42.437+09:00Dragonfly Nature Park, Shimanto City, ShikokuThe Dragonfly Kingdom Nature Park is a well known attraction in the area. Just outside the town centre of Nakamura in Shimanto-ku is a 50 hectare park featuring enough habitats to give you the potential to see 76 different species of dragonfly.<br />
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Construction of the Dragonfly sanctuary began in 1986 with the conversion of some abandoned paddy fields into ponds with a variety of flowers selected to be attractive to dragonfly. Work has continued and now includes a sizable museum and fresh water aquarium.
Of course, not all the dragonfly species are observable in the nature park at any one time, the different species have hatching periods between March and December.<br />
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If you arrive on very wet day, like we did, you may see only a couple of the insects outside in the park. However, while the specimens mounted in display cabinets inside can't quite match the sparkling iridescence of real live creatures, they certainly give you an excellent display of the wide variety that exists.
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The aquarium section of the museum housed some of the most enormous and unusual fish I've seen. The stars of the show are the <a href="http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/arapaima/">Arapaima Gigas</a>.
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If you show up at 4pm, you might get to help feed them if you are lucky. They snap up their dinner of small fish with lightening fast bites. It quite enthralled these young children, which also gives you an idea of the size of the fish.
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All my other photos of the fish were of poor quality. This is one of the less bad ones of one of the many unusual species they have there. The 80 large and small tanks contain over 300 different species with more than 3,000 specimens of freshwater fish and estuarine water fish from Japan and around the world. Most are well labelled with the latin names.
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Entry to the Nature park is free, The museum and aquarium are open from 09:00 to 17:00 every day except Monday, Entrance fee 840Yen. (420Yen for children.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.gakuyukan.com/doc/tombo-map.html">Access</a> is 10 minutes by car from Nakamura station on the Tosa Kurishio line.
Many more pictures on the <a href="http://www.gakuyukan.com/">Dragonfly Kingdom website</a>. ( Japanese text only)Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-18358220604286040902012-09-08T00:47:00.001+09:002012-09-12T23:20:42.133+09:00Bleach the new toilet cleaner?<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7kJmO9QDcuIi0xPHmwYVutm0rVAeNwZHmkMYiLF5SMsXOw15qnaqLUv_4DugT8k6klM0oChih_QbELNMbnkz4nawe-QwTUPdSV5l_-khbx-SMtmc_q9N5820BpRSxOtTp-I0/s1600/120908_0044-725461.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7kJmO9QDcuIi0xPHmwYVutm0rVAeNwZHmkMYiLF5SMsXOw15qnaqLUv_4DugT8k6klM0oChih_QbELNMbnkz4nawe-QwTUPdSV5l_-khbx-SMtmc_q9N5820BpRSxOtTp-I0/s320/120908_0044-725461.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5785461935493086450" /></a></p>
Taken from my cell phone earlier this evening at Roppongi. Anyone know who he is?
Update: Thanks to <a href="http://rudeboyabroad.blogspot.jp">RudeBoyAbroad</a> for the details : He's called Ichigo and he's a Shinigami. He fights supernatural bad guys in the series called <a href="http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Ichigo_Kurosaki">Bleach</a>. So named because he cleanses souls so that they can pass on to the afterlife, and because the creator liked the Nirvana album "Bleach." Wow, a whole <a href="http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/">wikipedia</a> dedicated to the series. Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-30020335219516992912012-09-07T20:46:00.001+09:002012-09-08T02:02:38.312+09:00Lawrys Akasaka TokyoWent for some prime Rib this evening at <a href="http://www.lawrys.jp/tokyo/en/info/index.html">Lawry's Akasaka Tokyo</a>.
We all went for the 'Party Course' menu. Tempting little non meat starters of Salmon and shrimp, the 'spun salad' ( way too much dressing for my liking) and the soup came first to make the mouth water.
Then the huge famous meat trolley comes round :
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The meat was very tender and tasty. What was surprising, for such an American based eatery, was the Yorkshire pudding. To finish was an 'English Trifle'.
The yanks at the table were perplexed by the name, and the Brits at the table were equally confused when the small portion of sponge cake arrived. But hey who knows what an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifle">English Trifle</a> really should taste like in Tokyo?
Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-69874054658788455052012-09-05T23:05:00.000+09:002012-09-05T23:25:41.111+09:00Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial MuseumWe went to a number of museums during the holiday. One of the most modern and stylish looking building was the <a href="http://kochi-bunkazaidan.or.jp/~ryoma/english1.htm">Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum</a> in Kochi. <br />
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Sakamoto Ryoma was born in Kochi in 1835 and made a major contribution to changes in the political scene in Japan. He was assassinated at age 33 shortly after he formulated the <a href="http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha1/description02.html">Eight point program</a> for the modernisation of Japan. <br />
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The locals are understandably proud of their local hero, the airport is named after him and one Kochi cafe manages to produce an impressive <a href="http://food.3yen.com/2010-03-08/latte-art-in-japan-sakamoto-ryoma/">portrait of Ryoma on their cafe lattes</a>.
It's a shame I only discovered that today otherwise I'd have my own photo to share. <br />
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The museum located on the coast about 20 minutes drive from Kochi centre is open from 9am to 5pm all year round and entrance fee is 500 yen. <br />
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There are not that many exhibits for such a large building and very little English text. The museum <a href="http://www.ryoma-kinenkan.jp/en/">website</a> reproduces the brochure which contains basically all the exhibit labels that were in English, so unless your Japanese is very strong it does not take that long to go round.
Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-80048732107669646892012-09-04T22:59:00.002+09:002012-11-06T21:53:45.808+09:00Japanese Castles I've just come back from a couple of weeks holiday. During our trip we visited three different castles.
Just for fun, no prizes, see if you can identify these three castles .
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Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-18788455803943157932012-07-12T00:32:00.001+09:002012-07-12T00:32:42.816+09:00catching the last train home<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJYzlDVACava7urCorwVv3UW7wLmt8sYjlbsJXJEpLCGfw5CgT9FlJD98uNMSTOCijuPxUexHFuEjjeJ1oOZYt_nbw43-3NMCj0hsNC8oY3wJu210-vs1Frc3cCcNvaxLKgM8Z/s1600/120712_0026-762817.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJYzlDVACava7urCorwVv3UW7wLmt8sYjlbsJXJEpLCGfw5CgT9FlJD98uNMSTOCijuPxUexHFuEjjeJ1oOZYt_nbw43-3NMCj0hsNC8oY3wJu210-vs1Frc3cCcNvaxLKgM8Z/s320/120712_0026-762817.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5763935289197518194" /></a></p>Shibuya Inokashira lineJon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-34866742018100554222012-04-01T20:02:00.002+09:002012-04-01T20:20:02.781+09:00Interview with Me about Japan Blog ListAs I've mentioned before <a href="http://JapanBlogList.com">JapanBlogList.com</a> takes up some of my spare time, to the detriment of this blog sadly. I was recently contact by Steve 'Grin' Isobe-Harsha who wanted to add his blog to the list. As always I asked for a link back in return, to which he replied <br /><br /><i>Thank you for adding me to your list. I say this tongue in cheek, I am kind of strict on links. I only link to others that interview, are Relevant, donate, or link to me. You linked to me, but I would like to give you more than just a link back in return. I would definitely like to interview you and write a longer piece on your creative and helpful blog!<br /></I><br /><br />Who can resist an interview? So last week over a skype session we had a very pleasant chat, and the net result is Episode 6 of his podcast An interview with <a href="http://grinningstudio.blogspot.jp/2012/03/podcast-episode-6-japan-blog-list.html">Jonathan Allen at JapanBlogList.</a>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-33214896106350523072011-11-01T07:37:00.002+09:002011-11-01T07:42:55.294+09:00Movember the first<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2PVZzxT0ufLuE_Zzv29jTmnb91AQMx5Dyem2UxxiXDI_QQzkGxB3Ie41uvHadpzuwK_l2M80gHf6p2fmCM2i0a1tchnNMB2dvFRdX0mtS1-2XGKzNGyy0cziTv7Vs6rsEZwn/s1600/R0012651.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2PVZzxT0ufLuE_Zzv29jTmnb91AQMx5Dyem2UxxiXDI_QQzkGxB3Ie41uvHadpzuwK_l2M80gHf6p2fmCM2i0a1tchnNMB2dvFRdX0mtS1-2XGKzNGyy0cziTv7Vs6rsEZwn/s320/R0012651.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669789458868222002" /></a><br />I'm growing a moustache for November.<div>Sponsor me at <a href="http://mobro.co/JonAllen">Movember.com</a> to raise money for Men's health charities. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; ">The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers - prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "> </span><a target="_blank" href="http://uk.movember.com/about/vision-goals/" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(122, 141, 111); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">strategic goals</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "> in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-16281670718399730372011-10-15T20:49:00.003+09:002011-10-22T18:11:33.108+09:00Improv Comedy in Tokyo: Pirates of Tokyo BayI am always on the lookout for Comedy shows to go to and, thanks to a review in the <a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fq20111014a3.html">Japan Times</a> I discovered some Improv Comedy happening a pub called 'What the Dickens' in Ebisu.<br />A group calling themselves the <a href="http://www.piratesoftokyobay.com/">Pirates of Tokyo </a> did a show on Oct 16th 2011<br /><br />Doors opened at :7:00pm and the show started at 7:30 Entrance was 1500 Yen which included one free drink. Food was available.<br /><br />Location : "<a href="http://www.whatthedickens.jp/home">What the Dickens</a>" , 1-13-3 EBISU-NISHI SHIBUYA-KU TOKYO. 3 minutes walk from Ebisu station, JR Yamanote line and Hibiya subway line.<br /><br />If you have ever seen the TV show "Who's line is it anyway" then you'll know the kind of thing. <div><br /></div><div>The show was in both English and Japanese. I was interested to see how they would handle that. In fact it was very well done with some games all in English, some all in Japanese, and some in a mixture with some translations.<br /><br />The show is divided in to a number of different games.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pjrfN6bH2pmhIGRsyvIjS1CriLJVoEPOQ8OIkDS7Ws4_baKMUb3f5cTm0IbbttV61oZvz5qC6rgCgOP1IboNKe4uwqz8PYK3jwKk6cUIX3Sfu4m8tzfoSduDJ8k1rzJyvivY/s1600/R0012615.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pjrfN6bH2pmhIGRsyvIjS1CriLJVoEPOQ8OIkDS7Ws4_baKMUb3f5cTm0IbbttV61oZvz5qC6rgCgOP1IboNKe4uwqz8PYK3jwKk6cUIX3Sfu4m8tzfoSduDJ8k1rzJyvivY/s320/R0012615.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666240745730626146" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1hAGygIw7X7-LbzjW646Gu470AjSypib3blCHDln7Nl0UfQ6oDVY83EZls1CWJxeqNdULrNnYHr9splR7kzObVAYmLEPtdyKwcNfhA4yjvUKwUNgMahyphenhyphenHv72vymLubn_Vjep/s1600/R0012609.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1hAGygIw7X7-LbzjW646Gu470AjSypib3blCHDln7Nl0UfQ6oDVY83EZls1CWJxeqNdULrNnYHr9splR7kzObVAYmLEPtdyKwcNfhA4yjvUKwUNgMahyphenhyphenHv72vymLubn_Vjep/s320/R0012609.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666240729645087170" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBObkUih_KPBn8Mqpn3D1btKEexYWVbhuU0W3XTB0bVoA4I3ddaCnktWn21Z0-DLuCfZd_u53TMCD_-HvRfxZxBdHjg180CpeFkn-_ENQzHDCz9uD_gI4Z7tCTZUAeIZAEN7e/s1600/R0012607.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBObkUih_KPBn8Mqpn3D1btKEexYWVbhuU0W3XTB0bVoA4I3ddaCnktWn21Z0-DLuCfZd_u53TMCD_-HvRfxZxBdHjg180CpeFkn-_ENQzHDCz9uD_gI4Z7tCTZUAeIZAEN7e/s320/R0012607.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666240729648327346" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQ6zu_MmaqXw8_eRrvXEyR6hgq87qZrNG6Xb0QF2B0iQUhx1ODz1W7puZvganll03eCmAsXG1K7APT1jKqPCfc8URS0YOx6w3jHGIxLkKdvGQcCT9MuHR95ilyB1L3r2VNwik/s1600/R0012597.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQ6zu_MmaqXw8_eRrvXEyR6hgq87qZrNG6Xb0QF2B0iQUhx1ODz1W7puZvganll03eCmAsXG1K7APT1jKqPCfc8URS0YOx6w3jHGIxLkKdvGQcCT9MuHR95ilyB1L3r2VNwik/s320/R0012597.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666240721014939938" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHG4Es8x-R4vRAQYL9ZHCZoTypJMFJ96W7WFZ1n2r23sFFo1nOZVVKbmwO4SJvVx8inuAK4JSP34V3pjzvX6welfVpwT_e1qXfuRSzATgpP_tmcjibJkdL7kXEXZkom8JJHAa/s1600/R0012596.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHG4Es8x-R4vRAQYL9ZHCZoTypJMFJ96W7WFZ1n2r23sFFo1nOZVVKbmwO4SJvVx8inuAK4JSP34V3pjzvX6welfVpwT_e1qXfuRSzATgpP_tmcjibJkdL7kXEXZkom8JJHAa/s320/R0012596.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666240719094748354" /></a>I really enjoyed the evening and I am looking forward to their next show they hope to put some time in December. I'll be posting details here when I hear about it.</div>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-66559179351584923122011-06-26T20:29:00.003+09:002011-06-26T20:34:34.817+09:00Random Photo of the dayI took this photo this afternoon somewhere in Tokyo. No prizes, but can anyone guess where this is?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwzUnlvWedq7rsFd4hHMD-Xt8by4i1-kgq5eVaIYRrh2ifoLnRzdXFXbuiWDaaE7WhXu6bvXRqs0e2xGF-xm1Imjtq7HQ7t_RkcMvlFxeMs11Jfh7tJuRLm8IMhbcUgnQtM5N/s1600/R0011147.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwzUnlvWedq7rsFd4hHMD-Xt8by4i1-kgq5eVaIYRrh2ifoLnRzdXFXbuiWDaaE7WhXu6bvXRqs0e2xGF-xm1Imjtq7HQ7t_RkcMvlFxeMs11Jfh7tJuRLm8IMhbcUgnQtM5N/s320/R0011147.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622489932763916770" /></a><br /><br />Yes, they have wheels on them, and no I have no idea what they are going to do with them. They appeared within the last month. <br /><br />One of the joys of life in Tokyo, the random things you see around here every day.Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-7808770704147090572011-06-16T22:28:00.005+09:002011-06-17T07:10:26.702+09:00Ishinomaki , 3 months further onSaturday 11 June 2011 marked the 3 month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region. I took the opportunity to go to Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture to do some volunteer work.<br /><br />The organiser had hired a 26 seater coach and we departed Tokyo just after 8pm. The two coach drivers took it in turns to drive us through the night, arriving at 3am at the Ishinomaki Senku University. They turned on all the coach lights to tell us they’d arrived and to go back to sleep until 7am! Mercifully there were no loud snorers but I still only managed about an hour of sleep. At 7am we drove several miles to find a Shikyu restaurant, where we all ate a hearty breakfast before returning to the Volunteer Centre at the Senku University Campus, to get our assigned task for the day.<br /><br /><br />The organisers’ desk opens at 8am every day and they efficiently processed us and the many hundreds of volunteers that were staying in tents or had arrived in cars and coaches. For those of us who had not been before, we were given small green insurance certificates and everyone was given a sticky label to attach to their clothing with your name, and to indicate that you were a volunteer. So we got into our working gear. Wellington (rubber) boots are by far the best footware, with gloves, helmets, dust masks and protective eye goggles and drove set out to start work on a small hospital building.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839637612/" title="Hospital in Ishinomaki by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5160/5839637612_7aa57aa4ce.jpg" alt="Hospital in Ishinomaki" height="281" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The first stage of cleanup had already been done, that was to bag up most of the small items of rubbish, and one room was piled high with rubbish bags.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839559930/" title="Rubbish inside by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/5839559930_bacf5532aa.jpg" alt="Rubbish inside" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><br />We formed a human chain and made short work of shifting them outside where the council will take responsibility for removing them. The next stage was to remove all the large items : beds, chairs, tables and other furniture.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839023083/" title="Room before by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/5839023083_84b5c0391c.jpg" alt="Room before" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We then broke for lunch, which was at the same place as breakfast, earlier, and where there are two other restaurants open for business.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839562224/" title="Restaurant today by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5318/5839562224_2538f83981.jpg" alt="Restaurant today" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><br />This is how it looked after the tsunami.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839574932/" title="Immmediately after by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/5839574932_7cd69cdbe2.jpg" alt="Immmediately after " height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><br />In the afternoon we returned for the final task, which was to shovel the sludge into bags. The thick, oily, mud had covered everything to a depth of approx. 2cm. It was fairly dry and didn’t smell too strong, though I was very careful to always wear gloves. The end result, You see the tide mark a few inches from the ceiling ?<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839565894/" title="The tide mark by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/5839565894_08d437cfbd.jpg" alt="The tide mark" height="375" width="500" /></a><br />That was how high the waters reached.<br /><br />The mud filled sacks were taken outside into a separate pile and again the council will eventually come to collect it. Of course, one enormous problem for the disaster recovery is what to do with the massive amount of debris. Over 24 million tons alone in just three prefectures.<br /><br />At exactly 2:46pm we had a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives, including the 24 people who had died in that same hospital.<br /><br />After washing all the tools and the boots, we boarded the coach again and went to the port area of Ishinomaki, which had been hardest hit by the tsunami. There was almost total devastation, only a small number of structures remained. The damage was astounding.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/5839016623/" title="Devastated by jonallen01966, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3441/5839016623_a94733d64c.jpg" alt="Devastated" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><br />More photos from <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/06/japan_three_months_after_the_q.html">Boston.com</a> and some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonallen1966/sets/72157626851010377/">more of my photos on flickr</a><br /><br />Another hour’s drive away was our hotel, and we arrived just in time for dinner, and with a little time to spare for the onsen. Those of us who were not completely exhausted, then stayed up for karaoke. The trip home on Sunday was uneventful, and we were back in Tokyo around 4:30pm. Dividing the cost of the coach between 26, it came to 10,000 yen each. The trip organiser had arranged for a volunteers’ certificate from the local ward office, and that entitled us to avoid payment of the expressway tolls, which would otherwise have added 30,000 to the total bill.<br /><br /><a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110614f1.html">Only 15% of the ¥251.4 billion collected by the Red Cross has been distributed</a> by local city and town civil servants who are, not surprisingly, struggling with the disaster themselves.<br /><br />It's clear from my trip that one thing the locals do need is more man power. Cleaning out buildings is hard manual labour that really cannot be mechanised or automated. If you want to go up to the Tohoku region the organisation of volunteers, at least in Ishinomaki, is very good. If you don't speak Japanese <a href="http://peaceboat.jp/relief/">Peaceboat </a>are organising regular trips from Tokyo.<br /><br />The trip from Tokyo by car or coach is long and expensive, what I'd like to see would be companies like <a href="http://www.no1-travel.com/">H.I.S Travel </a>offering cheap volunteer trips up there by shinkansen. I'm sure more people would be prepared to offer a day or two of labour if it was made easy and simple. What's your excuse for not helping?<br /><br />This is my entry into this weeks:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.budgettrouble.com/search/label/Show-Me-Japan" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpL9Z-os5i54GeWXiXlZSADZwC80ne22o1DSyP3_Kns0NVeFVgGWJmeR2ZCwqao0f6gt-a6_PMoz1yWlPi4vX3kxDKWf0EZuzBBdfXcKXNbOBHbc2lnUVuafCljMq_2m79Vqe7cA/s1600/small_badgeX200.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-18622160553956658542011-02-05T00:13:00.001+09:002011-02-05T16:21:48.554+09:00Google thinks I'm Transport for LondonThis blog has been a bit thin recently, I've been spending far too much of my time on my other hobby of maintaining the <a href="http://www.JapanBlogList.com">JapanBlogList</a> which ends up with me visiting a lot of other blogs and generally getting nothing else much done. If I'm not reading other people's blogs I'm posting random stuff on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jonallen1966">Facebook</a> to amuse my friends such as <a href="http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/02/04/chihuahua-dog-sled/">The Chihuahua pulling a sled </a> from Japanprobe, <a href="http://wp.me/p1h0K1-4J">"Hug your wife day"</a> from Japanalooza, the link between Pink tentacle posting an <a href="http://pinktentacle.com/2011/01/led-powered-harajuku-smiles/">article on LED Smiles</a> on Jan 17th, which got picked up the <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/new-japanese-fashion-l-e-d-lights-for-your-teeth/?scp=1&sq=LED%20SMILES&st=cse">NY times</a> on the 21st Jan and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/25/smile-led-teeth?INTCMP=SRCH">the Guardian</a> on the 25th Jan as real craze , but swiftly <a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20110130a1.html">debunked by the Japan Times </a> on the 30th Jan. <br /><br />My favorite was the 'incident writeup' for a recent <a href="http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201101190273.html">problem when shinkansen trains</a> were halted for more than an hour. seems they forgot to update some hard coded limits in the scheduling system. ( But then I am in IT, and part of my job is incident write ups to explain to our users what happened when things went wrong.)<br /><br />But for a change, for no good reason this evening, I thought I would see if anyone does still bother to visit this blog. Heading over to trusty Google analytics I was surprised to see a steady stream of visitor's averaging around 100 per day. But what is most confusing is when I looked to see the key words they come for : <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg69-10CX550Y9bllzEjiTbWBIh4XWPfR7pAbAqrGuiOtNHyaO9n4RkH_jB8cqu4FhW6Dl28Hp9kuvaOe5wBb7zd1kXwtVUMK415r4CzeJ8BBCg6gEwwZ36yRzSDyf8slchXhJ/s1600/image2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg69-10CX550Y9bllzEjiTbWBIh4XWPfR7pAbAqrGuiOtNHyaO9n4RkH_jB8cqu4FhW6Dl28Hp9kuvaOe5wBb7zd1kXwtVUMK415r4CzeJ8BBCg6gEwwZ36yRzSDyf8slchXhJ/s320/image2.jpg" border="0" alt="top 10 search terms for my blog"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569842898399124130" /></a><br /><br />"TFL Map" TFL Tube Map, London Underground Map... and other variations account for eight out of the top ten hits. <br /><br />Sure enough if you do a google search for TFL Map, in the section of images, the link on the first image of the underground map is a link to a post I did in 2007 titled <a href="http://seoul-man.blogspot.com/2007/12/seoul-on-jubilee-line.html">"Seoul on the Jubilee Line"</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnqr54_u5HQmquDFJGmY7YhhnjiHrprS_RbpldA2KIuCv9bsJFa_lYPi3w3gz6pBQATZDgKuTyFETCrzEOvm3v-hCueS6glN4FONzmezIbZz84v0tNlX4ki4kj2i_fyjQedaB/s1600/images1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 83px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnqr54_u5HQmquDFJGmY7YhhnjiHrprS_RbpldA2KIuCv9bsJFa_lYPi3w3gz6pBQATZDgKuTyFETCrzEOvm3v-hCueS6glN4FONzmezIbZz84v0tNlX4ki4kj2i_fyjQedaB/s320/images1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569842904864899826" /></a><br /><br />In the post I had a link to a diagram showing all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail sytstem, arranged in the style of the London Tube map. I also included a link to the real map on the TFL Website to compare. So how come my blog rates higher than the real TFL site for their own image? Go figure.Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30375108.post-42857323076140358182010-12-20T21:50:00.005+09:002010-12-20T22:04:36.088+09:00Happy Christmas, from The Japan Times and MeThere was a Christmas gift lottery in the <a href="http://japantimes.co.jp">Japan Times</a> two weeks ago. All you had to do was send them an email with your name and address and your preferred choice of gift from the list of six or seven different presents on offer. I selected what I imagined would be the least popular choices, sent off an email. Lo and behold on Saturday I got a nice hand addressed letter with a little surprise inside : <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXvuwP46nbcirRoAczB2UH7W5YF3EcwKGmkv0IN0bk1__krgV7jdF2tTNa9QiBYc32qH1HR5YO-Vekl22Qyv_IaIs6jG08i5JDwCNoynxdib8kQzJ3NpuNQO8j_jACw7KUaqM/s1600/L1170379.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXvuwP46nbcirRoAczB2UH7W5YF3EcwKGmkv0IN0bk1__krgV7jdF2tTNa9QiBYc32qH1HR5YO-Vekl22Qyv_IaIs6jG08i5JDwCNoynxdib8kQzJ3NpuNQO8j_jACw7KUaqM/s320/L1170379.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552747477162848482" /></a><br /><br />A bookmark in traditional lacquer technique, handmade and hand painted by Japanese craftsmen from <a href="http://Fuji-Torii.com/urushiori">Fuji-Tori.</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuX4Gc8YuhrC8FvkdXPxiy2wZwnPg7ziZ1GkDKt1jgU3GhyphenhyphenaqYquKC5T9hTEO7FfiTfFLLWfxpU3syUBcMm7qsaicP8becSU1pneSmY1hbYhxrb8wxr6YiXgoCl1EhPiWi3lY/s1600/L1170377.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuX4Gc8YuhrC8FvkdXPxiy2wZwnPg7ziZ1GkDKt1jgU3GhyphenhyphenaqYquKC5T9hTEO7FfiTfFLLWfxpU3syUBcMm7qsaicP8becSU1pneSmY1hbYhxrb8wxr6YiXgoCl1EhPiWi3lY/s320/L1170377.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552747726392124914" /></a><br /><br />I was delighted at such a beautiful piece of work, many thanks indeed to the Japan Times and Fuji-Torii for the gift. <br /><br />So, to all my readers, enjoy your gifts and the holiday season. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.Jon Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589729363368420598noreply@blogger.com6