A couple weeks ago Tokyo International School held their annual Cherry Blossom Fair. I’m not sure why they call it that as the cherry blossoms are gone by then. Maybe they usually have it a week earlier and didn’t want to change the name of the event this year.

The top photo is of one of the many games. This one was called Japanese Curling. The kids were a little disappointed that there were no sweepers, but it was a popular game anyway.

The food booths were really good. Countries (and foods) represented included Japan (pictured above), USA, Egypt, Israel, France, Germany, New Zealand, Korea, and about five others.

There was a taiko performance. Koinobori (鯉幟 or carp streamers) graced the outdoor activities.

A clown/comedian/juggler/entertainer who called himself “Super Gaijin” can be seen in the above photo sporting a blue hat.

Posted on April 29th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: food, people, skywatch, taiko, tokyo international school. Comments Off on TIS Cherry Blossom Fair

For over a year (back in the late 1980s) the Bandit Roller Coaster (バンデットローラーコースター) at Yomiuri Land (よみうりランド) was the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster. Many are now faster and/or taller, but this is still a great ride. Ryan (on the right) and Ellie (in the black and white) rode it about seven times last Sunday.

There is a sign saying that you can now see Tokyo’s Sky Tree from it on a clear day. Spot the Sky Tree and you are supposed to have good luck. I don’t see it in the above picture, but I still feel lucky.

Posted on April 28th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: amusement parks, ellie, ryan, Tokyo, yomiuriland. Comments Off on Bandit at Yomiuri Land

After hanging out at the Kofu Castle for a while, I wanted to check out the parts of Kofu I was most familiar with 22 years ago–the shopping streets–before the main part of the Takeda Shingen Festival got under way. I couldn’t get far as a dance performance blocked an entire street through the Kofu shopping district.

Takeda Shingen’s motto was “Move as swift as wind, stay as silent as forest, attack as fierce as fire, and have an undefeatable defense like a mountain.” The abbreviated characters for this slogan are read merely as furinkazan (風林火山). At the festival six generals represented each of the four, for a total of 24 generals. The dancers also represented one of the four. Those in blue represented swift wind, green represented forest, red represented fire, and purple represented mountains.

The top picture in today’s entry must have been some mountain dancers. Some forest dancers are below. The best view was from the end of the street, pictured above. The dancers appeared like colorful waves from this vantage point. I should have taken a video for the full effect.

Posted on April 27th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: kofu, people. Comments: 1

Three weeks ago Tokyo experienced one of only about two or three blue sky days of the month. It’s been a disappointing spring on the weather front so far with lots of rain, clouds, and some cold temperatures. But on that one nice day we took advantage of the good weather and rode our bikes from Nishi-Waseda to Yanaka via Gokokuji, pictured above.

Posted on April 26th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, cherry blossoms, gokokuji, sakura, Tokyo. Comments Off on The Buddha rests under the cherry blossoms

The setting for my first picture in this series was the grounds of Maizuru Castle Park. Shingen’s troops gathered here before heading off in their regiments for the “parade.” The atmosphere was very good. The weather was fine, Mt. Fuji loomed in the background, and the samurai were getting drunk before heading off to battle (the pavement of Kofu’s streets).

The Japanese guy above was enjoying the mood as well. I was merely taking an incognito picture of his group when he spotted me and performed this “charge.” It was actually more of a pose than a charge, but I appreciated his willingness to provide a nice action shot for my camera without actually impaling me.

Let’s not forget this was a festival and not a battle reenactment. Therefore, there was plenty of yakisoba, takoyaki, and the like to be had, as well as monkeys doing tricks and other matsuri standards.

The guy in the middle of this group, with the tall helmet, is the president of his company and represented one of Takeda Shingen’s generals on horseback later in the evening. I chatted with him for a while earlier and had my picture taken with him. Photos of people like me in regular clothes with those of Japanese in samurai gear don’t look right though.

As each of the 24 regiments left the castle grounds they gave a battle shout like the one you can see in the above video I took. Some groups were more serious than others. Applause at the end seemed a little… wrong.

Posted on April 25th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: castle, festivals, kofu, people, video. Comments Off on More from the former Kofu Castle site (甲府城跡)