Festival at Atago Shrine

We operated the route B  (Sumo Wrestler’s Ride) tour today, with our always nice and cheerful guests. We made a extra stop at Atago Shrine (usually only on route A-Tokyo Bay Ride) as today was the day of the biennial festival.

The “Shusse no Kaidan Matsuri (Steps to Success Festival)” is based on a famous legend going back some four hundred years. (If you are interestetd in this legend, please join our bike tour!! )

High-spirited men carrying a portable shrine down the steps calling out ” Wa-Shoi” in a very loud voice. It’s quite exciting to watch. We were really lucky that we caught the event just in time today !

Gundam An 18m-High Transformer

I’m not, but many male population my age are or were fans of Gundam, a transformer which first went on air as a TV animation in April 1979. The year 2009 is the 30th anniversary and the reason for this  big project  – ” Green Tokyo Gundam Project“.  This is now being held in Tokyo. (July 11- Aug 31). A ”real size” Gundam was created and stands tall in Odaiba.  How “real” is it? According to the comic artist, Gandam is 18 m tall, so the one in Odaiba is definitely big and real enough to attract many people, especially th 30-40 yr old one-time “BOYS”, now all grown up but still young  at heart!

We’ll be passing by this huge transformer during our bike tour  every Saturday.

Fireworks Festival

The Meteorological Agency officially announced today that rainy season (Tsuyu) is over in Tokyo area. So sunny summer has finally come !

From ancient times, we Japanese have a custom of watching fireworks to enjoy the cool summer breeze in the evening.  There are quite a lot of events in July and August around Tokyo, here are just a few… 

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July 21 (Mon)  19:20-20:20  Katsushika Noryo Fireworks Festival  @Keisei Kanamachi Line Shibamata station

Jul 23(Thr)  19:30-20:30  Fireworks in Adachi @JR, Tobu Isesaki Line, Tokyo Metro Hibiya or Chiyoda Line Kitasenju station

Jul 25(Sat)  19:30-20:30  Fireworks in Urayasu city  @JR Shinurayasu station or Tokyo Metro Tozai Line Urayasu station

Jul 25(Sat) 19:20-20:30  Tachikawa Matsuri Showa Memorial Park Firework Festival  @JR Tachikawa station

Jul 25(Sat) 19:00-20:30 Sumida River Fireworks Festival (English website) @Tokyo Metro Ginza Line or Toei Asakusa Line Asakusa station or JR Ryogoku station

Jul 25 (Sat) 19:00-  Konosu Fireworks Festival   @JR Takasaki Line Konosu station

Jul 30 (Thr) 19:30-20:20 Kamogawa city Fireworks Festival @ JR Sotobo Line Awa Kamogawa station

Jul 31 (Fri) 19:30- Shonan Hiratsuka Fireworks Festival @ JR Tokaido Line Hiratsuka station + Bus Suga port 

Aug 1 (Sat) 19:00-20:45 Itabashi Fireworks Festival @Toei Mita Line Takashimadaira or Nishidai or Hasune station

Aug 1(Sat) 19:15-20:30 Edogawa Fireworks Festival @Toei Shinjuku Line Shinozaki station

Aug 4 (Tue) 19:30-20:30 Koto Fireworks Festival (English) @Toei Tozai Line Minami Sunamachi station

Aug 6 (Thr) 19:30-20:30 Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival @Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Hanzomon Line, Chiyoda Line, Toei Oedo Line  Omote Sando station or Gaienmae or Aoyama Ichome station

Aug 8 (Sat) 19:00-20:20 Tokyo Bay Great Fireworks Festival @Toei Oedo Line Kachidoki station

Aug 8 (Sat) 19:45-20:30 Okutama Fireworks Festival @JR Ome Line Okutama station

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Objection!

 

Yesterday I read an article on BBC.com saying that Tokyo is now the ‘most espensive expat city’ in the world. The reporter said in the article

>  that Tokyo’s top slot in the ranking would not surprise locals, who could find themselves paying $15 for a watermelon and $25 for a mango.

What !?  A mango costs U$25?  Impossible. Of course when people buy mangos at very expensive department stores where gifts are bought, they might cost that much, but a local Tokyoite like me buy fruits at a nearby supermarket. I had to do some market research last evening and found out it cost 680 yen (U$7) for a domestic mango and 298 yen (U$ 3) for a Mexican mango.

I know that some of the expats live in luxury apartments and shop at high end supermarkets…  maybe the BBC reporter is also having a good life in Tokyo ?!

 Tokyo Originally had and image of being “an expensive city” and togehter with the image of being “a very far place”. Tokyo has had few overseas visitors for a very long time. Finally the Japanese government is stepping up its campaign with “YOKOSO! Japan”. While the exchange rate does have a large impact as the article has mentioned, please remember that Tokyo (and Japan) is not necessarily expensive, there are many budget friendly way to travel. Visit Japan, you will know

Summer Evening Ride

 As I worte in my last entry, we are celebrating Tanabata (Star Festival) today.  At the same time  today is ‘Cool Earth Day’ in Japan, an initiative by the government to switch off unnecessary lights and to think about environmental issues such as global warming.   Some of the buildings, towers and signboards will be turning off the lights to save energy. This is a campaign which started last year when the Toyako G8 Summit was held in Hokkaido Japan.

This is a picture of the Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple before the tower light was turned off.

This summer, we are planning  a ‘Summer Special Ride’ besides our regular weekend tours.  With the Summer Morning Ride we will ride through Tsukiji and central Tokyo very early in the morning and in the Summer Evening Ride, we will be riding the water front area and along the canals. For more information, please take a look at our website ! 

Rainy season 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainy season is called “Tsuyu (梅雨)” in Japanese. It literally means “Plum Rain” , the reason being  that the plum fruit ripens during this time of the year, and  we have a lot of  rain during these months.

The Meteorological Agency officially announces the beginning and end of Tsuyu every year, and here is this year’s  forecast by the Weather News Company (Japanese page) for the Tokyo area.

1. Forecast for 2009                 From   Jun. 8           to   Jul. 16
2. Last year                                       May 29                Jul. 19
3. Average year                                   Jun. 8                  Jul. 20

 [ It will rain gently and softly and the temperature will be lower than average  in June. Early July will be hot and humid, a bit of a break from the rain and towards the end, it is expected to rain rather heavily. ]

The May Grand Sumo Tournament @Tokyo

Photo by Antoine

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you know, Sumo is Japan’s  national sport and a type of  martial arts, but it originally was a religious ritual of Shinto (Japan’s indigenous religion). The story can be traced back to ancient times and the ritual was used to tell the harvest would be rich or poor, by seeking the divine intention of the Gods.

In the 16th century, it became an entertainment sport and during the Edo period many people enjoyed watching Sumo at shrines and temples, and this is the origin of current professional Sumo.

 Photo by M. Abe (TGCT)

(He is wearing a mask! To protect himself from the swine flu!?)

 

 

 

There are six Grand Sumo tournaments (Hon Basho) each year, three of them are held in Ryogoku, at the Sumo Hall (Ryogoku Kokugikan) in Tokyo. They are called Tokyo Basho and have tournaments in January, May and September every year. This year’s May Grand Sumo Tournament (Tokyo Basho) started on May 10th and will end on the 24th.

Everyday the wrestling match (bout) starts in the early morning for lower rank wrestlers and  continues until late afternoon for higher rank wrestlers’. During this period, many Sumo wrestlers can be seen around the Sumo Hall and you will know right away who the low rank wrestlers are and who are high. The high rank wrestlers are walking together with their assistants and the lower rank wrestlers are walking by themselves carrying their own belongings. You might also be able to tell the difference from their Kimono (traditional Japanese clothing) – those wearing simple cotton Kimono are lower in rank, and those wearing luxury silk Kimono in beautiful colour are of course higher in rank!  

The general admission tickets are available at 8:00 AM at the Sumo hall main gate at 2,100yen. With this ticket, you can stay for the whole day ! Maybe worth a try!?

We have a bike tour riding through Ryogoku area every Sunday. Please check here!

Tuna auction @Tsukiji fish market

 
On our bike tour – Tokyo Bay Ride on Saturdays - we visit the Tsukiji Fish Market every time. But because we usually arrive at around 11:30AM, the market is just closing down. (But don’t worry you can still feel excitement there)  Today, Masa, Haruna and I visited Tsukiji to see the tuna auction. We have never been to the auction, as we tend to think we can visit whenever we want, and so we have missed the chance for a very long time. What a shame it was not visit the fish market!! 

We arrived at Tsukiji at 5:00 in the morning, and as this of course  was too early for the train service, we instead rode our bicycle. The visitors area is open between 5:00 – 6:15, but when we arrived, many people including overseas visitors were already there! Although it was very in the early morning, but everyone looked excited to see tons of enormous tunas lying around, and so we were.

The auction is split into two parts, first  at 5:30 and the second at 6:00. Before the auction started, an intermediate wholesaler checked the meat quality around the tuna’s tail. The trader rang the bell, and announced  the start of the auction, then shouted in high-spirited voice the auction number, the current highest price, and the bidder’s name at the end of each bid. Everything was so speedy, it was impossible to understand what they were saying perfectly, even for the Japanese.

We watched the auction breathlessly. We now we know why Tsukiji is so popular amongst overseas tourists and marked as a must see spot in Tokyo!

Early Cherry Blossoms

It was very warm day today. Temperature went up to 15 degrees and I felt that it would be like early spring.
I found baby cherry blossoms were in bloom on the tree when I passed Hibiya Park by bicycle. I don’t know the name of the species of this cherry, but from its trunk I could tell it is cherry. Did you know there is more than 140 kinds in cherry blossoms. We Japanese really like cherry blossoms- Sakura tree.

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But it seems to become cold again from tomorrow. It’s no wonder, it is still January ! And personally speaking I still want the coldness as I need a snow for my skiing!

TGCT 2009

Our New Year’s resolution—

   1.  Release the 3rd route  ( maybe west area of central Tokyo)

   2. Start selling TGCT designed shirts and other goods

    3. Renew the website

 

We are excited to meet more people and ride together this year !