Galaxy Express 999

I was riding this train back to Tokorozawa the other day. I was riding on the very front train car and it was completely empty. I've noticed that the train cars on the end of either side of the train tend to be less crowded.

Anyways, I can't imagine why I didn't notice this when I got on...but it was a design train!

These are the famous characters of the manga and anime series Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道999). It seems that the creator of the series, Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士) grew up along the Seibu Line, which led to this collaboration with Seibu Railways and Nerima Ward.

The blond lady you see below is Maetel, one of the main characters (and one of the only characters I actually know of) in the series. The design really stood out and everyone passing by was staring at the train. Some were even took photos, like me!

Beyond Tired

I can almost hear these men muttering "Thank god it's Friday..." as they ride the train home. I'm sure you can imagine their faces, too. Pure exhaustion.

But whether it's from work or just too much drinking, I can't be sure.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Crossing the Rails

It's already November? Cannot for the life of me figure out how that happened so fast.

Well, it's theme day again at CDP. This month the theme is "Public Transportation." Here in Tokorozawa we don't really use anything unusual. Mostly trains, cars, and buses.

There are two train lines that go through Tokorozawa Station. As these train lines are on the ground, we have many railroad crossings like this one. During the rush hour we can be left standing there for almost 10 minutes.

But I don't really mind because I like watching the trains go by as all sorts of lights and sounds warn people of the passing train. It's quite a show.

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Every Morning

Rush hour can be quite crowded.

I took this photo a little before rush hour, when people start gathering on the platforms, waiting for the next train. A lot of people get on the train at Tokorozawa Station.

Drum Fun

This is a really fun game at the local arcade, which we call "game centers." It's called Taiko no Tatsujin (Master of Taiko) and what you do is, you choose a song from their list, hold the two drum sticks, and while watching the screen, hit the drum according to the instructions! The instructions appear on the screen in different shapes and colors, which stand for different ways of hitting the drum, and in the end it adds up your total score for you. If you pass, you get to play a more difficult song!


It's a lot of fun because two people get to play at once and even if you don't get a high score...hitting the drum is seriously a stress reliever! hehe.


See other wonderful reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Easy As 1-2-3

You can see from the dust that this public phone hasn't been used in awhile. Probably because everyone has a cellphone these days.

Lately many of the public phones have been taken away. I don't see these green public phones as much as I used to anymore. These three are at the Tokorozawa Station, patiently waiting for someone in need of a public phone.


As of last year, it's said that there are 105 million cellphone users in Japan, which has a population of about 127 million. So that's..what...80 percent? I have to wonder how this compares to other countries.

I've had a cell phone since my first year of high school. How about you?

New View

This is the first time I saw the Seibu Building from this angle. Usually all I see from the street is the reflection of the sky against the building. But from here you can see all the different buildings around the station!

I bet the view at night is pretty, too. I'm going to have to go again!


See other reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Just One More

Sometimes, one wish just isn't enough. haha.

This is a different Tanabata decoration at the Seibu Department Store in front of the Tokorozawa Station. Usually the Tanzaku, the paper we write our wish on, is a rectangular shape...but Seibu used the face of their character, Okaimono Kuma, which translates to "Shopping Bear." Not much originality there, but quite original for them to use it as a Tanzaku!

The faces of the bear were popular with the kids!

Cha Cha Cha

I had lunch at Kiyomoto (清元), a restaurant inside Seibu Department Store, the other day.

This is their Cha-Soba (Greet Tea Soba) Set. The Cha-Soba is on the lower right. There's also the rice on the lower left, the Chawan-mushi (茶碗蒸し) on the upper left, and a slice of melon and pineapple for dessert on the upper right corner.

The food was really good and I liked how very Japanese the interior was!

Super Mom

The west exit of Tokorozawa Station was packed with people.

They were there to see Ryoko Tani, who is a famous Japanese Judo athlete. She's won one bronze, two silver, and two gold medals in the last five Olympics. Pretty amazing, right?

She is also known for being a mommy athlete, as she had a son in 2005 before the Beijing Olympics, and her second son just last year. Her husband is also a famous baseball player.


But now, apparently she's up to not only juggling judo and motherhood, but also politics, too. It was announced in May that she would be running for the upcoming Upper House election.

And this was her making her campaign speech in Tokorozawa. You can see her on the campaign car below. I'm not really sure how she's going to handle being a mom, an athlete, and a politician but the election is next week!

Sturdy Hands Needed

A blurry photo of the Hanko, something that cannot be blurred.

When we use these on official documents the stamp has to be clear. If it's blurred, then sometimes you have to make the whole document over again.

Serious business, this hanko!

Rush Hour

Everyone is rushing home today...the Japan vs Paraguay game starts at 11pm!

Who would of thought Japan would make it this far? We were in such a sorry state before the world cup. But this just shows, you never know what will happen!

There was this funny article about many Japanese soccer fans were saying sorry to the head coach on twitter for all the things they said or thought before the tournament. I can tell you, I'm pretty sure none of them were nice.

As for me, they've come this far so I don't care who wins, just as long as they play a good soccer game. And here they come...!

Train Transfer

It kind of hard to see (my camera's zoom is still broken) but if you look very closely, you'll see a bridge over the station platforms.

The bridge connects the three platforms at Tokorozawa Station and people use it to transfer to different train lines.

The station is actually being renovated right now and when it's completed in 2012 there is going to be a new station building above the platforms. So I thought I'd take a photo of this bridge before it's torn down.


Click below for more lovely photos of bridges around the world!

Sunday Bridges

A Crowd

A street artist at Prope Dori, working on his creation. He writes words or drawings for anyone who's interested enough to ask.

I liked this one below. The words written on it read "Aru ga mama ni iki ro," which means something like "Live just as you are."


There was quite a crowd surrounding him. Curious about what he was doing, a wide variety of people, ranging from small kids to grandpas and grandmas, were all trying to get a good look. Popular guy!

Zakumi

Anybody a soccer fan?

Soccer is very popular in Japan, especially among younger children who grew up watching the J-League (Japan's Professional Soccer League). From what I hear, our team just barely made it to World Cup 2010 and not very many people are expecting them to make it to the second level. But the news is still all about the World Cup and many fans are rooting for Japan!


And at our local supermarket, I found Zakumi, the world cup 2010 mascot!

"The name ‘Zakumi' is a composition of ‘ZA' standing for South Africa and ‘kumi', which translates into ‘10' in various languages across Africa." (FIFA.com)


Japan's uniform is usually blue because we are an island surrounded by the sea. This towel seems to be really popular. There were only a few left.

Tomorrow is our first game against Cameroon.
Gambare, Nippon! (Good luck, Japan!)

Vertigo

It's just stairs that lead to a rental video store but I like looking down from this spot!

Hollywood Video is our local rental video, CD, and comic store...or was. It just so happens that they closed down today. I guess, with so many ways to rent or download movies online now, people don't need to actually go to the store anymore.

Across the Street

This building reflects the other buildings on the other side of the street and the evening sky!

See other reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Red

My computer refused to upload photo's for a few days, but it was in a good mood today and I was able to post a photo for Theme Day. Today's theme is 'Red.'

I don't know if you can call this red, but there seemed to be a lot of red in the Katsuo-bushi corner at the Seiyu, the supermarket next to Tokorozawa Station. Katsuo-bushi is made from dried and shaved Bonito, a type of fish we call Katsuo. But I've heard some people just call it 'Fish Flakes.'

Katsuo-shi can be used in just about any Japanese dish. It can be used as a topping for dishes like tofu, a ingredient in making broth, or used as a filling for rice balls.



My grandmother used to buy a dried Bonito and shave it at home. But since I don't have a shaver, I just buy the already shaved packets at the supermarket. I think Seiyu has a pretty large selection.

My friend and I used Katsuo-bushi as a topping for Takoyaki. Have you ever tried it? It was really delicious. And my friend's Takoyaki maker is red, too!




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Sing it in the Box

This is for Lenola Daily Photo (amazing photos posted, go see!), who wanted to see what the karaoke box looks like at night!

You can see the guy in the orange jacket standing outside, looking for customers. Karaoke boxes usually have these staff outside. But my friend and I don't need any convincing, we're already heading there anyways!

These days, we're working on Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillet's duet song 'Lucky.' It's a really really great song!

Do you have a favorite duet song?

Mr. Donut

Have you heard of Mister Donut?

It's a very popular doughnut store in Japan. We have other doughnut stores like Doughnut Plant and Krispy Kreme, but I think Mister Donut is still the most popular doughnut store here. Everyone calls it 'MisDo.'

The first Mister Donut store opened in 1971. Since then the chain has grown and now there are approximately 1,300 stores nationwide. There are four Mister Donut stores just in Tokorozawa. This is the one beside the Tokorozawa Station East Exit.


Sometimes Mister Donut has sales where every doughnut is 100yen! I always end up stopping by when I see this. There are so many doughnuts to choose from, but my favorite is the Golden Chocolate doughnut, below. I could eat a dozen!