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Showing posts from April, 2010

The different sides of Shibuya

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{ Japan April 2010 - Day 3 - Shibuya, Tokyo } We spent the day around Shibuya, spending our day in Meiji Shrine and around Harajuku, and the night in the famous Shibuya shopping area.  The Traditional Culture Meiji Shrine, or Meiji Jingū (明治神宮) as it is called in Japanese, is a Shinto shrine. You could easily recognise that it is a shinto shrine by the torii gates that are found at the entrance and along the walkway leading to the shrine. There were also sake and wine barrels displayed along the way that were offered to the shrine. We managed to pick up some of the practices and etiquette when visiting a Shinto shrine. Before going into the shrine, we were supposed to rinse our hands and mouth on the washing basin in front of the shrine. In the main shrine, the steps for prayers were as follow: Put some coins into the offering box Bow twice Clap twice Make a wish Bow once again We also noticed various boards with wooden tables right outside the shrine. They were full

Double helix bridge in Marina Bay

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The pedestrian bridge that is shaped like a double helix, will be opened officially today. We were planning to drop by this evening, as many events had been arranged for the opening - street performances, fireworks and of course, the unveiling of the official name. Maybe they should name it the DNA Bridge! =) The bridge would connect various old and new landmarks around the area, including the Esplanade, The Float @ Marina Bay, the Singapore Flyer, Merlion Park, and all the new, yet-to-be-completed Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay. The artist rendition of the bridge made it looked interesting and futuristic. Will definitely posts photos of how the "real" bridge looks like if and when we go there! { Click on this page for the post on my walk around Marina Bay the day after the opening of the bridge}

View of Tokyo from Roppongi Hills

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{ Japan April 2010 - Day 2 - Roppongi Hills, Tokyo } After spending the afternoon around Shinjuku , we travelled to Roppongi Hills . Roppongi Hills is a mega-complex in Roppo ngi, or written in Japanese as 六本木 which literally means six trees. Roppongi Hills is a major development which includes various buildings in a large plot of land, developed by Japan's real estate tycoon Minoru Mori . We had dinner around the shopping area before walking along a walkway with sakura trees all brightly lit. It was an interesting and different ways to look at the sakura, after spending a day around "natural" sakura trees in Shinjuku Gyoen. There was a kimono exhibition in the shopping centre. Kimono is a traditional Japanese garment, which, today, is worn mostly by women on special occasion. This is usually matched with sandals. Our next stop was the Mori Tower. We went straight up to the 52nd floor to the Tokyo City View , which was self-dubbed as the "observation dec

Springtime in Shinjuku

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{ Japan April 2010 - Day 2 - Shinjuku, Tokyo } Actually, springtime in any places in Japan would mean that the people awaits for the first sakura tree to bloom. There were forecasts and detailed reports of the percentages of bloom and the best places to watch sakura. They even have a phrase for that - hanam i 花見 - which literally means flower watching. As the cherry blossom, or sakura as it is called in Japan, blooms only for a week or two, everyone watches the forecast closely in preparation for hanami. So, we were extremely lucky to plan our holiday in Japan just at the right time this year. The sakura started blooming less than a week before we were there, and it was in full bloom by the time we were there. After 7 hours of flight, and lugging our luggage and taking the train for almost 2 hours to travel from the Narita Airport to Yokohama where my brother's place was, we rested for the night and decided to join visit Shinjuku Gyoen the next day for hanami. Only we didn

All That Jazz!

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Welcome. Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery - all those things we all hold near and dear to our hearts. Thank you. That was the overture to Chicago: the Musical. It summarised the story nicely, but it was all that and more - there were amazing dances, great jazz music and powerful vocals. I first watched the movie when it came out in 2002. I was transported to another time and was in awe of the performances of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere. The movie went on to receive countless nominations and won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I bought the soundtrack and kept listening to the songs over and over again. Since then, I have watched the movie many times! When I was in New York in 2008 for a few days, I couldn't resist watching Chicago on Broadway . It was shown in the Ambassador Theater . Though tired after a day of walking around New York, I thorou

Culture Shock in Japan!

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It was hard to believe that Japan is a country in Asia and only 7 hours away on the flight from Singapore. It was extremely different from all the Asian countries that I have been to - no, make that all the countries that I have been to. Japan is a land of contradictions.... Ancient temples and huge amazing gardens in the midst of modern skyscrapers Traditional wedding in Meiji Shrine with the bride in full fledged kimono and ladies in cosplay costumes right outside the shrine in Harajuku Clean streets and yet it was difficult to find rubbish bins (apparently Japanese will keep their rubbish in their bags till they see a rubbish bin!) Separating rubbish by combustible, non-combustible, plastic bottles, cans and papers while using lots of papers, ribbons and packaging materials for gifts and decorations. Young man purchased a fortune from a shrine and tied it to a frame with the rest of the paper fortunes, and walked away using all the gadgets and gizmos imaginable Modern anime an