06 May 2012
Off-line
Now Japan is in without nuclear power. It's the first time since 1970 when reactors in Tokai Nuclear Power Plant and Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant went to routine inspection.
And for now, there's no specific schedule that go on-line in any other nuclear reactors in Japan.
Well, no policy, no gain. It seems like that Japanese government could not find any good reason to put some of nuclear reactors go on-line yet.
Finally, cherry bloomed!!
By the way, cherry trees bloomed in this week! I've been waited more than a month!
Well, it's beautiful. But rainy drops most of petals... My boss told me that cherry trees in Sapporo is short life. Cherry trees bloom in rainy season, then we cannot enjoy the blossom so long...
Look at the photo above, trees on right are cherry trees but most of them became leaves.
I upload some photos that I took today, I hope you can enjoy "short-life" cherry blossom in Sapporo.
Thank you.
18 April 2012
My favourite coffee time
Well, I was in really busy days, but it's not good way to make excuses that I did not update my blog such a long time...
April and cherry blossom
I'm feeling weird these days. It's April and soon Golden Week(consecutive holidays in May in Japan), but cherry trees are not bloomed yet. That weird for me. Usually, cherry blossom fall down in this season for me. But there's no cherry blossom yet.
This is because I moved to Sapporo last year. Sapporo is far north from Tokyo that I lived until last August. I didn't care about "桜前線(Sakura-zensen; front line of cherry blossom)", after cherry bloomed in Tokyo. But I found that cherry tree needs more than a month to bloom in Sapporo, compare to Tokyo!
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| Front line of cherry blossom; from http://tenki.jp |
Which means I need to wait about 2 more weeks to see cherry blossom here! See cherry blossom in May!? Well, it might become my first experience to see cherry blossom in May... lol
I hope I can upload some photos of cherry blossom in May.
New coffee experience
Anyway, let's back to today's title. Coffee!
I love coffee. I drink it mostly everyday. lol
These days, I added new stuff to my collection of coffee tools. Here it is.
This is my new stuff. BIALETTI moka express!
It works simply and tasty. I love this! My friend told me about this, but it's awesome! If you like to drink coffee, you should try this! It's worth to try.
After I bought moka express, my coffee time changed drastically.
By the way, I'm planning to go trip this year. I'm checking following cities, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore. I'm focusing on these cities because I think I cannot take much time to take holidays. So I'm planning to trip east asian countries.
Well, which city do you think the best?
Thank you.
Masaya
13 December 2011
"バルス" will save the world?
Laputa: Castle in the sky
It's one of Ghibli's animation that had been shown in 1986.
Well, the animation was shown before my born.
The animation was directed by Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿), but it was not so good at box office record at first time. But it have really high customer satisfaction according to some sources.
The animation was shown in several times on TV too. Last Friday, the Japanese TV station and one of the partner of Ghibli studio Nippon TV(日本テレビ) showed Laputa again.
According to the video research which is providing viewing rates for each programs that on-aired, the viewing rates of Friday's "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" was 15.9%. It's not so high, but these days the viewing rates are really low then it was not bad rates.
バルス Bals
In the ending of Laputa, there is the word "Bals(バルス)". I don't know this word came from, but this is really famous word for Laputa lovers. This word is keyword to destroy the world of Laputa.
Laputa was aired in 2009, last time. At that time the Japan's largest BBS 2チャンネル(2ch) was knocked down because many people try to write about the バルス(Bals) at the same time.
2 years ago...
Nippon TV aired Laputa again and at this time. Many people tweeted about "バルス(Bals)" at the same time.
Well, here is what happened at that time.
According to the tweet counter the unofficial twitter counter, the TPS(tweet per seconds) at the time of バルス on aired on TV was marked 14594 TPS.
Well, it's nearly doubled the previous world's record 8868 TPS that made by news of Beyonce's pregnancy.
I think, it's crazy. Of course, I didn't tweet about バルス(Bals) because I was working at that time...
Have you ever watched Laputa?
Thank you.
Masaya
31 October 2011
Three months since then.
In the beginning of August, I've been moved to Sapporo-shi due to my job. It's been almost 3 months since then.
Well, I was not interested in Sapporo, neither Hokkaido because flight fares are expensive if I go there from Tokyo. (In fact, it's cheaper to go to Seoul than go to Sapporo from Tokyo) So, I don't know much about there but I need to go there.
Now, I'm getting know about here.
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The statue of William Smith Clark
President of the Sapporo Agriculture College (Now the Hokkaido University) in 1876-1877
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Sapporo, Hokkaido
Sapporo-shi is the capital city of Hokkaido prefecture which is in northern Japan. And it's the 4th largest city in Japan. It's about 830 kilometres away from Tokyo.
Hokkaido is the second largest island in Japan ("Honshu:本州" is the largest island in Japan), also it's one of prefectures in Japan.
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| The plane with funny paint which I board. |
I need to board the plane for about 90 minutes to get to Hokkaido from Tokyo. Also, I need to ride train for about an hour to get to Sapporo station from the New Chitose Airport which is the largest airport in Hokkaido.
The plane fly in over Tohoku area which suffered from earthquake and tsunami in March. Of course, I couldn't see any damage from the sky.
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| The view from my seat |
My Life in Sapporo
I've never been to Hokkaido, and I didn't have any friends who came from Hokkaido or who is related to Hokkaido. Which mean, I don't have any friends who can meet with easily here. I think, it's good time to make new friends here.
Anyway, the weather in here is not good for me I felt. It too cold for me as October. Sometimes, the highest temperature are less than 10 degrees...
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| The trees are getting red and yellow |
I think, there are many places which are worth to see here in Hokkaido, but I'm so busy at work and I cannot prepare my time to taking some photos these places. I hope I can update my blog again with some photos.
Thank you.
18 August 2011
Sky high
Earlier this month, I moved to Sapporo city from Tokyo due to my work. I rode airplane to go to Sapporo. As soon as the airplane take-off from Haneda Airport I saw beautiful view of Tokyo. Top of Tokyo Sky Tree appeared from clouds which covered around Tokyo. I wish I could take that picture, but all of electric devices not be used at that time due to take-off. So, I couldn't take that... Anyway, today I will write about Tokyo Sky Tree.
Before I start to write about Tokyo Sky Tree, I would like to write a little about towers in Japan. The most famous tower in Japan is Tokyo Tower, I think. And I like this tower the most.
I took this picture near Daimon in Tokyo. Usually, Tokyo tower's colour is red, but this looks like blue due to light-up.
In Tokyo tower, there are 2 viewing room. One of them is main observatory at 120 metres-high. Another one is Special Observatory at 223 metres high, and view from this Special Observatory is amazing especially at night. You can see beautiful night view of Tokyo from here. It's worth to visit, if you come to Tokyo. Also, you can enjoy some amusements at the "Foottown" which is located at the bottom of tower.
Next, I would like to introduce you Yokohama Marine Tower.
It's located in Yokohama, and it was debuted as the world's highest lighthouse at that time. But now Yokohama Marine Tower don't have the function as lighthouse.
I also like this tower. But I don't like swing while winds blows. It's like ship-sick.
In April, I was working in Chiba prefecture. At that time, I found the building which stands near Tokyo Bay. I did't know about this tower until I saw this tower. This tower is called Chiba Marine Tower.
I felt, it's not looks like tower. But I heard it's tower.
I'm in Sapporo now, then I would like to introduce you Sapporo TV Tower.
I know about this tower, but I didn't know the name of it. Well, I felt it's not so high. But I believe, it's enough for its purpose.
Of course, there are more towers in Japan, but I picked up these 4 towers because I watched in this year.
Tokyo Sky Tree
So, let's check the new face.
Tokyo Sky Tree. Tokyo Sky Tree is 634 metre high. Now it's the highest tower in the world, the second highest structure in the world, and the highest structure in Japan. Well, it's still under the construction, and it will open in 22nd May, 2012.
Tokyo Sky Tree is located in Sumida, Tokyo. Which is the east side of Tokyo, and it's near Asakusa. The nearest station to Tokyo Sky Tree is Oshiage station, and now the town around Tokyo Sky Tree is under re-development. I think, new buildings and these kind of buildings will be appeared in next few years.
Viewing room
Of course, Tokyo Sky Tree will have viewing room (Observatory) but I felt the price is a little expensive.
1st observatory at 350 metres high will be 2,000 JPY (about 25 USD), and 2nd observatory at 450 metres high will be 3,000 JPY (about 39 USD). (Both for adult)
So, let's check other observatory prices near Tokyo.
Sunshine 60
Sunshine 60 is 60 stories high building in Ikebukuro, and the observatory is at 226.3 metres high (this is the highest observatory except sky decks in Tokyo). And the price is 620 JPY (about 8 USD).
Yokohama landmark tower
Yokohama Landmark Tower is at Minatomirai-21 area in Yokohama, and it's the highest building in Japan. The observatory is at 272 metres high and its price is 1000 JPY (about 12 USD).
Yokohama marine tower
I wrote about Yokohama Marine tower in this article. The observatory is at 106.2 metres high and price is 750 JPY (about 9 USD).
Roppongi hills
Roppongi hills is located in Roppongi. The observatory is at 218 metres high and price is 1500 JPY (about 19 USD). But in this building you can visit outside observatory at 270 metres high.
Tokyo tower
As I write about this one in top of this article, main observatory at 120 metres high and price is 820 JPY (about 10 USD). And special observatory at 223 metres high and price is 600 JPY (about 7 USD). If you visit both special and main observatory, you need to pay 1420 JPY (about 18.5 USD).
Tocho
Tocho is officially, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1. And it has observatory at 202 metres high and price is Free.
So, I think the observatory price for Tokyo Sky Tree is quite expensive. How do you think about that?
Thank you.
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