Jul 28, 2008
Capoeira in the Dome
wow. it wasn't as spectacular as it sounds, but yes, my 'japanese' capoeira group Amigos Da Capoeira had a little 20 min. performance inside the yahoo dome baseball stadium...we were actually invited as a part of a world dance performance event as well as a sort of flee market occasion going down in the stadium for the weekend. Well, our capoeira time was actually cut down to 10 minutes because half of it was devoted to 'axe' dancing wich some of the people in our group do but... no i don't dance axe. we had a little crowd going.
Jul 26, 2008
Yamakasa 08' 博多祇園山笠
man, have we been waiting for this festival to come all year!?...the Hakata Gion Yamakasa is fukuoka's most anticipated annual festival, which is also probably one of the most well known festivals all throughout japan.
The concept is pretty simple: On july 15th, thousands of men dress up in 't-backs', which are basically modern day g-strings, and run around early morning carrying floats on their shoulders from one end of town to the other...now, each district has its own float, and because of the heat, spectators throw water on them while they pass screaming 'oisa, oisa'.
ooooissa! ooooissaaaa!
so the floats are pretty heavy, as you can see, some of them are built almost a year in advance...
they run by you at a pretty fast pace, all this while getting splashed with water from all directions...
shimekomi+kakinawa= this is the loincloath wrapped in a T shape, and the rope used to wrap around the floats timbers...yea, i wasn't playing about that thong thing!
now these are the floats: often you can catch these floating shrines all year round in different parts of the city...
introductions: the 'macau' girls...who came to see a whole bunch of guys in thongs running around, right?
because it was early in the morning, we decided to stay up with some friends all together not to fall back asleep!
this activity ranges from all ages...
...just as long as you wear that thong-tha-thong thong thong!
i have to admit, fukuoka festivals are a lot of fun, and because of this fact, a lot of people show up, almost making it impossible to see what is going on...but it was well worth it and a definite must-see for an early summer visit to fukuoka...
The concept is pretty simple: On july 15th, thousands of men dress up in 't-backs', which are basically modern day g-strings, and run around early morning carrying floats on their shoulders from one end of town to the other...now, each district has its own float, and because of the heat, spectators throw water on them while they pass screaming 'oisa, oisa'.
ooooissa! ooooissaaaa!
so the floats are pretty heavy, as you can see, some of them are built almost a year in advance...
they run by you at a pretty fast pace, all this while getting splashed with water from all directions...
shimekomi+kakinawa= this is the loincloath wrapped in a T shape, and the rope used to wrap around the floats timbers...yea, i wasn't playing about that thong thing!
now these are the floats: often you can catch these floating shrines all year round in different parts of the city...
introductions: the 'macau' girls...who came to see a whole bunch of guys in thongs running around, right?
because it was early in the morning, we decided to stay up with some friends all together not to fall back asleep!
this activity ranges from all ages...
...just as long as you wear that thong-tha-thong thong thong!
i have to admit, fukuoka festivals are a lot of fun, and because of this fact, a lot of people show up, almost making it impossible to see what is going on...but it was well worth it and a definite must-see for an early summer visit to fukuoka...
Jul 21, 2008
Naoshima 直島 : Paradise between Honshu and Shikoku
After dropping my moms off at the airport in osaka, it was now my turn to go back home...back to hakata: not by plane but by train. Because i had time and i was now alone, i figured i would stop somewhere in between and enjoy the trip back. I had heard about a place off the coast of okayama, a special little place with wonderful museums by Tadao Ando, a place with interesting art: an island called Naoshima.
as soon as i got there, i realized that i couldn't make it for just a day trip, so i decided to stay in a youth hostel for the night. That's where i met other folks from all over japan, like me, traveling, visiting...
Asahi= Sunrise...I didn't get much sleep because just before five, they woke me up to take me to see the sunrise...
right after the sunrise we got kidnapped for breakfast by a local worker...
Naoshima udon: seems to be one of the specialties here...delicious home made wheat noodles just for us!
a nice healthy breakfast it was indeed! i took seconds.
The following day was basically like a guided tour of the island with a couple of girls i met that had been there for a while...the next pictures are basically a glimpse of the art you can catch laying around the island.
a glimpse of the inside of the 'benesse museum'...one of the must-see museums of the island...the other one i couldn't really take pictures of...no glimpse.
the famous "oval hotel" by Tadao san. I didn't know we could get this close without paying but...
small world: I happened to meet a San Franciscan on the ferry while coming, who happened to stay on the island as well for a night with friends...i aslo happened to see him in the morning on my little tour of the island, and he happened to let me inside his room to take a look at the architecture...it happened to be quite nice.
this is a view from one of the 'cheaper' hotels Tadao Ando designed. Nice morning view of the sea as you wake up...
...he also happened to give me a little sample of the breakfast they served at the hotel's restaurant. thank you arturo!
Minamidera by Tadao Ando, again...this time of wood, only wood!
the neighboring toilet's ceiling detail. it'll have you pissin' all over the place.
the mini-shrine gate to nothing.
かぼちゃ：many pumpkins flocked the island. this one you couldn't actually get into though.
some interesting furniture-like art by Niki de Saint-Phalle can be seen around the beach area.
Haisha, Shinro Ohtake: this was one of the 'house projects' that was built on the island. The idea is that they created a little tour of five, six interesting houses around the island, from the many designed by various architects.
that's not chalk but yarn.
glass block staircase to a shrine?
the ferry station: sanaa architecture.
バイバイ！また会いましょうか？
like a sunrise off the coast of...: The japanese islands don't stop to amaze me: I would definitely come back some day...maybe not anytime soon as a client in one of the hotels, but again as a wanderer, meeting interesting people...part of those unique experiences when you are alone.
as soon as i got there, i realized that i couldn't make it for just a day trip, so i decided to stay in a youth hostel for the night. That's where i met other folks from all over japan, like me, traveling, visiting...
Asahi= Sunrise...I didn't get much sleep because just before five, they woke me up to take me to see the sunrise...
right after the sunrise we got kidnapped for breakfast by a local worker...
Naoshima udon: seems to be one of the specialties here...delicious home made wheat noodles just for us!
a nice healthy breakfast it was indeed! i took seconds.
The following day was basically like a guided tour of the island with a couple of girls i met that had been there for a while...the next pictures are basically a glimpse of the art you can catch laying around the island.
a glimpse of the inside of the 'benesse museum'...one of the must-see museums of the island...the other one i couldn't really take pictures of...no glimpse.
the famous "oval hotel" by Tadao san. I didn't know we could get this close without paying but...
small world: I happened to meet a San Franciscan on the ferry while coming, who happened to stay on the island as well for a night with friends...i aslo happened to see him in the morning on my little tour of the island, and he happened to let me inside his room to take a look at the architecture...it happened to be quite nice.
this is a view from one of the 'cheaper' hotels Tadao Ando designed. Nice morning view of the sea as you wake up...
...he also happened to give me a little sample of the breakfast they served at the hotel's restaurant. thank you arturo!
Minamidera by Tadao Ando, again...this time of wood, only wood!
the neighboring toilet's ceiling detail. it'll have you pissin' all over the place.
the mini-shrine gate to nothing.
かぼちゃ：many pumpkins flocked the island. this one you couldn't actually get into though.
some interesting furniture-like art by Niki de Saint-Phalle can be seen around the beach area.
Haisha, Shinro Ohtake: this was one of the 'house projects' that was built on the island. The idea is that they created a little tour of five, six interesting houses around the island, from the many designed by various architects.
that's not chalk but yarn.
glass block staircase to a shrine?
the ferry station: sanaa architecture.
バイバイ！また会いましょうか？
like a sunrise off the coast of...: The japanese islands don't stop to amaze me: I would definitely come back some day...maybe not anytime soon as a client in one of the hotels, but again as a wanderer, meeting interesting people...part of those unique experiences when you are alone.
Jul 16, 2008
102 Years Young: still shining...
Dr. Saburo Shochi (昇地三郎博士): wow. 102? could've fooled me...there is a lot more to this man than just the simple fact that he's a centenarian. He's about to embark on his fifth world tour, sharing his magic and his knowledge, and he just finished his latest book about his extraordinary life...and we just happened to have a little barbecue with this sensei...
"I was not confident whether we would have time enough to translate the notes of “102 Years Young” into English as I finish them just two weeks before the book’s publication. However, we got help from some friends of the design editor Andre Yoshimoto and thanks to them, now I can send the book to the people I met abroad in my world around lecture tours. Today we had a barbecue party in my home as a way to say thank you to the American, French and Chinese students. Although they are leaving Japan to their home countries in September, I am sure I will have new opportunities to meet them again…"
-Dr. Saburo Shochi
for more info and pics check his blog at: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/shiinomi100
"I was not confident whether we would have time enough to translate the notes of “102 Years Young” into English as I finish them just two weeks before the book’s publication. However, we got help from some friends of the design editor Andre Yoshimoto and thanks to them, now I can send the book to the people I met abroad in my world around lecture tours. Today we had a barbecue party in my home as a way to say thank you to the American, French and Chinese students. Although they are leaving Japan to their home countries in September, I am sure I will have new opportunities to meet them again…"
-Dr. Saburo Shochi
for more info and pics check his blog at: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/shiinomi100
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