Salvador Dali exhibition

While in Tohoku I went and saw an amazing collection of paintings and sculptures by Salvador Dali. My favourite was the top sculpture, which is called Alice in Wonderland. I also love the ashtray which is an elephant with wings one way, and a swan the other way.

 

 

Loft

 

Went to Loft today which is a shop with an amazing selection of stationary as well as other things. The folder is for school work, the scrapbook is for my Tohoku photos and the pin board is for random stuff!

  

 

 

Kakunodate photography exhibition

At Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum they also have a gallery where the exhibits change from time to time. When I visited there was a collection of old photographs. These are some of my favourite.

 

Samurai visiting Egypt

An unfinished Eiffel Tower

 

 

Kakunodate

On our first day in Tohoku we drove to Kakunodate. If you are ever in the Akita prefecture then this is a must. We went in Summer but it is best to visit in Spring to see the town in all its glory when the streets are painted pink by hundreds of Sakura trees.  

 

 It used to be a samurai stronghold and there are many Samurai houses you can go inside. The best one I went to was Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum.  On display are items from 17th Century through to the 20th Century. There was an armoury with a collection of swords, helmets, guns and flags as well as flower dyed silk kimonos worn by samurai brides at weddings. Outside there is a small but beautiful botanical garden which contains many rare plants. The Aoyagi eight petal red weeping cerry is a species found only in this garden. So there is something there for everyone whatever your interests are.

  

 In April and May this street is full of beautiful cherry blossom and the many tourists who come to the famous view.

 Kakunodate is just as famous for it`s cherry blossom products.

 Inside a Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum.

 

Tohoku

It was amazing experience traveling around Tohoku. This was the 60 metre boat which was washed inland by the 2011 Tsunami. Two years on and it is still there, right there in the middle of the road leading up to the now deserted station. However the residents of Kesennuma have now voted for it to be scrapped, saying it brought back too many terrible memories. 




 

Lake Biwa fireworks

Why do fireworks have to be so hard to photograph? You have to take the photo just as they explode; one second too late and all you get is a black sky with a few yellow spots. I got quite a few pictures which looked like that... Anyway, I managed to get these halfway decent photos stood on top of a bridge watching the amazing display over Lake Biwa. There were even fireworks in the shape of watermelon. Unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph them! For anyone living in Japan I hope you enjoy Obon. I am going traveling around Tohoku which should be an eye opening experience.

xxxxxx

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Hello and welcome

So, I thought I should tell you a bit more about myself. My mum is English and my Dad is Japanese. I was actually born in Japan and lived here for a while as a baby. But then my Mum and I moved back to England. Over the years I have sometimes visited Japan but only for about 10 days at a time. So now that I have finished my Fashion Course at College I have moved to Japan for a year where I will live with my Dad and his wife. I go to language school since my Japanese is very basic, just greetings. After a year I will go back to England where I will go to University to study Fashion Communication.

 

xxxxxx

 

 

 



First Post!

Bon Odori dancing in Kyoto

 

 

39 days since arriving in Japan and I have finally got round to starting my blog. When I told people back home that I was going to spend a year in Japan their first question would be, "well what are you going to do there?" As if there`s not enough going on here to keep me busy! So far in those 39 days I have seen the building of Gion Matsuri floats, watched the actual Gion Matsuri parade, done lots of shopping, walked through freezing water as part of Mitarashi Festival, watched the Hanagasa Flower Procession, been chewed by mosquitos, swam in the beautiful Japan Sea, seen some amazing fireworks and eaten all sorts of yummy food! On this blog I hope to share with you my photos and experiences throughout the year.