The Sumida River Firework Festival

The Sumida River Firework Festival is a firework festival that is held every year on the last Saturday in July along the riverbed of the river Sumida.
Because of the earthquake disaster, this year the festival was held on August 27.

A total of 20,000 well designed fireworks lit up the night sky with bright colors.

There were a lot of girls wearing traditional costumes and they all looked very pretty.

The Sumida River Firework Festival - 隅田川花火大会
Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival　(wikipedia)

The Awa Odori Festival in Koenji

At the end of the summer, I went to the Awa Odori Festival held in Koenji.

The Awa Odori Festival originates from Tokushima and is one of the traditional dance festivals in Japan.

The Awa Odori Festival in Koenji is one of the three biggest dance festivals in Japan, and each year, approximately 10,000 people dancers gather together from all over the country.

Each region has its own individual characteristic in terms of dance style, musical instrument and costumes. It was really interesting to watch.

Tokyo Awa Odori Festival - 東京阿波踊り
Awa Dance Festival (wikipedia)

Kagurazaka-Festival:Hozuki-Fair

My friend and I went to the Hozuki-fair in Kagurazaka (Shinjuku).

Potted Hozuki were sold in the festival.
They were very lovely!

Also, a lot of stands were set up at the shopping street.
The smell from the stands made us very hungry.

Kagurazaka (Japanese)

Thank you!

Thank you all!! Thank you for worrying about us.
8tokyo members and our family are safe after a massive earthquake in Japan.
The aftershock continues now. However, we are safe.
It was so scary but we were lucky enough to be in a safe place.

We’ll continue posting “something sparkle in Tokyo”.
I believe that may be some help to remind happy smiles.

Thank you again & again!! ありがとう！
love xoxo

Osechi-ryori

In Japan, for New Year’s, it is customary to eat “Osechi-ryor” and “ozo-ni”.

This year, I also home made “Osechi-ryori”.

Among the dishes of “Osechi-ryori”, there are various meanings such as prayer for fortune and long life, but recently, it has been very popular to combine these standard dishes with other favorite dishes.

Osechi-ryori 2010
osechi (wikipedia)

Japanese sweets from Takanoya Sadahiro

A Happy New Year!!We wish a happy New Year to all of you, our great blog readers!!These Japanese sweets are inspired by the scene of kyoto’s four seasons. The design of the sweets are varied with the seasons,they are supposed to delight the eye as much as the palate.

It’s great to buy them as gifts for special occasions.

Takanoya Sadahiro (Japanese site)

Rinato Kitchen

Rinato Kitchen is my friends’ everyday cafe.　You can have healthy Japanese homey foods at there.

All of the menu can order each single.

Rinato Kitchen (Japanese)

Toilet paper ORIGAMI

Sometimes when using a store’s restroom, you might notice the end of the toilet paper has been folded into a tip as a way to  say, “this restroom has been cleaned.” But if one time, the tip of the toilet paper was folded not into a triangle, but instead into the shape of a heart, what would you think?

Origami-loving Tokyo University students began making origami out of toilet paper. It caught on and “Toilet Paper Origami” is spreading. They have made a website which features a collection of figures such as hearts, clovers, and rabbits as well folding instructions. Why not give it a try with your own bathroom’s toilet paper?

Toilet paper ORIGAMI (japanese)