Sapporo Television Tower & White Illumination !!

Today I went to Odori Park again... because I wanted to take pictures of colorful glittered Sapporo Television Tower no matter what. When I arrived the park, the tower was illuminated colorfully. I lost myself in taking photos of the beautiful tower and White Illumination.


↑they are colorful and pretty, aren't they? but they are all out of focus. I want to buy a new camera.


I love blue illumination best of all colors.
I'm very thankful for Shuji Nakamura, who invented blue light-emitting diode (LED).

White Illumination !! 2

Today I went to Odori Park again.
It was fine, so there were many travelers taking photographs.
Enjoy these White Illuminations !





The actual object was much more beautifull !



← Sapporo TV Tower

Until just before I took this picture, the tower was glittering colorfully; green, blue, pink, and so on.
However, the moment I try to take a picture, the colorful illuminations finished.
I was very sorry !!!



This is the same object as what of Dec 5th. →
Color has changed !!

Happy Merry Christmas !!

Today is Sunday and Christmas Eve, so everyone enjoys Christmas today.
I went to Sapporo Factory where the Christmas illumination was very famous.
There were many families and lovers.
They looked like happy.
When I arrived at Sapporo Factory, there was a show. Pretty girls were dancing and twirling batons. I enjoyed it.










After that, I went in a
cafe and drank a non-alchol cocktail.
When I was drinking, a Christmas melody was played. A big tree's illuminations changed various colors to the music. It was very fantastic !!

Christmas Eve Eve !!

Today is Christmas Eve Eve !
I bought a Christmas cake.
It was very soft and delicious.
There were strawbellies and fresh cream between sponge cakes.



But the cake was very cheap, it was only 700 yen !!
I can enjoy it today, tommorow, and the day after tomorrow !!

Town's Christmas 2 !!

Today I went to a restarutant at STELLA PLACE in Sapporo.
I had a year-end party there.
Food was good, and I enjoyed talking.
I enjoyed Christmas illumination, too.

←at shopping mall, APIA




at JR Sapporo Staｔion　→

Town's Christmas !!

Christmas is just around the corner, so we can see many christmas decorations all over the town.


←at Sapporo Factory



at shopping mall, PASEO →





←This snowhouse (not real snowhouse) is built at JR Sapporo Station, look at inside of the house→, there are many christmas goods everywhere in the house !!!

White Illumination !!

Last Friday night I went to Odori Park again. The Park changed from what I've seen in autumn.It was brightly illuminated.
Christmas is coming soon.

I felt Fall !

Last weekend I took these pictures at Odori Park.
Leaves were very colorful; red, yellow and orange.
It was very beautiful autumn scenery.

More about Osaka

In the center of Osaka town, Umeda, there is a building called HEP FIVE. At the entrance of it, there is an art object of a big red shark. There are many fashionable shops in the buildings.




On the building, there is a big and red Ferris Wheel.
We can see the night views of Osaka on it.
What do you think it is? →
It is the night view of Osaka Castle!!


By the way, look at the picture. This is the chair in subway platform in Osaka. It has the cushion! How kind Osaka's subway is !!





This is a tree standing by the roadside, in front of the family court near the Osaka castle. I felt it was so splendid that I took the picture.

The Osaka Castle !!

The next day we enjoyed Doutonbori night, we went to see the Osaka castle. It was rainy day, but a volunteer guide explained about the castle very kindly.


Because of rain, I couldn't see Osaka's scenery from the castle's deck well. But there was something like museum in the castle and I could study the castle's history and Hideyoshi Toyotomi there.

Then we found we hadn't eaten Takoyaki yet in Osaka, so we went into a tea stall around the castle. There we ate Takoyaki and Mitarashi-dango. They were very hot and good taste.
We were at ease too much there, so when we noticed we had short time to our flight. We hurried to the Kansai Airport.

Doutonbori in Osaka !!

After enjoying Takarazuka, we left for Osaka. We went to the famous place 'Doutonbori'.
We took some pictures with Guriko's neon sign, Kuidaore doll', and so on.

Then we felt hungry, and we went to the famous Okonomiyaki restaurant, 'Boteju' near Doutonbori.
We drank beer, and ordered three kinds of Okonomiyaki.
All of them were very delicious.

Takarazuka's Souvenirs !!

There were many original sweets and snacks at the souvenir shop in Takarazuka.

I found very unusual souvenir. It was 'Hagi-no-Tsuki'. Hagi-no-Tsuki is a famous kind of cake in Sendai, but in Takarazuka, it was packed in the Takarazuka's boxes (see the photo). Why Sendai's cakes were there? It's very mysterious.


And one more original snack is 'Kageki Senbei'. It is kind of Tansan Senbei. Tansan Senbei is very light snack included carbonated water in hot springs. It is famous snack in Hyogo prefecture. I think the word 'Kageki' has two meanings. One is 'opera' and the other is 'strong' like carbonated soda. The photos of Top Stars in Takarazuka printed on the can. People who love Takarazuka must be dying to have it.

My First Takarazuka !!!

Last weekend I went to the Kansai area with my two co-workers. The aim of this trip was to watch Takarazuka Grand Theater. I had never watched Takarazuka's stage, so I was looking forward to watching it very much. At Takarazuka company, all the members who act are woman, and the top stars who play men's role are all beautiful. There are many crazy fans of them.


We watched Yuki-Gumi(Snow Troup)'s stage 'Lucifers Tears'. The top star Asami Hikaru performed very well. She was powerful and dynamic. I was attracted by her. But...oh, how regrettable it was!! I had been too busy to sleep at work recently, so as soon as the stage began and became dark, I felt very sleepy. I could only endure my sleepiness in the play, so I couldn't understand what were going at the story. When the curtain came down on the last scene, many audiences were sobbing. My co-workers were very excited. But I...felt very pity.
Anyway I enjoyed Takarazuka very much. It was very excited place. I want to go there again some day when my work doesn't very hard.

Hooray! Consadole !!!

The other day a salesperson came to my office to do business. I didn't want to talk with him because I was very busy. But when we finished talking, he said to me,'By the way, do you like to watch soccer game?' I answered, 'Oh, sometimes I watch it on TV.'Then he said, 'I have two tickets of today's soccer game, our local team Consadole Sapporo vs Tokushima Vortis. But I can't go, so I'll give them to you if you want.' I was very hesitated if I would go or not, because it was raining, and I was planning to take a lecture at my office the evening. But I have never been to watch soccer game at a studium, so I dicided to give up my job and go to watch the game.

I went to the Atsubetsu Studium which doesn't have roof.
It was raining heavily like shower (click the photo!!→）,
and it was very cold! My breath became white.I wore red poncho and watch the game. The first half finished by a score of 0-0. I was thinking of going home because of cold, but I'm very glad to have stayed there. The second half our Consadole scored six goals!! What a wonderful team our Consadole was!!I forgot the cold and went back home pleasantly.
I arrived at home and turned on a TV. I was looking forward to watch the game on TV. But every local TV news didn't broadcasted the marvelous game. Why? Oh, that was the day when our local baseball team won the first prize at the Pacific League!! All TV news broadcasted NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS! I was a little sad, but I'm very happy because both the baseball team and the soccor team in Hokkaido did great job.

I grew up to be an OBATARIAN !

One day, my friend and I went to a restaurant to eat lunch. There we ordered the same menu,'ButaDon(a bowl of rice topped with pork)'. Before long, a waitress brought us two 'ButaDon's. I compared them, and found the slices of pork on my bowl were fewer than those of my friend's. I could see rice between pieces of meat on my bowl. I called the waitress back immediately, and said, 'These porks are much fewer than those ones, aren't they?' After a short pause of upset, she said, '....you mean you want us to add more pork to your bowl?' I stared her and replied, 'Yes, of course. Don't you see them? These are fewer than those, apparently.' She said,'Just a moment, please', and went into a kitchen with my bowl in order to consult with her boss.
Five minutes passed, and she came back at last with full of slices of pork on my bowl. 'Is it all right?' 'Oh, its okay.' I nodded and ate it.

If it was ten years ago, I would never say such a thing. I was more sensible person then. As I grew older, I became too bold. Now I am like an 'OBATARIAN'. Do you remember 'obatarian'? Many years ago, we used this word to stand for shameless, impudent women.
I thought I wouldn't be such a person at that time, but the fact is...
Oh, the hatred of foods is terrible!!
I won't order the same menu as my friends', not to show my true charactor.

World Heritage, Shiretoko !!!

On the day after seeing bears, I left for the world heritage, Shiretoko, by bus.
The sky was covered with thick clouds in the morning, so my feeling wasn't good.But as our bus got closer to Shiretoko-Goko Lakes, the sky was suddenly cleared up. How lucky I was!!!
Shiretoko-Goko had five small lakes. I walked around one of them.
The natural environment has been preserved in that area.


After that, we left for Utoro
(Shiretoko Natural Center was there). We got on a cruiser there, and enjoyed the wonderful natural view of Shiretoko. It was magnificent sight !!



I also went to see The Oshinkoshin Waterfall. The sound of waterfall refleshed me.

I had short time to see the scenery, so I must always hurry everywhere.
I wish I could have more time!
But I've never had such a recreation for a long time. This trip will be a pleasant memory for me.