A talented photographer and traveler Trey Ratcliff has created two very cool videos capturing daily life in Japan. Most scenes are from Tokyo, some from Kyoto. Watch them here:
Trey Ratcliff, who is blind on one eye, has a lot of really neat photos in HDR technique on his web site at StuckInCustoms.com (the Japan category is here).
A note for the technically inclined: the slow-motion footage in the above videos was achieved using a Casio EX-FC100 digital camera. This little gadget costs only about $200 and can capture up to 1000 frames per second.
In Japan, you can find vending machines for drinks, ice cream, noodles, umbrellas (!), and many other things. But bananas?
Japan’s first banana vending machine by Dole, installed recently in Tokyo, has become a big hit, selling its entire stock on the first and subsequent days.
The cooled vending machine has been installed in Shibuya Station in an underground connection between the Tokyu Denentoshi Line and Hanzomon Line. In the future, the maker hopes to sell other fruits in vending machines directly inside offices and universities. Dole is apparently targeting people who live alone and don’t have much time to prepare or shop for food.
However, since eating in public is traditionally considered taboo in Japan, most people who buy the bananas take them home, to their office or school.
One banana from the vending machine costs 130 Yen (about $1.50) while a bunch of 5 or 6 bananas costs 390 Yen (about $4.50).
This weekend, one of Tokyo’s most prestigous fireworks festivals, Sumidagawa Hanabi, took place over the Sumida river.
The pyrotechnic festivity with 20,000 fireworks — and about the same amount of spectators — lasted about an hour and a half.
What’s really great about Japanese hanabi is that fireworks last really long — the rockets keep exploding without breaks for an hour or even more. Organizers spend months preparing for these events.
We dug up a couple of videos showing this year’s sparkling Sumidagawa Hanabi. Watch:
In Japan, you can easily find plenty of old things. One of these is Jomon Sugi (縄文杉) which is officially the oldest known tree in Japan. It is estimated to be between 2170 and 7200 years old — exact age is unknown.
Discovery of the tree in 1968 on the small southern island Yakushima sparked moves to protect the forests on this island which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Jomon Sugi, the oldest and largest known specimen of Cryptomeria japonica, is located on the north face of Miyanoura-dake, the highest peak on Yakushima, at an elevation of 1300 meters (4300 ft). Here are some more technical details: the tree’s height is 25.3 meters (83 ft), trunk circumference is 16.2 meters (53 ft), and the volume measures approximately 300 cubic meters (10,000 cubic ft). For visitors, access is restricted to an observation deck at a distance of 15 meters (50 ft) from the tree.
The island of Yakushima has developed a very rich, interconnected ecosystem. As many as 30 different species of trees, herbs, plants, and mosses have been observed growing from the surface of some of the greater sugi trees here (via link).
Top: Jomon Sugi, the oldest tree in Japan (source: Wikimedia Commons). Bottom left: size of tree compared to a human (visitors aren't allowed to take photos this close at the actual tree). Bottom right: location of the Yakushima island.
The Japanese bowling society strikes back at the summer heat! Asahi.com has a short report about a fun ice bowling event that was held yesterday as part of the local festival in front of Tokyo’s JR Shinbashi Station. During the event, they unveiled an oversized 2-meter tall ice bowling pin with a weight of 700 kg. Watch the report below.
August 7, 2010 by Rok | Miscellaneous | Add your comment »
