Dotonbori, Osaka & Kobe

takoyaki, Osaka & Kobe

I had a takoyaki of the Hanadako (はなだこ). There is the shop near the Osaka station and it is standing-up-eating.

I had two kind of takoyaki such as a picture. Both are good taste.

Kusikatsu(串カツ), Osaka & Kobe

Kushikatsu(串カツ) is a one of popular food in Osaka. I went a shop named daruma(だるま). These skewer dipped in the source.

JR Osaka station, Osaka & Kobe

There is a massive roof of JR Osaka station between South and North gate buildings. The picture above was taken under the roof. And there is a good cafe named Del Sole. It provides nice espresso.

source: Osaka station city

Tower of the sun(太陽の塔), Osaka & Kobe

Tower of the sun(太陽の塔) is created by Taro Okamoto who is a Japanese artist. It was a symbol of Expo 70' which held in Japan. Now it is located in the Expo Commemoration Park.

To see the artwork was one of my objective in this trip. Therefore, when I saw it, I was impressed and got overwhelmed with its scale. You will know how big it is on the next picture.

Following pictures are taken in this park. I spent the time relaxing though it was a very hot day.

Kobe Beef, Osaka & Kobe

If you say "Kobe", I imagine Kobe Beef. It is a name of a beef brand and registered trademark by the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion.

There were art works of cow at the shopping mall in Kobe. The cow artworks reminds me of  Marunouchi cafe because it uses cow artworks.

Meriken Park, Osaka & Kobe

Kobe is known as a major seaport city. The picture above is Meriken Park. A red tower in center of the picture is Kobe Port Tower built on the water front in 1963. The shape is very nice.

It is the Kobe Maritime Museum on the right side of the tower. It was designed as a ship's sail. I didn't go to the museum although it has exhibits relating to the port and the Kawasaki Heavy industries Group.

There were many sweet shops in this area. I bought a pudding and it was very delicious.

Haneda Airport, Osaka & Kobe

I went to airport earlier and took rice-balls with tempura, which are popular foods, for lunch in the airport. I spent time at the lounge near my boarding gate.  

It takes about 1 hour by air plane from Haneda airport to Osaka(Itami) airport.

Osaka & Kobe

I visited Osaka and Kobe on a three days trip.

I had two objectives for this trip. The first was to see an art work of Taro Okamoto which is named "The tower of the Sun". The second was to eat a lot because Osaka and Kobe are famous for delicious foods that are priced reasonably.

I will write the detail in my next post.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

source: google 

I read the book, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Although I didn't know him and Apple before released the first iMac, this book talks about it. It was also written about him after the first iMac.

It was a good book to know about his charm and talent. I think you would love him and Apple's products more if you will read this book.

By the way, my first Apple's product was iPod nano. When I bought it, I was very impressed with the lean package. Of course I also felt that the product was cool and great.

Kiva

source: kiva.org

I made three loan for Asians. I am hoping for their success.

night shift

I have been working on a shift since May. It is about once a month. I will work on night shift next week. It's very hard to adjust to the change in the working hours. Our night shift is from 23:00 to 8:00.

gyouza

Chinese dumpling is called gyouza in Japan. 

I went to a Chinese restaurant where is famous for its Chinese dumplings. These dumplings are different from other dumplings because they are connected with each other. So they have a crunchy texture. Moreover it has a very reasonable price!

If you have a change to go near Kamata station in Tokyo, I recommend you to go there. Here are some more details.

Hatsune Miku (初音ミク)

Do you know the virtual singer, Hatsune Miku who was featured in Google Chrome's commercial in Japan?

The virtual singer is a software for making song on PC. If you want to get to know her more, just click here. I read an article related to her. I learned that she is very in-demand, in fact she is not just in the virtual world but you can find her in some products, now totaling 10 billion yen (about $82 million) in sales.

Users can make original song and then upload on the net such as in YouTube. It attracts a lot of people and increases the fun.

sakura

I posted this picture today, even though I took this picture a month ago. There are a lot of sakura trees along the roadside. This spot is the most famous sakura tree viewing spot in the local area.

This area is near my relative's apartment, I often go to his apartment because he is near 80 years old. Whenever I visit him, I definitely go to a bakery named Honmoku-kan because I like their bread there.

Kiva

smart pet

I want to share the toy named smart pet. I was attracted to the toy even thought it is very childish.

However, who is the target for the smart pet? People of all ages have iPhone and iPod touch. As far as this advertisement goes, the target are young women. I am not sure if they are going to want  to buy the toy.

The toy will be released in mid-June. I will go to check who were attracted by the toy at the sales floor.

REIMAGINING JAPAN: The Quest for a Future That Works

I read a book, entitled: REIMAGINING JAPAN. It is about Japan's challenges and its proposal from the perspective of its contributors.

There are two challenges in common among contributors:
First, is the decline of Japan's population. From the contributor's point of view, Japan is an aging society. Because a major part of this society was made in the period of population growth, we have to change our system to adapt demographic onus.
Second, is the delay in overseas advance.


The contributors of this book shared their different proposals but I think their proposal can be summarized into three important keywords. These are: Diversity, Innovation, and Leadership.

WiMAX

It was difficult for me to continue blogging these past few months because I usually leave my apartment at 6:30am and come back home past 10:00pm all most everyday.

At weekend, I usually go to my relative's house to offer some help because he is elderly person. But I am trying to find time to write my post.

One day, I got a chance to get an Internet mobile router with very a reasonable price. I contracted with WiMAX for one year. Luckily, I got it less than half of its regular price.

Company outing

 I went to Atami city (熱海), Shizuoka prefecture on our company outing. I was one of the stewards and a total of more than 350 employees attended in this trip. The preparation for this trip requires hard work from all of us until the actual day of our company trip. After working, stewards had a lot of meeting late at night. But when it was over, we talked about next year's company outing. Among those who came along to the trip, I think the stewards enjoyed the most.

I joined the company last December. This trip was a good chance for me to communicate with all the person in the other divisions.

workshop with alumni

I attended a workshop, which was planned by one of the alumni, though I was away from alumni events for about one year.
The workshop was very stimulating. The workshop theme was "tax system in Japan". It was very difficult theme for me. But the host invited a guest who is professional in dealing with taxes.

Kiva

source: Kiva.org

Baccarat

I went to the Baccarat shop in Marunouchi with an ex-coworker who asked me to come along with her. We bought clear, crystal tumblers as a gift for our former boss who got married last month. We'll have a party this month as a celebration for our boss' wedding and we will give him these crystal tumblers.

The person in shop gave us a bottled water with a Baccarat bar label as seen in the picture above.

This time, I know where the Baccarat shop got its name, it's actually a name of a village in France. It has a long history and it was established in 1764.

Sukiyaki

source: Takafuku

I had sukiyaki at restaurant named Takafuku (たか福). It was my first time to taste it in restaurant but it's popular dishes at home.

Before eating sukiyaki in Takafuku, a waiter would explain how to eat it. He said that it is recommended to eat a slice of beef first because it is Japanese Black Wagyu beef, the kind of beef that goes best with sukiyaki sauce. I tried it and the taste was really great. Afterwards, he told me that I can eat the beef with the rest of vegetables.

2012

A Happy New Year
明けましておめでとうございます。
新年快乐

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