Gyoo

Tokyo Tower’s pink lighting this evening is part of the campaign to promote awareness of breast cancer which sees monuments in over 40 countries illuminated in pink light.

Other famous icons taking part in this year’s Global Illumination Campaign from around the globe include the Empire State Building in New York; the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Arco di Constantino and the Ponte Vecchio in Italy; Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada; Table Mountain, Capetown, South Africa; Harrods department store, London; The Park Hyatt Hotel on Sydney Harbour, Australia; Vienna City Hall, Vienna, Austria; the Angel of Peace in Munich, Germany; L’Obelisque de Louxor in the Place de la Concorde, Paris, France; Seoul Nam-San Tower in Seoul, Korea; Monumento de la Madre and La Diana Cazadora in Mexico City, Mexico; Burj al Arab in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and the Marriot Royal Aurora Hotel in Moscow, Russia.

The Niigata prefecture has been hit by several earthquakes today, one measuring a magnitude of 6.8, about 250km from Tokyo.

The M6.8 quake hit at 5:56 p.m., the second one, measured M5.9 and hit at 6:12 p.m., and the third, measured M6.3 and hit at 6:34 p.m. A M5.0 quake hit the area two minutes after the third one. It was followed by a bigger one of M5.9 at 7:46 p.m. Some 125 strong aftershocks struck the area in the four hours after the initial jolt.

Several houses collapsed and a bullet train was partially derailed.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active areas, with an earthquake occurring every five minutes. The country accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude six or greater.

Typhoon T23, called Tokage or Lizard, hit Tokyo last evening. Its size was big with a radius of over 500 km, reaching winds of 229 km/h. It is the deadliest typhoon in more than two decades in Japan.

Storms and floods have killed more than 100 people in Japan this year and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Do you have any trouble to find the perfect table for your apartment ? I did. Until one my Japanese friend gave to me a precious magazine: Interior Shop Guide, from Seibido Mook.

Japanese magazines are often a mine of information. This one is publishing a list of furniture shops in Tokyo. Description of the stuff, a lot of pictures, and most important an access maps to the shops.

My favorite place for shopping is Jiyugaoka, on Touyoko line. This small town looks like Daikanyama, with a lot of fancy shops:

• The Cenozoic, with a choice of South Asian furniture
• Time & Style for modern items
• Moda en Casa, with European designers, like the Italian brand Calligaris

Shinjuku is very convenient as well for the many shops you could find:

• BoConcept with its Denmark design
• in The Room for its modern furniture
• Living Design Center Ozone in Nishi Shinjuku, a 8-floor showroom, with famous brands like The Conran Shop
• IDC Otsuka is offering the biggest choice of furniture, Japanese or Western ones, but it is quite expensive

Shibuya is interesting too:

• Franc Franc for modern and asian taste
• LoFt has a lot of pretty items
• Muji, everywhere in Tokyo as well, is simple but not expensive

There are a lot of area you could find interesting shops in Tokyo. The most difficult is to know where. Some places I’m sometime visiting:

• In Odaiba, in Tokyo bay, with Decks and Aqua City department stores you could find several funriture shops
• Takeya, in front of Naka Okachimachi station, near Akihabara, is very cheap, but no so much choice
• Quojati, in Meguro, introduces itself as a Bali Resort

Enjoy your shopping !

Today I’m joining my friends in Azabu Juban for one of the bigger matsuri in Tokyo. I really like this atmosphere, the crowd, Japanese people wearing Yukata, vending booths, yakitori smell, taiko sound, …

About 12,000 fireworks will be set off tonight. I will go to Odaiba to look at it. With Rainbow Bridge as background, this firework is gorgeous…

Today and tomorrow, the Summer Sonic 2004 festival is standing in Chiba, about 30 minutes from Tokyo. During two days, about 70 bands are on the stage, Japanese artists or famous western ones.

There was a great atmosphere today, a mixture of rock festival and Japanese matsuri with plenty of food shops.

First we were into the Chiba Marine Stadium to see Kishidan, a famous Japanese rock singer. After we have been to the Makuhari Messe for Silvertide. We listened to Razorlight after. Jude, a Japanese band led by Kenichi Asai, met a great success too. I enjoyed the Damned after. Later we went to Chiba Marine Stadium for a concert of Avril Lavigne and a grand finale by Green Day. It was great !

Happy Birthday Yuko !

Pat invited in secret everybody in a restaurant in Shinjuku for Yuko’s birthday. And of course for the birthday song we went into a Karaoke !

I left Bali early in the morning to go to Singapore. The airplane landed on Changi airport around noon, that let me until midnight to visit Singapore before going back to Tokyo. Sentosa island resort and Orchard Road are my main destinations for this short visit.

I’ve spent a great week in Indonesia. The first days I was in Kuta area. I have praticed diving and got my PADI as well. And in the mid on my journey, I moved to Ubud, for a more cultural part of the trip.

Balinese people are very kind. And everything is cheap, and you can enjoy bargaining.