Coolest Water Fountain

This is probably the coolest water fountain you will ever see! ^^, It is really awesome. Trust me~

This water fountain is found inside Canal City Hakata in Fukuoka, Japan. For more details, go here

Watch the fountain in action ~!

Bon Odori Penang 2009

I am supposed to publish this last night but then I am just too tired and went straight to bed.

For those of you who was wondering what Bon Odori is, here’s a quick explanation from Wikipedia :

Bon Odori (盆踊り, meaning simply Bon dance) is an event held during Obon. It is celebrated as a reminder of the gratefulness one should feel toward one’s ancestors.

Originally a Nenbutsu folk dance to express the effusive welcome for the spirits of the dead, the style of celebration varies in many aspects from region to region. Each region has a respective local Bon dance, as well as different music accompanying the dance. The music can be songs specifically pertinent to the spiritual message of Obon, or local min’yo folk songs. Consequently, the Bon dance will look and sound different from region to region. Hokkaidō, or northern Japan, is known for a folk-song known as “Soran Bushi.” The song “Tokyo Ondo” takes its namesake from the capital of Japan. “Goshu Ondo” is a folk song from Shiga prefecture. Residents of the Kansai area will recognize the famous “Kawachi ondo.”Tokushima in Shikoku is very famous for its “Awa Odori,” or “fool’s dance,” and in the far south, one can hear the “Ohara Bushi” of Kagoshima.

And here’s the explanation about the celebration here in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, Bon Odori Festivals are also celebrated every year in Penang and at the Matsushita Corp Stadium in Shah Alam, Selangor. This celebration, which is a major attraction for the state of Selangor, is the brain child of the Japanese Expatriate & Immigrant’s Society in Malaysia. In comparison to the celebrations in Japan, the festival is celebrated on a much smaller scale in Penang and Selangor, and is less associated with Buddhism and more with Japanese culture. Held mainly to expose locals to a part of Japanese culture, the festival provides the experience of a variety of Japanese food & drinks, art and dance.

Reach the Esplanade with my sis at about 7pm. It is already packed and the food stalls stretch as far as the eyes can see.

And then suddenly, I heard some girls screaming from inside a tent! I thought this is a good chance for me to be a hero, so I transformed into the girl-saving-hero mode, went around the front…….

…….and found out that it was a haunted school. *Disappointed*

This is the main stage which is about to give me some problems later. >.<

The Town Hall

My sis and I went around checking out the area first before it gets dark. Met SuperMama here also. ^^,

Some Akatsuki members spotted! There are some other cosplayers present also. Though I can’t really remember from which series.

Some performance underway. Before each performance, a brief explanation would be given about its history and origin of the performance both in English and Japanese.

Its getting dark and the Town Hall is lighted.

The amount of people there! This picture is blurred because someone pushed me from behind when I stopped to take this picture. >.<

Food hunting

After we ate, I noticed that they have switched off the lights at the Town Hall. Dunno why though.

And this is the problem I mentioned earlier about the stage. The fixed spotlights on all 4 corners of the stage, so in this picture, you see the spotlight is blinding!

Changing position won’t help also. ToT This is the view from the VIP stage. ^^,

And this is a short 10 second video of how it looks like.

Changing the white balance and ISO here. Spotlight is still killing my eye.

Changed exposure level. Spotlight still killing me.

And finally I just give up. Spend the rest of the time chatting with my sis until 10pm. The time everyone is waiting for! Fireworks!

This picture below is quite scary. See how low the fireworks is. It is just slightly above the trees. >.<

Here’s a video of the fireworks my sis took. It is not the whole thing though >.< The whole fireworks lasted about 15 minutes.

This is the statue in front of the court. Took it while I am walking back to my car. ^^,

Thats all for the night. ^^, Till next time. Take care and cheers~!

Tenso.com – My Japanese Mailing Address

Yup, you read it right! I now have my own personal Japanese mailing/shipping address. ^^,

And probably by now, you would have been thinking why would I/you need a Japanese mailing address? Well, take a look at the picture below and I believe it will clarify some of your doubts/questions.

Yup, Tenso is somewhat like a middle man between you and the online shops in Japan that doesn’t ship overseas. They will receive your package from the online shops and then they will forward it to you with a bit of fees. ^^, If you are interested to know more, do visit their website, Tenso.com and if you have something that you have always wanted to purchase from Japan but couldn’t because they don’t ship oversea, now is the time to register yourself in Tenso. ^^, And this is Tenso’s Coverage Map.

^^, I find this service especially useful for those of us who is residing outside Japan and wants to purchase merchandise from Japan.

I registered for this service yesterday because I wanted to purchase something from Amazon.jp and sadly they don’t ship it overseas. I hope this could help you too. ^^, Cheers!

P/S : Will post on another time about the merchandise I bought. ^^,

Japanese Robo Chef

Another robo from Japan but this time it cooks! >.< The world of automation and robotics are slowly taking over the job of humans. Soon humans won’t need to do anything anymore. And probably we will have a scenario something like the animation Wall e.

See the video on how the robot works. There is also a tray robot – who will be replacing the waiter and waitresses?>.< 

Embedding is disabled so here’s the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt5q9PkhGH0

Modern Samurai Vs Bullet

The title says it all!

At first it shows how this guy slice up some stuffs and then moves on to greater challenges, in which one of them, he manages to split a BB gun bullet! Simply amazing! Slicing a 6mm bullet into two halves >.<

Mathematics The Japanese Way

Disclaimer : This post might contain some NSFW stuff so please proceed with caution and keep a lookout for your boss. Or alternatively, this can wait until your work is over and you are all alone in your sanctuary. >.<

Was browsing the net looking for electromagnets and motors but found this instead. Via SankakuComplex

 

Trigonometry - The Japanese Way

This is actually a text book teaching trigonometry but the example and methods used is kinda questionable though.

Japan has done it again. Always stunning the world! At least it stunned me. >.<

Original text from Sankaku :

Is it any wonder Japan has had strong performance in international rankings for such subjects?

This is from the “Dream Laboratory” series of textbooks, apparently not officially adopted by the Japanese educational system, but popular enough to inspire a lengthy series of sequels.

Sorry for the ecchi stuff, but I just thought this is interesting. Again, I am speechless. >.<

UPDATE : Apparently there is a Korean version too  here. Slightly different than the Japanese ones but example used are quite similar. Sign of plagiarism?

回転寿司（かいてんずし）- Kaiten Belt Adventure

Have you ever been on a kaiten belt before? If you haven’t, now’s the time. じゃ　いきましょう！

I found out about these in DannyChoo.com. Do check out his website for more stuff about Japan!

Sushi Partaking For Dummies

Ok, everyone knows what a sushi is. But does everyone know The Way Of The Samurai Sushi? From entering the store until you are done ‘refuelling’? If you don’t, here a video to teach you the know-how. Subtitles are included! ^^,

I can’t embed the video here so you have to click here instead : Sushi Way

Enjoy your meal!