Oktoberfest in Japan

The Munich Oktoberfest is the biggest beer festival in the world and over 200 years old. I’ve never been there but many foreigners travel to Germany each year just to get drunk. Like christmas markets, the Oktoberfest has been exported to many countries. Of course, Japan is among them!

The Japanese Oktoberfest is only ten years old and is held in seven locations this year:
Odaiba: 4/27-5/6
Hibiya Park: 5/18-5/27
Sendai: 6/15-6/24
Shiba: 8/17-8/26
Toyosu: 8/31-9/9
Kobe: 9/14-9/23
Nagasaki: 9/14-9/23

A bit Tokyo-centric, isn’t it? However, these are just the Oktoberfests announced on october-fest.jp (Japanese only). There’s another one in Yokohama which is usually held annually in October, but will be held in spring this year as well (4/27-5/7).

Cafe with Penguin & 1st Penguin – Penguin Cafes in Seoul

I already talked about Seoul’s coffee shops such as the Charlie Brown Cafe and Hello Kitty Cafe. One day I wondered if there are cafes about my favorite animals (penguins) and yes, there are at least two in Seoul. Obviously there are no living animals there unlike in cat or rabbit cafes. One cafe is a study cafe called 1st Penguin and the other is an ordinary one called Cafe with Penguin.

1st Penguin

While it’s not unusual for cafes to be used for studying, I think the coffee shop owners would rather have customers who stay for just one hour instead of six. Still, I’ve seen coffee shops both in Tokyo and Seoul which were clearly remodeled for students. My local Starbuck’s in Nakano introduced long tables with small lamps – good for studying.
1st Penguin is located near Korea University, one of the three best universities in Korea. With an emphasis on small tables with just two chairs each and a desk lamp for most tables instead of one big overhead one, this place is clearly a study cafe. People don’t come here to chat, so it was very quiet. Don’t have anything to study? They have books too – not as many as a book cafe though.

Near the walls they have power sockets to connect your notebook. WiFi is available and free. Small snacks are available and if you’re hungry after studying there are lots of restaurants nearby – this is a university area after all.

The 1st Penguin falls short in the penguin department. Just a few cuddly toys on the bookshelf and around the front. On the other hand, the simple design of the interior and the colors help students to stay awake unlike the typical Starbuck’s with warm colors. I didn’t think that the staff was very friendly – maybe he’s only used to regulars?

Sitting Snow Woman and other Snow Creatures in Tokyo

Snow is rare in Tokyo and if it snows it usually doesn’t stay long before it melts. So if it snows, hurry up, build your snowmen and take shots of your favorite places! If you have too much time on your hand, you may explore your inner snow sculpture master and build snow creatures such as the ones above.

The three pictures were posted to Twitter. The top one shows a snow man sitting cross-legged on a bench and was shot by kakko-shima. The body appears very smooth and except for the face, this work looks quite professional. kakko-shima also posted a photo showing what’s left of the snowman.

The bottom left one is even more impressive since the snow woman (man?) isn’t supported on the back. Looking around the snow around her, collecting enough snow alone must’ve taken a while. This picture was posted by Haruka Miyafusa (@tomatel), presumably near Hitotsubashi University in Kunitachi.

The third one is a clever play with perspective. It looks as if it is standing, while the snow has just been put against the wall. kinsama took this picture. It’s not clear where it was, except near his/her company.

The more common snow creatures look a bit different…

Loving Hut in Tokyo

Loving Hut is a fast growing vegan food restaurant chain founded by “Supreme Master” Ching Hai. Unlike most restaurant chains, each branch can offer different kinds of food, e.g. the one in Palo Alto had nothing in common with the one in Seoul. Tokyo already has a few vegan and vegetarian restaurant and even a vegan festival near Yoyogi Park. Now it also has a Loving Hut.

Of course, the Tokyo one caters to the local taste. Therefore you will find two curry plates on the menu in addition to a hamburger, vegan hot dog, cheese tart, ice cream and a spicy noodle soup. The main dishes are offered as a set with soup and dessert. Take out is an option for any dish (not including the soup).

This is really more of a “take out” place, the chairs they have in the restaurant are uncomfortable to sit on even though I’m slim. The dish I ordered was the Zen Plate for 1000 Yen with teriyaki vegan meat made from soy bean and lotus root.

Hello Kitty’s Kawaii Paradise at Odaiba, Tokyo

In my post about the Hello Kitty cafe in Seoul I wrote that in Hello Kitty’s home country, there is no Kitty cafe. There is however the Kawaii Paradise at Venus Fort in Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo. Venus Fort is a shopping mall/outlet with dozens of stores on three floors and a Venice theme, artificial sunsets included. Although the name suggests that it caters only to women, there are shops for both genders. I haven’t been to all the floors of Venus Fort (the venice theme is not in every part of the mall) though, but aren’t all shopping malls geared for women?

Hello Kitty’s Kawaii Paradise is located on the first floor (ground floor), the “family floor”. It’s next to a spacious arcade and there is no entrance fee – in fact, this place feels more like a pink-laced extension of the arcade. There are ufo catcher machines with Sanrio characters inside and purikura machines to make tiny decorated photos.

Lightopia Illumination Festival in Tokyo

Unlike most of the other illumination festivals, Lightopia has a very limited run, starting on the 22nd and finishing on the 29th of December. It’s an annual festival and is spread around various places near Tokyo Station.

Like the previous years, Lightopia features paper cups drawn by elementary school children who express their hopes and worries. It’s mainly about environmental issues, peace and Japan obviously. These candles are located in the area between Maru and the New Maru Building and can be seen from 5pm to 9.30pm. The organizers call the place the “Ambient Candle Park”.

The next zone, the “Flower Fantasia” has a topic too, although with no obvious images it is hard to guess just by looking at it: Hope for Tomorrow. While it was still pretty I had the impression that those flower pots were just put into their places without giving a thought about style. I liked the use of water however, giving some nice reflections.

Those were just two parts of Lightopia, there was still more.

Shinjuku Southern Lights 2011-12

This illumination festival is a must see if you happen to run a blog that has both “tokyo” and “penguin” in the title. It’s the only festival I know of that features the JR Suica penguin. There’s also a light cathedral for couples.

Shinjuku Southern Lights is held each year on the the Shinjuku Southern Terrace. There is still some construction work going on as part of a further development of Shinjuku station. The illumination festival and the businesses on the Southern Terrace are unaffected by it.

The tree illumination is pretty much standard although this year only the trees right next to the exit were decorated. In 2008 I wrote about the illumination festival and they had more lights in the trees back then.

Yurakucho Winter Illumination 2011-12

Time for new christmas illumination, this time around Yurakucho Station in Tokyo. This is one of the smaller ones, advertised in a pamphlet by Japan Rail. Plus: I revisited the Godzilla statue!

Yurakuchu is within walking distance of Tokyo Station and is a stop on the Yamanote Line. It is in a huge commercial area which provides a neon light illumination “festival” of its own every night. It’s a challenge to stand out in such a sea of light, but the Yurakucho Winter Illumination (until January 15) has a famous sponsor. Can you guess which?

Tokyo Illumination: Ebisu – Baccarat Eternal Lights

The Baccarat Eternal Lights is an annual illumination festival at the Yebisu Garden Place. The Garden Place can be reached from Ebisu Station (Yamanote Line) using the skywalk. It’s main attraction is a huge 8472 piece crystal chandelier which is switched on from 5 to 11pm.

Photographing the chandelier in its entirety is a bit of a challenge since the housing isn’t all glass and has these annoying bars which somewhat reduce the appeal of the chandelier. Also, the festival is the same every year, except for the live events of course.

The chandelier has been shown since 1999 and it’s main appeal is that it is typical European and even smaller-sized ones are usually not found in Japan. The big christmas tree at the beginning of the path that leads to the chandelier has some of the biggest christmas decorations I’ve seen so far.

TEPCO Electric Energy Museum

Energy companies along with financial institutes and insure companies have probably a worse public image. TEPCO is no exception – especially after the earthquake and the subsequent nuclear disaster. Before TEPCO achieved notoriety, they had a few energy museums. One of them was in the middle of Shibuya, the TEPCO Electric Energy Museum (Denryokukan 電力館).

There are multiple energy companies in Japan but there is no competition between them since they have a monopoly on certain areas. After the earthquake there were accusations that some politicians and media organizations are too close to TEPCO and other energy companies. That’s of course not specific to Japan but since Japan is threatened by earthquakes and tsunamis and is highly reliant on nuclear energy, there should be more independent control over the energy companies and how they handle security.

But back in 2008, everything was still fine in the TEPCO world and the TEPCO Electric Energy Museum welcomed all visitors.