Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival 2013

Each summer, two stars, represented in an old Chinese story as the weaver girl and the shepherd, come together in the night sky after a year apart.

In Japan, the meeting of these two stars on July 7th is known as Tanabata, which literally translates to "evening of the seventh". It is celebrated mainly by young children, who write their wishes on colored papers, tying these to the branches of a bamboo tree. It's believed your wish will come true due to the meeting of these two distant stars.

I visited the second largest Tanabata festival in Japan (the largest is in Sendai, from August 6~8), which takes place right in my home prefecture of Kanagawa. The host city is the working class town of Hiratsuka 「平塚」. Below are photos from the event. Please enjoy!

Food is a necessity at these festivals. Shops open outside stalls and try to lure customers with delicious smells. Being a Canadian, I simply cannot resist any donut. Below, were unique "donut sticks" called cat tails (o_O oh noz!!). I bought two -- caramel and chocolate. Both good! =^_^=

Cat tail donut sticks. ¥130 each. ($1.30 / 40 baht)

 A sign near the main festival area greeting visitors:

Giant, ornately decorated lanterns, which hang from equally huge bamboo poles, are a feature of Tanabata. The festival in Hiratsuka has a contest, awarding prizes for the best lanterns. As a result, some entries were quite impressive.

Below, one lantern depicts three famous Japanese folk stories...

....another featured popular Disney character, Ariel. (Disney is HUGE in Japan!)

Below are the colored papers on which festival attendees can write their wish for the year. There were several spots along the main festival route in which you could hang your paper. Popular requests include:
"To be healthy"
"To pass the entrance test to OOO university"
"To become a professional athlete" etc.

I wrote one too -- that I wanted to drive all over Kanagawa by car with my friend, because I love road trips. ^_^

This was my friend's favorite entry -- an old steam train. Japanese are very nostalgic about trains in general, as they are so widely used here. There is an old, famous anime series, Galaxy Express 999, Vol. 1featuring a train which travels through space, thus fueling the popularity and love of trains in Japan.

I spotted something very unusual at the festival -- lanterns produced and sponsored by the Kingdom of Cambodia!! Cool!

Kanagawa University had this, very kawaii, star lantern: 

Another very ornate lantern in the shape of a ship's sail: 

I liked this one, and upon closer inspection.....

....found a very happy crab!

Yay! It's raining oranges!! Weeee!!

Finally, to give you a sense of the crowds and how large these lanterns are, I snapped this photo:

Summer is upon us here in Japan, and the season is dominated each week with some kind of festival. I will try to get out and photograph some of the best. Happy summer holidays! ^_^

Hiratsuka Tanabata festival is held each year from July 7 ~ 10. On the final day, you can enjoy fireworks. See info, a map and video HERE. (via welovejapan)

Interested in teaching your children about Japanese festivals, holidays and other culture? Try this: All About Japan: Stories, Songs, Crafts and More. You can also read more about famous Japanese folk tales here: A Treasury of Japanese Folk Tales: Bilingual English and Japanese Edition

Degustación de Tapas - Part 16

After several days in Spain and a 6 day cruise in the Western Mediterranean, the final day of our tapas taste of Europe has arrived....The first post in this series is HERE. 

As mentioned in the previous post, we disembarked from the Liberty of the Seas by 9 am. The Port Bus dropped us off at Columbus Monument. From there, my friend and I walked up La Rambla to visit the market again. My friend snapped these photos of the fish mongers and fruit stands:





At this fish monger's stand, we watched a Russian mother pay for two oysters. They were shucked and prepared with lemon by the shop staff. The mother's son (with some prodding) gulped down the raw, fresh oyster. His reaction? "Good" and he gave the shop owners a thumbs up. ^_^ My friend and I commented that the mother was pretty cool, for I have never seen a mother introduce oysters on holiday before. 








The corner of one fruit stand....

...and the view around the other corner:

Unfortunately, our final day in Spain was marked by poor weather -- we got trapped in the rain and decided to jump on the Tourist Bus (info HERE) to escape the downpour. I wasn't really happy doing such a touristy thing, but my friend and I both agreed -- it was the best way to see the city without getting wet.

We boarded the bus near Plaça de Catalunya (wiki page HERE). These tourist buses provide tour commentary via headsets onboard and are offered in many languages -- including Japanese! The buses have different routes, denoted by colors. While on the cruise, we met a British couple who strongly suggested the Red Route to be the best. So off we went! Below are some highlights from the Red Route:

Near Plaça de Catalunya, I spied this sign in a building's window. It reads: "Love Coaching". (laugh)

Our bus passed by this huge tower. According to the recorded dialogue on the bus, this was a communications tower, inspired by the design of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic torch:

The only thing I wanted to see in Barcelona on my final day was the Olympic Stadium. My brother and I watched in awe as the the archer shot his flaming arrow towards this -- the stadium's torch -- to ignite the Olympic flame.

 Info about the stadium is HERE. 
You can watch a video of the torch being lit HERE. (skip to the 4:35 mark)

After spending several hours on the bus, and finishing up our packing at the San Remo hostel, night had fallen. We wanted to end our long journey with a delicious meal. We found a small, local restaurant near the hostel and gorged on some Spanish dishes, including the most famous one: paella.

Paella with crab! 

The surgical tools for the above crab's dissection:

I joked around by pretending to don latex gloves in preparation for the "crab surgery". I also took one of the napkins, and dabbed by friend's forehead while working on the crab. (laugh) Doctor Friend and nurse Cutenekko. Despite our best efforts, sadly, the crab did not survive but will be remembered lovingly as "superb!"

The next morning, we had to catch an early flight via Frankfurt. Once in Germany, we transferred to  the behemoth A380 double decker plane, which I nicknamed "the flying bus":

(advance warning of critical comments coming....)

The Airbus A380 = I hate it. The seats are jammed together in what had to have been the worst economy section I have ever experienced. Tiny leg room that only small children would feel comfortable in. Argh.
Also very bad: getting your luggage from the baggage retrieval area. Due to holding over 500 passengers onboard, there will be a lot of luggage. Narita airport (for some insane reason) only used two baggage carousels -- one for business class and the other for economy. Sorry Narita, but one carousel for economy is crazy. My friend and I waited over 40 minutes for our bags. Many passengers around us were complaining; which is justifiable considering Japanese service usually prides itself on speed and efficiency. The A380 baggage handling was an embarrassment.


The good points? Large overhead bulkheads which gave passengers plenty of room to store their luggage.
Also good: the flight crew and staff on board -- everyone was friendly and funny.
Pretty good: Lufthansa food. I enjoyed cookies, cakes and all kinds of yummy things.

The really cool point of flying on the Airbus A380 with Lufthansa? These cameras in the tail of the plane. While taxiing out to the runway, passengers could enjoy the outside view:

I returned to Japan after a long, sixteen hours (including the train ride home). The following day, despite my jet lag, I returned to work, earning money again for my next adventure. My stomach has become so full from all the European tastes tried on this Spanish holiday, I suspect I won't feel hungry again until next year. I hope you enjoyed tapas tasting with me. Muchas gracias! ^_^/

Degustación de Tapas - Part 15

This post marks the final day of a cruise from Barcelona to France and Italy aboard Royal Caribbean's the Liberty of the Seas. The first day of the cruise is HERE. 

In the evening my friend and I enjoyed our final dining experience onboard. 

I took the waiter's recommendation and ordered the chef's special for the evening -- slow roasted lamb!



While eating, the only thing that crossed my mind was: I could never afford this food in Japan!! (laugh)

Before the sweet succulent meat arrived, I gorged on an appetizer. Guess what it was? Tapas!!! Hurray!!! ^_^/ 

Dessert was raspberry mousse. The only reason I ordered it? For the raspberries. This tiny fruit is next to impossible to find in Japan:

The next morning, disembarkation began at 6 in the morning. My friend and I stayed onboard until about 9 am, carrying our luggage off with us, thus avoiding an earlier departure.

Sayonara Liberty and thanks for the great memories! 

In the foreground of the photo above, you'll notice a long line of passengers at the taxi stand. If you are cruising out of Barcelona, we don't recommend using the taxis. In fact, my friend and I used public transportation -- the Port Bus, which cost only 2 Euros each and whisked us to the downtown core in less than 10 minutes. We also were able to skip that long line, as there was hardly anyone lined up for the bus.

Tip: The Port Bus can be seen in the photo above. See the blue bus parked in front of the stern of the ship? That's it. It had lots of storage space inside for large luggage and strollers. The bus will drop you off at Columbus Monument and Plaza de Catalunya. 
If you take a taxi, they will charge at least 15 Euros. Save your money and take the Port bus! (info HERE ...scroll down to see "Cruise Port Shuttle Bus Service")

Tomorrow, I'll share more sights from Barcelona, including highlights from the famous Tourist Bus.

Interested in cruising? Search Royal Caribbean HERE. The Liberty of the Seas is HERE. 

Degustación de Tapas - Part 14

Photos and comments from a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's The Liberty of the Seas in the Western Mediterranean continue...Cruise posts start HERE. 

Day 5 of the cruise was at sea, slowly returning back to our home port of Barcelona. As the ship sailed east, I enjoyed the morning by touring the ship to take lots of memento photos. As seen yesterday, the upper, outside decks were full of adventure, sports and water. For this post, I'll show are some of the highlights and features of the interior of the ship.

On Deck 11, there is a semi-interior walkway called the Solarium. It has windows running the full length of the walkway, and is meant to be a way to walk between pools, in the shade. The Solarium space had comfortable wooden swinging lounges (below):

Also inside the Solarium was a soft ice cream machine, which dispensed vanilla and chocolate cones -- for free! 

Decks 10 to 6 hosted the majority of the ship's rooms, configured in an interior/outside/ balcony layout. An example can be seen HERE. I could not find information regarding the exact number of rooms onboard, however, the ship can carry 3,634 passengers (source).

Each deck featured interactive, touch panels near the elevators. These screens displayed a list of current activities onboard, directions to access other parts of the ship, information on shops, etc. 

View of the touch panel screen and elevator bay on Deck 6:

Moving down to Deck 8, you can find the internet cafe and look down at the Royal Promenade, a shopping street which runs the length of the ship. 

View looking down on the glass bridge, close to Guest Relations (both are located on Deck 5):

Another view showing the span of the Royal Promenade:

View looking up from Deck 5 to the glass elevators: 

 The Royal Promenade changes its lighting to reflect the time of day. This photo was taken at night:

 Another view looking down at the start of the Royal Promenade: 

On Deck 7, you can find the ship's onboard library, complete with comfy leather sofas:

On Deck 5, you can find a unique lounge --  The Sphynx. I enjoyed playing Cleopatra and posing for photos at the lounge entrance:

View of wall art in front of the Sphynx lounge: 

At both the bow and stern of the ship, you could find these handy cross cut section maps, showing the layout and features of each deck.

There were so many other features on the Liberty, I forgot to take photos. For example, the gym had a full size boxing ring, there was an arcade for the kids, a movie theater, and more. This website has a great photo tour of the ship; please visit if you are interested in learning more about the Liberty of the Seas. (thanks to beyondships.com)

Our tapas tasting of Europe will soon end with the docking of the ship. I spent one more full day in Barcelona before returning home. Visit again to grab one last bite from Spain!

Deck plans from the Liberty of the Seas can be found HERE. Wiki site for the ship is HERE.
Royal Caribbean's website is HERE. 

Degustación de Tapas - Part 13

Tapas tasting continues...Part one of this series is HERE. To view the others, just change "part-1.hmtl" to "part-2.html, etc.. at the end of the website address. 


The last full day of our cruise was spent at sea, leaving me with plenty of time to fully explore the ship.  While my friend went to the gym, I enjoyed snapping photos of the unique features onboard. So, without further ado...

(cue the Broadway music)
Preeeeesenting.....one of the greatest ships in the world...completely renovated in 2011...ranked 7th for best overall cruise on Cruise Critic.com.....it's....

......the Liberty of the Seas! (cue fireworks)

with your host: cutenekko -^_^- meow!

Let's start with the upper decks --- on deck 13, it's the amazing surfing simulator, Flowrider! (cue Beach Boys music) 

Unfortunately, I didn't try it because the despite the sunshine, the weather was a bit chilly.

....also on Deck 13 was the Liberty Dunes -- a mini golf course with 9 holes. I played and scored an impressive 10 under!! (cue a kiss from Jack Nicklaus ^_^)

....(cue the Laker girls) All right ladies & gents, you can cheer on the b-ball boys at the open air basketball/ sports court, also on Deck 13:

...and just behind the basketball court was the very cool rock climbing wall. This was only open on certain days and times:

Close up view. The wall was 40 feet tall. 

Let's move down to Deck 11, which plays host to all the pools onboard. The photo below shows the  swimming area for children called: H2O Zone. The adults only pool area was on the other side, further down the deck.

Larger pool area, at the center of Deck 11:

Bad point about the pools onboard: they are not heated.
I tried swimming, got frozen, headed to the hot tubs instead.

Adults only (16 years +) pool area, at the far end of Deck 11: 

The Liberty of the Seas crest, as seen from Deck 12's jogging track: 

That was a quick tour of just the upper, outside decks. Visit again and I'll show you the interior of the ship. ^_^/

Information about the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship is HERE. Royal Caribbean's website and cruise finder is HERE. A floor plan of Deck 11 on Liberty is HERE. (a drop down menu will show you the other decks too.)