A New Icon: The Tokyo Sky Tree

The Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー) is a broadcasting, restaurant and observatory tower located in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. The structure stands at its full height of 634.0 m as at MArch 2011. It is currently the tallest structure in Japan, coming in close second as the tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa, Dubai which stands at 829.84m.

According to the official Tokyo Sky Tree website, the design of the structure was based on 3 concepts, "To be a new symbol of tradition and the cutting edge", "To be the gate to urban revitalisation" and lastly, "To be the Tower watching over Safety and Security". In addition to the design concept, the structure has seismic proofing which has the ability to absorb 50% of the impact arising from an Earthquake.

Following the blog post's title namesake, the Tower is also able to serve as a beautiful night icon, with two illumination patterns, a magnificient purple and sky blue, alternating daily, illuminated by the used of LED lights. The Tokyo Sky Tree at night is definitely a sight not to be missed by photography lovers or visitors wanting to catch a glimsp of Japan's night landscape.

For visitors wishing to enter the Tokyo Sky Tower, the website has announced the structure's official opening to be on May 22, 2012. Entrance ticket prices are sold on a different level basis with Adults 2000yen at 350m level and an extra 1000yen to reach the 450 m observatory level.

Flower Viewing

Hanami which means “Cherry Blossom (Sakura) viewing” in Japanese is an important tradition practiced by the Japanese in Japan.When viewing the Sakura with their colleagues, it is a practice that the company’s newcomers would go to the venue for the viewing earlier to find and reserve the best flower viewing spot for their seniors. If the venue is a very popular spot to view the flowers in Japan, then the newcomers would even need to reserve the best spot the day before, even to the extent of sleeping there overnight.

They usually celebrate the event through drinking, eating, playing and even listening to music. Special dishes such as Dango and Bento are prepared and eaten during these gatherings. It is also a common practice to drink Sake (Japanese rice wine). Sometimes they would have Karaoke session during the viewing.

Even though it seems as if viewing the cherry blossoms is the main objective, there is also a proverb “Hana Yori Dango” which means “dumpling rather than flowers” that makes fun of those who prefer eating to admiring the beauty of the flowers blooming.

With all the effort and hard work put in by the Japanese just to view the blooming of the Sakura, one must wonder why the Japanese love the Cherry blossom so much. Well, maybe because of the short life span of the Sakura that makes the Japanese want to treasure these flowers even more.

Graduation Season

In Japan, the month of March is often seen as the graduation season as most schools ends their school terms in March. This coincides with the Japanese school calendar and allow the schools time to prepare for the new entrants in April.

Most graduation ceremonies are held within the school compounds such as the auditoirium or the gymnasium. For high school graduates, the code of attire is often their school uniforms except for a few schools which require their students to purchase a graduation uniform.

On the other hand, it is a tradition for female university graduates to wear a Kimono/Hakama and male university graduates to wear either a suit/Hakama. This is contrary to other countries where the graduates would wear an academic dress with a mortarboard/tam/bonnet.

Sakura Zensen

To the Japanese people, flower viewing is a very important tradition. Every year between the months of March to May, the Japanese people would gather at parks to view the beautiful flowers blossom. The flowers viewed are usually Cherry Blossoms also known as Sakura in Japenese. There are many types of Sakura in Japan but the Somei Yoshi No is the main type that is viewed by the Japanese.

During this spring season, weather forecast would show where in Japan have the cherry blossoms bloom. There is also a rating of 1-10 to show how much of the flowers have blossomed. Ratings 8 and above would mean a full bloom of the flowers.

However this year, the winter was colder than usual in Japan hence resulted in a later blooming of the flowers.

An example of a Cherry blossom weather map:

The forecast of this year:
http://sakura.weathermap.jp/

Hina Matsuri

Hina matsuri is a traditional festival held by the Japanese on 3 March yearly to pray for the growth and happiness of young girls in Japan. It is a Doll Festival where the Japanese people would display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants and musicians in traditional court dresses of the Heian Period. Apparently, the arrangement of the dolls from left to right defers between the Kanto and Kansai regions!

During the festival, Shirozake (sake), Hina-arare (bite-sized crackers) and Ushiojiru (salted-soup base containing clams still intact with the shells) are a customary dishes and drinks. Clam shells in food are a symbol of a united and peaceful couple as none other than the original pair of clam shells fits perfectly.

There was also a superstition about the festival that if the dolls were displayed past 4 March, it would result in the late marriages of the daughters.

Osechi Ryori

Happy New Year to all! How did you spend your new year? Like Singapore, the New Year's Day holds great importance to the Japanese too!

Today Aoba Admin would like to introduce a food item that the Japanese eat together with the celebration of the new year. It is osechi ryori.

In the olden days, osechi ryori was served as an offering to the gods during various seasonal festivals.

In a typical osechi ryori, it consists of a variety of dishes such as the sweet black beans, seasoned herring roe and cooked root vegetables.

However, nowadays, the variety of osehi ryori extends to Chinese and Western dishes. The vast variety of ready-made osechi ryori are available in the shopping centres and departmental stores in Japan.

So, what are the special dishes that you are having this upcoming Chinese New Year?

Share with us!

Happy New Year!

　１２月の最後の授業で学生から「先生、新年おめでとう」と言われることがあります。

でも、実はこれは正しくありません。

日本人は年末には「よいお年を」と、そして新しい年になってから「新年おめでとう」、「明けましておめでとう」などと言います。

　2011年もAOBAを応援してくれてどうもありがとう。来年も皆さんにとって幸せな一年になりますように心を込めて・・・「よいお年をお迎えください！」

During the last lessons in the month of December, students had wished our teachers [Sensei, Shin nen omedetou], which means [Happy New Year, Teacher]. However, the usage of the phrase is actually incorrect.

For the Japanese, a phrase [ Yoi otoshi wo] would be used at the end of the year to wish each other a good year ahead. At the start of the new year, phrases like [ Shin nen omedetou ] or [ Ake mashite omedetou ] would be more appropriate to wish each other a happy new year.

On this note, Aoba would like to thank you for the support you have provided in the year 2011 and we wish from the bottom of our hearts that you will lead a joyous year in 2012.

We hope that you will welcome a joyous and fruitful new year.

[ Yoi otoshi wo mukae kudasai ].