SU Update: This Past Week of Japan in Photos!

This Past Week of Japan in Photos!

For more information on these stories, visit Mainichi News!

Koi-nobori carp streamers flutter in the spring breeze in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Saturday in preparation for Children's Day next month. (Mainichi)

Some more information of Children's Day via web-jpn.org

May 5 is Children's Day, when families celebrate the healthy growth and happiness of children. It became a national holiday in 1948, but it has been a day of celebration in Japan since ancient times.
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On Children's Day, families with boys fly huge carp-shaped streamers (koinobori) outside the house and display dolls of famous warriors and other heroes inside. The carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success; according to a Chinese legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon.
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At the National Kasumigaoka Stadium in Tokyo, tens of thousands of children and their parents participate in a "Kids' Olympics." It has the look and feel of the real thing, since the National Kasumigaoka Stadium was the main arena for the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. It even features a torch relay, and there are races for parents and kids in different age groups.

Ayaka Sahara of Japan performs her floor routine during the first day of the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships in Honolulu. (AP)

An ornately decorated float is pulled through the streets of the old quarter of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, at the beginning of the spring Takayama Matsuri (festival) on Friday. (Mainichi)

Multi-colored tulips surround Furusato Plaza in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture, on April 13. (Mainichi)

Yokohama’s traditional Red Brick Warehouses are decorated with around 2,000 streamers strewn from the balconies. The ceremony on April 12, 2006, was held to mark the 95th anniversary of its foundation at the end of the Meiji Period. (Mainichi)

The container ship Eastern Challenger, which foundered after colliding with the freighter Tsugara Maru and taking on water. The collision occurred Thursday in the waters around Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture. Photo courtesy of the Japan Coast Guard.

For more information on these stories, visit Mainichi News!

Pocky's JapanWindow Picks

Now for some photos from JapanWindow.com
JapanWindow is a weekly Photoblog by a fellow named Andy Gray! I've chosen some of his shots to display below:



Andy's comment:

I was in Okutama this past weekend near Sawai Station. What a beautiful place! The Tama River is amazing. The water is snow melt, so it's clean and crystal clear. People were fishing for trout (and catching them, but it'll be better in June they say). Others were kayaking. Most people just got off the train and sipped tea in garden cafes that only open up on weekends.

Andy's comment:

A vendor offers a sample chestnut without success.

Anyone know what the sign says??