Giant Rubber Ducky in Osaka

Last Thursday was a day off and it was too sunny to stay inside, so I took a train ride to Nakanoshima (Osaka), to see the giant rubber ducky which was floating on the river in the midst of a big city from Oct.22nd until 30th.

?!???!?! 

Can you see that small yellow thing in this pic?

There it is!

Compare the rubber ducky with the group of people standing beside it you can see how massive it is!

Isn't it cute?! :-)

This bright yellow rubber ducky was created by dutch artist florentjin Hofman, and has been traveling around the world. It was the third time it came to Osaka, but I missed seeing it at the last 2 times, so I was very lucky I finally got to see it this time!

Here are more pics!

I think that the people working in these buildings are so lucky!

Hah! I want this!

There was a big rose garden right in front of the rubber ducky and everyone was enjoying watching the beautiful flowers.

Well, I tried my best with my brand new camera...(^^;)

Bye-bye rubber ducky, hope to see you again some day. Bon voyage!

Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages)

Last Sunday my parents and I went to Kyoto to see Jidai Matsuri(Festival of the Ages), one of Kyoto's three biggest traditional festivals which is held annually on October 22nd.  It was my first time to go to see the festival, despite living in the same Kansai area for over 20 years. This festival consists of a large parade from  Kyoto Imperial Palace and Heian shrine, and the participants of the parade are dressed in accurate costumes representing various periods and characters in Japanese federal history.There are approximately more than 2,000 performers and it takes two hours to watch the entire procession pass by.
We left home quite early in the morning trying to get a good seat to watch the parade and we got to the old imperial palace more than 1 hour before the parade, but there were already hundreds of people waiting for it.

At 12 p.m., the costume procession began from the main gate of the old imperial palace, with a lot of performers dressed in historical costumes from almost every period from Heian Period to Meiji Period. In the procession there were many historically famous samurai and military figures, which was quite interesting to me who specialized in Japanese history in high school.

 Here are the photos taken with my new camera (Click each photo for a larger version)
Sorry I took too many so I couldn't put up all of them. Enjoy! >>

Hello Canon EOS Kiss X5!

Today I got something I've really wanted for a long time - Yes, my own DSLR ( Cannon EOS Kiss X5 ) camera! I have put up some photos taken by a DSLR camera on this blog, but actually it was not my own camera, I was using my mother's one. Of course I'll keep using my old digital camera that I have used so far cause I love it, but as I start browsing great & more professional photos on my friends' blogs I got more fascinated by them, and they made me want to get one. Well, I admit it cost me a lot, but since I ordered it online it was actually quite a good deal for the latest one from Cannon. I'm still just a beginner and it has too many functions, so I guess it will take a long time until I get used to it (and I'm already sick of reading the instruction :-p ). Now that I have my own good camera, I'm going outside more and I'll fully enjoy this beautiful season in Japan. And of course, I'll put up more pics on this blog from now on.

Happy fall y'all,
Yuka

Taco addiction

If you are my friend on Facebook, you probably know, but I am so in love with tacos. I've been so addicted to this wonderful foreign food since I first tried it at one of my American friends' house last winter.I introduced it to my family and they love it too. It's healthy and quite easy to cook. 

 My dream is to try out the "real" Mexican tacos.But the problem is, there aren't any "real" taco restaurants in my place. I've been using the seasoning from old el paso , but my American friends say the taste is different from what they have had in America. They also say that here in Japan they can't even find the seasonings they usually use in America. Does anyone know any good restaurants where I can try some real ones in Kansai area? If you know, please do tell me. I am serious. =p

Typhoon, and the trip to Yamaguchi

So the busiest month is almost over, and I finally got time to write about my summer break - It's been already about a few weeks, though.This month started with the coming of the powerful, yet slow-moving typhoon No.12 and it made the first week super super hectic. Almost all the local lines around my area were delayed or cancelled due to the rise of the river as a result of the heavy rainfall, and I was besieged by hundreds of people trying to take a shinkansen instead, the only public transportation which was running on schedule at that time.I can't describe how chaotic my office was - it was just like one scene of battle. I didn't even know that so many people were living in this peaceful town. Some angry people were blaming other staffs for the delay, which even made me wonder why people dared to go out on such a day, in spite of the fact that the weather forecast had been repeatedly warning that the typhoon would shut down many train lines and transportation services.Why can't people just stay at home? Of course, I know I should NEVER say such a thing, though. :-p

 Anyway, I got only 4 days off this summer. It kinda made me sad. I mean, work is okay, but vacation is always better than work for all of you, right? I wish I could go back in my uni days, when the summer break was for almost 2 months!
On the second day of my summer break, my family(except my father - he had a big golf competition on that day and couldn't join us) and I went on a one-day Shinkansen(Japanese limited express) trip to Yamaguchi. Luckily I still had some fare discounts left for my family that is available until the end of the year, so we were able to go there at a low price.
We left home at 6am and took the first train to Himeji station. I was so excited about getting on the new shinkansen Sakura, as well as the road trip in Yamaguchi. Sakura has been so popular since its service started, and a lot of people come to my window, trying to make a reservation for their seats like every day, but it's always already fully reserved even though it's one week before. It was 10 days before the trip when we reserved our seats this time, and we managed to get 3 of the last 8 seats left at that time - we were so lucky!

The new shinkansen Sakura we took, bound for Kagoshima-Chūō