Welcome at the little British La Roux's concert at Dankayama, Tokyo !
She made us dance, she made us sing, she was great. Here are the official pictures and one of her video.
ラルという歌手のコンサートに行きました。よく踊って、よく歌って、本当に面白かったです。写真とヴィデオを見てください。

La Roux - Bulletproof

My sister, who knows what is beautiful, made me discover this amazing blog : La Lanterne Brisée.
It is so beautiful, I could easily cry in front of miss Esther's pictures. Not a surprise that she is also in love with Japan, of course. If you visit her blog, you will see that she mixes different styles so it is never deja-vu, always original, sometimes looking like spontaneous, sometimes like the work of a damned perfectionist...
Judge by yourself...

lanternebrisee.net

lanternebrisee.net

And a portrait of the author for the Francophones : click here
Long life to the Lantern !

It's inside Tokyo, and it's beautiful.

Transportation
A seven-minute walk from Kaminakazato station on the JR Keihin-Tohoku Line.
A twelve-minute walk from Komagome Station on JR Yamanote Line.
A seven-minute walk from Nishigahara Station of the Nanboku Subway Line.
Closed
Dec.29-Jan.3
Opened to the public
April 30, 1956

This time, it was not only about understanding Japan, but also make the Japanese understand us.

The ETP guys had been divided into national teams (the French with the French, the Hungarians with the Hungarians) and had to compose their "mindset" - a flash portray of their national spirit, according to history, geography, society, education... Not so easy to do. To make it even more difficult, the countries have been gathered by groups :

- UK/France/Spain
- Italy/Bulgaria/Greece
- Hungary/Slovakia/Germany
- Lithuania/Latvia/Poland
- Sweden/Finland/Netherlands

Not so easy to find the common points, not so easy to highlight the differences. And not so easy, after portraying Europe through this exercice, to be objective about the presentation of the Japanese mindset.
It has been a long and talkative one-day experience...

Finally, it was quite representative of the ETP minset. A jam of communication bridges and stereotyped play-roles that we mix with energy - our main common point being Japan, actually...

The ETP mindset

Geography : Paris, Milano, London, Tokyo - only cosmopolitan capitals with an international airport
History : 4 seasons to understand every aspect of Japan, 12 months to get a "general expertise", 1 year to become a new person
Religion : The one of cultural openness, business pragmatism and management subtility
Education : Prepa schools at Sciences-Po, Bocconi and SOAS; then, monopole of Waseda University
Politics : Absolute Kingdom of the European Commission
Society : Middle-managers
Language : Broken English and Definitely-Broken Japanese, plus at least 15 other languages occasionally...
Lifestyle : Study a lot, get out a lot, enjoy a lot.

To conclude, just let me show you the French mindset by ETP 2009 !
(Click to enlarge)

Our ancestors the Gaulois...


... until us.

PS : La Mentalité Française alternative, pour les Francophones seulement (l'auteur se reconnaîtra)...

Nous n'avons finalement pas retenu les valeurs suivantes, pourtant si chères a nos coeurs :

"La France, on l'aime ou on la quitte" pour caracteriser notre sens de l'accueil

"Le gendarme de Saint Tropez" pour évoquer la grandeur du cinema francais

"Generation Mitterand" pour caracteriser notre jeunesse doree sous l'aile protectrice de papi

"Sea, Sex and Sun" pour nos habitudes estivales

"Muruora mon amour" (sous un champignon atomique) pour rappeller combien la France compte comme grande puissance

"La bravitude" de Sego ou le "Casse toi connard" de Sarko pour caracteriser la grandeur de notre classe politique

"Si t'as pas une Rolex a 50ans, c'est que t'as pas reussi ta vie" pour caracteriser le deconnection de nos elites

et evidemment la cri du coeur "Zidane President" en 98 pour caracteriser le niveau moyen de notre societé...

:)

The weather became amazingly sweet and beautiful, so you can't resist to get lost in the little streets of the area, and sometimes you meet "them"... the last matsuri supporters... the only source of noise in the peace of the Sunday afternoon...
現在は東京で天気が美しくなりましたからよく散歩します。時々お祭りが見られて、楽しいです。こちらの静かさとちがって、祭りに参加して人はとてもうるさいからびっくりしました。

The noise...
... and the peace :

I have been invited at the most fashionable Grottamare's gastronomy spot in Tokyo - at Francesco's place. And it was delicious. And beautiful. And I proove it.
グロッタマレと言うイタリアの町から来たフランキさんはイタリア料理のご馳走を作って、私を誘って、とてもうれしかったです。本当においしかった。

Waseda University is a place were you could live confortably...
 早稲田大学には本当に生活はやさしいです。キャンプスより家みたいと思います。

The lobby


The patio


The kitchen


The living-room


The bathroom

After Tokyo Planetarium, we kept the head in the stars at home...

... yes, I give you the description :
figues roasted in honey with marshmallow cream...

It is the time to answer in images to the eternal question asked by the Japanese as well as the French friends : "What do you eat in Tokyo ?"... Please find here a few samples of what I have been eaten at my place and ouside in Japan.
日本人もフランス人もいつも私に「東京であなたは何を食べるの?」と聞くので、今ちょっと見てください。

HEALTHY

Tasty cumcumbers

Cheese salada and hyper-fresh sour grapefruit juice

NOT HEALTHY


Pancakes with ice-cream and hot chocolate


Dango

ABUNDANT





CONFIDENTIAL


SUNDAY BRUNCH
Cereals with fresh kiwi, dry coconut and yogurt with bluberry
+ "pain au chocolat"
+ bread and cheese
+ grapefruit juice


SUNDAY BREAKFAST
Cereal with fresh strawberries and browwn sugar
+ waffles
+ grapefruit juice


LONELY BREAKFAST
Banana in hot chocolate
+ always grapefruit juice

LONELY LUNCH
Salada with shrimps
+ gyoza and rice

QUICK DINNER BEFORE KANJI
rice
+ soy salada, mini tomatos with sesame sauce
+ micro-waved egg
+ jasmine tea
+ Moomins' biscuits