In the frame of a contest organized by J-wave, a Japanese radio station, Hitoshi wrote a story about his grand-father taking him to go to fish when he was 3-years old, and preparing sashimi for the family with the fresh fish they had caught together. He won, and we were invited to have an amazing dinner-party sponsored by J-wave's gastronomy program. The event took place at Aoyama Ichome, in a kitchen-studio made to cook and to take pictures of the meals. I was the only non-Japanese. A French, in addition. So I finished surrounded not only by food but also curious Japanese (both contest winners and Chefs) asking everything about my fooding habits. It was funny, it was tasty, and it was free ! And we received a nice portable radio in addition. God bless the sashimi stories.

It is my second stay, but it seems that I love this city more and more every time. Hiroshima, peaceful and sunny city which doesn't even look at the scars of the past...
Welcome again at the Yamamoto family's place, I could enjoy delicious hand-made okonomiyaki, navigate between broken Japanese and local language, and feel the air of the survivor city.
Thanks again to Yukimi, her mother and brother for this great week-end.

先週末大好きな広島に行って、二回目だったけど本当にこの町に感心があるようになったと思います。いつも静かで明るい雰囲気ので、積極的な町の漢字があります。
も一度山本のところでホムステーをしてもらって、とても楽しかったです。うまいお好み焼きを食べて、広島の話し方を分かってみて、あの場所の一般的な力をもらえたと思います。
幸美ちゃん、お母さん、弟さん、春香ちゃん、ありがとうございました！

Hiroshima


Hiroshima Castle


Hiroshima Castle






Wedding ceremony



Shukkeien Gardens




















Almost a village




The University


Yamamoto's neighbourhood


Yummy okonomiyaki


Hiroshima friends

Tokyo is not Japan. We have been said this so many times, as if all the capitals of the world were not special, existing by themselves while embodying the whole country at the same time. Capitals are a world apart, and maybe, it's true, Tokyo especially differs from the rest of the Japan because of its international airport, because of its cosmopolitan population, because of its business-oriented lifestyle. But... surprise ! Two hours by Shinkansen later, you are in Kobe, more international, cosmopolitan and business-oriented than Tokyo. And a few kilometers away, you enter Kyoto, the old capital, which is paradoxically the symbole of "true", "deep" and "before-the-gaijin-forced-us-to-open-up-to-the-world-and-brought-us-plegs-such-as-imperialistic-desire-and-war-and-loss-of-bushido" Japanese thinking. Do the capitals have to die to represent correctly the national spirit, finally ?...

Whatever the answer, here are the faces of us, ETP guys, playing around in Kansai.

Through the typhun, bright colours remained eye-catching. Kobe and Kyoto are full of colors, so does Felissimo, the direct marketing and mailing company that we visited in Hyogo last week.
Dedicated to my mummy, addicted to natural chromotherapy...

KOBE COLORS
Bright colors for the trendy international city

FUSHIA

Kobe Bay from my hotel room

NEON

Kobe Bay

RED

Kobe Tower

GOLD

Hotel Sky lounge

TURQUOISE BLUE

Kobe Concert Hall

MAUVE

Kobe Bridge

INDIGO

Sexy Melon Cocktail


KYOTO COLORS
Season colors for the honorable old capital

PUMPKIN ORANGE

Maiko-san dance

SLATE GREY

Geikkekan Sake Factory

WOOD BROWN

Geikkekan Sake Factory

TRANSPARENT

Geikkekan Sake Factory


FELISSIMO RAINBOW


Felissimo Blue


Felissimo Green


Felissimo Pink


Felissimo Yellow


Felissimo Orange


Felissimo White


Felissimo Rainbow


Felissimo Rainbow

I am afraid that I am purikura-addict. The following samples are just a small part of my collection.

The word "purikura" comes from "print-colors" and it is used to talk about the little photos you can take with your friends in Japan. It costs 400 yen (around 2,90 euros), you can choose the size and the number and share it with friends using the sissors available in any good purikura-hall. Usually the photo-cabins are gathered in a narrow, over-lighted and over-filled with loud J-pop music place forbidden to boys if they come without girls - it's unfare, but that's the rule.
In the cabin, you can stand with 4 persons. A girly voice encourages you to make funny faces in front of the camera and you have to hurry up adjusting your image in the frame because each shooting takes 5 seconds only. The more numerous you are, the more expert in time-management you need to be. For each pic, you can choose a background (once again, in the limit of 15 seconds for 4 or 5 shoots) and after the shooting you go behind the cabin to ad messages, symbols, drawing or whatever you want on your pics. It's printed very quicky and you can enter your mobile adress to receive it on your phone for free.

It is so funny to do that you can't imagine until you experience it. And the magic of purikura is : your skin always looks gorgeous, your eyes are amazing - the picture of dream that automatically makes you beautiful. I can't believe that it doesn't exist in France...

In the middle of the level-check week, I barely get out of my area; so it is the moment to explore more deeply the treasures of the surroundings. Just in front of my street, there is a restaurant of ramen with a nice smell, a nice decoration and nice, very nice ramen. The atmosphere is warm, it looks like a family dinner and you can pick-up the spices from all the little boxes...

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...

:)