Japanese Festival "Kyoto Gion Matsuri"

My family and I went to Gion Matsuri of Kyoto. It was filled with tourists though the weather was nasty. The street lined with a lot of stalls, and it smelled very good. Chow meins, Takoyaki, roast corns, cotton candies, cracked ices. My wife and daughter seemed to have been very happy to put on the yukata though I was exhausted with walked a lot.

History of Gion Matsuri
The origin of Gion Matsuri is "Gion Goryoue" in 7th June 869 AD. That is a festival of lustrating epidemic.
Hokos appeared in 11th century. But, turmoil of the Onin war (1467-1477) prevented its continuance.
Gion Matsuri was resuscitated in 1500 A.D. and become established modern style.
Gion Matsuri is a festival of the people, by the people, for the people. It's a Kyoto's spirit.

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eBay Store - Japanese Style Store 1st SELECT

Our store was opened in the eBay Store.
There are a lot of unusual Japanese products that can be gotten only in our store. We ship it out from Japan all over the world. Please take your time to enjoy shopping!
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About Google Picasa2

  
I tried the upload of the image by using the Picasa2 of the Google. I liked this software because I used it easily. It is convenient to arrange a huge amount of commodity image. Moreover, a complex image data processing can be done at a time by the click of "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. This function is very useful when it is busy.
This photo is the one that the window displays of the shop was taken. The fans, the dolls, and folkcraft, etc.

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Recipes of Japanese Cooking

Interesting books were found in Amazon.co.jp. They are books to which recipes of typical Japanese cooking is written in English. Recipes such as the sushi, the tempura, sukiyakis, and miso soups are introduced. Try to cook Japanese food.

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Bamboo Mouse and Keyboard

New products arrived! They are the mouse and keyboards made from the bamboo.
Keyboards to which English and Japanese are written and optical mouse are connected with PC by USB.
Other you can get unique goods of Japan. For more details, Visit our store at 1st SELECT.com.
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The downtown in Japan of 20's

This photo is an underground restaurant area in the sky building in Osaka. The downtown in Japan of 20's is reproduced in the retro. There is artificial biotope in the ground, and the oasis in the city.
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Hot spring of Gero and Japanese restaurant

It is in the midst on the "Golden Week" holidays now in Japan. It is the week when four of the national holidays happen during the end of April and the beginning of May. Quite a few Japanese are enjoying consecutive holidays of nine days in the maximum.
I went to a hot spring in Gifu with my family over the long holiday. Gero in Gifu is one of the three major hot spring resorts in Japan as well as Hakone in Kanagawa and Yufuin in Oita, and it takes about four hours from Osaka by car.
We took a leisurely bath as long as time permitted. My wife was pleased to say that her skin became so smooth.

After having enjoyed the hot spring, we ate lunch in the inn. The service was very good, and we were very satisfied as the staff in the restaurant prepared the fruit cup for our daughter free of charge. We had a good time relieving our stress.

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Japanese Food "Okonomi-yaki"

We cooked the okonomi-yaki at home today. Because I had worked part-time in the restaurant in my school days, I am good at cooking. The okonomi-yaki is the one like country dishes of Osaka, and it is eaten as often as the tako-yaki in Osaka. The recipe of the okonomi-yaki is as follows.

"As-You-Like-It" Pancake Okonomi-yaki
500kcal per serving

INGREDIENTS (4 servings)
3 1/2 oz pork belly, thinly sliced
3 1/2 oz squid (body only)
7 oz cabbage
4 scallions
2 Tbsp red pickled ginger, finely chopped

Batter:
5 1/4 oz flour
5 oz water
2 4/5 oz grated mountain yam
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

vegetable oil

Topping:
okonomi-yaki sauce
dried bonito powder
ao-nori (green-seaweed) flakes
mayonnaise

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut pork into 3-inch pieces, slice squid into thin strips, mince cabbage and scallions coarsely.
2. Using a whisk, make batter, combining flour, water, grated mountain yam, and salt. Add beaten eggs, stir lightly.
3. Add squid, cabbage, scallions, and mix well.
4. Divide all ingredients into 4 portions. Oil griddle. Saute pork briefly and pour batter over, then sprinkle with pickled ginger. When the surface bubbles and the bottom is golden brown, turn over and brown the other side.
5. Brush with okonomi-yaki sauce, sprinkle with bonito powder and ao-nori flakes. Serve with mayonnaise to taste.

NOTE
Ingredients may vary. Cook any meat, seafood, vegetables with the batter "as you like it."

Let's challenge cooking!
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The shochu and sake

I took two licensing examinations necessary for my work in the end of last month. Both were passing as the result. It was hard every day because the time of final tax returns and study was simultaneous.
My wife presented me the shochu in celebration of those passing exams. The shochu is a Japanese clear liqueur (distilled, most commonly, from sweet potatoes, rice, or buckwheat). It is quite good.
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About amazon.co.jp

Amazon.co.jp
You can search in English on Amazon.co.jp for Japanese books, music, DVD, and more.
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Japanese video games

I like video game. Moderately playing a game becomes the rest of work. I am playing Final Fantasy XII (FF12) now. The graphics and music are very wonderful, and I play frantically.
The Japanese video game seems to be popular all over the world. Resident Evil, Onimusha, and Kingdom Hearts, etc. We are often consulted about from the game freak in each country that wants a Japanese original version.
Please contact me if you are interested in those games.
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Cherry blossom viewing

My friend and I went to see the cherry blossoms at the park today. Cherry blossoms were at their best.
Sake, sushi, slices of raw fish, yakitori (barbecued chicken on a bamboo skewer), and tempura (deep-fried fish and vegetables), etc. They were delicious drink and delicious dishes. We enjoyed the party till late though it was a little cold.
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Himeji Castle and delicious octopus

My family and I went to Himeji Castle. It took about two hours from Osaka where we lived by train.
Himeji Castle was built in the Middle Ages. It is called the white egret castle from the magnificent rampart covered with plaster. In the castle, there was a contrivance to prevent the ninja's invasion. It was popular among the tourist from foreign countries, and a lot of people visiting.
This photo was taken with my cell phone camera.
In returning, we stopped by Akashi. It is famous because a delicious octopus can be captured. We ate deep-fried octopus and takoyaki (balls of wheat-flour batter cooked with pieces of octopus) there. As for the sushi and slices of raw fish, the octopus is delicious. Let's try to those menus if you visit Japan.
Spring comes soon in Japan. We are looking forward to have a party with seeing cherry blossoms.
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SUSHI Mouse Pad

This blog was started today. It introduces myself first. I run Japanese style Variety Store in Japan. A present hot selling item is mouse pad where 20 kinds of sushis are printed. Besides, there is mouse pad from which the geisha, the sumo wrestling, the ukiyoe, Mt. Fuji and more are designed. The number of items is scheduled to be increased more in the future. Please tell me if you request any items of Japan.
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