Toukae -Thousands of candle-

August 5th till 14th, only ten days, there will be thousands of candle in Nara park. It is one of summer night event in Nara city called Toukae, which has been taking place in beginning of August since 1999.
The temples and building are lighted up. It is amazing view, and have different faces from in day time.

Here is official web site of Tokae
http://www.toukae.jp/tokae_e/index.html

The photo is Ukimidou from web site Tokae 2008

Osaka Aquarium kaiyukan

Hello, how are you doing?
We are in middle of the rainy season. During a trip, it's difficult to make a plan, isn't it? If you wanna do something without having an umbrella, why don't you go to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan? You will meet whale shark, which looks awesome! Huge! There are many themes devided in Ocean, for example Japan Forest, Japan Deeps, Monterey Bay, and Antarctica. For me, I like Tasman Sea where cute dolphins are living. However you cannot miss the water tank called Pacific Ocean. There are Whale shark, Manta ray and many many fish and animals. You gonna be amazed for sure.

The photo by Osaka Aquarium kaiyukan web site

How to get to Kaiyukan
http://yougendo2.blogspot.com/2008/03/aquarium-kaiyukan.html
PS. You need an umbrella between the nearest station and the aquarium!

Osaka Aquarium kaiyukan web site
http://www.kaiyukan.com/eng/index.htm

JiJi

Hello! I'm JiJi named after a black cat Jiji in the movie The Kiki's Delivery Service. I've lived here Yougendo for two months now. I like taking a nap outside under the sun, exploring the big garden, and playing with my aunty Cathy. See you later!

Tanabata Star Fesitival

Have you heard of "Tanabata or Star Festival"??
Today I'm going to write about Tanabata Star Festival which is coming soon on next month.
July 7th is the day of Tanabata Star Festival in Japan.

According to a Chinese legend, a long time ago, there were the two stars Altair(彦星Hikoboshi) and Vega(織姫星Orihimeboshi) who worked very hard but they became lazy people after they fell in love with each other.
The god got angry about this and made them separated from each other by the milky way(天の川Amanogawa).
However,the god felt a bit sorry for not seeing forever each other so he decided to let them meet only once a year on 7th,July if the weather was fine.
Sadly, It usually rains almost every year on this day so people call it "their tears".

People in old times wished for sunny day for Altair and Vega and later it changed to write one's wishes on a piece of paper and hang it on a bamboo tree.

These days, you'll see colourful decorated bamboo tree in everywhere in Japan this season.
When you find any bomboo tree,why don't you write a wish??
And what would you wish for??

We have our bamboo tree at the main gate of our Guest House and many colourful piece of papers are already hang on the tree.

It looks beautiful especially when the wind blows!!
I'll put some pictures of our bamboo tree very soon ^^

Let's make a wish together!

G'day mate!

Hi everyone!
My name is Tomomi so just call me "TOMO"!
I've worked at Yougendo for about 9 months and I really like it.
I love to work here and meet many people from all around the world.
Our guests are so nice and they often tell me some interesting stories such as their first experience in Japan, their funny stories while staying here in Japan.
Also some of our guests visit not only Japan but also they travel around the world.
So I want all our guests to feel Japanese customs by hearing birds singing,eating healthy Japanese foods, going out in Kimono/Yukata and taking a Hot spring bath.
If you stay at Guesthouse Yougendo,I'm sure you feel easy,comfortable and it's like you come back your home to take a big rest.
I'm very looking forward to see more guests from all over the world!!!
I'll write about "Yummy shaved ice" next time because I found a really nice one these days.

Yougendo staff,
Tomomi