Dinosaurs in Marunouchi

A couple of weeks ago Marunouchi was invaded by dinosaurs from Fukui prefecture on the north coast of Japan. Japanese kids, like kids everywhere I guess, have a serious love for dinosaurs, and they’re also lucky in that Japan is a good place to go fossil hunting. Three complete skeletons (casts) were on display as well as a few other interesting animated dinosaurs and educational videos and even life sized dinosaur scientists that were a great hit with the kids! First of we had the carnivorous 12m long Acrocanthosaurus atokensis from Oklahoma USA, and a Pteranodon longiceps with a wing span of 7m was hung in the ceiling. The Japan native Fukuisaurus tetoriensis, a herbivore Iguanadontian. Seeing these exhibitions in Marunouchi Building and the nearby Oazu Building really brought back memories from when I was dinosaur crazy kid myself! I think a trip to Fukui prefecture really must be arranged some time soon.

Marunouchi Night

Yes, I’ve done it before and I’ll probably do it again, here’s even more photos of an evening’s walk in Tokyo’s Manhattan, the Marunouchi district. The magic blue hour is absolutely the best time to go out for a photo walk in this area! I could have taken so many more photos, but I was in a hurry so this is all I got this time around!

A Tokyo Photo Walk

One of the best ways to improve your health by a long day’s walk, improve your creativity and to improve your general mood is to go for a photo walk! During all my years with a camera, it had never struck me to just walk around with my camera and shoot randomly whatever I saw or encountered, until I came to Japan. I believe that this kind of photography is what the Japanese really excel at when it comes to image art, and it has taken me many years to even warm up to the idea of just shooting for fun and with no purpose, goal or set idea. It’s also possible to do photo walks anywhere in the world, alone or with friends or even total strangers. I believe it has become quite the art movement during the first decade of this century with organized worldwide photo walks held simultaneously all around the world. I have never joined any of those by I often go out with other camera happy friends, most recently in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. These are just random photos from Tokyo station, Marunouchi and Ginza. I accept that I haven’t even begun to master the art of the photo walk, I am always amazed by the images my friends take, it really requires a special way of seeing to be able to get good results from a photo walk! Anyway, here’s mine. Enjoy!

Takarazuka Revue Costumes

As a kid one of my earliest memories of there being a place like Japan was watching a documentary on the legendary Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical troupe from the western city of Takarazuka in Hyogo prefecture. Founded in 1913 as a way to attract customers to a new train line and to cash in on the popularity of western style music the troupe still operates with a sort of by-gone era grandeur that takes the western musical concept to a whole new level. Members are admitted in fierce competition as young girls and train for years to train for the role of either male or female. If you’re new to the Japanese music scene and wondering about the success of girl bands like AKB48 and similar groups, remember that it all started in with the Takarazuka Revue. During the weeks leading up to Christmas there was an exhibition and performance in both of the Marunouchi Buildings in central Tokyo. I didn’t catch any performances but I got to see the exhibition of genuine Takarazuka stage clothes. If you are seriously into musicals and ever visit Japan, a trip to the Takarazuka theater in Takarazuka City or here in Tokyo, is a must!