The LFJT (Lycée Franco Japonais de Tokyo) has now become the LFIT (Lycée Français International de Tokyo) and moved from Fujimi to Takinogawa. The LFIT is a French international school belonging to a network of establishments operated by the Agence pour l’enseignement français à l’étranger (AEFE), part of the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. Since 1 January 2006, the LFIT has enjoyed accreditation as a licensed local private school (Gakko Hojin Nichifutsu Gakuen). The French government contributes through the dispatch of personnel from the Ministry of Education, the provision of a school building, and the granting of various educational subsidies. As an exam center, the LFIT prepares students for the Diplôme National du Brevet, as well as three streams of the Baccalaureat diploma (Littéraire, Economique et Social, and Scientifique). The school belongs to a network of more than 430 establishments recognized by the French Ministry of Education, comprising approximately 250,000 pupils (of which 46% are French) in 135 countries. In Tokyo, the LFIT assures continuity in public educational services for French expatriate children while also contributing to the promotion of French language and culture abroad, particularly by welcoming students of Japanese and many other nationalities. The LFIT offers a program of instruction in accordance with the French curriculum, and includes significant linguistic and cultural components in relation to the Japanese context. Diplomas and qualifications awarded by the school are identical to those conferred by institutions in France. The LFIT currently accommodates ~800 francophone pupils of French or other nationalities. Most courses are conducted in French, but foreign-language instruction (in Japanese, English, German, and Spanish) also constitutes an important part of the curriculum. Three French/English bilingual classes have been created in the primary school, while a bilingual Section européenne for Social Studies is on offer in lower secondary. Finally, the Option international du Baccalauréat (OIB) is available to Japanese-speaking students in the upper secondary school [ref].

Hanami (花見) is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, flower in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms (sakura) or (less often) plum blossoms (ume).[1] From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa. The blossom forecast (桜前線) is announced each year by the weather bureau, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms only last a week or two. In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night. In many places such as Ueno Park temporary paper lanterns are hung for the purpose of yozakura. On the island of Okinawa, decorative electric lanterns are hung in the trees for evening enjoyment, such as on the trees ascending Mt. Yae, near Motobu Town, or at Nakajin Castle. A more ancient form of hanami also exists in Japan, which is enjoying the plum blossoms (ume) instead, which is narrowly referred to as umemi (梅見). This kind of hanami is popular among older people, because they are more calm than the sakura parties, which usually involve younger people and can sometimes be very crowded and noisy [ref]. Below the pictures I took of the Hanami season in Japan.

Niseko (ニセコ) is a town located in Hokkaidō, Japan. To the Japanese people, Niseko principally refers to a mountain range and a municipal area. However, overseas the name has come to refer to a wider area of ski resorts encompassing Hokkaido’s Mount Yōtei, often referred to as the Mt. Fuji of Hokkaido, and Annupuri ranges. The name Niseko derives from the Ainu language and means a cliff jutting over a riverbank deep in the mountains. Its main industries are agriculture and tourism. Niseko is composed of six ski areas, in order of size: Niseko Hirafu, Niseko Higashiyama (also known as Niseko Village), Niseko Annupuri, Niseko Hanazono, Niseko Moiwa and Niseko Weiss. Of these six ski areas, the main four (Annupuri, Higashiyama, Hirafu, and Hanazono) are sequentially interconnected and may be skied on one ski pass. Together they form 2,191 acres (8.87 km2) skiable of what is known as the Niseko United. Niseko’s sister city is St. Moritz, Switzerland in a relationship established in 1964. For the first time, in March 2008, Niseko was voted into the world’s top 10 ski resorts. Coming in at #6 it was the highest ranked of the new entries in the poll. Originally known primarily for winter sports, Niseko has gradually gained a reputation as a centre for a wide variety of summer activities, including golf, tennis, fishing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, white water rafting, trekking, and bicycling [ref]. Below the pictures I took in Niseko in February during a skiing holiday at Annupuri.

Trade show models work a trade show floorspace or booth, and represent a company to attendees. Trade show models are typically not regular employees of the company, but are freelancers hired by the company renting the booth space. They are hired for several reasons. Trade show models make a company’s booth more visibly distinguishable from the hundreds of other booths with which it competes for attendee attention. Also, trade show models are articulate and quickly learn and explain or disseminate information on the company and its product and service, and can assist a company in handling a large number of attendees which the company might otherwise not have enough employees to accommodate, therefore increasing the number of sales or leads resulting from participation in the show. Trade show models can be skilled at drawing attendees into the booth, engaging them in conversation, and at spurring interest in the product, service, or company. Trade show models may be highly skilled at screening the mass of show attendees for target consumers or at obtaining attendee information so that they may be solicited after the show. Attire varies and depends on the nature of the show, and on the image the company would like to portray. They may wear a dress, or simple but flattering business attire. They sometimes wear wardrobe that is particular to the company, product, or service represented. The slang term “booth babe” is often used to refer to a trade show model. The term focuses on physical appearance, or specifically on wardrobe, which, depending on the type of trade show, can be thematic or sexy. For example, at a builder’s convention a model may be dressed as a construction worker with cut-offs, tight t-shirt, tool belt, and hard hat. Girls that work at a car show or similar event are often called car show girls‘, race queens, pit babes or in a non-colloquial term, paddock girls [ref]. The pictures of sexy Japanese booth babes below were taken at major trade shows in Japan (Tokyo Game Show, Tokyo Motor Show, Tokyo Auto Salon…).

Kyudo (弓道), literally meaning way of the bow, is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art and practitioners are known as kyudoka. Kyudo is practiced in many different schools, some of which descend from military shooting and others that descend from ceremonial or contemplative practice. Therefore, the emphasis is different. Some emphasize aesthetics and others efficiency. Contemplative schools teach the form as a meditation in action. The yumi (Japanese bow) is exceptionally tall (standing over two meters), surpassing the height of the archer. Yumi are traditionally made of bamboo, wood and leather using techniques which have not changed for centuries, although some archers (particularly, those new to the art) may use synthetic (i.e. laminated wood coated with glassfiber or carbon fiber) yumi. All kyudo archers hold the bow in their left hand and draw the string with their right, so that all archers face the higher position (kamiza) while shooting. Unlike occidental archers (who, with some exceptions, draw the bow never further than the cheek bone), kyudo archers draw the bow so that the drawing hand is held behind the ear. If done improperly, upon release the string may strike the archer’s ear or side of the face ! Resulting from the technique to release the shot, the bow will (for a practiced archer) spin in the hand so that the string stops in front of the archer’s outer forearm. This action of “yugaeri” is a combination of technique and the natural working of the bow. It is unique to kyudo [ref]. The pictures below were taken during a demonstration at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for the New Year 2012.

Camera on the dashboard for a drive through an almost empty Tokyo on January 1st. At 4x the normal speed, I take you near the Yasukuni Shrine (very crowded around that time of the year), around the Imperial Palace, through the skyscrapers of Chiyodaku, then in Ginza (almost deserted with all shops closed), near the Tokyo Tower (where I obviously took a wrong turn), then to the famous Shibuya crossing and finally ending in Shinjuku with first its skyscrapers and then Kabukicho. Enjoy the ride and note the earthquake at 1:20, which AFP described as follows : a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Tokyo Sunday as Emperor Akihito led Japan’s New Year celebrations by urging people to work together in rebuilding the nation from March’s quake-tsunami disaster. The tremor struck at 2:28pm with its focus deep at about 370 kilometres, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury and no tsunami warning was issued. The mid-afternoon quake swayed buildings in Tokyo and surrounding areas but it did not disrupt the final of the Emperor’s Cup football tournament under way at the National Stadium. !

The Tokyo Motor Show (東京モーターショー) is a biennial auto show held in October-November at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recognized international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, and normally sees more concept cars than actual production car introductions which is the reason why the auto press see the show as one of the motorshow’s big five (along with Detroit, Geneva, Frankfurt and Paris). The show, then called All Japan Motor Show was first held in an outdoor venue called Hibiya Park, the show was considered a success with 547,000 visitors over ten days and 254 exhibitors displaying 267 vehicles, but of the amount of vehicles only 17 of them were passenger cars as the show was dominated by commercial vehicles. In 1958, due to construction of a subway and underground parking lot near Hibiya Park, the show was shifted to the Korakuen Bicycle Racing Track. The show, as the previous year was marred by heavy rain, in 1959 the event moved indoor to its newly opened Harumi Showplace venue which was three times the size of its previous venue. Onward from 1973, as the organisers decided not to host a show for the following year due to the international energy crisis and the show became a biennial event. The show relocated to its current venue, the Makuhari Messe in 1989 and due to high public demand for vehicles in everyday use and the fact concept cars dominate the show, the show returned to being an annual event from 2001 to 2005 with a show for passenger cars and motorcycle and another for commercial vehicles for the following year. However from 2007 onwards the event will (once again) return to a biennial schedule which combines both passenger and commercial vehicles, including motorcycles and auto parts [1].

Enoshima (江の島) is a small island, about 4 km in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River, which flows into Sagami Bay in Japan. Part of the city of Fujisawa, it is linked to the Katase section of the same city on the mainland by a 600 meter-long bridge. Adjacent to some of the closest beaches to Tokyo and Yokohama, the island and the nearby coast are the hub of a local resort area. Benzaiten, the goddess of music and entertainment, is enshrined on the island. The island in its entirety is dedicated to the goddess, who is said to have made it rise from the bottom of the sea in sixth century. The island is the scene of the Enoshima Engi, a history of the shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei in 1047 AD. Enoshima was the Olympic harbor for the 1964 Summer Olympics. In 1880, after the Shinto and Buddhism separation order of the new Meiji government had made the land available, much of the uplands was purchased by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant, in his Japanese wife’s name. He developed a power plant and extensive botanical gardens including a very large greenhouse. Although the original greenhouse was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, the botanical garden (now the Samuel Cocking Garden) remains an attraction with over half a million visitors a year [ref]. If you visit the island, make sure to stop at Shima Café Enomaru (しまカフェ 江のまる) at the top of the island. Excellent food in a beautifully restored building.

Tokyo Disneyland (東京ディズニーランド) is a 465,000 m² theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983. The park was constructed by Walt Disney Imagineering in the same style as Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. It is owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the theme from The Walt Disney Company. Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park, Tokyo DisneySea, are the only Disney parks not owned by The Walt Disney Company. There are seven themed areas in the park: the World Bazaar; the four classic Disney lands: Adventureland, Westernland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland; and two mini-lands: Critter Country and Mickey’s Toontown. The park is noted for its extensive open spaces, to accommodate the large crowds that visit the park. In 2009, Tokyo Disneyland hosted approximately 13.65 million guests, ranking it as the third-most visited theme park in the world, behind its American sister parks, Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. In 2010, the park hosted 14.4 million visitors, again ranking it as the world’s third most visited theme park [ref]. The pictures below were taken during the Halloween Holidays.

The Japanese macaque (macaca fuscata), historically known as saru (japanese for monkey), but now known as Nihonzaru to distinguish it from other primates, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan. It is also sometimes known as the snow monkey from the fact that it lives in areas where snow covers the ground for months each year—no primate, with the exception of humans, is more northern-living, nor lives in a colder climate. Individuals have brown-grey fur, a red face, and a short tail. The Japanese macaque is sexually dimorphic. Males weigh on average 11.3 kg while females average 8.4 kg. Macaques from colder areas tend to weigh more than ones from warmer areas. Male average height is 570.1 mm and female average height is 522.8 mm. The macaque has a pinkish face and posterior. The rest of its body is covered in hair that can be brown, greyish, or yellowish. The coat of the macaque is well adapted to the cold and its thickness increases as temperature decreases. The Japanese macaque is the northernmost-living non-human primate and can cope with temperatures as low as -20° C. The longevity for the macaque averages 6.3 years. However, they have been known to live much longer; males have lived up to 28 years and females up to 32 years [ref]. Photos taken at the Jigokudani Yaen-koen in the Nagano Prefecture.