Sanjo Station of Keihan Line



Sanjo is the last station of the Keihan Main Line (京阪本線, Keihan-honsen). Keihan Main Line is the Keihan Electric Railway Train Line. This Line connected Osaka and Kyoto. The first station is Yodoyabashi located in Chūō-ku, Osaka.  Sanjo, which lies in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, is an important station, here stops all kind of trains from local up to Limited Express. This station lies directly on the Sanjo Bridge over the Kamo River. On the other side of the bridge is the Sanjo-Dori Street. This is one of the oldest shopping districts in Kyoto. The most impressive point is the contrast between traditional Japanese stores, which are selling Kimonos, Tea or sweets and the modern Shopping centers. Sanjo has also an interesting history: there was a former hideout of Sakamoto Ryoma. Sakuma Shozan and Ohmura Masujiro were assassinated there. The Ikedaya Incedent which involved the Shinsengumi was also occurred over there. Now it’s always crowded with young people. If you visit that station you will for sure see a lot of couples sitting along the river. There are also groups who are just hang out together. Amateur bands meeting there on the Weekends and perform after each other on the provisory stage next to the water, so it looks like a small open air concert. Every evening there are also bands performances directly next to the station entries. Last weekend there was a Jidai Matsuri- Festival- Parade passing Sanjo. Normally hold up at October 22, this year because of heavy rain it was moved to Sunday, October 23. All the people came really early, so the streets was completely crowded hours before the parade come to the Sanjo Bridge. Jidai Matsury or the Festival of the Ages shows the national costumes from 9th till 19th century and involved over 2000 people. It is one of 3 most famous festivals in Kyoto.

For more information:

http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/visitkyoto/en/theme/amusement/downtown/st_sanjo/

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/japan/kyoto-festivals.htm

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/kp/english/guide/saijiki/f_jidai.html



Portray of a Japanese Person

Me and my Friend has meet this nice man in Kyoto while visiting temple. He saw us taking photos and offer kindly to take picture of us together. Then he shows us some good places for taking pictures in this temple. He told us that he was a photographer and shoot often pictures here. After living in Japan for over a month I would say that the most of Japanese people are really friendly, nice and helpful.

This is my ceramic teacher. He teaches us the basics of working with clay.  Pottery is one of oldest art forms in Japan. It dates back to a Neolithic Age. The Jomon pottery is world famous ancient ceramic and even gives the name to an earliest era in Japanese history. Today ceramics still play an important role in Japanese culture. Especially in the tea ceremony. Tea masters use special maiden cups and pots since 16^th century. Some cups are really expensive and may cost over hundred thousand dollars.

Read more about it here:

http://www.ehow.com/about_6373109_history-japanese-pottery.html

http://www.japanese-arts.net/ceramics/cer_teaceremony.htm

http://gordoncwong.ca/?p=389

These are some people I met at “The Ring”, a karaoke club in Hirakata. Even if you know that Karaoke come from Japan, so I guess you probably never hear the name Daisuke Inoue. But it was him who gets this fabulous idea in early 70. In the beginning he just made 11 karaoke machines and rent them to some clubs in Kobe. He didn’t patent his work. Despite Karaoke get famous all over the world he didn’t get any benefit of his invention. 2004 Daisuke Inoue was honored with a Peace Nobel Price as a creator of Karaoke, because it provide “an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.”²

Read more about it:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054546,00.html

2:   http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2004

06.08.1945 United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In between destruction and fire there was a 13 years old girl who survived, and keep on living till today to tell the new generation about the nightmare, which came true.

In between of white light and black rain, the whole city burned to the ground… corpses on the streets… people burned in a second while walking… dead bodies instead of water in the river basin… black bodily parts raised above ashes and trash… few survivor looking in vain for relatives… some still alive, with eyes burned out and fingers melted together… will die now, in a hour, tonight, tomorrow, next week, in a month, next year… because of pain, shock, burns, radiation toxicity, cancer, suicide…

She told us also about the man who died last year. He survived two atomic bomb attacks. After Hiroshima disaster he flees from destroyed city and went by train to Nagasaki looking for shelter and relatives. No one knows that it would be the second target. Be grateful to those who survived and still keep their spirits up to travel across the world and tell their stories, trying get the humanity clarified of war cruelty, to prevent the recurrence of atomic warfare.

Read also about other survivors here: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/hiroshima.htm