Events in December

Symposium on International city Ota
Date :   1st December,Wednesday    
Time :  19:00～21:00 (Open 18:30)
Place:  Ota Kumin Hall (APRICO) 5-37-3, Minami Kamata
            Nearest Station- Kamata station East exit
Details: Keynote speech from Mr. Yasushi Aoyama (Prof. Meji University)
              Panel discussion "A picture of international city that Ota city is aiming at"
              Panelists- Mr. Tadayoshi Masubara, Mayor (Ota city)
                           - Mr.Keizo Yamawaki (Prof. Meji University)
                           - Mr. Shigeru Oshimo (Rikkyo Univ.)
                           - Ms. Miki Muraki (Associate prof. Chiba Univ.)
                           - Mr. Young kwang Park (Ota Ambassador)
Below are the details
http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/event/event_kouen/kokusaitoshisymposium/index.html


Christmas Concert in Kamata
Date : 23rd December, Thursday 
Time : 11:30 onwards
Place: Kamata Square of JR Kamata Station West exit

Events in November

Ota Fureai Festa 2010

Date:  November 6th Sat. and 7th Sun.

Time: 10：00～16：00
Place: Heiwajima Park (Area of Sun) Trampoline and "Fureai"animal land for kids.

           Hewa no mori Park (Green Area)- Flea Market selling Japanese antiques and kids toys.

           Omori Furusato no Hamabe Koen (Beach area) Experience rowing a boat.

           Hewajima motor boat racing course (Water area). Experience Mikoshi (portable shrine) parade
           International exchange street. Character show for kids. Nearest station is Heiwajima on Keikyu Line.       
           10 min. walk from the venue.

Entry: Free

Background: This year marks the 21st "Ota friendship festival". With the opening of the new Haneda International airport Ota city and it's residents are expecting many foreign visitors. At this year's event many foreigners are expected to participate as part of cultural exchange. See below links for more details. 

http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/event/event_kankou/festa/index.html

http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/event/event_kankou/festa/files/mizuibennto.pdf

There are free shuttle bus from JR Omori station and JR Kamata station. Check below link for bus time table.
http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/event/event_kankou/festa/files/basuannai.pdf 

Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement)

Date:   November 13th Sat. and 14th Sun.

Time:   10:00-17:00 (13:00- 15:00 reserved for first 20 persons)

Place:   Kumin Plaza (3-1-3 Shimomaruko, Ota city) Near Shimomaruko Station.
Entry:   Free

Details: Experience “IKEBANA” (Japanese flower arrangement) and Tea ceremony performed by Ota  
              residents.

Contact: Community Education div.035744-1447

Events in October

1.OTA Commerce and Tourism Fair 2010

   Date: 16th and 17th October

   Time: 10:00-17:00
   Place: Ota Industrial Plaza
   Details: Ebara Nagare Daiko(Traditional Japanese drum performance in Ota style)
                   Matoi huri(traditional Japanese performance)
                   Fine Collection from Ota City (Foods and crafts)

   PS: Ota Tourism Organization is recruiting voluntary staff for help at the exhibition booth of Ota Tourism Organization. Please contact directly.

http://www.pio-ota.jp/a-fair/2010/

2. Short cruise around offshore of Haneda 

    Date:    21st October,Thursday 

    Time:   12:15-15:00

    Place:   Tennozu Isle station (Tokyo Monorail or Rinkai line)

    Details: Short cruising on Japanese style roofed boat used for recreation to see the brand new runway of  

    Haneda International Airport offshore. Also enjoy spraying of water by fire fighter boats.

    PS: Apply in advance for participating in this event. Please check below link for more details.

    http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/kuho/2010/10gatsu/kuhou_101001/files/1001_P3.pdf

3.Sento Walking Tour 

   Date:  31st October,Sunday 

   Time:   10:00-13:00

   Place:     Keikyu Kamata station, East exit

   Details: Walk around Haneda area visiting Sento (Public bath and 7 Inari Jinja shrines) 

   PS:  Apply in advance for participating in this event. Please check below link for more details

   http://www.ota1010.com/event.cgi?code=&page=ota1010_201008001.dat

Attractions in Ota City

There are many hidden treasures in Ota ward, Tokyo. On my expeditions I discovered many lovely places in Ota ward which many foreigners seem to be unaware of. I highly recommend visitors to Japan and foreign residents in Japan to visit these places. One of the lovely places - a must visit place is the beautiful and heavenly - Senzoku-ike.

Senzokuike Staion

Senzokuike-Koen (park): As the name says 'ike' means pond in Japanese. Its a beautiful pond with a stunning view, situated right across the Senzoku-ike station on Tokyu Ikegami line. The beauty of this park is that you can visit here in any season. It always has something to offer through out the year. Senzoku ike is one of the most scenic places you will come across Tokyo. It is lush green and gives a feeling of nature right in the center of city. It offers a chance for city folks to relax and unwind. A shaded walking path surrounds the pond with boardwalks over the water. There's a small botanical garden along the board walk. One can see carps (koi), turtles and frogs in the pond. Its fun for kids to watch them closely.

                                                                                     

Hanami (sakura viewing): Spring is the best time to visit Japan. Japanese enjoy this season to the fullest.They travel to see sakura all over Japan. Senzoku-ike is one of the famous spots in Tokyo for sakura viewing (cherry blossoms). People come here for hanami. They sit under sakura trees eating, drinking. singing and partying till late hours. This park becomes lively at the time of sakura.Vendors (yataii) put there stalls along the water side selling all sorts of food and drinks to be enjoyed while viewing sakura.

Boating: Yes!! Pond has boating facility to offer. There are three kinds of boat- swan, cycle and row boat available for rent. Boating can be enjoyed in any season. Many people like to boat around cherry trees during cherry blossoms.

Iketsukibashi Bridge

Hachiman jinja: There's a jinja (shrine is called jinja in Japanese) situated right in front of iketsukebashi bridge. Every year on the first saturday of September shrine holds an annual festival with mikoshi carrying parade and dance performances.

Temple of Nichiren: This temple is dedicated to Nichiren (founder of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism). During the Heian Period (794-1185) this place was known as "千束" (thousand bundles). During the Kamakura Period (12th century) monk Nichiren  passed by this place during his journey to Ikegami Honmonji. He stopped by to rest and allegedly washed his legs at the pond. Henceforth, the place has been known as "洗足池" (leg-washing pond). 


Benzaiten: This is another small jinja located across the small bridge.

Playground for kids: In Japan if there is a park then there has to be some attractions for kids as well. There is a huge playground with slide, swings, jungle gym, sand box etc. for kids to play.

Jidokan (family room for kids): This jidokan entertains kids of all ages. They arrange taiso class (warm up dance) for smaller kids. Jidokan concept in Japan is really helpful for new mom and kid. This is the place to meet other moms and kids. So a win-win both ways!!





Library (toshyokan): There is a very big library renting all sorts of books and CDs. There is a kids corner. The library has a small but good collection of English and other foreign language books. All the books can be rented for free.




Restaurant and cafe- Terrance jure: This is a very cozy restaurant overlooking the pond. Authentic Italian meal can be enjoyed with a view of the park and the pond. Specialty of this cafe is its scrumptious chiffon cake served with cream. Live concerts with dinner course can be enjoyed on Friday evenings. For more details please check the link.
http://www.boreas.dti.ne.jp/~gelee/

Hukilau Cafe: This cafe is situated close to Koban (police box). Its a nice and cozy cafe with a Hawaiian ambience offering Hawaiian style coffee with different flavors of vanilla and hazelnut. One can relax and enjoy every sip of coffee and talk to the staff who are very sweet and friendly.

Hope this information was helpful to you to plan your trip to this beautiful park. Have fun and enjoy travelling!!

Address: Minami Senzoku 2-1-6, Ota Ku

2010 Haneda Airport Globalization Commemoration Project

This September Ota- ku is organizing Haneda Global Expo which will be held in Ota City to commemorate the internationalization of Haneda Airport. Centered around the theme of “international exchange,” there will be many events to enjoy, with booths introducing the culture and attraction of its international destinations, corners allowing guests to enjoy global cuisine, and stage events celebrating international exchange.

Venue: Outdoor parking lot of the New International Terminal at Haneda Airport
Dates: September 11th (Sat) 10:00 – 20:30
          September 12th (Sun) 10:00 – 18:00
Organizer: Ota City

Admission: Free
Description: International exchange booths, world cuisine carts, global parade etc.

*For more details, visit the Ota City website. 
http://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/event/event_kankou/hanedaglobalexpo/index.html

An evening with a lighting bug!!!

In my last post I had posted details about this event. Luckily I got a chance to attend it. Host for this event was Scenic area association and local Committee of young people measures at Senzouku-ike. This event started 8 years ago by local people in an effort to show fireflies to their children. Now they have started doing this at a larger scale. Staff bought 3000 fireflies from Chiba prefecture and put them for public viewing at the pond. I was amazed to see thousands of fireflies fluttering in the pitch darkness near the pond. The beauty of hotaru (firefly or lightning bug) is that it emits fluorescent light on its lower abdomen. They use this light to attract mate or prey. One can easily see them in darkness with their fluorescence. They inhabit in clean water.

On talking to host. I learnt  few facts about hotaru. There are roughly 2000 species of firefly in the world. They are well-known in hundreds of different cultures. Because of this, they are called by many common names. Here are just a few of the many names of fireflies called in different parts of the world.

• Lightning bug
• Glow worm
• Golden sparkler
• Minna Minni (Malayalam-South of India)
• Jugnu जुगनू  (Hindi)
• Hotaru ホタル(Japanese)
• 螢火蟲  Chinese
• 개똥벌레 Korean
• Lucciola (Italian)

The name for this species of  firefly is  “Heike Hotaru”

They sometime fall asleep and the lights goes off when they are sleeping. To avoid this staff spray water and shake there baskets slowly so that they keep emitting florescent light. Fireflies have a life span of only one week!! It's such a pity, isn't it? Such a beautiful and bright creature survives just for a week!!!
Once the event was over these fireflies were set free in the ko-ike pond - back to mother nature.

Fireflies bring feeling of summers!!
See you until next time!! Minna nastsu oo tanoshii ni shitte ne!!

Events in August

Summer has set in and kids must be enjoying their summer vacations now. This summer, why not participate in activities which will help the kids learn about Japanese culture? When schools start they can share these memorable experiences with their friends.

Here are the events for the month of August in Ota-ku.

1.Event: Mikoshi festival in Kamata 

   Date/Time: August 8, Sunday 14:30-16:00
   Place: JR Kamata station
   Contents: Mikoshi experience, Japanese drum performance, street performance, earthquake truck                    
   experience, various attractions for children like taking pictures with fire engine and police motorcycle etc.

(About Mikoshi: Mikoshi is a Japanese traditional portable shrine. It’s a festival for children. It starts with parades while shouldering “Mikoshi” on the street. Children receive some money and gifts from adults. Children really enjoy this festival)

2.Event: Fireworks (Hanabi)
   Date/Time: August 15, Sunday 19:10-20:10
   Place: Banks of Tamagawa river (nearest station is Rokugodote on Keikyu line)

3.Event: Lamplight festival in Anamori inari shrine
   Date/Time: August 27, Friday 19:00-20:00
   Place: Anamori inari shrine (nearest station is Anamori inari on Keikyu line)
   Contents: Wish on 1000 lamplights at Anamori inari shrine, bon dancing


4.Event: Ikegami festival
   Date/Time: August 29, Sunday 10:30-16:00
   Place: Ikegami Hall (nearest station is Ikegami on Tokyu Ikegami line)
   Contents: Art of craftsman, performance of community culture

   Hope you enjoy these events!

Events in July

Every year Ota city organizes summer events (natsu matsuri) which are organized at different places in Ota-Ku, for example mikoshi (portable Shinto shrine) festival, bon odori(bon dancing),  fireworks etc.

Here are the few events lined up for this summer which will fill your Tokyo summers with loads of fun and will also make everlasting memories.  Also there will be a lot of traditional Japanese food and drinks to relish.

Here are the upcoming events for the month of July:
Event: Hotaru no Yube( firefly, lightning bug evening)

Date/Time: July 24, Saturday 19:30-21:00

Place: Senzokuike, Senzokuike station on ikegami line

Entry Fee: Free

Host: Senzokuike Huchi Kyoukai (Senzokuike scenic area association)

Contents: Firefly watching at Senzokuike pond.

Event: Haneda Shrine Festival

Date/Time: July 25, Sunday, 15:30

Place: Tenkubashi station on Keikyu Line

Entry Fee: Free

Contents: Each neighborhood association in Haneda area parade with their mikoshi shrine

Lets be a part of these events and have some fun together.

Ota demographics

Here is some demographic information about Ota ward.

Ota (大田区 Ōta-ku) is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 677,341. The total area is 59.46 km² which is the largest of the 23 wards.