Plain Talk
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28. 2025Japanese Bathroom Etiquette by Esteban Lopez
There was a gentle knock on the door and I started to panic, I was not prepared for this type of situation in Japan.
I was using the public toilet on the 4th floor of a building across from Shimokitazawa station. It was the only bathroom in the entire building and so I was lucky that I walked in when I did; I had to go really bad and so I was relieved when I saw that the only stall in the men’s bathroom was open. I immediately let myself in and shut the door behind me. Not even a couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the door and I was like, “Wait a minute! What am I supposed to say in this sort of situation in Japan? What’s the correct way to deal with this?” Back in the states we say something like, “someone`s in here,” or “busy.” And I don’t ever remember going over this dialogue in Japanese class and so I sat there frozen for a minute, when the brilliant idea came to me to just say, “hai,” to which the person understood and walked away.
It wasn’t until later when I asked my Japanese friend; “what is proper bathroom etiquette in Japan when someone knocks on the door?” She told me to just gently knock on the door too and alert the person of your presence by saying, “Haitemasu.” I was speechless, “so I’m just supposed to knock too and say that someone is in here.” I started laughing to myself, “well, I was halfway there, when I said “hai.” I just need the…”temasu part next time.”
The funny thing is, that I never would have figured this out on my own and it’s good to know that I have a Japanese friend, who taught me for next time what proper Japanese bathroom etiquette is whenever I hear that gentle rapping at my door.
ドアをそっとノックする音に僕はあせった。日本でこんな状況に遭遇したのは初めてだった。
僕は下北沢駅の向かいのビルの4階にある公衆トイレに座っていた。ビル全体で唯一のトイレだったので、入った時はラッキーだった。本当に行きたかったので、男子トイレの唯一の個室が開いていたのでほっとした。僕はすぐ中に入るとドアを閉めた。それから2、3分も経たないうちにドアをノックする音がしたので「待てよ！日本ではこういう場合、何と言えばいいんだろう？どう対処するのが正しいのか？」と僕は思った。アメリカでは "someone’s in here "とか"busy"とか言う。日本語の授業でこの台詞を習った記憶がなかったので1分間固まって座っていた。それから、素晴らしいアイデアを思いつき、ただ「はい」と言うと、その人は理解して去って行った。
後日、日本人の友人にトイレに入っていて、誰かがドアをノックした際、日本ではどのように対応すればいいかと尋ねてみた。そっとドアをノックして、「ハイッテマス」と言って相手に自分の存在を知らせるのよ。僕は言葉を失った。"じゃあ、僕もノックして、誰かがここにいるって言えばいいだね"。と僕は一人で笑い始めた。僕は「はい」だけした。次は、残りの部分の「...てます」も言おう。
面白い事に、僕一人でこの事に気づくことは決してなかった。日本人の友人のおかげで、やさしくトイレのドアをたたく音は、日本でのトイレのエチケットだと教わることができた。
Plain Talk
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD TNB Throwback MAY 12. 2017Japanese system: Beauty and the Beast by Olga Kaneda
Japan has a system for everything; a set of rules to make life easier and simpler, like stroke order for Chinese characters. If there is no unified system, there are usually two or three systems for almost everything. For example, people in Kanto and Kansai have different rice ball shapes for different occasions.
System is a pillar stone of any society, but the Japanese system is superior to any others. Even German people, known for their strict rules and logic, realize how lenient the system at their home country was after coming to Japan.
If there is no general rule how to do something, Japanese people invent instructions for themselves and others. Have you ever given a thought to all that 《Tadashii tsukaikata / tsukurikata》 (the correct way of using / making something)? Life that has more uniform actions is easier to live. You don’t even need to do much. The system may be elaborate or simple, but anyway the experience of other people can be rather helpful. Think a recipe of your grandmother’s apple pie, treasured in the family for decades. Well, Japanese instructions are nation-wide, but the concept is similar. You can try doing things your own way, but why bother if there is a foolproof recipe for success?
We foreigners may be shocked at first but we learn to obey or at least adapt. Sometimes a familiar routine is the only thing that keeps you going every day. But occasionally it is the thing that makes you desperately bang your head on the wall at the immigration office / city hall / bank / add your 《favorite》 place.
But no matter how beautiful or efficient a system can be, sometimes it does not work. It just doesn’t. Want an example? Here it is: years of learning English don’t give the expected results. I feel sorry for some Japanese people who keep apologizing for their poor spoken English and blame themselves for that. But if almost everyone fails to master the language in the system, maybe it is not their fault?
日本はすべてがシステム化されている。まるで漢字のとめ・はねのような一連のルールがあって、生活は単純化され暮らしやすい。統一化されていないと、たいていやり方に２、３の違いがでる。例をあげれば、関東と関西では、おにぎりの握り方にちがいがある。
システムはどんな社会においても支柱を成すが、日本の場合はとても優れている。厳しいルールとロジックをもつドイツ人でさえ、来日後は、母国のシステムはゆるいと認識する。
何かする際、一般的なルールがないと、日本人は自分や他人のためにやり方を編み出す。「ただしい・つかいかた／つくりかた」について注目した事があるだろうか。一定のルールが多くある生活は住みやすい。無駄がなくなる。きめ細やかものであれ、簡単なものであれ、他人にはとても役立つ。家に代々伝わるおばあちゃんのアップルパイのレシピがあると想像してみるといいだろう。日本人のと取扱説明／指導要綱は国全体に広く行き渡っているが、概念は同じだ。自分独自のやり方を押し通してもいいが、確実に成功するやり方があればそれに従うのが得策だ。
来日した外国人は最初はとまどうが、従い、少なくともそのシステムに慣れる。毎日続けられるのは違和感のないものだけの場合もある。たまに、入国管理事務所、市役所、銀行等では、途方にくれることもある。
しかしどんなにすばらしく効果的なシステムであっても、うまくいかない事もある。単に役立たないだけだ。どういった場合か思い当たるだろうか。英語を何年も学んでいるのに思うようにうまくならないのはいい例だろう。うまく話せない英語について詫び、恥じる日本人に出会うとかわいそうになる。しかしシステム化することで、語学は上達するのではないのだろう。おそらく、日本人のせいではない。
Unfinished business
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MAY 17. 2019Farewell to a Japan Jazz Icon by David Gregory
The messages from all over Japan read aloud during the service helped us realize how widely Koyama-san touched lives and how many like us were feeling something newly missing from our worlds. But, although wonderful and sometimes saddening us, they did not trigger crying. That happened next.
Those first few notes of the "'Round About Midnight" Miles Davis version, the cut Koyama-san always used to open Jazz Tonight, performed by a live piano and trumpet duo up front near the coffin, did it: Instant recognition, recollections, sighs around the room, eyes closed, arms crossed, heads dropped back or down, and tears, at least for me. How many times had we heard, after Miles breathed his somber opening, Koyama-san's low, raspy voice welcoming us into the studio with, "Minna-san, gokigen ikaga desho-ka everybody, how are you feeling?"?and never thought that someday we would hear him ask about us no more?
Koyama-san's widow, whom, like him, had never known me, stood alone at the coffin head and bowed in silence to everyone in turn after they placed flowers around his body as the duo continued with another slow number, the trumpet sounding so strong and crisp and unusual in a memorial service hall. After we placed our flowers, she responded to my hand on her shoulder, a touch just meant to console her, by immediately turning and reaching for me?a total stranger?burying her head in my chest, and breaking down. She needed that hug that everybody sometimes needs. She let go after her respite when she was ready to face the coffin and everyone else again, and returned to her position. Going to Kashiwa in a snowstorm was worth it just for those few moments when I could do something for her.
So our Kashiwa day was both sad and good. But, why did I even want to go a funeral for a man whom I only knew by voice, and who, although linked to jazz, was not even a musician?
Koyama-san and his Jazz Tonight program I listened to since at least the early 2000s. For more than sixteen years, while my life in Japan has been filled with huge uncertainties, he has been here Saturday nights on the radio, reliable, keeping me connected to the world's music and opening my ears to music from Japan I would not know without him. Listening to him always made me feel good, no matter what had happened in my life during the week or what was coming up in the weeks ahead. Koyama-san and Jazz Tonight were my respite. How well can I replace that comfort?
Koyama-san, thank you for helping this foreigner feel good in Japan. Please rest well in jazz heaven.
NHK Radio, thank you for giving Koyama-san a way to connect with us. Please encourage other DJs to continue doing what he did so well.
To Koyama-san's surviving family members: Please care well for yourselves now, and thank you for supporting and sharing Kiyoshi with us.
The Smallest Box by David Gregory
She came over to my table and asked if I remembered her.
“That’s my boyfriend over there.”
Their table hugged a pillar blocking the sunny Tokyo Bay view enjoyed by the other customers that afternoon in Chiba’s AquaRink ice skating facility café.
“Maybe we will marry next year.”
On my way out, I stopped to congratulate the potential groom to be. What I later heard happened with Hiromi and Hiroshi that night at another place also close to the bay sounded so too good to be true that I visited that place to confirm it really happened. It did.
Hiroshi had reserved for the course menu that night at OCEAN TABLE, next to Chiba Port, on the second floor, where tables sat by the huge windows facing Chiba Port Tower and Tokyo Bay. No view-blocking pillars there. And they had a wait, even with their reservation, because it was Christmas Eve, which in Japan matters much more than the following day; the Eve is the year’s couples’ night out, and single women without dates that night can feel their whole year was wasted.
Hiroshi had changed into a suit after skating, and had urged Hiromi, against her protests about overdressing, into a plaid one-piece, raising expectations. They had never come to a place this nice, one requiring reservations. Saizeriya was more their speed: fast faux-Italian, cheap, and everywhere.
The unexpected wait made Hiroshi antsy. He relaxed and all was perfect after they were seated.
They talked. They ate the Christmas Dinner courses. They ignored the soft Christmas background music. They admired the gleaming, golden Christmas Tree rising from the first-floor buffet area through the open center space across from their table. They could see outside the sparkling flashes and half the tree in Port Tower’s Christmas Illumination, and beyond, the lights from the ships on and facilities around Tokyo Bay, appearing almost twinkling. Perfect—but not for Hiromi.
She went to the toilet. Still he had not asked. The day was done. The reservation system only allowed them two hours there. They had been together all day. He had remembered her birthday-just by coincidence, also that day-with a necklace at AquaRink. Nice, but was that all? He had pestered her since early December about what Christmas present she wanted until she had finally exploded with, “Nothing! Don’t you know I just want a proposal?!” And had added she wanted it to be a surprise. Here he had the perfect chance, and he was wasting it.
She could try enjoying what was left of the evening. Dessert was next. At least here was better than Saizeriya….She was still stuck when she returned to the table, and had no chance to do or say anything, anyway. It was his toilet turn.
Their desserts came. Hiromi sat and waited and pondered the future. Outside, the tower stood alone against the dark sky and Tokyo Bay’s inky darkness.
Their desserts waited. Maybe his tooth was bothering him again. Maybe he was just tolerating it to make the night go well. Maybe for her. Maybe she should go to check on him. Wait-maybe she just heard his voice across the room.
No, only Santa Claus, posing for photographs with diners at the far table. He then started circling the room, giving a small present from his big sack at each table. She could check after he was done.
Hiroshi still had not returned to his seat when Santa reached their table. He handed Hiromi a big, red stocking, by far the room’s largest gift, accompanied by a squeaky, “Atari! You’re a lucky one!” Yeah. She set it aside and Santa moved on. What was he still doing in the toilet?
Santa finished his round, returned to Hiromi, and pointed at her unopened stocking with squeaky, “Un! Un!” grunts. The other diners had opened their presents. She forced a smile and said she was waiting for her boyfriend to return. “Un! Un!”
When Hiromi still resisted, Santa took the stocking in his white-gloved hands and opened it himself. Out first came a big, pink box, heart shaped. He opened that and pulled out another heart-shaped box, and then, from inside that, another heart-shaped box. Another smaller, heart-shaped box followed. He removed from that an even smaller heart-shaped box, and thrust it to Hiromi with one more squeaky, “Un!”
Still gone. Well, he’d miss it. Hiromi obeyed Santa this time and opened it, the smallest box in the room …and her mind and face went blank.
After that frozen moment passed, Hiromi looked at Santa. The second shock hit, and more followed. Santa Claus had ripped off his gloves, furry hat, sunglasses, and huge, flowing beard. He took the box from her?she was still speechless?dropped onto one knee, held the open box out and up to her in both stretching hands, and said in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, “Hiromi-san, boku-to kekkon shite kudasai! Hiromi, please marry me!”
Outside, to anybody looking, Port Tower’s Christmas Illumination still flashed, and the lights on and around Tokyo Bay still appeared almost twinkling. Inside OCEAN TABLE, on the second floor, everything was happening so fast that Hiromi just did not know which was more difficult to believe: Hiroshi and the ring he first tried slipping onto the finger on her right hand, the one he had taken in his before she held out her left hand, or the following PAN! and PAN! PAN! PAN! PAN! PAN! and PAN! PAN! and PAN! explosions ripping and ribbons shooting around the room as diners at the floor’s other tables popped the party crackers they had found with the notes in their presents from Santa Claus.
Copyright © 2018 David L. Gregory All rights reserved.
I Did It! by David Gregory
She had been here before. But, those were tour-guided or hand-held visits. After living most of her life in white-bread suburban USA, driving everywhere, shopping in giant malls and supermarkets, and needing only one currency and one language, my mother ventured out on her own, within and beyond Chiba, during one trip to Japan. From her notes, here are Dorothy's...
ADVENTURES IN JAPAN
Grocery Shopping in Neighborhood―Walk five blocks...buy only one bag...walk five blocks back. Survived it!
Shopping in City Center―Walk six blocks to bus stop. Ride bus fifteen minutes. Arrive at stores. Walk around. Look. Decide: cookies.
Buying: “Ikura desu-ka how much?” Hmm. “Kakimasu kudasai write please.”
Paying options: give large bill, let clerk figure change, or open change purse, let clerk take out correct amount. Decide to just give some cash.
Clerk shakes her head (“NO! MORE!”), then counts out correct amount needed from register and shows me. I mimic her action from my change purse. Smiles! Deep bows with many, “Arigato gozaimasu thank you very much!”-es.
(My error: thought there was decimal point in Yen price....)
Open cookies, expecting pirouettes with chocolate centers. Instead, peanut butter waffle rolls, no chocolate. No wonder, now I see peanut sketch on package. “Shoganai can’t be changed,” I did it to myself. It could have been worse!
~~~
Travelling to Visit Friend’s Family on Other Side of Chiba―Walk ten blocks to train. Purchase ticket. Electronic lady on ticket machine screen says, “Arigato gozaimasu” and bows. Ride train twenty minutes, watching for correct stop, get off, walk seven blocks to house. I did it myself!
Visiting Hisae Overnight―My Japanese study partner in USA returned to Japan, now lives on other side of Tokyo Bay.
Take large purse and large tote bag with jacket, nightie, toothbrush, cosmetics. Walk six blocks to bus stop. Ride bus to train station. Ride train eighty minutes to Yokohama. Find correct exit from station. EASY. Did not even look at note in pocket explaining route and Japanese signs. And, look! Hisae and three-year old Kei are waiting! “Hello!” they say! Many hugs!
I did it!
Then, still more travel: train together fifteen minutes, short taxi uphill to lovely apartment, sunny and bright.
Returning to Chiba, just reverse process. Next time, we can meet at a station halfway in between. I can do it.
I can do it!
Copyright (C) 2015 David Gregory. All rights reserved. Chiba, Japan
Book Review
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MAY 11 2018Cherry Blossoms in the Time of Earthquakes and Tsunami
by Rey Ventura Reviewed by Randy Swank video maker and scriptwriter Rey Ventura won the 2015 National Book Award for his third collection of essays, Cherry Blossoms in the Time of Earthquakes and Tsunami, but for some strange twist of fate you will find very little information on this book. You can’t even buy it on Amazon. This is a shame because Cherry Blossoms... is a beautiful, insightful and thought-provoking book. |
Cherry Blossoms in the Time of Earthquakes and Tsunami |
In "Miniskirts and Stilettos" we meet Ginto, a young lady who comes to Japan dreaming of making it big as a singer and entertainer but has to deal instead with a much darker reality; while "Mr. Suzuki Tries Again" and "Into the Snow Country" are tragicomic tales of arranged marriages where the dreams and expectations of bride-starved farmers from Japan's Deep North clash with those of young Filipino women who want to escape their poverty and go into marriage "as a girl goes into a convent." Ventura tells these stories with a great eye for detail and manages to find a ray of light even in the darkest corners, or poetry in the midst of a nuclear disaster. The book's first essay is called "The Slow Boat to Manila" and indeed, slowness is the first word that comes to mind when considering Ventura's approach to writing. Everything Ventura does is slow. He is no magazine reporter after all, and will spend days or even months getting to know a person he wants to write about. That's the kind of personal commitment and deep connection with his subject that one feels when reading his essays. |
Tokyo Fab
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28, 2025
SAKURA Spring Festival
Yokota Air Base is scheduled to open its gates to the local community for the annual Sakura Spring Festival 2025 on 29 March.
Yokota’s Sakura festival is an opportunity to celebrate the arrival of springtime, while serving as an opportunity to strengthen ties between the base and local Japanese communities. This year offers live music performances, food vendors, games for all ages, and views of flowering sakura blossoms throughout the venue. Yokota Air Base encourage all attendees to celebrate this local tradition as a way for Yokota and local Japanese residents to continue strengthening the invaluable bond of friendship they share.
Yokota AB officials are continually assessing public health conditions and will evaluate the most up-to-date information and procedures to ensure the safety of our personnel and festival attendees.
Yokota Air Base look forward to celebrating the long-standing and close bond between our base populace and the local community. See you at Sakura Spring Festival 2025!
29 MARCH (Sat) 11am - 4:30pm (Entry begins at 10am) @ Yokota Air Base
https://www.yokota.af.mil/Sakura-Spring-Festival/
SPRING FESTIVAL IN TOKYO
The Tokyo Spring Music Festival Executive Committee will hold “Tokyo Spring Music Festival 2025,” one of the largest classical music festivals in Japan, from Friday, March 14 to Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Ueno in the springtime when cherry blossoms bloom.
The festival, which marks the 21st spring, opened on March 14. The opening event was held at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, the main venue of the festival. The flower arrangement boys' club of Seisoku Gakuen High School, which won the top prize in Japan, participated in the free mini-concert “Concert in the City of Cherry Blossoms” and enlivened the opening day with a spectacular performance of music and flower arrangement.
The “Tokyo Spring Music Festival” is one of the largest classical music festivals in Japan, celebrating the arrival of spring in Tokyo with music in the cherry blossom-blooming Ueno area. The festival began in mid-March, when the long winter is over and the news of the cherry blossom front begins to be heard. It started in 2005 to celebrate with classical music the vibrant spirit of the city as it changes colorfully from cherry blossoms to fresh greenery.
In 2025, we will continue to color the arrival of spring in Tokyo with a variety of sounds, from operas, orchestras, chamber music and other concerts by leading artists from Japan and abroad, to casual encounters with music that can be enjoyed on street corners.
- April 9th (Sun) @ Ueno Park (Ueno Sta.)
https://www.tokyo-harusai.com/
Have You Been To...
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28, 2025
Daigo-ji Temple - Daigohigashiojicho [Kyoto]
The cherry blossoms at Daigoji Temple are famous for the extravagant cherry blossom viewing event held by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Daigo. About 1,000 cherry trees including weeping cherry, someiyoshino, yamazakura, and yaezakura bloom here, so you can enjoy them for a long period of time. The combination of the five-story pagoda, a national treasure, and the cherry blossoms is magnificent!
Sekaiichi Nagai Sakuranamiki - Hirosaki [Nikaho, Aomori]
The “world's longest row of cherry trees” About 6,500 cherry trees line a 20-km stretch at the southern foot of Mt. The cherry tree tunnels lined with Oyama cherry trees, characterized by their deep pink blossoms, are a sight to behold. The vivid red color of the cherry blossoms adds to the dazzling green of the foot of the mountain, creating a magnificent sight.
Kakunodatemachi - Senboku [Akita]
"Kakunodate Buke Yashiki” is an area known as the castle town of the Satake clan, with approximately 400 weeping cherry trees scattered throughout the town. The contrast between the old townscape and the cherry blossoms is beautiful and photogenic. It is said that the cherry trees along the blackboard fence that lines the samurai residences originated from a weeping cherry tree sapling brought by the wife of Yoshiharu Satake.
Miharu Takizakura - Miharu [Fukushima]
The Miharu Takizakura (Waterfall Cherry Blossom) is a magnificent single tree of the benishidare-zakura (weeping cherry tree) that is more than 1,000 years old. It is one of the “Three Great Cherry Blossoms of Japan,” with branches measuring 25 m east to west and 20 m north to south, and is designated as a national natural monument. A promenade is maintained around the cherry blossoms, where visitors can enjoy strolling while viewing the cherry blossoms.
Tokyo Voice Column
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD TNB Throwback: MAY 15. 2015
Toilet Slippers by Moet Raub
They’re mostly made of plastic, often blue and hard to walk in―yes, that’s toilet slippers. I’m sure we’ve all encountered them at some point during our stay in Japan, but have you ever wondered why people changes shoes to go pee-pee? It doesn’t matter if they are cheap plastic ones at school or fancy wooden clogs at an upscale restaurant, they always seem hard to walk in. When trying to use a traditional Japanese toilet at a ryokan I’m in constant fear of loosing my slipper down the poop shute.
I decided to ask my friend Rina whose dad is a priest where the custom of changing your footwear to use the bathroom came from to see if I was missing something. Turns out I was.
We all know that the Japanese are renowned for their cleanliness and that Shintoism is all about purity and nature. The kami, or gods, live everywhere in Japan―even in Tokyo’s toilets. Ever heard of toire no kamisama? It’s not just the name of a pop song―many believe that kami (deities) also live in toilets. Not surprising really when you consider how many spiritual things are connected with water. Keeping your toilet clean helps to keep the kami happy and is good for the soul. By wearing special toilet slippers you help keep the bathroom neat and dirt free. Wearing toilet slippers is just like changing your shoes when you enter the house, only when you enter the toilet you are entering a more sacred space than the rest of the house. The sacredness of surfaces and striving to keep them clean is an important art of Japanese religion and so we change our regular slipper to special toilet slippers to help keep that balance.
So there you go, just like many things in this country the traditions and customs of the past still permeate the present. At least now I won’t be afraid of loosing my slippers down a pop and squat. If they fall in, I’m sure the kami-sama won’t mind and will give them back!
プラスチック製で、色はたいていブルー、歩きにくいと言ったら、そう、トイレのスリッパだ。日本に滞在すれば、誰しもある時遭遇する。どうして日本人はおしっこをする時に靴を履き替えるのか不思議に思った事はないだろうか？ 学校の安っぽいプラスチック製にしろ、高級レストランの情緒ある下駄にしろ歩きにくい。旅館の和風トイレで履く時はトイレの穴にスリッパが脱げ落ちてしまわないか不安になる。
お父さんが僧侶である友人のリナにトイレではなぜスリッパに履き替えるのか尋ねてみる事にした。理由がわかった。
日本人は清潔好きで知られているが神道は清浄・自然を尊ぶ。日本にはどこにも神が宿り、つまり東京のトイレにも神がいる。トイレの神様を耳にしたことはないだろうか？単に曲の名前ではなく、日本人はトイレに神様が宿っていると信じている。霊的な物は水と関係し、トイレを清潔にすれば神は喜び心もきれいになる。トイレで特別なスリッパをはけばトイレは清潔に保たれ泥や埃もたたない。トイレのスリッパを履く事は、家に入る時に靴からスリッパに履き替える事と同じだ。トイレに入る時は家の他の場所よりさらに神聖な場所に入ることだ。神聖であることと清潔に保つという事は日本の宗教上重要視されているので、普通のスリッパからトイレのスリッパに履き替える事でバランスを保っている。
さて、その他多くの事柄同様、日本では、過去の伝統としきたりが現在でも受け継がれている。これで少なくともドイレの穴にスリッパを落とす恐怖がなくなった。スリッパが脱げ落ちても、神様は気にしないだろうし、返してくれるだろう！
MUSEUM -What's Going on?-
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 14. 2025
Hilma af Klint: The Beyond
This exhibition is the first major retrospective in Asia of Hilma af Klint (1862−1944), a pioneer of abstract painting. The painter from Sweden has been reevaluated in recent years as a creator of abstract paintings that preceded her contemporaries, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. For many years, her oeuvre of more than 1,000 works was known only to a very few people. As late as in the 1980s, several exhibitions began to introduce her works, and by the turn of the 21st century, her presence became international all at once. Her 2018 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, attracted more than 600,000 visitors, the largest attendance in the museum’s history. *As of 2019
Including The Ten Largest (1907), a set of ten paintings over three meters high, all 140 works in this exhibition will travel to Japan for the first time. Centering on her representative accomplishment, The Paintings for the Temple (1906−15), the exhibition will provide an overview of af Klint’s career in five chapters, while introducing materials left by the artist and diverse sources of her inspiration, including the esotericism and the women’s movements of her time.
The Ten Largest, Group IV, No. 3, Youth,
1907
By courtesy of
The Hilma af Klint Foundation
Hilma af Klint（1862−1944）
Hilma af Klint grew up in a wealthy Swedish family, graduated with honors from the Royal Academy of Art and worked as a professional painter. At the same time, she was devoted to esotericism and, through her experience of se´ances, created abstract expressions that differed from academic painting. She is considered an extremely important figure in the history of modern art for her pioneering nature of expression and meticulous systematization.
Period: − June 15, 2025
Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo
Closed: Mondays (except 3/31& 5/5), 5/7
Hours: 10am - 5pm / -8pm on Fridays and Saturdays (last admission 30 minutes before? closing)
Admission: Adults ￥2,300 (￥2,100) College & University Students ￥1,200 (￥1,000) High School Students ￥700 (￥500)
For more information, please visit
The heretical genius - Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), a painter who died at the age of 25. This British genius continued to create highly refined works, consisting of precise line drawings and bold black and white color planes, by candlelight. This Exhibition will feature approximately 220 pieces of Beardsley's art, including his breakthrough work Morte d'Arthur (1893-94) by Malory, Salome (1894) by Wilde, which is also well known in Japan, and his later masterpiece Mademoiselle de Maupin (1898) by Gautier, as well as illustrations and rare hand-drawn sketches from his early to later years, as well as colored posters and contemporary decorations.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) died at a young age, but left behind more than 1,000 works. To help his impoverished family, he worked as a clerk from the age of 16, while studying painting on his own and immersing himself in his creative endeavors while fighting the progression of pulmonary tuberculosis. It wasn't long before he started receiving job offers.
Even after achieving success as a painter, Beardsley did not belong to any particular school of painting, and continued to maintain his own unique style of painting, drawing the thick curtains closed and working by candlelight, even during the day.
Aubrey Beardsley, The Peacock Skirt,
1893 (original), 1907 (print),
line block/Japanese vellum,
34.4 x 27.2 cm (paper size)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
This chapter recreates part of the creative environment in Beardsley's London home, which he acquired at the height of his career but then sold in the aftermath of the Wilde scandal.
Additionally, we will be showcasing some excellent examples of the "obscene pictures" he produced as a quick source of income to earn a living and which he hoped to dispose of towards the end of his life, namely those included in "Lysistrata" (1896).
Period: February 15 (Sat) - May 11 (Sun), 2025
Venue: Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum,Tokyo
Closed: Mondays (Except 2/24, 3/31, 4/28, and 5/5)
Hours: 10:00-18:00 / - 20:00 on Fridays (except for national holidays), the last weekday of the session, the second Wednesday of each month, and April 5th) (last admission 30 minutes before? closing)
Admission: General ￥2,300 / university student ￥1,300 / high school student ￥1,000
Strange but True
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28. 2025
How to Stop Snoring
Sleeping next to a snorer is not only extremely frustrating but can also have a negative impact on both your physical and mental health. A sleep expert revealed that the number of snorers has increased during lockdown due to inactivity, as we're stuck inside hunched over a desk and spending less time outside moving around. Shared today is a bizarre trick that might just do the job - and all you need is a tennis ball. But before you get too excited, it isn't throwing at their head. When you lie on your back, your mouth is more likely to open and as it does so, it kind of moves back and compresses the airways, so the muscles in your tongue tend to relax more. So, anything you can do to keep yourself leaning on the side; some people find a line of pillows, or even a tennis ball sewn into the back of your pajamas can make it uncomfortable to lean over onto your back!. She also revealed there are more extreme measures you can go to, including using specially designed pieces of tape to hold your mouth shut and promote breathing through your nose instead. Failing that, there's always earplugs - or as some viewers suggested, kicking them out of bed. Best of luck.
iPhone Caluculator Hack
If you're of a certain age, it's likely a maths teacher in school told you to pay attention because you won't be walking around life with a calculator in your pocket. And for those of us who regularly rely on the calculator app rather than our memory of GCSE equations, one iPhone user has shared a piece of advice to make using it far easier. There's nothing more frustrating than being halfway through a long sum only to accidentally type one number wrong and having to start again - but it turns out you don't need to. There is an easy way to correct mistakes by simply swiping the numbers in the display. It also works for far longer numbers, as every time you swipe it will get rid of another digit you mistakenly inputted.
Links
Guesthouse Tokyo
10 minutes to Ikebukuro.
Interhouse
safe and accessible solution for your accommodation needs in Tokyo.
Sakura House
1830 monthly furnished rooms at 204 locations in Tokyo.
TOKYO ROOM FINDER
Contact our international team that will assist you in finding housing
and overcoming any communication barriers in Japan!
J&F Plaza
Furnished & unfurnished guesthouses and apartments in Tokyo.
May Flower House
Tokyo furnished apartments. Ginza, Roppongi, Yotsuya and more.
TenTen Guesthouse
33,000yen/30 days for working holiday students.
GOOD ROOM TOKYO
Share room, Private room, under 50,000yen
MOVE JAPAN
Private furnished rooms in Tokyo with free internet. Call us first or call us last!
Tokyomove.com
Hassle free moving starts from 6000yen.
Tokyo Helping Hands
Very flexible working hours to effectly help you with moving, deliveries, disposal, storage and more!
AirNet Travel
We'll cut you the best air ticket deals anywhere.
Fun Travel
Discount air travel & package tours 2min from Roppongi Stn.
No.1 Travel
We go the extra mile for you. International air tickets and hotels.
JR Tokai Tours
Top-value travel to Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya from Tokyo by Shinkansen.
Matsuda Legal Office
All kinds of Visa, Immigration & Naturalization, International Marriage etc.
Futaba Visa Office
Licensed immigration lawyer & certified public tax consultant.
American Pharmacy
English speaking pharmacy since 1950.
Tokyo Skin Clinic
EU-licensed multi lingual doctors.
Tax-free AKKY
Japanese Appliance, Watch, Souvenirs
Tokyo Speed Dating
1st Sat. & 3rd Sun. at Bari n Roppongi ETC.
Tokyo Spontaneous
Picnic, Parties, Language exchange
TMA
Japanese women & Western men.
Tokyo Fab
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28, 2025SAKURA Spring Festival
Yokota Air Base is scheduled to open its gates to the local community for the annual Sakura Spring Festival 2025 on 29 March.
Yokota’s Sakura festival is an opportunity to celebrate the arrival of springtime, while serving as an opportunity to strengthen ties between the base and local Japanese communities. This year offers live music performances, food vendors, games for all ages, and views of flowering sakura blossoms throughout the venue. Yokota Air Base encourage all attendees to celebrate this local tradition as a way for Yokota and local Japanese residents to continue strengthening the invaluable bond of friendship they share.
Yokota AB officials are continually assessing public health conditions and will evaluate the most up-to-date information and procedures to ensure the safety of our personnel and festival attendees.
Yokota Air Base look forward to celebrating the long-standing and close bond between our base populace and the local community. See you at Sakura Spring Festival 2025!
29 MARCH (Sat) 11am - 4:30pm (Entry begins at 10am) @ Yokota Air Base
https://www.yokota.af.mil/Sakura-Spring-Festival/
SPRING FESTIVAL IN TOKYO
The Tokyo Spring Music Festival Executive Committee will hold “Tokyo Spring Music Festival 2025,” one of the largest classical music festivals in Japan, from Friday, March 14 to Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Ueno in the springtime when cherry blossoms bloom.
The festival, which marks the 21st spring, opened on March 14. The opening event was held at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, the main venue of the festival. The flower arrangement boys' club of Seisoku Gakuen High School, which won the top prize in Japan, participated in the free mini-concert “Concert in the City of Cherry Blossoms” and enlivened the opening day with a spectacular performance of music and flower arrangement.
The “Tokyo Spring Music Festival” is one of the largest classical music festivals in Japan, celebrating the arrival of spring in Tokyo with music in the cherry blossom-blooming Ueno area. The festival began in mid-March, when the long winter is over and the news of the cherry blossom front begins to be heard. It started in 2005 to celebrate with classical music the vibrant spirit of the city as it changes colorfully from cherry blossoms to fresh greenery.
In 2025, we will continue to color the arrival of spring in Tokyo with a variety of sounds, from operas, orchestras, chamber music and other concerts by leading artists from Japan and abroad, to casual encounters with music that can be enjoyed on street corners.
- April 9th (Sun) @ Ueno Park (Ueno Sta.)
https://www.tokyo-harusai.com/
Have You Been To...
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28, 2025Daigo-ji Temple - Daigohigashiojicho [Kyoto]
The cherry blossoms at Daigoji Temple are famous for the extravagant cherry blossom viewing event held by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Daigo. About 1,000 cherry trees including weeping cherry, someiyoshino, yamazakura, and yaezakura bloom here, so you can enjoy them for a long period of time. The combination of the five-story pagoda, a national treasure, and the cherry blossoms is magnificent!
Sekaiichi Nagai Sakuranamiki - Hirosaki [Nikaho, Aomori]
The “world's longest row of cherry trees” About 6,500 cherry trees line a 20-km stretch at the southern foot of Mt. The cherry tree tunnels lined with Oyama cherry trees, characterized by their deep pink blossoms, are a sight to behold. The vivid red color of the cherry blossoms adds to the dazzling green of the foot of the mountain, creating a magnificent sight.
Kakunodatemachi - Senboku [Akita]
"Kakunodate Buke Yashiki” is an area known as the castle town of the Satake clan, with approximately 400 weeping cherry trees scattered throughout the town. The contrast between the old townscape and the cherry blossoms is beautiful and photogenic. It is said that the cherry trees along the blackboard fence that lines the samurai residences originated from a weeping cherry tree sapling brought by the wife of Yoshiharu Satake.
Miharu Takizakura - Miharu [Fukushima]
The Miharu Takizakura (Waterfall Cherry Blossom) is a magnificent single tree of the benishidare-zakura (weeping cherry tree) that is more than 1,000 years old. It is one of the “Three Great Cherry Blossoms of Japan,” with branches measuring 25 m east to west and 20 m north to south, and is designated as a national natural monument. A promenade is maintained around the cherry blossoms, where visitors can enjoy strolling while viewing the cherry blossoms.
Tokyo Voice Column
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD TNB Throwback: MAY 15. 2015Toilet Slippers by Moet Raub
They’re mostly made of plastic, often blue and hard to walk in―yes, that’s toilet slippers. I’m sure we’ve all encountered them at some point during our stay in Japan, but have you ever wondered why people changes shoes to go pee-pee? It doesn’t matter if they are cheap plastic ones at school or fancy wooden clogs at an upscale restaurant, they always seem hard to walk in. When trying to use a traditional Japanese toilet at a ryokan I’m in constant fear of loosing my slipper down the poop shute.
I decided to ask my friend Rina whose dad is a priest where the custom of changing your footwear to use the bathroom came from to see if I was missing something. Turns out I was.
We all know that the Japanese are renowned for their cleanliness and that Shintoism is all about purity and nature. The kami, or gods, live everywhere in Japan―even in Tokyo’s toilets. Ever heard of toire no kamisama? It’s not just the name of a pop song―many believe that kami (deities) also live in toilets. Not surprising really when you consider how many spiritual things are connected with water. Keeping your toilet clean helps to keep the kami happy and is good for the soul. By wearing special toilet slippers you help keep the bathroom neat and dirt free. Wearing toilet slippers is just like changing your shoes when you enter the house, only when you enter the toilet you are entering a more sacred space than the rest of the house. The sacredness of surfaces and striving to keep them clean is an important art of Japanese religion and so we change our regular slipper to special toilet slippers to help keep that balance.
So there you go, just like many things in this country the traditions and customs of the past still permeate the present. At least now I won’t be afraid of loosing my slippers down a pop and squat. If they fall in, I’m sure the kami-sama won’t mind and will give them back!
プラスチック製で、色はたいていブルー、歩きにくいと言ったら、そう、トイレのスリッパだ。日本に滞在すれば、誰しもある時遭遇する。どうして日本人はおしっこをする時に靴を履き替えるのか不思議に思った事はないだろうか？ 学校の安っぽいプラスチック製にしろ、高級レストランの情緒ある下駄にしろ歩きにくい。旅館の和風トイレで履く時はトイレの穴にスリッパが脱げ落ちてしまわないか不安になる。
お父さんが僧侶である友人のリナにトイレではなぜスリッパに履き替えるのか尋ねてみる事にした。理由がわかった。
日本人は清潔好きで知られているが神道は清浄・自然を尊ぶ。日本にはどこにも神が宿り、つまり東京のトイレにも神がいる。トイレの神様を耳にしたことはないだろうか？単に曲の名前ではなく、日本人はトイレに神様が宿っていると信じている。霊的な物は水と関係し、トイレを清潔にすれば神は喜び心もきれいになる。トイレで特別なスリッパをはけばトイレは清潔に保たれ泥や埃もたたない。トイレのスリッパを履く事は、家に入る時に靴からスリッパに履き替える事と同じだ。トイレに入る時は家の他の場所よりさらに神聖な場所に入ることだ。神聖であることと清潔に保つという事は日本の宗教上重要視されているので、普通のスリッパからトイレのスリッパに履き替える事でバランスを保っている。
さて、その他多くの事柄同様、日本では、過去の伝統としきたりが現在でも受け継がれている。これで少なくともドイレの穴にスリッパを落とす恐怖がなくなった。スリッパが脱げ落ちても、神様は気にしないだろうし、返してくれるだろう！
MUSEUM -What's Going on?-
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 14. 2025Hilma af Klint: The Beyond This exhibition is the first major retrospective in Asia of Hilma af Klint (1862−1944), a pioneer of abstract painting. The painter from Sweden has been reevaluated in recent years as a creator of abstract paintings that preceded her contemporaries, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. For many years, her oeuvre of more than 1,000 works was known only to a very few people. As late as in the 1980s, several exhibitions began to introduce her works, and by the turn of the 21st century, her presence became international all at once. Her 2018 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, attracted more than 600,000 visitors, the largest attendance in the museum’s history. *As of 2019 |
The Ten Largest, Group IV, No. 3, Youth, |
Hilma af Klint（1862−1944） |
Period: − June 15, 2025
Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo
Closed: Mondays (except 3/31& 5/5), 5/7
Hours: 10am - 5pm / -8pm on Fridays and Saturdays (last admission 30 minutes before? closing)
Admission: Adults ￥2,300 (￥2,100) College & University Students ￥1,200 (￥1,000) High School Students ￥700 (￥500)
For more information, please visit
The heretical genius - Beardsley Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), a painter who died at the age of 25. This British genius continued to create highly refined works, consisting of precise line drawings and bold black and white color planes, by candlelight. This Exhibition will feature approximately 220 pieces of Beardsley's art, including his breakthrough work Morte d'Arthur (1893-94) by Malory, Salome (1894) by Wilde, which is also well known in Japan, and his later masterpiece Mademoiselle de Maupin (1898) by Gautier, as well as illustrations and rare hand-drawn sketches from his early to later years, as well as colored posters and contemporary decorations. |
Aubrey Beardsley, The Peacock Skirt, |
This chapter recreates part of the creative environment in Beardsley's London home, which he acquired at the height of his career but then sold in the aftermath of the Wilde scandal. |
Period: February 15 (Sat) - May 11 (Sun), 2025
Venue: Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum,Tokyo
Closed: Mondays (Except 2/24, 3/31, 4/28, and 5/5)
Hours: 10:00-18:00 / - 20:00 on Fridays (except for national holidays), the last weekday of the session, the second Wednesday of each month, and April 5th) (last admission 30 minutes before? closing)
Admission: General ￥2,300 / university student ￥1,300 / high school student ￥1,000
Strange but True
TOKYO NOTICE BOARD MARCH 28. 2025How to Stop Snoring
Sleeping next to a snorer is not only extremely frustrating but can also have a negative impact on both your physical and mental health. A sleep expert revealed that the number of snorers has increased during lockdown due to inactivity, as we're stuck inside hunched over a desk and spending less time outside moving around. Shared today is a bizarre trick that might just do the job - and all you need is a tennis ball. But before you get too excited, it isn't throwing at their head. When you lie on your back, your mouth is more likely to open and as it does so, it kind of moves back and compresses the airways, so the muscles in your tongue tend to relax more. So, anything you can do to keep yourself leaning on the side; some people find a line of pillows, or even a tennis ball sewn into the back of your pajamas can make it uncomfortable to lean over onto your back!. She also revealed there are more extreme measures you can go to, including using specially designed pieces of tape to hold your mouth shut and promote breathing through your nose instead. Failing that, there's always earplugs - or as some viewers suggested, kicking them out of bed. Best of luck.
iPhone Caluculator Hack
If you're of a certain age, it's likely a maths teacher in school told you to pay attention because you won't be walking around life with a calculator in your pocket. And for those of us who regularly rely on the calculator app rather than our memory of GCSE equations, one iPhone user has shared a piece of advice to make using it far easier. There's nothing more frustrating than being halfway through a long sum only to accidentally type one number wrong and having to start again - but it turns out you don't need to. There is an easy way to correct mistakes by simply swiping the numbers in the display. It also works for far longer numbers, as every time you swipe it will get rid of another digit you mistakenly inputted.
Links
Guesthouse Tokyo10 minutes to Ikebukuro. Interhousesafe and accessible solution for your accommodation needs in Tokyo. Sakura House1830 monthly furnished rooms at 204 locations in Tokyo. TOKYO ROOM FINDERContact our international team that will assist you in finding housing and overcoming any communication barriers in Japan! |
J&F PlazaFurnished & unfurnished guesthouses and apartments in Tokyo. May Flower HouseTokyo furnished apartments. Ginza, Roppongi, Yotsuya and more. TenTen Guesthouse33,000yen/30 days for working holiday students. GOOD ROOM TOKYOShare room, Private room, under 50,000yen |
MOVE JAPANPrivate furnished rooms in Tokyo with free internet. Call us first or call us last! Tokyomove.comHassle free moving starts from 6000yen. |
Tokyo Helping HandsVery flexible working hours to effectly help you with moving, deliveries, disposal, storage and more! |
AirNet TravelWe'll cut you the best air ticket deals anywhere. Fun TravelDiscount air travel & package tours 2min from Roppongi Stn. |
No.1 TravelWe go the extra mile for you. International air tickets and hotels. JR Tokai ToursTop-value travel to Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya from Tokyo by Shinkansen. |
Matsuda Legal OfficeAll kinds of Visa, Immigration & Naturalization, International Marriage etc. |
Futaba Visa OfficeLicensed immigration lawyer & certified public tax consultant. |
|
American PharmacyEnglish speaking pharmacy since 1950. |
Tokyo Skin ClinicEU-licensed multi lingual doctors. |
|
Tax-free AKKYJapanese Appliance, Watch, Souvenirs |
Tokyo Speed Dating1st Sat. & 3rd Sun. at Bari n Roppongi ETC. Tokyo SpontaneousPicnic, Parties, Language exchange |
|
TMAJapanese women & Western men. |
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50 Shades of Yikess
