Long Way From Home
I just came back from a trip to Africa. I had a wonderful time and met lots of interesting people. One thing that I thought was interesting was that there were many cars in Africa that had clearly been imported used from Japan. I guess that Japanese people (and businesses) tend to get rid of their cars after owning them for about ten years because the shaken (compulsory inspection) gets more and more expensive as the car ages. However, the cars are usually still in reasonable shape after that amount of time and, with a few tune-ups, can still look forward to a few more years on the road. With regular cars, it is impossible to tell whether they were imported from Japan used or whether they were bought from a Japanese dealer in Africa. With business cars, though, it is rather easy to tell as the name of the business is rarely erased from the side of the car.
I saw all kinds of trucks that had Japanese writing on the side -- trucks that used to belong to nursery schools, nursing homes, swimming schools, etc. I was very surprised, however, to happen upon a truck that belonged to a company in Tsukuba (Interior Igarashi) while I was in Zambia. I am tempted to call up this company to let them know about the free advertising they are getting in southern Africa!
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Another Gigantic Shopping Mall
Does Tsukuba need another gigantic shopping mall? We already have Tsukuba Center (Q't, Creo, Seibu, Jusco), Lala Garden, Gran Stage, and all sorts of stores in Sakura and on Route 354. However, the answer to this question, in some people's minds anyway, seems to be a resounding YES.
The Tsukuba Shopping Center Project is bringing a new, as yet unnamed, mall to Tsukuba that is going to be 145,000m2, making it the largest shopping center in the northern Kanto region. It is going to be just north of Kenkyu Gakuen Station (on the west end of Kita Odori), making this quiet area of Tsukuba a rather bustling hub of activity. It will have stores, a movie theatre complex, a game center, and even community facilities in its 3 storey (plus parking levels) building. The parking areas will be able to hold 4150 cars and 1500 bicycles. They are expecting 12,000,000 people to visit this mall per year. The mall is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2008. Click on the link to see an image of what the completed mall might look like.
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Tsukuba Agriculture Research Gallery Open House – Today!
Tsukuba Agriculture Research Gallery or "つくばリサーチギャラリー(Tsukuba Research Gallery)" Open House is today from 9:30AM to 4:00PM. I know this is short notice, but if you are planning on going to the Ushiku Kappa Festival, you can stop by this event before you head for the festival in the evening!
Some of the events are:
- Let's play with science
- Let's get on the latest agricultural machines
- Let's experience the lifestyles of the past
- Live music performances (some old-time songs)
- Sales of rice and vegetables
- Let's play with clay made out of sawdust
- Let's play with wooden blocks
- Learn about the adventive plants around us
Or please visit Tsukuba Research Gallery summer Events page for details.
This open house is great for kids who are working on their summer science projects.
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The 26th Ushiku Kappa Festival this weekend
The annual うしくかっぱ祭り (Ushiku Kappa Matsuri) will be held this Saturday and Sunday. The festival’s main streets are the Hanamizuki Street and the Chuo Street (MAP), and these streets will be closed to cars from 3pm to 9pm on both days.
For this year’s festival website, please visit:
http://www.ushikukankou.com/matsuri_kappa26th.htm
You can download the program here (pdf)
Event Schedules:
[Both Sat. and Sun.]
From 12:30pm
Events and activities for kids : (venue: a park by the Ushiku City Hall)
Hook and ladder truck display : (venue: the City Hall premises)
- If your kid(s) is brave enough, then she/he can look down at a festival from the top of the ladder! There are also some activities like “learn how to use the fire extinguisher.”
From 2:30pm:
Live Music Performance Schedule (venue: festival main stage)
From 4pm and 5:10pm :
Kid's Parade and Kappa Bayashi Odori Parade (main parade)
Some events on Saturday:
Bingo from 1:30pm
Watermelon eating contest and lemon soda drinking contest from 2pm
Festival Opening Ceremony from 3:30pm
Kappore performance from 4pm
Concerts by various artists from 5:30 to 8pm
Ushiku Kappa Daiko (taiko drum performance) from 8pm
Cleanup time from 8:30pm
Sunday:
Ukelele concert from 1:30pm
Dance performances by various groups from 2 to 3:30 pm
Festival Opening Ceremony from 3:30pm
Traditional festival music performances from 4 to 5pm
Cleanup time from 5 to 5:30pm
Ushiku City Wind Orchestra performance from 5:30 to 6pm
Cleanup time from 8:30pm
Parking and Shuttle Bus information
Free shuttle bus services from the following parking lots will be available between 3pm and 9:30pm on both days(MAP).
Hitachino Ushiku
- Free shuttle bus to/from Ushiku City Hall leaves every 15minutes
Onabake
- Free shuttle bus to/from Ushiku Station Higashiguchi leaves every 20minutes. Stops at Midorino Chuo Bus Stop.
Mikazukibashi
- Free Shuttle bus to/from Ushiku Station Nishiguchi leaves every 15minutes. Stops at Kariya 4-Chome Bus Stop.
Okuno
- Free Shuttle bus to/from Ushiku City Hall leaves every 30minutes. Stops at Danchi Chuo Bus Stop.
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Doho Park Cafe
For those of you who do not know, there is a small 'cafe' in Doho park, right on the end of the pond! The name of this resting place is AHIRU cafe, or "Duck cafe" in English. The view is spectacular and you can enjoy summer days there minus the sweltering heat and humidity.
They offer healthy one-plate lunches, reasonable tea/coffee, ice cream, and other simple things. From August 7th for a limited time (approx. one month) the vegetables from the daily lunch plate served there will be organic ones! Additionally they will feature some kind of home-baked cake each day. I have previewed a slice of maccha cake and it was tasty.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section!
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