Flea Market in Osu Kannon

Osu Kannon area in Nagoya is full of contrasts, named after the Osu Kannon temple nowadays, it reminds more of a shopping district than a sacred place. On the 18th and 28th of each month, a flea market is being held in front of the Osu Kanonn temple. Last weekend Daniel and I hanged around it for a while.

From what I`ve noticed, people are divided into those that like, or actually know how to do shopping in flea markets, and into those who would never buy anything there. At least that`s how it is in Europe. It might also seem that all flea markets in the world are very similar. The things that can be found there are the same kind of stuff - clothes, furniture, electronics, toys, paintings, coins, records, military stuff. Maybe it is not just me but I think that except a shopping place, they can be also treated as a great interactive museums.

In European flea markets, seeing pieces of armor from the II World War reminds me of people who were brave, who were fighting and who, in most of the cases, died because of that. However, when I saw a Japanese samurai helmet or a wig that probably belonged to some geisha a long long time ago, it made me stop thinking about samurais and geishas as of fairytale characters.

And so the things that used to present a great value, are unwanted and very often not only nobody wants them, but also nobody finds them usefull anymore. Flea markets do not show the fake history as it usually is in case of films, books or museums. They show it as it really was, remind about how everything passes and prove that one day even somebody`s most favorite tea cup will become nobody`s favorite.

Magic photo booth

What can be magical in taking a picture in a photo booth? Probably, most of people realized the fun of such booths after watching the famous film about adventures of a Parisian girl named Amélie Poulain, who was finding, taking, displaying or ripping into pieces such photos from the street photo booths.

Movie shots from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Meanwhile, in the 1990`s a newly invented phenomenon - purikura - appeared in Japan. Literally, purikura means "printing club" and came out from shortening the japanese words "purinto kurabu". Nowadays, Japanese teenagers are crazy about taking pictures of themselves and their best friends in a bit different photo booths than those widely known all around the world.

What`s the difference between classic photo booth and purikura?

1) Classic photo booth`s capacity is officially 1 person, practically up to 4. In case of purikura booths it`s even up to 10 people!
2) Classic photo booth is much smaller, while purikura booths have 2 sections - one for taking pictures and the other one for editing them.
3) Pictures taken in purikura booth can be edited - starting from choosing the intensity of colors and the colors of the background ending with adding images, texts and other crazy stuff to them.
4) Purikura booths have an option of sending pictures to the customers` own mail accounts.
5) The aim of creating classic photo booths was rather serious - possibility of taking quick pictures for official documents, while the aim of doing purikura is simply fun.
6) One payment in classic photo booth includes 4-6 pictures, while in purikura it can be up to 60.
7) Prints from purikura have different shapes, sizes and sometimes they are even stickers. Classic ones don`t have any of those options.
8) The prices are similar.

How does purikura work?

Step 1
Find purikura booth - search for it in big shops or shopping centers.

Step 2
Make sure there are no people taking photos inside, then enter the booth.

Step 3
Put all the bags, jackets and the rest of unnecessary stuff on the left side of the booth.
Step 4
Make sure that you know where the camera is hehe
Step5
Insert coins - usually 400 yen (4$).

Step 6
As soon as you insert the coins, you will be asked to choose some kind of settings for your photos on the touchscreen. I suggest to make sure what will you be asked to choose before entering the booth, it should be printed on the outside walls.
In our case, Daniel and I had to choose between pastel or vivid and cute or beautiful. We`ve chosen vivid and cute. Later on it turned out that as the first one refers to colors, the second one refers to the so called "faces", that your supposed to make to the camera.

Step 7
Make a couple of "faces", as displayed on the screen.

Step 8
Edit your pictures on the separate screen.

Two people can edit different pictures in the same time! It is possible to add text, pictures, funny backgrounds or even eyelashes or ribbons.
And by the way, this part needs to be paid separately.

Step 9
Wait for the prints. The blue light informs that pictures are being printed.

Step 10
Pick up your pictures - usually 2 prints!
The pink light informs that the pictures are ready.

Step 11
Enjoy admiring your funny pics.
You can also cut them out immediately, there are always some scissors nearby.

For sure purikura is not magic but it is kind of magical...

Place from outer space

Manga Kissa can be simply translated from Japanese into English as Comic Cafe, so a place where people go to read manga (japanese comic) and have a coffee. In reality, it is much more than anybody who have not been there could ever imagine!

Before, I`ve heard about manga kissa from Daniel San who is a big fan of manga. I was sure that it must be some kind of library with soft drinks and icecream for free and additionally with a computer access. It turned out to be partly true. There were many bookshelves but not only...

After entering a rather large supermarket size building, Daniel and I stopped at the reception. The first awesome thing was that, while boys need to pay 399 yen to enter, for girls it is just 100 yen (1$) per hour. We have asked for a place with 2 seats - the other possibilities were single seat room or 3-seat room. Each of such rooms is very small but equipped with computer and internet access , TV, headphones for each person and lamps.

Among all those goods, my personal no. 1 is unlimited access to soft and hot drinks, as well as icecream. I should mention here, that average price of coffee in Japan is 250 yen so receiving as much coffee as somebody wants after paying 100 yen (in case od girls) is unbelievable! What is more, it is also possible to buy some food in vending machines, such as instant noodles, for a relatively low price.

Last but not least, additional surprises are access to showers and each guests` own safe for valuables.

It is still not enough to say that, Manga Kissa is a mix of internet cafe, a very cool library (if somebody knows how to read in Japanese) and a spot where even a person who missed their last train home or a desperate budget traveller can find a place to rest or even sleep - showers included! To such European girl as me, it gives a feeling of a café from an outer space.

Sakura in the rain

Cherry blossom, in Japanese called Sakura, is a symbol of spring somehow and a perfect reason for celebrating all around Japan.

This year in Nagoya, the first cherry trees` flowers, showed up 1 day before my arrival to Japan, on the 18th of March. For comparison, first flowers in Tokyo appeared 4 days later, on the 22nd.
Special sakura forecasts infom about each regions best time for admiring those flowers. It didn`t start in Nagoya yet... but it already looks beautiful. Even in the rain!

Everything for 100 yen

Have you ever visited the so called "1 pound" shop in England?
If you did, you surely liked it, but most of the stuff there seemed to be pretty useless. At least that is what I thought about it.

Japan has something very similar but also much different in the same time - 100 yen (hyaku-yen) shops, while right now, 100 yen is worth, more or less, 1$.

The best thing about "100 yen" shops, is that you can buy there EVERYTHING!
Obviously, the quality of products is not the finest but it does not really matter if you can buy those things for such a low price.

During my recent visit to 100 yen shop, Daniel San got me a book (for kids) to practice katakana writing - one of the japanese alphabets. I used to hate such excercise books when I was a 7 year old little girl but now it`s so much fun!


"100 yen" shop shown in the above pictures is located in Nagoya,
between Irinaka and Yagoto metro stations.