Monday, October 10, 2011

Sports Day


Today is Sports Day in Japan. It originally was a national holiday celebrated on October 10th, as it began after 1964 Tokyo Olympics and that date was when they had the opening ceremony. But in 2000, the holiday was changed to the "second Monday of October." But as it happens, today is actually the 10th of October!

It's said that it rarely rains on Sports Day and sure enough, today was a gorgeous day. I spotted a little boy trying to ride his big kid bike today. Not sure if this is the safest or smartest place to practice...but I guess you have to start somewhere.

A little off topic, I've been away the last two weekends helping out (or more like hanging out at) a tennis tournament we had here in Tokyo. It's not in Shinjuku but I thought a few pictures couldn't hurt, as today is Sports Day.





 This was the finals game on Sunday. The seats were packed as both Mr. Nadal and Mr. Murray are popular players among the Japanese fans. I always love climbing up to the top of the stands and snapping a few shots from above.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, too!

14 comments:

  1. Wow that is a packed stadium, tennis has to be one of the most entertaining sports to watch. I like the effect you've used on these Kaori.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice images, from the BIG event!
    And the big photo is just magic!:)

    We had a FUN event here in Stavanger.
    Take a look at my blog if you want to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good that you had a holiday too!
    I like the light in the first shot. Very nice. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the light and shadows in that first shot too! Nice pics of the tennis tournament.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the light in the first photo and the treatment of the others!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I guess you had a nice time at this tournament...

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's a lot of people - a large tournament! My son is playing in a statewide high school tournament late this week, I'm hoping to get some time off work to watch him. I used to dread sports days when I was growing up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love that kind of sunbeams-rippling-on-the-bottom-of-a-swimming-pool light on the walkway in your top photo.

    I was perfectly happy tootling along using training wheels until some neighbor kids finally took them off and pushed me up to speed enough to ride OK on two wheels. Now, I will always think of September 2011 as the month I learned to ride a “real” bicycle (just joking about the time).

    I wonder, is that kid in your photo going to go from training wheels, to bicycle, to...wings?

    When I was young I used to live near a coliseum. Just joking about this one too. I just feel that old. (Actually it was this one.)

    Did you know that Ariake was the site of early scientists in the Edo Period who performed micro-vivisection on tiny, black, social insects? Thus the name Ariake 蟻開け。They changed the kanji later when a firefly, mixed in with the ants by mistake, flew under the lens of a microscope one of those scientists was using. It looked just like a dawning sun, he thought. Thus 有明。

    My dictionary says that 明けの明星 is the morning “star” Venus. Is that where the next door (to the coliseum above) fantabulous shopping center, Venus Fort, got it’s name?

    Speaking of Odaiba. Have you been to Ōedo Onsen Monogatari? It looks kind of fun to an old fart like me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lucky you. I'm a fan of Senor Nadal.

    ReplyDelete
  10. How interesting to get involved in world class tennis. Interesting shots at tennis - a special camera? iPhone app?

    Cheers, Evelyn

    ReplyDelete
  11. «Louis» likes the perspective in the first image.
    Mme la Vache, who lived in Japan for 15 years, tells «Louis» that Sports Day is a really big event in Japan.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like this series of fotos. Especially the 1st one. They focus my attention.

    ReplyDelete
  13. nice effects you have Kaori, looks a bit dated and lomo. ^0^
    i hope you had a gr8 week there,
    i think you did. ^-^

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi everyone! Sorry about my late reply! Thank you so much for all the comments :D

    Karin -- Senor Nadal lost to a Mr Andy Murray in the finals. He was the winner last year :-)

    Evelyn -- I only had my cellphone with me and I used one of my android apps ;D

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much! Love it when you comment! xx