Aloha.
Well, I went to Zojoji temple the other day. "One Million People's Candle Night ～Wishing On the Flame," or "100万人のキャンドルナイト" in Japanese, is held there in June every year.
Though TokyoTower in the photo is lighting up, it turned off the lights when the candles were lit up around 8 p.m. that day. That's exactly what the event wants people to do; Turn off the lights and have a slow night. 
They also rang the bell in the temple around the same time. It's the historic big bell of Zojoji called "Daibonsho."
I thought "Candle Night at Zojoji" started after the Great East Japan Earthquake happened in 2011, when we needed to think about electricity, nuclear power plants and so on, but the event seems to have started in 2003, many years before the Great Earthquake. Sounds cool.
By the way, the strong earthquake hit Osaka, Japan, the other day. I'd like to express my condolences to those who lost their lives and their families. And I'd like to offer my sincere sympathy to the people affected by the earthquake. I also hope Ohana, staff of Eggs 'n Things, are all safe.
Well, "Candle Night at Zojoji" sometimes falls on Father's Day, but this year it was held on June 16, so it was the previous day.
Most of the stands by companies gave a discount or free giveaways for this special occation, and I bought several goods and got free gifts, too. I like them all, but especially this one is my favorite.
It's Tokyo Tower's bottled water.
With Noppon-kun again.
According to this page of Tokyo Tower's official website, he's an official character of Tokyo Tower, and he has a brother. They say they're twins, haha. Well, his brother wears a blue outfit and has a adhensive plaster on his head somehow.
I remember I met him last year as well. I even went up on Tokyo Tower last year, which is located near Zojoji temple, and I saw his brother there, I guess.
I don't know why the younder one always comes to Zojoji for the event and the older not. I guess the red one would be more popular among children since he doesn't put a plaster, haha. I'm joking. Maybe the next year, the other one is coming, huh? I know it's difficult for them to come together since one of them has to be in Tokyo Tower to welcome people, so I don't mind which is coming or which isn't.
This year, they sold these at their booth. They gave away 1 postcard for 1 bottled water, so I got two.
I chose these two postcards. The other ones were also beautiful. Above all, the shape of the bottled water ... it exactly looks like Tokyo Tower, right? I haven't had one of two yet, but I think I'll use the empty one as a single-flower vase as soon as possible.
You know, as I mentioned in June last year, in another blog post "Something Great," I joined the event last year, too. It was a sunny day though it was cloudy this year. I first went to the event a few years ago, so this was the third time I'd joined.
I took the left photo last year while the right one is this year's.
I also remember I wondered whether I should get this candle last year, but I didn't buy it in the end. This year, I finally purchased it after thinking about whether to buy because they said they offered them at half the price.
Kameyama Candle House sells them every year for the event, I think. They are available at their online shop as well. I heard that all the candles on the stage and everywhere for the candle night had been prepared by them.
As you can see, the right candle whose design has the moon and stars sold more this year, but I got the left one with constellations. Actually, I got the right one many years ago at their real shop in Futakotamagawa, Tokyo. The store closed later, they say.
I stopped by other stands and boothes as well. Some of them told me about renewable energy, nuclear reactors etc... I appreciate all of them. I learned many things.
And you know what? J-wave, a famous commercial radio station in Tokyo and one of the organizers of the event, gave away these seeds for free. There were 5 kinds, and one person could get them all or more. The sunflower one was more popular than the others and lots of people especially women looked really happy to get it.
Zojoji is my favorite temple, you know.
The temple gives a special tour by a monk only for "1 Million People Candle Night" in recent three years or so. To be honest, I'd always wanted to join the tour. It's been popular and a lot of people apply for the tour every year, and I always fell behind. At last, I made it this year. It was great. I learned a lot. I wanna tell you, and I promise I'll write about it some other time.
It's Iemochi Tokugawa's grave. He was the 14th shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate.
One of the interesting things I found is that ... Well, can you see it? The grave has crests of chrysanthemum on it. Whose grave do you think it is? I'm sure some people can guess.
Yes, it's Kazunomiya's, the grave of Iemochi's wife, you know. Well, I wrote about them and what the crest of chrysanthemum means in the blog post I've just mentioned.
The monk guide explained why the grave has the crest. He said the grave was built when the Tokugawa Shogunate came to lost their power and the shogunate didn't have enough money to build a grave, so the Imperial Family built it instead. You know, Kazunomiya was one of the Imperial Family members. Though she was forced to get married with the shogun Iemochi for political reasons, it's said they got along very well. I hope so.
Dragons.
Right now, Zojoji is offering Tanzaku for Tanabata. These papers are called Tanzaku, or 短冊. We can get one Tanzaku for 100 yen, write a wish on it, and hang it on bomboo trees there. The temple does this kind of thing every year during the season, I think, and they'll be doing till the Star Festival. You know what? This year's tanzaku are so colorful and beautiful. Zojoji did a great job. Well, I explained Tanabata in "When You Wish Upon A Star" last July.
I usually choose my favorite color purple or my hon's favorite green, but this time I chose this one.
It may be blue, but it looks violet for me, and the color is perfect for the stars. I like violet too. Purple and blue make violet, you know.
I forgot to bring Zojoji's Goshuin notebook when I visited Zojoji the other day ... I know, I said before that I'd write about Goshuin and Goshuin notebooks, but I've not written yet. Guess what? I got more Goshuin and its notebooks in the past year as I took a trip around Japan and visited shrines in Kyoto, Nagoya and Ise.
I also forgot to ask them about the comic book that Zojoji temple shows up in. It's the "Case Closed," or "名探偵コナン," "Detective Conan" in Japanese, and Zojoji appears in its 93 volume. Did you know that? Strictly speaking, the name of the temple is changed, so it's not actually Zojoji though it certainly looks like Zojoji, haha.
In the story, Conan kicks a soccer ball toward the sacred big bell of the temple to ring it for some reason ... Well, they knew it in advance of the release or not, I wonder haha. Of couse, we are forbidden to kick a soccer ball to anything in temples.
Speaking of soccer ...the Soccer World Cup just started, you know, and Japan won over Colombia. Congratulations.
The Japanese team is also known as "Samurai Blue."
Well, I wonder which country my honey is going to cheer for when Japan and Senegal are playing, haha. He lived in Senegal when he was a child, actually.
One of my best friends also has lived in Senegal. She's been working abroad. I hear French is the official language there.
Oh, by the way ... My honey's interviews on the NHK radio is available right now; NHK 仕事学のすすめ. It was broadcast on April 26 and 27 and we can listen to its streaming online.The 1st one will be available till 3 p.m. today and the 2nd one the same time tomorrow. He speaks Japanese, so if you understand Japanese as well, just check them out while they're available. Well, he's a fluent English speaker, actually.
以前にも何度かお書きしましたように、こちらのラジオのストリーミングは日本語です。英語が分からない方もぜひ聴いてみて下さいね。とはいえこちらをお聴きになったら、英語か何か日本語以外の言語を学び始めたいと思う方々もいらっしゃるかもしれません。笑
You know, Zojoji temple also appears in the film "The Wolverine," one of the X-men series. My favorite actor Hugh Jackman played the main character, Wolverine. Its Japanese title includes the word "Samurai."
Even though Zojoji is already a very famous temple in Japan, I think they're good at public relations and have been making an effort in every way so more people know the temple or become interested in. Seimei Shrine in Kyoto is like that. I think that's a great thing. Some shrines and temples still don't want to or hate to use social media or something to let people know about themselves.
This year, the candle night collaborated with "Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia," or SSFF Asia in short. Its founder, Mr. Tetsuya Bessho, showed up with LiLiCo-san, who has been its ambassador. They showed short films on enviroment issues.
I'm sure my honey has known him very well, but I don't, though his name is familiar to me. He's a famous Japanese actor, but I rarely watch Japanese movies or TV dramas, so I googled his name. I've just read some interviews with him about his Englsih and so on. They encouraged me a lot.
I also find he played the main character of the musical "Les Miserables," Jean Valjean. He's a theatre actor as well as a movie actor like Hugh Jackman, who played the main role in the film "Les Miserables," you know.
I've never seen the musical "Les Miserables," though it has been popular here in Japan, too. I wanna go see it when it starts next year again though another person is going to play Jean Valjean. Both "Les Miserables" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are novels written by Victor Hugo. Amazing, isn't it?
Also, one of the members from a popular men's group called J Soul Brothers showed up ... the one who wears sunglasses and has a mustache in this music video, "R.Y.U.S.E.I."
I don't listen to Japanese music that much, and I'm not interested in men my age and nobody can change it, but I like this song.
The song itself and its dance are so cool. I came to like the song when I was watching the Red and White singing festival and the Count Down TV a few years ago. The former program is broadcast at the end of a year as I wrote in "HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018," while the latter is before and after a new year begins.
You know, the first photo in this blog post also shows pancakes of Eggs 'n Things.
I guess some think they're seasonal pancakes, not regular ones, and that they'll be offered for a limited. Well, actually, they are not seasonal ones.
Have you ever tried toppings or ordered different types of pancakes off their grand menu at Eggs 'n Things? We can even have pancakes without their generous whipped cream, which some people can't eat or don't like at all.
Ohana, staff members of Eggs 'n Things, recommended these toppings, and I tried them out. They tasted really good. I highly recommend you also try them. They say this way makes bananas sweeter, and it really did. I do like this version, too.
How to order this? I'll tell ya. First, order Banana Pancakes off their grand menu. Second, choose a topping "Chocolate Chips." Then, I guess Ohana ask whether you'd like your pancakes include chocolate chips inside or just are topped with them. I mean, inside or outside of the pancakes. If you wanna your pancakes served with their big whipped cream, just add another topping "Whipped Cream."
I'm sure many of you know or have seen their "Stawberry Whipped Cream and Macadamia Nuts". Well, They also have its Banana version, "Banana Whipped Cream and Macadamia Nuts". In this case, pancakes are served with bananas and whipped cream, and they don't include bananas inside.
On the other hand, "Banana Pancakes" have bananas inside and are not served with their whipped cream, so they're cheaper if you don't add any toppings. Hope it makes sense.
They'll be serving "Salmon & Ahi Poke Bowl" as one of their seasonal items until June 1, as I mentioned in the privous blog post.
It's healthy, and is not heavy at all. But I'd say their rice is a little too hard for me in general.
I'm really looking forward to their summer-limited items. Coming soon.