X-Pat Files

Photo Courtesy of Tokugawa Art Museum

Hinamaturi is a festival that takes place on Girls Day in Japan, March 3rd. Often referred to as the Japanese Doll Festival, it is celebrated by setting up often elaborate red carpeted platforms to display ornamental dolls used to represent the Imperial court. Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musician dolls are presented in traditional court costume of the Heian period.

The practice started in the Heian period, when superstition held that the dolls had the power to contain evil spirits. The dolls begin to appear in February and in true Japanese style they are removed immediately after the festival; tradition holds that leaving the dolls past March 4 will cause your daughter to marry late! The horror!

Here are some events to help you celebrate Hinamaturi!

See the dolls at the Tokugawa Art Museum!
Tokugawa Art Museum will display their extensive collection of dolls until April 3. Admission is 1200 yen, and if you make the trip I highly recommend you visit Tokugawaen, which is my personal favorite Japanese style garden in Nagoya. You can get there on the Nagoya Kanko Route Bus leaving from bus stop 8 in front of JR Nagoya Station. Or use the directions from the website.

The other week we profiled this interesting location, and here is an event celebrating the Hinamaturi; a great reason to make the trip!

Early Flower Festival Sunday Feb. 27
See a real Japanese tea ceremony! Guests will sample “Maccha” traditional powdered Japanese green tea and “Manju” sweets. Yummy! The event begins at 1pm in the Atrium. This is a popular event, and only 200 people will be accepted on first come first serve basis… get there early! Only 500 yen!


Ran no Yakata Poorly translated version
Ran no yakataDirect Link

Map

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This article out of Tokyo Art Beat kind of surprised me. It is not often that I think of Nagoya as much of an Art city, but it is definitely out there. From the Harmonium open mic night at the factory for us foreign minded folk, to what is apparently a vibrant scene on the Japanese side as well. Check out the article, and maybe drop by the galleries listed! I put some maps here so you can find them. You can also check out this Facebook page; Nagoya Art Scene. There are not that many people in it...yet!

Standing Pine Gallery (English)


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Gallery IDF


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As most foreigners in Japan, though not all, use Facebook, I thought you might be interested in this bit of news from the land of the face and farmville.

Have you noticed that you are seeing updates in your news feed from the same people over and over lately? Have you also noticed that when you post things like status messages, photos and links, the same circle of people are commenting and every……one else seems to be ignoring you?

Don’t worry, everyone still loves you and nobody has intentionally blocked you. The problem is that a large chunk of your friend/fan list can’t s...ee anything you post and here’s why:

The “New Facebook” has a newsfeed setting that by default is automatically set to show ONLY posts from people who you’ve recently interacted with or interacted the most with (which would be limited to the couple of weeks just before people started switching to the new profile). So in other words, for both business and personal pages, unless your friends/fans commented on one of your posts within those few weeks or vice versa – you are now invisible to them and they are invisible to you!!

HERE’S THE FIX: Scroll down to the bottom of the newsfeed on the homepage and click on “Edit Options”, click on “Show Posts From” and change the setting to “All Of Your Friends and Pages” Note: This is the fix for personal pages but I am unsure of whether or not the business pages are set up the same way.

Simply posting an update about it won’t do any good because lots of your friends/fans already can’t see your posts by default. You’ll either have to send out a message to everyone on your list (which I’m not even sure business pages can do and is a rather tedious method) or post an event explaining the situation like this one and invite your entire fan base and/or friend list. You can also tweet about it hoping that most of your fellow facebookers are also on twitter.

Thanks to Colin for the text, and thanks to whoever actually wrote it before him! You have been a big help!

Pretty cool video from Yokoso News from the world Cosplay Summit here in Nagoya in August of 2010. Do you see anyone you know?

Just in time for Valentine’s Day! Actually, it has been open since January 20th, but I am posting this “Just in time for Valentine’s Day!” Just outside of Sakae on the way to Osu you will find “Ran no Yakata,” or the Orchid Building. This is actually a pretty cool spot normally; the indoor greenhouse holds all kind of cool plants lit up for effect, and is a nice walk in the evening. The garden outside is also filled with plants and flowers, a pond, and walking path. For special occasions like Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day the outdoor garden is decorated with “illumination” or light displays similar to those in US Christmas displays; seasonally appropriate versions, of course. For Valentine’s Day, this would include hearts, snowflakes, and possibly cherubs. The displays run until March 22, so there is plenty of time to get out there, and if you drop in during the day, the café offers something resembling French food that is reportedly pretty good and not too expensive. Entrance will run you 700 yen per person, but if you have “donichikiekokipu” or that all day train/subway pass you can buy on weekends, you will get a 200 yen discount; sweet, right? Be Sure to see the Map below the picture!


Ran no Yakata Poorly translated version
Ran no yakataDirect Link

Map

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Nagoya Auto Trend & Moto Trend 201!!! Join Lease Japan for some car window shopping!

2 wheels or 4, the Nagoya Auto Trend & Moto Trend 2011 is going to be full of some amazing custom cars and bikes from both major auto manufacturers and independent workshops in Japan. That is exactly the kind of place that Lease Japan likes to be at! Why not join us on March 5th for this exciting event?

We will be meeting at Nagoya Station at the gold clock in front of Takashimaya Department Store. Bryce Conlan will be waiting on the white tiles in front of the escalators at 12, and from there we will take the train to the event. Purchase your tickets in advance or on the day at the event.

Take a look at the website (Japanese only, sorry!)
English Description from Nagoya International Center

When: March 5th at 12:00
Where: Nagoya Station at the gold clock in front of Takashimaya Department Store
Admission: 2000 Yen for adults, 800 Yen for ages 6 to 12; discounted advanced tickets available via the P-code system (987-114) at Circle K & Sunkus stores.

Sign up for this event on our Facebook event page!

H&R Consultants produced this simple video tutorial as a part of their “Relo Explains” series to help some of their clients who are lucky enough to have central air conditioning. While this is not very common in Japan, we thought there might be other people out there in Japan-land who could also benefit from this quick video tutorial by Relocation Consultant, Bryce Conlan: How to Clean Your Central Air Conditioning Unit. Stay cool Japan!

Did you know there are at least 5 ice hockey teams in and around Nagoya? From children’s to adult teams, there is no reason to go without just because you live in Japan! You can find the list of rinks and the team affiliations below.

Osu Skate Center
Downtown Nagoya
Tots to high school team: Chunichi Wings

Mori Koro Park
Nagakute
Tots to high school team: Aichi Stars

Howa Sports Land
Minato-ku
Tots to high school team: Nagoya South

Nippon Gaishi Hall
Minami-ku
Used for public skating, figure skating, tournaments, practices but no team affiliation.

AquaArena
Toyohashi city
Tots to high school: Toyohashi Club

Each team has a different degree of seriousness, ranging from playing for fun to focusing on developing skills that will take you to AAA college level play. Depending on the amount of practice time you want your child to have and how much of a time commitment you would like to make as a family. The teams go to several tournaments each year to different areas of Japan. There are several English speaking players and English speaking parents of players on all teams and a Canadian assistant coach on one team. Many of the children playing hockey in Japan have lived overseas and are quite knowledgeable about the game.

Adult teams:
There are more than 20 teams playing in or around Aichi. There are generally two levels. A very high level and there is a tryout to play on one of these teams. B is similar to an adult beer league; much less serious, but still above beginner level.

As for beginner level adult hockey, there are some groups that meet on a casual drop in basis as well. Once again, there are many English speakers on all of the adult teams.

For more information, please email Rob at rob_jp@yahoo.com

There must be plenty of Canadian and American kids and adults living in Nagoya that have no idea the sport exists, I hope we can change that!

I am not sure why, but my friends still buy tickets individually every time they get on a subway or train in Nagoya. I cannot be bothered to go through that routine every time so I dump 5000 yen into a Yurika Card every few weeks and get 5600 yen in credit on a card I can use until I run out of credits. No need to stand in line, no need for cash, and 600 yen in free rides make it a great deal. Unfortunately not everyone uses a pass, so I still get stuck waiting for someone to buy their ticket anyway.

As a transportation hub in the center of Japan, Nagoya intersects several different train lines, and each has their own passes available. The Nagoya Subway sells the aforementioned Yurica card, and Meitetsu sells SF Panorama cards, but both cards may be used in Nagoya interchangeably for the most part. In light of that, it seems redundant, but both systems also sell Tranpass; an all in one card for transportation in Nagoya City.
These cards are all magnetic, meaning you insert them into the gate like a regular ticket. Besides magnetic cards, you will also find several rechargeable contactless smart cards like the TOICA (Tokai IC Card), or Suica cards available for JR Central Lines, or PiTaPa cards in use on the Kintetsu line. These cards can be simply waved over a sensor, as opposed to inserting it into a gate like the magnetic card, may be recharged when they run out of funds and reused and are loaded with extras. These super-duper convenient cards kind of make Nagoya’s Tranpass look positively ancient by comparison, but Nagoya‘s new Manaca Card will debut February 11th, 2011.

In Japanese, mannaka (真ん中) means "center,” and emphasizes Nagoya’s position in the center or Japan. The Manaka card is a rechargeable smart card that can be waved over a sensor to speed you through to your train like the Suica and PiTaPa cards. The card is intended to replace Tranpass for the Nagoya Municipal Subway lines, Meitetsu lines, Aonami Line, Nagoya City Buses, Meitetsu Buses, Yutorito Line, Linimo, and the Toyohashi Railroad), and will be available at all stations throughout the city.

New Features of the Manaca Card
Manaca is everything Tranpasss is, and then some. Like Tranpasss, the new card has bonus "mileage points” for putting larger sums on the card. For example, if you put 3000 yen into the machine, you received 3300 yen worth of credit. Cheaper is better, right? Also, transferring from one public line or route to another within 90 minutes will continue to be discounted 80 yen by the new card. Unlike Tranpass, Manaca has a ton of features that users of TOICA cards might already be familiar with. As mentioned before, it is rechargeable; more money can be added to the card when it runs out, and the card can be read at automatic gates simply by waving the card over the sensor. It can also be used as a prepaid card at restaurants, stores, etc to purchase goods and services.

If you buy a monthly train pass this new card has a couple of features that you might especially like. For one thing, instead of carrying two cards, you can use Manaka as both a regular card for travel off your work route, and as your monthly commuter pass. It will also allow you to buy your pass at any station, as opposed to lining up at the beginning of each month for your new pass like you have to now. Probably the best thing about the new card is the fact that it is digital; if you lose a card that has been purchased in your name you can have the old card disabled, a new card issued, and you will still be able to use any commuter pass stored on it when you lost it.
External links

Details on Nagoya City Transportation Bureau website (Japanese)