![Koinobori ~Japans Childrens Day~ [iPhone 4S/HD] @ohayuni71](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/InIc36oPCyg/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded May 2012 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Chinese myth goes that brave carps could transform into dragons when they climbed up rapid falls. In Japan, based on the legend, we put up Koinobori, or carp-shaped streamers, in the sky from April to May 5th, Japan's Children's Day, hoping the children will rise like a dragon.
The spring sky was decorated with a lot of colorful carps even in urban areas like Tokyo when I was a kid, however, now you hardly see them swimming in the sky in cities filled with buildings. Fortunately, a Koinobori event takes place every year in my city, Kawaguchi. Nowadays a lot of cities hold this kind of event and fly Koinobori. You can enjoy them even if you don't have enough space to put them up in your garden.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 5th, 2012
The Chinese myth goes that brave carps could transform into dragons when they climbed up rapid falls. In Japan, based on the legend, we put up Koinobori, or carp-shaped streamers, in the sky from April to May 5th, Japan's Children's Day, hoping the children will rise like a dragon.
The spring sky was decorated with a lot of colorful carps even in urban areas like Tokyo when I was a kid, however, now you hardly see them swimming in the sky in cities filled with buildings. Fortunately, a Koinobori event takes place every year in my city, Kawaguchi. Nowadays a lot of cities hold this kind of event and fly Koinobori. You can enjoy them even if you don't have enough space to put them up in your garden.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 5th, 2012
![Koinobori ~Japans Childrens Day~ [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/InIc36oPCyg/mqdefault.jpg "Koinobori ~Japans Childrens Day~ [iPhone 4S/HD]
The Chinese myth goes that brave carps could transform into dragons when they climbed up rapid falls. In Japan, based on the legend, we put up Koinobori, or carp-shaped streamers, in the sky from April to May 5th, Japans Childrens Day, hoping the children will rise like a dragon.
The spring sky was decorated with a lot of colorful carps even in urban areas like Tokyo when I was a kid, however, now you hardly see them swimming in the sky in cities filled with buildings. Fortunately, a Koinobori event takes place every year in my city, Kawaguchi. Nowadays a lot of cities hold this kind of event and fly Koinobori. You can enjoy them even if you dont have enough space to put them up in your garden.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 5th, 2012")
![The Tokyo Skytree Illumination for Christmas [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IvpPUcTaWCw/mqdefault.jpg "The Tokyo Skytree Illumination for Christmas [iPhone 4S/HD]
As the first Christmas event since the Tokyo Skytree completed, the worlds tallest TV tower is being illuminated in different colors from usual. Five illumination types are prepared and they change depending on the hour and the day. You can enjoy the special spectacle of lights from the sunset to 11 pm until Christmas. On every weekend, you can see the 1995 LED footlights changing their colors at 8 pm and 9 pm.
Tokyos new landmark lights up winter nights quietly and warmly.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Dec. 7th, 2012")
![Sudden shower, Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IzgOqBMsm4w/mqdefault.jpg "Sudden shower, Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
Here in Japan, as in many other Asian countries, you often encounter sudden showers, especially in summer afternoons. The rains seem to be intensifying with climate change in recent years. Do not forget to check the weather forecast and take an umbrella with you when it is necessary during your stay in Japan.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 28th, 2012")
![Cat Street, Hot Spot for the Young at Harajuku, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J2vpzqn3YGs/mqdefault.jpg "Cat Street, Hot Spot for the Young at Harajuku, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]
Ura-Harajuku, which literally means back streets of Harajuku, is an area where you can find a lot of small fashionable boutiques, beauty salons, cafes and restaurants. It is also called Ura-Hara for short. Cat Street and its branches are one of the most bustling streets in the area. You can see young people dressed up and enjoying shopping there.
There was a river once where now Cat Street is, but the river was covered over for the development of this area when Tokyo Olympic was held in 1964. This is why the street is winding.
According to my friend whose birthplace was beside Cat Street, when he was a kid, the area was not like what it is like now, but was a typical old residential area. However, as he grew up, a lot of stores opened around there and it became a popular place among the young.
It would be fun to stroll around with imagining what the fashionable streets were like once.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jun. 24th, 2012")
![Curious Alley at Ginza, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JSdTDsx9ab8/mqdefault.jpg "Curious Alley at Ginza, Tokyo [iPhone 4S/HD]
When you explore an old town, you often find it like a maze with alleys. Ginza, the most luxurious district in Tokyo, is also an old town like it. Going away from glamorous streets and down alleys, you would see another face of Ginza.
Sometimes you come across a curious alley like the one in this video. Walking along the gloomy alley, you have to cut through a modern cafe and end up finding a small shrine sitting at close quarters.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Jun. 14th, 2012")
![The Tokyo Skytree [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K1ZDXD66yjo/mqdefault.jpg "The Tokyo Skytree [iPhone 4S/HD]
The Tokyo Skytree, 634m high and the worlds tallest TV tower, has been completed finally. The Tokyo Tower, built in 1958 and 333m high, is no longer tall enough to cover all the broadcasting area and a new 600-meter-class tower is needed for the city filled with skyscrapers.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Mar. 27th, 2012")
![Shoguns Procession in Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Kjl7yNw0CIA/mqdefault.jpg "Shoguns Procession in Kawaguchi, Japan [iPhone 4S/HD]
Route 122, which connects central Tokyo and Iwatsuki, Saitama and is also known as Iwatsuki Road, was once called as Nikko Onari-Michi that literally means Nikko Shogunate Road. During the Edo Period ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the successive shoguns made processions along the road. It was to visit Nikko, where Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first shogun of the shogunate, is enshrined. The procession took place 17 times from 1617 to 1843. Although it was initially frugal, it increasingly became glamorous to show citizens their dignity. The procession held in 1728 by Yoshimune Tokugawa, the eighth shogun, was made up of 133 thousand people consisting of the shogunate family and their retinue. Some of shoguns were not able to cope with the cost of making a procession and had to give it up.
The road passes through my city Kawaguchi, located in just north of Tokyo. There were once two inn towns in the section where now the city is; Kawaguchi Inn Town and Hatogaya Inn Town. The first several processions went along Nikko Road, a more easterly route. However, Iemitsu Tokugawa, the third shogun who was known as a gourmet, changed the route to have his first days lunch of the four day trip to Nikko, at a temple in Kawaguchi Inn Town. The temple might have served good lunch.
Nikko Onari-Michi Festival was held on an autumn Sunday in Kawaguchi City, to re-enact the historical parade. The festival had two sites; Kawaguchi Inn site and Hatogaya Inn site, and the parade moved the one to the other by subway. It was probably the first shoguns procession in the history which took a train. A few big names, including Ken Matsudaira, a famous period drama actor, and Rino Sashihara, who was once a member of the pop group AKB48 and is now a member of HKT48, also joined the parade and excited the crowd. Although the number of the people making the procession was quite smaller than the ones which took place several hundred years ago, 180 thousand spectators gathered at the sites to see the old but new procession, that was more friendly than before. They did not have to kneel but cheered when the procession passed by.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on Nov. 11th, 2012")
![Kotatsu ~Japanese Heating Table~ [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LDDkAMKG5wk/mqdefault.jpg "Kotatsu ~Japanese Heating Table~ [iPhone 4S/HD]
Kotatsu, a low table with an electric heater underneath, is one of the typical Japanese heating devices. You cover it by a quilt and get your legs into it to get warmed. It is a kind of a heating devices for a very small space. It is a good idea to heat up a small space when you live in a Japanese wooden house. Japanese houses are usually designed to be drafty in order to make the life comfortable during the very humid summer. However, in winter, it is inefficient to heat up the whole house. It takes a lot of energy. Kotatsu is a reasonable solution to the problem. That is why we usually dont have a central heating system at home. (In the northern island Hokkaido, it is very common to have one)
On a cold winter day, once you are in it, I bet you would never like to move out of it. If tea, snacks or winter fruits and remotes were prepared on the table, it would be almost impossible to escape from the enchanted table till the winter ends.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S")
![Twilight View from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building [iPhone 4S/HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LDLXVJXBm00/mqdefault.jpg "Twilight View from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building [iPhone 4S/HD]
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, or Tokyo City Hall, has two panoramic observation decks. You can enjoy the panoramic view of Tokyo without paying any admission there. I have to say the views from other popular observation decks, like the ones at Roppongi Hills, the Tokyo Tower or the Tokyo Sky Tree, are more glorious, but you have to pay admission to climb them. It is worth visiting this public facility especially at dusk to enjoy Tokyo economically.
- Shot in 1080p full HD with an iPhone 4S on May 14th, 2012")
