Takaragaike Park in Kyoto

Mount Hiei view from Takaragaike Park in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto
日本語: 宝が池公園から望む比叡山 。所在地は京都府京都市左京区。
source: 663highland
author: 663highland
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Takaragaike_Park_Kyoto07s3s4350.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

A walk in Takaragaike, approaching Lake Biwa and Kamo River... a video of great beauty.

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

HANAFUBUKI: Like a Matryoshka

Matryoshka dolls in street fair - Budapest
author: Marcosleal
(http://sc.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Matryoshka_dolls_in_Budapest.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

Yoko made this video by developing ideas from one of her previous works (Walls - that had developed in turn two other of her works - Open the Door and Follow the Arrows).

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

The Thatched Roofs of Myiama

Myiama, famous for the thatched roofs
photo: Hiroe
(http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7939900)
no copyright infringement intended

Superb photo made by an extremely talented artist that I didn't know, and superb video, made by one of the greatest video artists. I haven't seen so far the photographic creations of Hiroe: this one is unforgettable. As for the video created by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI), it has the purity of the images in a movie by Kurosawa. Enjoy!

Miyama, Kyoto: Thatched Roofs / 京都美山 かやぶきの里
(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Up to the Sky in Osaka

Umeda Sky Building, Osaka
(http://patokallio.name/photo/travel/Japan/)

Yoko filmed this at Umeda Sky building (梅田スカイビル, Umeda Sukai Biru) in Osaka.　The building was designed by Hiroshi Hara. He designed Kyoto Station too.

梅田スカイビル
(video by HANAFUBUKI)
music by Naoki Tohdo

It's gorgeous, and, more than that, I think, for Yoko it's a daring new way of exploring the world. I am thinking now at all her gorgeous videos in the world of parks and shrines, or in the world of Japanese traditional commercial neighborhoods, here is different. And I'm thinking at Hou Hsiao-Hsien and his Millennium Mambo, with its debut scene that takes place in a tunnel that is somehow like the one explored by Yoko here.

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Sunflower in Kameoka

(http://www.city.kameoka.kyoto.jp/english/contents_detail.php?frmId=34)

I found this image on a web site featuring a place where Nippon beauty is at its peak: it's the image of an autumn walkaway through Kameoka. Compare it with a video that was made one month ago, at the peak of summer. Yoko made it in Kameoka. It is in this video a greatness of the image, calling in mind Kurosawa.

Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the east and is located to the north of Osaka. It used to be the farming area for Kyoto, providing ingredients used in the traditional Japanese cuisine.

(Wiki)

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Daruma Dera - The Roots of Japanese Cinema

(http://www.japan-photo.de/e-temp55.htm)

Daruma Dera in Kyoto: it was founded in 1718 and belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen. The sacred memory of Bodhidharma (the founder of the Zen flavor of Buddhism) is thoroughly kept through countless Daruma dolls gathered in one of the halls of the temple.

And there is another hall inside Daruma Dera, honoring the beloved memory of all people who worked in the film world of Japan: 800 names, among them Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Sadao Yamanaka, Mansaku Itami, Shōzō Makino, Kinuyo Tanaka, Yujiro Ishihara, Hibari Misora.

Yoko (HANAFUBUKI) visited Daruma Dera: a visit to the roots of Japanese cinema. Her video is silent: a silent meditation on those artists who created one of the most important schools of cinema in the world. Watching the video gave me the feeling of a deep religious experience.

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Taishogun Market in Kyoto Is Known as Yōkai Street

Ukiyo-e print of yōkai, by Aotoshi Matsui
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Yokai3.jpg)

Yōkai range from the evil ogre to the mischievous fox, including the famous Yuki-onna, the snow woman sometimes dressed in a transparent kimono, many times nude, beautiful yet dangerous, a rusalka of the Nippon universe. So these yōkai are little demons liking to play with us humans, sometimes innocently, many times leading toward uncharted waters, as they are capricious and very jealous.

Well, it is in our hard-code this gene, to be very curious and ignore perils, and Yoko is certainly a courageous girl. No wonder she chose from the whole city of Kyoto exactly the Taishogun Market for her wanderings: that place is known as Yōkai Street! Let's join her, it's risky yet it's worth!

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Eating Pasta Carbonara with Yoko

(http://www.allpastarecipes.com/pasta-recipes/pasta-carbonara-26.html)

They say Italian Pizza actually comes from Greece, and Italian Pasta from China. They say the Turkish coffee is Greek and the Greek coffee is Syrian. They say the finest German is spoken in Prague and the finest Czech in Vienna. They say the Sibiu Salami is made in Sinaia (I will explain you one day what that means, for now take my word). Anyway, if you want to have your dish of Pasta Carbonara follow the instructions (http://www.allpastarecipes.com/pasta-recipes/pasta-carbonara-26.html):

Ingredients:
• 1 Pound spaghetti
• 6 Strips bacon, diced
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• 1/2 Cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 4 Egg yolks
• 1 Cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

How to make Pasta Carbonara:
• Cook the spaghetti as per the package instructions.
• Fry the bacon in a skillet over medium heat.
• Put the fried bacon on a paper towel. Reserve the drippings.
• Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl.
• Add 2 tbsp of the drippings while whisking the egg constantly.
• Add the Parmesan and drained pasta to the egg yolk mixture.
• Toss to mix.
• Add parsley, bacon, pepper and salt.
• Serve immediately.

That's fine, but if you are in Japan? You'll be lost in translation, so my advice is to watch the video of Yoko and to do what she's doing. She's hot!

(video by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI))

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Strawberries for Yoko

(http://www.plinky.com/answers/59320)

There are many ways of eating a strawberry. You can be cool, or you can be hot. Yoko is absolutely hot. You can speak while eating, or you can keep quiet. Yoko is definitely speaking. You can do just that, eat a strawberry. Yoko is taking the advantage to teach us also some good Japanese. Well, what to do? If you are too impressed by Yoko, the risk is to be not careful to the Japanese pronunciation any more. Difficult Choice!

(video by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI))

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

A Walk Along Shimogamo Canal

(http://www.cyclekyoto.com/shirakawa-sosui)

There is a canal in North Kyoto, running between two rivers: Takano and Kamo. This is a blessed place: the Holy Shrine of Shimogamo is nearby, also the Botanical Gardens. Yoko went there on April 9, to see the cherry blossom.

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Train Window

red rain

An image I took once, from a train window (approaching New London, on the railroad toward Boston), and a video made by Yoko; she was traveling on the Kosei commuter rail, some place among Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka.

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Gion in Kyoto

Shirakawa Canal, Gion, Kyoto, showing rear of ochaya (teahouses)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shirakara_Canal,_Gion,_Kyoto.jpg)

I'm looking at this image and I remember a place that I liked. It was New Hope in Pennsylvania, on the border of Delaware. The rear of the houses was looking the same on the narrow canal. It was a town of the artists, and of course of tourists.

Here is about Gion in Kyoto. It was the way to reach Yasaka Shrine, since ancient times, and it became the district of geisha. Only we should know that here, in the Gion of Kyoto, the gheisa was rather a geiko: a child of the arts. It was also the district of kabuki theaters. It's the heart of Kyoto.

Yoko walks us through Gion, without haste, during the day, coming again there by night, to make us get the soul of the place. Naoki Tohdo scored the video. It's a beautiful music.

(video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Snow Stepped by Yesterday in Kyoto

Bamboo Forest in Snow
(http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Bamboo-Forest-in-Snow-Nishiyama-Kyoto-Japan-Posters_i6137423_.htm)

Snow doesn't come very often in Kyoto. It arrives suddenly and leaves quickly.

Yoko had just a small break time at the theater; she approached the window and the homes were covered by a thick blanket of snow.

あれよあれよという間に外が白くなっていきました。

The white went out as Yoko was looking on in blank amazement.

(video by Yokomaririn)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Dōtonbori in Osaka

Dōtonbori (道頓堀) is a single street, running alongside the Dōtonbori canal between the Dōtonboribashi Bridge and the Nipponbashi Bridge in the Namba ward of Osaka. A former pleasure district, Dōtonbori is famous for its historic theaters (all gone now), its shops and restaurants, and its many neon and mechanized signs, including snack/candy manufacturer Glico's giant electronic display of a runner crossing the finish line (Wikipedia).

Yoko left her ancient Kyoto, the city breathing through its shrines and parks the old history of Japan, to make a trip to Osaka, the city shouting the nowadays in all directions. And she went in the heart of it: Dōtonbori is the modern icon of a city that's itself an icon of modernity.

(video by Yokomaririn)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Sparkling Chocolate for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming and Yoko is able to freeze us in a spell of sensual awe even as she is drinking a glass of sparkling chocolate.

(video by Yokomaririn)

「スパークリング」を「スパーリング」と言い間違えている私。

Sparkling to spar, I said that wrong.

どんだけカタカナに弱いねん。。

Just how weak year katakana. . (my note: whatever -:)

商品名を言い間違えて、すみません。

I said the wrong product name, and I am sorry.

サントリーの「不思議の国のスパークリングチョコレート」という名前ですね。

Suntory Supakuringuchokoreto in Wonderland, that's the name.

バレンタインデーがやってくる！

Valentine's Day is coming!

皆様はどんな予定を立てられているでしょうか。

And everyone should make a plan.

私は、自分への贈り物（？）として自分で自分用チョコを買ってみました!

I bought for me as gift a chocolate!

チョコレート味の炭酸飲料です!

A chocolate-flavored soda!

甘くておいしかったです（＾＾）

Sweet and tasty (who: the chocolate or Yoko? good question)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Landscape Painted on Frozen Porcelain

Landscape painted with ice on a porcelain teacup. Dedicated to Hanafubuki.

(close up)

(Bucuresti)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

A Walk Along Kitayama Street

Winter View of Kitayama Street
(http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1088081248048520841HWkgeI)

I'm watching this new video of Yoko and it's calling in mind charming streets that I walked. It was firstly the myriad of small streets around Harvard Square in Cambridge, then it was Newbury Street in Boston; M Street in Georgetown is great in the Halloween Night and King Street in Alexandria is where I spent two New Year Eves, hanging around the small cafes and waiting for the fireworks to begin at the Washington Masonic Temple. Maybe Mercer Street in SoHo has some charm of its own, or maybe Hopper made it look charming in his paintings, I don't know. But no, all SoHo streets look cool, what I'm talking about? I took so many times Spring Street all along, it has all the charm in the world. Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn is a place to wander as I did one morning. And definitely Arch Street in Philly on Flag Day.

Well, these are somehow fresher memories laying on old ones: streets in Paris, and in Prague, and in Vilnius...

But let's watch the video of Yoko and imagine we are on Kitayama Street in Kyoto.

video by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Black Beer for Yoko

As you might know, Yoko has two youTube channels. One of them is for her adventures in the world of daring cinematic language, while the other one is more casual. Well, with this casual one she reached 10,000 subscribers. Let's have a glass of beer with her! Kampai!

video by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

January 13, Early Morning

A video that doesn't need words to explain, it's just beautiful

video by Yoko Shibata (HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)

Maruyama Kōen

Maruyama Kōen in Kyoto: it's again Yoko, running through Yasaka Shrine and then through the alleys, on the little stone or wooden bridges, till she mixes with the people, melting in the crowd. Is here a cinematic dialog, between Yoko and the universe of Maruyama, shrine, and alleys, and trees, and little bridges? Maybe...

円山公園: (video by HANAFUBUKI)

(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)