One of these days I’m going to buy one of these durian (‘king of fruits’) from the fruit market close to where we go for lunch every day. The last time I had some was about 20 years ago on a trip to Malaysia (it is native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia). The fruit has high levels of protein, fat and carbohydrates but the trouble is the aroma of the smooth buttery segments inside : overpowering and offensive to so many people that it is banned in public places in Thailand and on public transit in Singapore.
From Wikipedia : sign on Singapore transit saying 'No durians'.
The War Memorial of Korea is a sprawling facility with military hardware on display and coverage of wars fought on the Korean Peninsula from ancient times. The most recent one of course, was the Korean War of 1950-1953. I also made a stop at Yongsan station where the electronics market is but did not buy anything. (1. The new iPad is not yet on sale in Korea. The 4G frequencies in the country are different from what the iPad has been designed for and some of that is still being worked out. 2. I cannot possibly lug around even one more device with me on my travels, anyway).
The main entrance to the War Memorial of Korea. It is a sprawling complex, with an outside area with military hardware on display as well (airplanes and boats and cannons).Yongsan station is where the electronics market is (large department stores with cubicles selling computers, cameras, phones and tablets).A peek at the plaza outside Yongsan station.Here's General Motors Korea putting its wares on display inside Yongsan train station. Some of them are Cruzes, and the little grey one on the left is a 2012 Chevrolet Sonic sub-compact.I love the colors on this suburban train.This is the 'Brothers Statue' at the War Memorial of Korea.Close by is the Korean War Monument, with bronze soldiers in action at its base.There is a lot of movement in these bronze soldiers 'in action' at the base of the Korean War Monument.The Korean War (1950-1953) is well documented inside the museum. I did not realize how perilously close to losing all of the peninsula, South Korea came. This area around what is known today as Busan port was at one point the last stand. (On 15th Sep 1950, General MacArthur landed American and South Korean marines at Inchon, 200 miles behind the North Korean lines, which was also a turning point).This is a night picture of the Rainbow Bridge at 8 pm at Dongjak station. I read on-line that at 8 pm each night, water is pumped through a series of nozzels along the edge of the bridge and colored with LED lighting. Well, I was there at 8 and NONE of that happened ! .. I will have to check into it and find out if I was at the wrong place or there at the wrong time, or both. The speck on the hilltop in the distance is Seoul Tower.
My first stop of the day was at the fish market at Noryanjin station. Then I went back to Seoul station to go check out the exterior in daytime. After that I made a quick stop at the Naedamun street market and then went off to see if I could find the cable car boarding station for Seoul Tower. I did, eventually!
This sign is almost unnecessary (you can smell the fish market!) .. on the overpass at Noryangjin station on Line 1.The fish market is a large open warehouse with lots of vendors selling anything you might find in the sea.Some octopus for you? Which way to go? (The newer signs inside the metro stations are very clear, so these old metal floor signs have fallen out of use).Here is the exterior of the old arrival and departure hall at Seoul station. The new station hall is all glass and steel and not nearly as interesting as this one.The sign and the Korean flag on the new Seoul station arrival and departure hall.The entrance to the Namdaemun fashion street market. A fancy department store is right across the street behind it.I think this marketer’s outfit is of a traditional Korean warrior. Very nice. I want to dress up as a Korean warrior when the next Halloween comes by.See Seoul Tower in this picture? This foot path with stairs go all the way up to the Tower. But it was only a few degrees above freezing, so I walked down again to the cable station to take the cable car up to the Tower.This is on the way up, a view from the cable car. The building looks new but is in the traditional Korean architecture.Here is the view of the tower after one arrives in the cable car. There is another elevator up to the observation deck. The tower was built in 1969 and opened to the public in 1980. Its height is 236.7 m (777 ft) from the base.This view is from the observation deck, looking north. (Wow. The distance to the north pole given to the nearest 10 meters! 5,837.57 km comes to 3,637 miles).The Han river flows through Seoul. There are already 6 subway lines crossong it, and by 2018 there will be three more crossings, but these will be tunnels beneath the riverbed. Check out the cluster of white apartment buildings on the left. Seoul’s population is about 11 million people (seouls? seoulites?).The Han River flows through Seoul and then merges with the Imjin River shortly before it flows into the Yellow Sea. The total length of the Han River (to include its tributaries the Namhan and Bukhan Rivers) is approximately 514 kilometres (319 mi). Although it is not a long river, the lower Han is remarkably wide for such a relatively short river. [Picture and text from Wikipedia]
I read about the GT Tower East with its wavy exterior and had to go and take a look at it. It is by Gangnam station (use exit 9) between several other modern financial company buildings and Samsung buildings. Sunday night I went to check out Itaewon – the gritty expat area with bars and nightclubs, popular with US army personnel from the base nearby.
Gangnam station is in one of the most affluent areas of Seoul, located in the southeast.These buildings are right by exit 9 of Gangnam station, I assume most of them are of financial institutions.Here is the spectacular GT Tower East building 'making its waves' for me. It is 130m (390 ft) tall and was completed only recently (Feb 2011). It was a collaboration of Dutch architectural firm ArchitectenConsort and Hankil Architects & Engineers from Seoul.These hands are at the base of the GT Tower East.The Boutique Monaco building is close by and about as tall at 117 m (382 ft). It was completed in 2008 and designed by Cho Minsuk and Park Kisu.This is one of several Samsung buildings in the area. My picture was taken by a Chinese student. She 'accosted' me right there on the street - she needed someone to film her in front of the building while she did a little speech to apply for a internship at Samsung.This is a few blocks in from the main streets with the glass and steel buildings where the restaurants and bar signs jostle for business from the foot traffic.Yes, I would like a dumpling. And your name is Mr. .. ? I cannot read Korean 🙁Here's the sign for Itaewon station. I had to switch train lines twice to get to the darn place .... and ended up checking out only the outsides without going into any one of the establishments. Some are holes in the wall, others are in the basement and still others are on the 3rd or 4th floor of a building.The Dubai restaurant promising Arab food on top of an Dunkin Donuts and a Mr Kebab !
The two ancient royal palaces in Seoul are connected with Saemungil Museam Street and Sejong Main Street. I first went to Gyungbokgung Palace and then I walked down to Changdeokgung Palace, spending a lot of time in the underground museum with its entrance at the statue of a seated King Sejong The Great. I only made it to the entrance of the second palace, and plan to go inside tomorrow.
My 'home' station, the one closest to the hotel. 'Young dump-o' helps me to remember it.A street scene outside Gwanghwamun station. Lots of (Korean-made) Hyundai and Kia cars on the streets, of course.Here the layout of the two palaces that shows how they are connected with the Museum Street and Sojong Main Street. Watch for following pictures of the two statues on the Main Street.These two stony-faced guys are outside the Seoul National Museum of Korea.This is the first entrance to the Gyungbokgung Palace. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty. The original palaces consisted of hundreds of buildings on many acres.The corner of the main palace hall. There is an on-going reconstruction effort to restore more of the original buildings.A peek is given to visitors into the inside of the main palace building. That's the throne with golden dragon decorations.This ine is for my Seattle readers and friends! I'm in the traffic mirror, and that figure with the hammer in the background is exactly the same one we have in downtown Seattle in front of the Art Museum. Hmm, which one was first? I will have to check into it.Here is the monument for the legendary Admiral Yi Sun-sin. He is one of the most revered figures in Korean history - an oustanding leader, strategist and ship-builder and died in late 1598, in the Battle of Noryang, the final confrontation of the Imjin War with the Japanese.Admiral Yi's famous 'turtle ship' with a closed deck.This is a 1:55 wooden scale model of a turtle ship inside the museum.This picture from a short documentary shown inside the museum of the wars that raged in the Korean islands around 1600. Those ships with the rising sun flags are Japanese, of course .. and a bloody sea battle is about to start.This is King Sejong the great (hold still kids, so mom can take a nice picture!). He appears on Korean bank notes, and is credited with using military technology (think cannons and gunpowder) to strengthen his kingdom. He is also credited with creating Hangul, the Korean characters what are in wide use today for the written language. 1397, tHere's the entrance to Changdeokgung Palace. I haven't gone inside yet.A mural on the street promoting Seoul.This is Jongno Tower, a 33-story office building owned by Samsung Securities. It was built in 1999.
My trip from Hong Kong airport went very well. My plan to get from Incheon airport in Seoul to the Marriott Courtyard hotel at Seoul Times Square was not too bad, either. I did have a little trouble spotting the hotel in the dark and wet weather at my arrival at the closest metro stop. It was just a four block walk but the darn Marriott hotel sign was on the opposite side of the Times Square buildings (of course!).
This sign was posted at the entrance to the baggage claim. No meat allowed! NO! NO! (I love the angry cows and pigs!).The Kookmin Bank. ‘Kook min’ means exactly ‘Cooking a little’ in Afrikaans. I guess that’s MY bank! (Sigh. I would love to cook MORE, but I have to be home to do that)... and here’s the Woori Bank. Is that a Korean or Australian (Aboriginal) name?The highest currency Korean note – 50,000 won. And how much is that? About US$44.The super luxe connection from the airport terminal to the Incheon train station : all gleaming steel and glass and curves.ere’s what you need to ride the Metro and buy yourself little snacks and knick knacks at the 7-11s and Family Marts : a T-money card.The big blue line comes in from Incheon airport at the west of the city. I took the Airport Express (ArEx) to Seoul station and then the Metro Line 1 down to Yeongdeungpo station. (Even the anglicised names are not easy to work with for a Westerner!)Waiting at the Seoul metro station on Line 1 for the train to Yeongdeungpo station.A cute whimsical display of Seoul station’s outside. There is a little model train that runs around and around, too. I will try to get some real pictures this weekend.This is a peek outside Seoul station before I made my way down to the Metro station. The huge display on the Seoul Square building is striking, because it is animated and the people keep ‘walking’ from right to left.
Sunday on Japan’s NHK World TV was dedicated to extensive coverage of the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 last year. It made for a somber day to watch some of it. Isn’t the first anniversary is the most celebrated for happy events, and the most traumatic for disasters? (Yes). As for the nuclear industry there, the situation of running only 2 nuclear reactors out of 54 is unsustainable. It is costing utility companies billions of dollars to import gas, oil or coal to burn to make up the lost electricity, and they have not yet been allowed by the government to raise rates for consumers.
Here is the link for the interactive Fukushima radiation map (last picture). http://jciv.iidj.net/map/fukushima/, a compilation of readings done on 6 and 7 July 2011. I couldn’t immediately find a more recent update on-line.
Only TWO of the country's 54 nuclear reactors are currently in operation - and even those might be shut down by the end of April.A segment of the 9 o'clock news every night the last week was dedicated to 3.11 reports.This was the only tree of a centuries-old pine forest by the sea at Rikuzentakata that survived. But now there are reports that it is dying because of the salty water in the ground.I think this diagram shows the height of the tsunami waves that hit the coast... snd this one shows that 530 km (330 mi) of coast line was hit.I'm not sure where this is - but it shows a vast surface area that was under water.This is inside a theater in Tokyo on Sunday. Japanese Emperor Akihito, 22 days after heart bypass surgery, stood with everyone inside for a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m.This is at one of many lookout points over the sea where the public could come and place flowers and remember the people that were lost. The boy grabbed the microphone as soon as he held it toward the mom to answer a question.Tens of thousands of people still cannot go back to their homes in the Fukushima area due to concerns over radiation levels there.This is on the pier and seawall of one of the many coastal communities where an alarm was sounded at exactly the same time as when the tsunami struck last year.This is one of many survivor's tales. This guy was first swept inward by the water, and then out to sea .... and here he shows how he sat on a large piece of floating debris until he was saved.
(It’s actually early Thursday in the hotel in Dameisha). The pictures are all from the flight to Incheon airport in Seoul, and at the airport itself. Good news from North Korea is the announcement that the NK government has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile tests, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities.
My traditional Korean 'bibimbap' meal - before the rice, red pepper sauce and sesame oil have been added.Our circumspect approach to Incheon airport around North Korean territory.'Welcome to Korea' arrival sign as we were stepping off the plane and into the airport.Doll with traditional Korean dress in an airport restaurant's display window.Wednesday's weather in Korea. I love weather maps.I'm heading downstairs to gate 45 for the departure to Hong Kong.A Dunkin' Donuts. W 1,000 is about US 90c. (Americano is 'American coffee' : an espresso shot with hot water added).About to board the 747 that took us to Hong Kong.
I braved the steady rain yesterday to go downtown and pay my property taxes. (I’m not putting a check for several thousand dollars in the mail!). The offices on 500 Fourth Ave have a diamond pattern on the exterior. And where does my money go? Only 17 cents on the dollar go to the county, and 50 cents to schools. Where in the country would property taxes be the highest? Westchester county in New York State. On this side of the country on the west coast it is Marin County in the San Francisco Bay area. The artwork is from a construction site close by. That must be an Ursus arctos horribilis (grizzly bear) with the American buffaloes (bison), but the curly clouds and background images are definitely Asian.
King County Administration building on 500 Fourth Ave, downtown Seattle.Artwork from across the street at a construction siteBreakdown of how King County property tax money is spentWestchester county in New York state has the country's highest property taxes.
And here they are : this past trip’s purchases that I brought back.
Porcelain plate from Shenzhen department store. It cost all of ¥25 (US$4).Crocodile chases snake chases rat ! .. from Muji store at Hong Kong airport.And .. the crocodile ate the snake that ate the rat.Commemorative proof coin set from Hong Kong's 1997 hand-over to China. This is the five-dollar coin - a rounded version of the Chinese character Shou, meaning longevity.These are the He He brothers, the two saints of Harmony, born of different fathers and after discord of seven generations concluded that co-operation was more profitable and conducive to happiness. (Almost a paralell with The Bible's Cain and Able?).And this is a unicorn of sorts, the fabled Qi Lin, a creature of good omen.The Puma T-shirt with an 'airport flight status' display panel. Heaven knows I see enough of those in airports - but I couldn't resist the shirt.And this piece of baumkuchen layer cake (also from the Muji store at Hong Kong airport) tastes like banana. When I bought it, I thought its description referred to its shape.
It’s still Saturday but I’m in Seattle and thrilled to be home. Check out the pictures and their captions from the trip out of Hong Kong with a stop-over in Seoul.
The first ever plane to flew in Hong Kong back in 1910 was this replica of the Farman in Terminal 1 which is called 'Spirit of Sha Tin'.I always stop at the Japanese store Muji, and I got some 'Japanese Lolly with Plum' candy this time.Little Korean candies handed out on the flight. That's a walnut, and the others are pastries with a crisp sugary coat.This cartoon from the Financial Times of London, of Chinese Vice President Xi Linping, wrapping up his visit in the USA this week.This 747 bird was right next to our gate. We actually took an Airbus Airbus A330-300 out from Seoul to Seattle.Stepping on board. The gate agent's English name was Zac Efron (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? .. Zac Efron is an American actor and a recent teen-girl heart-throb). )Our flight path took us over Tokyo. We had a tail wind of 100 mph most of the way!
On Wednesday night we had a beer and a burger/ a British fish-and-chips at the Sheraton Dameisha to bid a colleague good-bye that is leaving the project. (The project is nearing its completion for all of us anyway). The LED decorations are still in place outside the hotel, and add some cheer to the winter nights. The Water Sky Hotel across the street has a new white sign. Very nice, but I miss the old yellow neon tube one that it used to have. At least the warm red one for the Meisha hotel close by, is still in place!
A white LED sign replaced the old yellow neon sign on the Water Sky Hotel.The Dameisha Sheraton at night.I like the Tsing Tao beer bottle label. Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. is one of the oldest beer producers in China, founded in 1903.The Meisha Hotel still has its red neon sign.
Friday night found nine gringos (foreigners) upstairs at the Tequila Coyote Cantina., a Mexican restaurant in the Futian district in Shenzhen. There was even a page with Tex-Mex items on the menu. After some translation difficulty for our request for a pitcher* of margarita cocktail mix, the restaurant improvised and brought the good stuff out in a Carlsberg beer pitcher.
*the Chinese word for pitcher is ping瓶
This picture was on the wall : the main square of Mexico City’s historic center. That is a really large flag !
Sign for Moutai next to the restaurant. Moutai is top-of-the-shelf Chinese baijiu (liquor), produced in the town of Maotai (茅台镇), Guizhou province, Southwest China.Lots of bumper stickers on this car. This is on the way in to the city of Shenzhen from Dameisha.Night scene outside the restaurant as we waited for a taxi to take us back to Dameisha. This is in the central Futian district in Shenzhen.
These pictures are all from Shenzhen’s Futian district, from the Central Walk mall and the mix-C mall. There is still evidence of the start of the 2012 Year of the Dragon everywhere.
These buildings are in the Futian district .. not sure which businesses own them, but I like the upside-down taper of the one on the left.
A sign at the entrance of the Central Walk mall.
This Coke-can dragon display is at the entrance of the Central Walk shopping mall.The Supermans and Batmans are inside a coin-operated try-to-snag-it grab machine.This stuffed 'Sping Dragon' from the Carrefour dept store is about 6 feet long and costs ¥660 ($US 110).This from Carrefour's food department. I loved the bags in which this Chinese rice came. The price was ¥64 (about $US10) for 10 kg (22 lbs).The rice from Thailand was much more expensive at ¥153 (about $US 25) for 10 kg (22 lbs).More Thai rice.This is a display at the Mix-C mall. The fish is a sign for prosperity for the new year.An origami alphabet book from the Japanese Muji store has an American political animal in (soon to become extinct?).Lamp post sign outside Mix-C mall while I am waiting for a taxi to Dameisha .... and some red lanterns still on, on other lamp posts, this while the taxi takes me back to Dameisha.
On Sundays NHK World TV shows the work of artists and graphic designers, and I liked the crisp look of these pictures of that illustrated how good layouts and some forethought can make it easier for everyone in the crowd. Of course, everyone has to play by the rules ! The website is www.mizuhiro.com.
It is difficult for a new arrival to get to the buffet service with this layout ..Better to line up the tables with a starting point (trays and plates first).. and then everything else is easyNo controls makes it difficult for passengers getting caught in a group moving in the opposite direction.
The handrail is a safety measure, and the designated directional lanes keep the predestrian traffic flowing.
The cover of the book. There is one for the USA in the series as well and I will have to get it next the next time I stop over at Seoul airport.I did not know this .. and now I know it's OK to eat my rice on Asiana Airlines (Korean airline) with the spoon !Here is a plausable explanation as to why Japanese people avoid internal conflict almost at all costs.Lots of signs! I spot a Kodak film seller (for how much longer?) and a Dunkin' Donuts sign among the Korean ones.Getting married in Korea? Better brush up those family titles! Getting it wrong creates a bad impression with the in-laws, says the book.The largest chaebols (family-owned business conglomerates) in Korea are Samsung Group, LG Group and Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.Korean presidents have all ran into misfortuneCIA World Factbook (Google it, it has all kinds of interesting stuff) reports GDP per capita numbers for 2011 as follows: USA $48,100 (2011 est.), South Africa $11,000 (2011 est.), South Korea $31,700 (2011 est.), North Korea $1,800 (2011 est.), China $8,400 (2011 est.) and Japan $34,300 (2011 est.). Of course direct comparison of the numbers is complicated by different costs of living - and several other factors - in different countries.The Korean peninsula has been invaded many, many times in previous centuries!Wikipedia reports Posco had an output of 35.4 million tonnes of crude steel in 2010, making it the world's third-largest steelmaker by that measure (after ArcelorMittal and Baosteel).There is spicy food all over the world, but the author puts Korea is at the top of the list.The red pepper paste comes with my bibimbap meal on Asiana Airlines. I put just a little bit of it in my food.So there is keeping up with the Joneses in Korea as well !I am sure many people over the world are hoping for the Koreans to make this happen : reunify the North and the South.
I am still looking for an opportunity to stop over long enough in Seoul to stay in the city for a day or two. This picture book I bought at Incheon airport provides very interesting insights into the Korean history and the Korean mind (a map of the Korean consciousness, says the cover of the book by Won-bok Rhie).
Formatting note : iPads may not display all the pictures in the correct orientation .. not sure why.
Extremely cold air from Siberia moves in this time of year ..
We are at the point of ‘freezing’ our test system, the same way the little water fall in the pictures from NHK World TV’s weather report has been frozen. At this point in an SAP project, all the moving parts of the Quality Assurance System come to a stop. No more tweaks to the custom code we added, no more changes to the extracted data which will be converted, and even on-going little defect fixes have now been put on hold. It’s not that the system is a house of cards that will collapse, but before you go to Production, you need to draw a line in the sand and say ‘This is it. This is the car, the Magnificent Flying Machine, the solution – we built’. We will go live (switch it on), and then after that any change to it is called Production Support.
.. and has resulted in accumulated snowfalls of almost 3m (9 ft).. frozen water falls (I don't know where in Japan this is).. snow, snow everywhere and nowhere to go with it !
Here are more pictures from Saturday and Sunday’s trip and stop-over at Incheon airport in Seoul. I looked for a cool new Hermès scarf on display in one of the windows – like the ones I posted before – but couldn’t find any.
The signature Korean dish Bibimbab served on Asiana Airlines is always more fun than the Western meal ! Throw the rice in with some red pepper paste and sesame oil, mix it up - and enjoy.Weather map of Korea for Saturday Jan 28 from the Korean Times .. COLD all overThere are no panda bears in Korea! but this look-alike at an Incheon airport store was nice enough to poseBuy some stationary for that 'slow letter' says this store signWorld map with the local time at the Incheon airport concourse on the way to my gate for departure to Hong KongI'm making my way down from the gate to the 747 that took us to Hong Kong.
Those are some of the shades of truth that website Politifact assigns to statements (full list in the picture below). Who knows what their contributors’ persuasions are, right? .. supposedly neutral.
They rated President Obama’s statement from Tue night’s State of the Union speech ‘In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005‘ only as Half-True, interpreting the President to be claiming all the credit for it. Then after an outcry it was changed to Mostly True.
What about Indiana governor Mitch Daniels’s statement in his rebuttal to the SOTU speech ‘Nearly half of all persons under 30 did not go to work today’? That rates as a Pants-on-Fire statement, making a ridiculous claim.
One of Mitch Daniels's statements in his response to the 2012 State of the Union speech
Governor Daniels also said Contrary to the President’s constant disparagement of people in business, it’s one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs – what a fitting name he had – created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew. Out here in Indiana, when a businessperson asks me what he can do for our state, I say ‘First, make money. Be successful. If you make a profit, you’ll have something left to hire someone else, and some to donate to the good causes we love ..’
to which my responses are -The President does NOT constantly disparage people in business.
-Yes, but those jobs that Apple/ Steve Jobs created are almost all in Shenzhen, China or in Asia. And people work in those jobs under brutal conditions. (A report in yesterday’s New York Times article says buyers of iPhones and iPads could care less. Apple CEO Tim Cook has insisted that conditions are getting better.)
-Of course business is about making money. But don’t screw up the environment, and treat workers fairly.
Alright, here are most of the little souvenirs I collected along the way in the last trip. It’s always fun to open one’s suitcase and go Yes! Now, where to put it? (Or maybe it is ‘Why the heck did I buy it?’)
I posted the 2012 Year of the Dragon bear previously; here are the three I now have posing for a group picture.
The three barista bears with their suits for : The Year of the Tiger (2010), The Rabbit(2011) and The Dragon(2012)
.. and this Tintin book was still missing for my collection so I got it from a Hong Kong book store (could have just ordered it on Amazon, I know).
Tintin : The Secret of the Unicorn
The paper craft items are from Narita airport in Tokyo. This cute cut-out-and-fold kit is called ‘Maternal Dilemma’. Check out the worm – item 37!
Paper cut-out-and-fold kit called 'Maternal Dilemma'
And this mini paper model of Matsumoto Castle one boggles the mind. From Wikipedia : Matsumoto Castle, also known as the ‘Crow Castle’ because of its black exterior, is one of Japan’s premier historic castles. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture and is within easy reach of Tokyo by road or rail. Got to love the ‘For Your Friend Abroad For a Present’. Yes, but will I still have a friend after this present drove him or her bananas?
Mini paper model of Matsumoto Castle ('Crow Castle') outside Tokyo'For Your Friend Abroad For a Present'
One more card bought in Shenzhen .. I cannot have enough dragons, especially not if they are cut out like this.
Intricate cut-out on 2012 Year of the Dragon Card
This little guy with his dragon was not cheap (about US$50), but it’s real porcelain and hand-made and hand painted.
Miniature porcelain boy with baby dragon
Some Yubari melon Kit Kat for you? Kit Kat is Japan’s most popular candy bar. The name sounds similar to the Japanese phrase ‘Kitto Katsu’ or ‘Sure to win!’ Children bring them into exams for good luck.
Yubari Melon Kit-Kat
I have no idea what the characters on this New Year’s tassle says but I will try to find out. I just liked the colors.
Chinese New Year's tassle detail
Finally, this little book that is really intended for Japanese visitors to Germany but hey, it had English in as well, and I couldn’t resist it after taking a look inside. Check out the kleine Dampflokomitive at the bottom right of the second picture. The literal translation is ‘little vapor locomotive’ which of course is really ‘little steam locomotive’.
German culture primer in three languagesGerman culture primer inside look
