Worshipping dogs in Nepal

ネパール　犬を祭ります

Tihar

As I wrote, Nepal is a country of dogs kind of. Even they have the festival for dogs. That is Tihar which is one the most celebrated festival in Nepal. It is a five-day-Hindu festival in November.

Cats and Dogs

犬と猫

Cats in Japan

I don't know whether taking this word to express the phenomenon is right or not but I will say...

Now keeping cats is a record-breaking hit ever in Japan. As you know, cats are living creatures so I don't like to treat them as objects and say "booming".

But the surveys show number of pet cats has been increasing in the past years.
That was not our reason but we owns two cats.

Dogs in Nepal

On the other hand, Nepal is a country of dogs.

sleeping dogs in a temple

Japanese regional mascot characters

ご当地キャラ

mascot characters

As you already know, Japan is a country of 'anime' and 'manga(cartoon)' . I don't know whether it affects this phenomenon or not, but recently Japanese regional mascot characters, called "Gotochi Kyara" are growing so popular.


Kumamoto 's character, Kumamon

They are commonly playing an important roll to attract customers in the regional communities and even out of them. I am live in Tokyo and often see these characters, who are not Tokyo's one, appear live at special events. "live" means someone wearing full-size character costumes to animate them.
They are created to vitalize their own regions and they are going above and beyond. There are various products to sale, decorated by them and contests to decide which character is the most popular.
http://kumamon-official.jp/blog

Kumamon refrains

The reason I am writing about "Gotochi Kyara"(regional mascot character) today is that I saw a news article about Kumamon. Kumamon is the Kumamoto prefecture's mascot character. It says that Kumamon is refraining from twittering because his priority currently should be supporting evacuated Kumamoto residences because of the quake.

It sounds like a high profile celebrityIt sounds like a high profile celebrity....

mascot characters

よく知られているように、日本はアニメや漫画大国です。この現象にそれが影響してるのかどうかわかりませんが、最近日本の地方のマスコットキャラクター(ご当地キャラ)がすごい人気になっています。
ご当地キャラは地域内または地域の外からの集客に重要な役割を担っています。東京在住のわたしも、他県のキャラクターの着ぐるみをよく見かけます。その地域の活性化のために創られるのですが、それ以上の働きをしてます。キャラクターのついた さまざまなグッツもあり、全国のキャラクターのうち、日本一を決める大会もあります。
http://kumamon-official.jp/blog

Kumamon refrains

今日、ご当地キャラクターについて書こうと思ったのは、くまモンについての記事を見かけたからです。くまモンは熊本県のマスコットです。記事によれば、くまモンは、地震で避難している方たちなどのサポートを最優先とし、ツイットを控えているそうです。

まるで芸能人みたいな・・。

Pigeons in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

ダルバール広場の鳩

Kathmandu

I want to write about Kathmandu’s Durbar Square today. And before it, first I should learn about Kathmandu.

Kathmandu is located in the northwestern part of the Kathmandu Valley whose size is almost same as the Kofu valley in Japan. Five mountains surround this valley and the average elevation is 1,400 meters above sea level. The valley is bounded by Patan, Lalitpur & Bhaktapur. Patan is a beautiful city which deserve to visit!

The quake in Kumamoto

熊本の地震で

Fore-shock

The strong earthquake hit Kumamoto prefecture on April 14. When I learned it, it was just after 20 mins of the first quake. We thought it was the first quake but it turned be a fore-shock. Next morning the main shock whose magnitude was 7.3 occurred.
The aftershocks have been occurring more than 550 times. Nearly 100,000 residents have been evacuated.

Stolen

People say that Japanese are very well-disciplined but cruel thief stealings have been happening in vacant destroyed houses. It is quite a sad thing.

Food supply

Food and water, toilet paper shortage at shelters grew worse. Even the government carried to Kumamoto, landslides cut off traffic routes and Emergency supplies haven't reached people. I don't know this kind problem always happens in such situations...