Ginza is
known as a shopping district for famous brands and department
stores. In addition, the area is one of the
most expensive land for decades, it carries an image of “high-class” and everyone recognizes the iconic view of the intersection
with a clock tower (the photo on the upper left).
Ginza has a
lot of art galleries, good restaurants, and shops offerng the latest trend, and therefore it is a great place for stroll and window-shopping. Recently some renowned brands such as Dior and
Hermes started to built artistically designed buildings, which is attracting more attention.
The place name "Ginza"means “The Institute
of Silver”. Actually there was a mint for silver coins during the Samurai
era. Many archaic words are not used with their original meanings anyone but remain as place names. Ginza in Tokyo would be the most famous one with a such archaic name. Today,
people at GInza tend to spend lots of money at luxury shops and restaurants, unlike people in old times who minted money there. Perhaps
this place has some power to attract money since old times?
This is Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building located in Sinjuku-ward, Tokyo. It's one of the popular spots for tourists since it is located in the
center of Tokyo and has observatory floors on the 45th floor
(663ft/202m) in both towers in the left hand side photo.
However that is
not the reason I chose the photos for today.
On September 1st in 2015, Tokyo
Metropolitan Government Office started distributing a new handbook “Prevention Against The Effects Of Disasters” for residents in Tokyo.
For Japanese people September 1st has been the day for thinking about disaster prevention and having an disaster evacuation drill.
It came from a historical disaster in 1923. A terrible earthquake
with a magnitude of 7.9 hit Tokyo area on September 1st and it caused
extensive damage. Thus Japanese government decided this day as Disaster
Prevention Day in 1960 though it's not a national holiday.
It is good to keep reminded of disasters since Japan is an earthquake country and this season is a typhoon season in Japan!
