This blog entry is brought to you by the letters S, E and the colour gold. The S and the E stand for Sam and Edwin, to whom I dedicate this post as they approach their wedding day next month. Above you can see a typical Japanese wedding envelope. The fancier they are the more cash you can expect to find inside. They usually have a suggested amount printed on the packaging - it would be embarrassing to give less than the "advertised" amount! Gift-giving for all sorts of occasions is an important (and expensive!) part of social interaction for Japanese people. Sorry S and E... you're only getting a photo of an envelope from me for now! haha... I hope that all is shaping up well.

These are decorations for a wedding. I saw these old people making them on TV. It was amazing they way they weave and wind them together. They are understandably expensive.

And now for something completely different, yet similar to the eye...

You may recall similar shots to these on the Spamurai a year ago. In the lead-up to Christmas it was time again for Kobe's annual Luminarie display - to commemorate the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995.

Here we (friends Takashi, Azusa and I) are making our way up the closed-off street. Azusa was a bit camera-shy.

Those black shapes are traffic lights.

It wasn't anything like the year before in temperature (mild, as opposed to freezing), but the display itself seemd to be exactly the same. Having just compared the photos though, I can now see that the designs were quite different, but the overall effect of a tunnel of light is repeated each year.




In the tunnel.

My favourite part - the end where you are surrounded by lights.

We just made it to the end in time to savour it for a few minutes before the lights flicked off - right on time! Everyone let out this "OH!" and then started laughing. It was very funny.

Nearby in the Motomachi district is the Daimaru department store. It's impressive by day and beautiful by night. Anyway, I'm slowly creeping this blog into 2007. Next issue will take you to Tokyo and beyond!