Super Mario on violin

I just saw videos of a Japanese violinist, Teppei Okada, who played tunes of oldscool Nintendogames, such as Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Well, not only the backgroundmusic of the game, but also the sounds that the character actually makes, for example when it jumps on an enemy. How cool is that. Watch the Super Mario video here, at Jumi!

Trip NY

Yes, I'm back from Manhattan NY. Even though we didn't visited other cities, we've seen a lot of cool stuff in 9 days. Now I want to share some of the highlights with you.

Ofcourse i did some research before I left, and I found out that there was a Sanrio store on 42nd street. I saw cute My Melody cushions, bags and Hello Kitty jewelry, shirts, perfume and much more. Unfortunately the products were very expensive..The address is 233 West 42nd Street.




Next to the Sanrio Store I saw YOSHINOYA, a Japanese fastfood restaurant. I often went there to have dinner when I was in Japan, because it was cheap and jummy. The food here in NY was the same. Rice with sliced beef, chicken, misosoup etc. Ofcourse the customer friendlyness is different than in Japan. It was funny to see only Asians eating in this restaurant. The address is 255 West 42nd Street.






There are many more shops to explore on 42nd street. While walking towards Times Square it got more crowded. There was a big outdoor Yoga-session! But I think they often organize events like these on Times Square.





If you want to experience a real out-of-body-experience, you really need to visit the Max Brenner Chocolate Restaurant (if you still have much money left). From the moment I stepped into this building, I really thought I landed in heaven. The strong smell of fresh chocolate makes almost every woman cry because it smells too good, delicious, jummy, beautiful, perfect, too nice to describe. Unfortunately I didn't brought enough money to eat there, I only visited their shop (in the same building), but I still could enjoy the smell of heaven...uhh fresh chocolate.

Another place that's worth to visit (if you still have much time left) is the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. Even though it is for kids, it's nice to try out new gadgets. For example, steering a robot or try a new sort of dancinggame, whereby you can program an animated character how to dance, according on how you dance (that was really fun to do :)).
There are lots of fun things to do and see in New York. Too much to describe everything here. If you want more info, feel free to post or send JUMI an e-mail.

Tokyo Symphony

No orchestra here. This week I stumbled upon this photo exhibition called Tokyo Symphony of a Dutch photographer who was fascinated by the Japanese culture.

The exhibition would end tomorrow so today I decided to take a quick look!

"Tokyo Symphony is a personal impression in image and sound of the overwhelming city of Tokyo by Holland's most famous photographer Ed van der Elsken"

Now, I'm not very into the photography world, so his name doesn't ring a bell in my head. The photographer visited Japan in the eighties, so the photos had a real eighties feel and look. A couple of photos were strong and told a story without words.

Loved this one. A man portraying Munch's "The Scream"

The exhibition itself was kind of small and wasn't very impressive. While the photos are nice, the exhibition lacked in presentation of the photos. Anyway, I expected more of it. Actually this clip wraps it up nicely and saves you a trip to the exhibition:

Skylines

I love skylines. I fell in love with the skylines of New York, Tokyo and Osaka.
I can just stare for a long long while at those skylines full with little lights without getting bored.
Ju is in New York right now! I hope she loves the skyline too of NYC.

Just saw this little movieclip of the skylines of Tokyo.
Beautifully filmed. Just very cool. Enjoy!

Get up and go from Stefan Werc on Vimeo.

Help bearfriends find their bears!

Travelling abroad accompanied by two cute (Korilakkuma-)bears, enjoying the view and Jummy food, having a great time. And then, back to your own country, you lose you favorite bears somewhere... It happened to Christopher Ferreira and his girlfriend. They lost their bears this winter in a movietheatre in Emeryville, California (Baystreet, 16). Maybe someone else found the bears and didn't returned it to the lobby of the theatre. Anyway, the owners are really attached to their bears.

They showed up on ABC News and CBS News and spread flyers everywhere.

So please help them find the bears! Ofcourse they have a big reward for the person who finds them. Check their website for more info.

~x~ Yamanashi Monchhichi

Eat shit!

Eating a dessert that looks like crap, while sitting on the toilet...Well, i might loose my appetite just imagining it. Some people don't and go to a special restaurant in Taiwan. In 2006 a theme restaurant opened its doors, the Modern toilet restaurant. It became a success, so more toiletrestaurants opened up in Taiwan and Hong Kong.



Drinks are being served in urinals, meals in a mini toilet and uhm have a chocolate-turd as dessert! While a journey to Taiwan is still on my very long travelwishlist (because i want to stay in the HKhotel and see the HKlounge, someday), I think I really should just go to this restaurant and experience it. Hopefully the food doesn't really taste like shit. Hmm, maybe i should try chicken curry...

Totoro in Toy Story 3

On June 23th, the new Toy Story will be shown in cinema's in NL. And guess who has a minirole, as walk-on (figurant).... Totoro, the funny creature of one of my favorite Ghiblifilms, My neighbour Totoro! The creator of Toy Story asked Hayao Miyazaki, the godfather of Ghibli, if Totoro can appear in his new Toy Story 3. Miyazaki agreed as long as Totoro appears as a toy. Even though Totoro might appear on screen for a couple of seconds, I still want to see it.



Also other toys are being introduced in this film. I saw trailers of it and it was so funny to see Ken (of Barbie) for example. I really can't wait to watch Toy Story 3!

Review: Japanese garden in NL

(Japanese garden Clingendael)

Hey it's me! The other half of JUMI :D
I haven't wrote here for a while since my umbrella I think..

But today we went to the Japanese garden in The Netherlands to check it out.
Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating. It was pouring heavy and we had no sun at all.



With our soggy socks we did manage to make some nice pictures.

If you love flowers and making beautiful pictures, then this is the place to be.
The flowers smelled lovely.


The garden itself is very small, you can see it all in just 15 minutes.
And there wasn't much to do. But the entrance was free so that compensate the things.


Ofcourse it can't top the real mysterious & beautiful gardens in Japan, but do stop by at this garden if you want to take a relaxed stroll.


Yes, I did miss my yellow umbrella alot today.

Jummy summer coco drink

(Jumi's kelapa muda)
The sun is shining, people are happy, it's hotty outside, it's summertime! We have to celebrate this with a Super-Jummy-Summer-Drink, extremely Jummy when it's warm outside. You only need these ingredients:


- 1/3 cup of rosesyrup
- 1 cup of pure coconutmilk
- a bit less than 2/3 cup of icecold water
(or much more less, if you like it very sweet)
- a package with pieces of coconut





1. Fill the glass with rosesyrup









2. Mix the coconutmilk with water and pour it into glass with syrup








3. Put the pieces of coconut into the glass. You can also do this, before you pour the milk in it








4. That's it! Now go outside to the balcony or garden with your Super-Jummy-Summer-Drink in your hand, close your eyes, drink your cocodrink, and you will feel and think as if you're on a tropical island!

Staying in HK Heaven

What if you're stuck at the airport in Taiwan, waiting in the Hello Kitty-loungearea...waiting, waiting, waiting. Suddenly you hear that your plane doesn't fly today and tomorrow anymore, because of bad weather, bursting volcano's or something else. Well, don't be sad! If you're still not tired of seeing Hello Kitty, you can choose to stay the night at Grand HI-Lai Hotel, where they have a Hello Kitty theme suite/room.


Or you can stay at a real Hello Kitty apartment, provided by Uni Resort!