Design Festa~Tokyo Story~

Finally, it is our exibition at the design festa in Harajyuku.

We worked really hard and put so much effort on our projects.

We had a small party at 16:00, drinking and having snacks.

It was fun, and I'm happy that it worked well.

Final project's process so far...

I've started to edit my final project since 2 weeks ago.
So far, it's been well i guess.
When I tried to use the movie from DVD, it was really complicated process I had to do.
Because of the different format, I couldn't just drag/drop.
Since I use the final cut pro for first time, I've been having a really hard time to edit using that.
But Fumi, John, Irene helped me a lot.

About the project, I went to the St.Mary Church in Azabu-jyuban to interview the priest on last Saturday.
He was really kind and accepted my interview. So, the interview went through really well.
After the interview, I went to school to edit my project.
The project is now half-way done.
After I left the school, I went to Shibuya to meet my friend.
And I thought it's a good idea to go to the "Christon Cafe", a restaurant decorated as a church and take a movie of inside the restaurant since I brought the handycam for the priest's interview. I will capture it tomorrow at school.
Since tomorrow is the undergraduate student holiday, I will come to school and edit all day.
I hope it'll be done in this week.

This week's research

For this week, I put the statistics of the Catholic church in Japan, 2007.

・The number of Catholic educational facilities

In total, the educational facilities are 865 in Japan. The highest number of educational facility is 543 by Kindergartens. The second highest number is 114 by high schools. Then middle schools follow.

・The number of Marriages at Catholic church

The total number of marriages at a Catholic church is 2,899. The number of Catholics is only 279 out of total numbers, while Other religions are 1,389 and Non-Catholics are 1,066.

Also, I tried to interview the Christon Cafe, but unfortunately the answer was NO.

I'm trying to meet a priest working at one of churches in Shibuya. I hope I can interview him and get his ideas like how he thinks about the Japanese wedding in a Catholic way at a chapel, etc...

I went to Kyoto last weekend and found the church by chance. This is the picture I took at a church in Kyoto.

Art statement for my final project

June is a time of rainy season in Japan but "June bride" is very popular too.
The research shows that Japanese people are now more having wedding in a Catholic way.
Catholic way wedding's been getting to become more a contemporary, non-denominational, casual and kid-friendly church made up with people from all walks of life.

Today, the most popular wedding is at a chapel and there is a data showing 70% of couples choose a wedding in Catholic way rather than wedding at a shrine in Japanese way. The popularity of Christians in Japan is only 1% and I am the one who wants to have a wedding in a catholic way too. But apparently Japanese women long for the wedding with hymn, beautiful white dress, flower shower, and so forth. The influence of movies and dramas could be strong. The admiration for western culture that Japanese people have would be more and more increased.

The reason why I forcused on Japanese Catholic style wedding was from the experience I attended my relative's Japanese traditional wedding recently. I've seen lots of western style wedding (catholic) on media as drama, movie, magazine etc... but it's getting to be more rare to see Japanese style wedding and I was wondering what aspects of catholic style wedding attract Japanese people so much.

I'm going to interview the couple who had a catholic style wedding at the chapel in Japan and the wedding planner who is working at a chapel. Also I'm going to research the numbers of those who want to have a catholic style wedding interviewing in public.

My project would be looked like a memorial album. Opening up with pictures of marriage couples, chapels, etc...a short summary of history and the interview segments would be in middle, and future wedding situation we might be going to have as my opinion concludes.

Final Project 3 possibilities

1 : Cross cultural aspect in religion in Japan

It is the fact that we do not have national religion in Japan. There are Buddism, Christianity, and Shinto which is believed as a Japanese religion. However, it is true that there are lots of Catholic schools in Japan and most of the students are not Catholics. I am the one who went to a Catholic school for 12 years, but I am not a Catholic. In addition to schools, there is the same case for wedding. Japanese people tend to have a wedding ceremony not at church, but at a chapel in hotel or some buildings. I would like to focus on how Japanese people think about those facts and interview people who are working at a chapel or a couple who is going to have wedding at that chapel.

2 : Japanese society with technology

Japan is one of the biggest technological societies. You can see a number of people who are using a mobile phone anywhere. Each year, the function of a mobile phone has improved and it became not just for calling but as PC, music player, games and so on. I will research numbers of users, usage, cost, etc...in average, also interview random people in Tokyo and ask them how they think about mobile phone.

3 : Made cafe in Akihabara

Made cafe is getting to be one of Japanese culture today. In a foreign country, made cafe has attracted greatly as well. I will research its history like how made cafe was established for the first time and interview customers who like to go a made cafe.

Third Day

Since more guests checked in yesterday,

I saw more people enjoying a hot spring this morning.

The hotel with the hospitality refined over 100 years has a room for wedding too.

My relative was one of them who had wedding at this Hyakumangoku hotel.

At the traditional hotel with long history, the Japanese style wedding party went really well.

Since there wasn't a shrine in the hotel, my relative held a wedding at the shrine close to the hotel.

After the wedding celemony, everyone followed the bridegroom who was moving to the hotel.

At the entrance, everyone including guests were celebrating them with a warm applause.

Since Kaga-Yamashiro hot spring is one of tourist spots, many tourists come over the sea.

These days, it has been rare to see a traditional Japanese wedding, so that tourists from

Thaiwan seemed really excited to see my relative in kimono dress.

←At the shirine, with my relative.

I had really great time at her wedding and

enjoyed Kaga-Yamashiro hot spring which locates

in Ishikawa prefecture(north).

Second Day

On second day, I woke up 6am and went to the hot spring which located at 1st floor.

Since it was raining unfortunatelly,

"Roten-buro", the outdoor bath was not as good as last night.

Usually, you can fell the seasonal breeze touching your skin and body under a sunny blue sky.

When I went to the restaurant for breakfast, many other guests were having a breakfast too.

Most of them were elderly people as I saw yesterday.

There was a tourist group of Thawainese as well.

All of them were people who seek the relaxing time with hot spring.

The landlady told me about the history of this hotel.

Hyakumangoku is a hotel with 100 years history,

and Kaga-Yamashiro hot spring has a 1300-year history.

The reason why I didn't see any group of young people might be that

young people relatively like doing actively rather than relaxing at hot spring?

All of the rooms have a view of the beautiful Japanese gardern too.

This traditional hotel blends trational Japanese aesthetics.