After being slightly delayed by the snow (yes, I’m definitely slipping into English habits - even buying cards for every occasion…) I’m finally getting back to the Tokyo Day even in London which I have attended on Saturday, 31st of January 2009.

As both my partner and I are quite keen on Japan and Japanese culture we thought it might be a good opportunity to experience a bit of it first hand and learn a few things on the way. Definitely the mention of robots helped make up our minds… Also considering the admission was free we had nothing to lose.

Japanese Robots

Just as you entered the exhibition you were “greeted” by Mega Robo:

The robot would say a few welcoming words while simultaneously mimicking human natural movement and emotional expressions. Obviously no one would be fooled into thinking it’s a living being, however the efforts were still quite impressive.

Just next was a stand with two very cute iDogs, one with girly pink swirls all over, while the other one just pure white.

Following was something I was most impressed with. The tiny i-Sobot - the world’s smallest humanoid robot. There were two of them on display, with remotes actually available to the audience. Unfortunately the controllers had kids constantly glued to them, so it was nearly impossible to have a go for an adult.

Nevertheless the i-Sobots could perform quite a few tricks like walk, dance and perform martial arts moves, and best of all they could lie down, and then stand up on their own!

The last robot on display was the rolling speaker-ball called Miuro. Personally I found it an interesting concept, though I struggled to find a real life application, other than the first minutes of watching the thing bouncing around the floor…

Information about Japan and the Olympics

Apart from looking at different aspects of Japanese culture you could read quite a lot about many topics like tourism, geography, Tokyo’s public transport, cuisine, city attractions, landmarks worth visiting, and more.

I really liked the way all this information was presented. Big boards hanging on lit walls, illustrated with beautiful photographs. There were plenty of details about the Tokyo’s bid at hosting the Olympics, to quote from the event’s website:

“Tokyo has been chosen as a Candidate City to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This panel exhibition showcases Tokyo’s plan to host the world’s most environmentally friendly and compact Games at the heart of the city, which maximises Japan’s renowned cutting-edge technologies.”

Stage Events

Unfortunately I haven’t seen all of the performances, as we arrived quite late during the day, however what I have seen was interesting and novel to see live, rather than on a tv screen. These included traditional music and dancing, Wadaiko and the dragon dance.

Origami

The Origami workshop was the one that did not require signing up in advance. Several tables were available with square bits of colourful paper scattered around. Apart from the penguin, which you have already seen in my previous post there were several other patterns available, like for example the Balloon:

… and the Samurai Kabuto Helmet:

… and a Crane:

… and finally something we got a demonstration of, as there was no instructions available, the two colour Ninja Shuriken:

Tea Ceremony & Calligraphy

Unfortunately Calligraphy was so popular we had no chance of getting in. You can just see a snapshot from the Calligraphy corner:

The other available workshop was the Tea Ceremony. And you guessed it, that was all booked too, unfortunately we didn’t even manage to catch a photo.

Arts & Crafts

The exhibition also had an interesting display of art, as per the official website:

“This exhibition features 24 colour woodblock prints selected from four
different series by Hokusai, including the famous 36 Views of Mount
Fuji, as well as vivid sketches from the Hokusai Manga collection. The
prints, skilfully reproduced by contemporary master craftsmen, provide
fascinating insights into the landscapes and lifestyles of old Tokyo
(Edo).”

When it comes to crafts there was a beautiful display of hair ornaments made from material into amazing flower like patterns.

Related Links:

• Flickr photos from the show by Shigatsuhana
• The Real Japan: Tokyo Day 2009: Japan in London
• Official website

Last Saturday I went to London to see the Tokyo Day exhibition. One of the several available attractions was origami, and considering it was one of the few things you did not need to sign up in advance for I decided to have a go at it. I must say it is quite surprising how relaxing folding pieces of papers can be.

There were several templates available, one of which was a set of instructions on how to do an origami penguin. Some of the steps are simple, and some surprisingly tricky. Apologies for the photo quality in advance - my camera broke down, and the only thing I had was my phone, and as we all know the shots from mobiles are not that great.

Before we begin you will need one thing: a square piece of thin, preferably coloured on one side, paper. If you have thicker paper it is still fine, though you might find folding slightly harder. And as for the colour, well it just give a more dramatic effect if one side is coloured.

Step 1 - The beginning

Lay the piece of paper in front of you the coloured face up and one of the corners pointing towards you.

Step 2 - Create the body

Now fold the paper in two and create a triangle. Do this by picking up the let corner and matching it up with the right corner of the initial diamond figure.

Step 3 -Add Wings

Fold the top piece slightly to create a wing. Repeat it on the other side.

Step 4 - Create the Head

To create the head you need to turn the top corner inside out. It is a bit tricky and you need to be careful not to tear the paper.

Step 5 - Add a Tail

Similarly to the head, the tail is done using an inverted fold. But rather then flipping it inside out, you make a triangle on the inside of the body. To get the right creases you might want to first create a triangle on the outside as shown below.

Once you have the right creases folding it inside should be fairly easy and from behind looks like this:

Step 6 - Finishing of With the Beak

The last detail to be added is the beak. Take the tip of the head and fold it inside, next fold it outside again about half way through. This should leave you with a finished penguin looking something like this: