2023/08/10

Information on season's holidays closure

We will be closed from 2023/8/14 to 2023/8/17 for the season's holiday.

Regarding inquiries received during the holidays, we will respond sequentially after the holidays.

Thank you for your understanding.

TOON,LLC.



posted by toons at 17:41 | News

2023/07/17

Yamahoko Junko parade in Kyoto Gion Matsuri 2023

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The Yamahoko Junko parade was held on a national holiday, so the number of spectators was quite large, about 150,000.

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After leisurely watching the Yamahoko procession on live TV, I went to the goal area at Shinmachi Oike. So I found "Niwatori-hoko" was turning a corner. This float was 25 meters high and weighs as much as 10 tons.

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"Niwatori-hoko" slowly moved southward along the narrow Shinmachi-dori Street. Each float would be dismantled as soon as it returned to its own town.
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posted by toons at 14:38 | diary

2023/07/16

Last day of Yoiyama, the preliminary festival of Kyoto Gion Matsuri 2023 

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Tonight was Yoiyama, and since it was likely to be more crowded than yesterday, I went to visit some of the floats while it was still light.

"Hosho-yama," located at Higashinotoin Takatsuji, was rather empty since it was far away from the other floats. It was popular among young women as it had good luck in marriage.

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The "Imitake" stood at the corner of Shijo Fuyacho. It was a green bamboo sakaki, about 15 meters high, used to tie a shimenawa (sacred rope) on Shijo Dori. It will be used for the ritual cutting of the shimenawa by the naginoko floats during the Yamaboko procession.

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When the pedestrian zone opened at 6:00 p.m., the Shijo-dori street were quickly filled with visitors. The crowds became too much, so I ate early at a familiar Japanese restaurant and headed home. As of 9:30 p.m., there were approximately 340,000 visitors.
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posted by toons at 23:59 | diary

Second day of Yoiyama, the preliminary festival of Kyoto Gion Matsuri 2023 

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Last night, I went out to the second day of Yoiyama.

As you can see, Karasuma street, lined with food stalls, was crowded with many spectators. I was afraid of the crowd and left early.

The number of people on Shijo Street, where the big floats were lined up, seemed to be even harder with about 280,000 people as of 9:30 p.m. It was a good thing I went around yesterday.
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posted by toons at 08:30 | diary

2023/07/15

First day of Yoiyama, the preliminary festival of Kyoto Gion Matsuri 2023 

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The Yoiyama period of Kyoto Gion Matsuri has begun. It is a three-day eve festival.

Last night, I went to see a bit of Yoiyama. There was rain forecast for the evening, but fortunately it did not rain until midnight.

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So many tourists from overseas! The Shijo-Karasuma area was quite crowded, so I tried to avoid the dense areas as much as possible.

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The main roads will be a car-free zone starting tonight, so it is going to be very crowded.
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posted by toons at 11:27 | diary

2023/07/12

Preliminary festival of Kyoto Gion Matsuri 2023 - Yamaboko assembly

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The assembly of the Yamaboko floats for the Gion Matsuri began on Monday.

This is a shot of Kikusui-Hoko being erected before 9:00 a.m. The main framework has already been assembled. This can be assembled without nails, using only rope assembly.
This afternoon, all the decorations will be completed, and a trial pull is scheduled to take place.

Note the yellow netting on top of the utility poles along the street!
This is a sight that reminds us that the Gion Matsuri is about to begin, and it will be installed by July 1 every year to prevent electric shocks.
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posted by toons at 14:39 | diary

2023/06/30

Nagoshi-Oharai

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June 30, the turn of the year, is "Nagoshi-Oharai" (summer purification).

This is a Shinto ritual to purge away the impurities of the past six months and pray for the safety of the remaining six months of the year.

After dark, I visited a small shrine in my neighborhood and went through the "Chinowa-kuguri," a special way of praying only on this day.
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posted by toons at 23:58 | diary

2023/05/16

First Aoi Matsuri in 4 years

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The Aoi Matsuri festival, which was postponed to today due to rain, was held for the first time in four years.

I made time to go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace to see it. When I arrived, I was just at the latter half of the procession.

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This elegant parade is composed of 500 people dressed as nobles and servants of the Heian Era, about 1,200 years ago.

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The festival queen is the Royal Princess "Saiodai" carried on a palanquin, and about 30 nobles appear on horseback.

All participants wear hollyhock leaves on their heads and costumes. Carriages pulled by oxen are decorated with wisteria flowers and are gorgeous.

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I noticed a particularly large number of inbound tourists. Other festivals are also returning to their pre-Corona mode, and Kyoto finally seems to be bustling with activity again.
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posted by toons at 17:31 | diary

2023/04/25

Information on season's holidays closure

We will be closed from 2023/4/29 to 2023/5/7 UTC for the season's holiday.

Regarding inquiries received during the holidays, we will respond sequentially after the holidays.

Thank you for your understanding.

toon_logo.png

TOON, LLC.
posted by toons at 18:25 | News

2023/04/12

New updated iOS app - "Vibroscope" ver 7.0

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"Vibroscope" has been updated to version 7.0!

"Vibroscope" is a vibration measurement and analysis tools by using the iPhone's acceleration sensor in real-time. It allows you to monitor by visualizing the low-frequency vibration, such as inaudible by ear.

This app can be intuitively detected an acceleration amount, that displays the two-axial coordinates in the horizontal direction and the time-axis waveform in the vertical direction. It can measure by determining the horizontal or vertical direction to suit the attitude of the iPhone automatically, so as to be available on the floor and desk or handheld.

In addition, "Vibroscope" is also equipped with the ability to analyze the frequency components of the low-frequency vibration by the FFT analyzer.

The latest version adds the ability to display average acceleration per second. You can toggle between displaying instantaneous acceleration and average acceleration.

* Main mode: Vibration analysis graph in linear scale, instantaneous acceleration
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It automatically determines the horizontal and vertical direction regardless of the posture of the iPhone device so that it can be used on the floor, on a desk, etc. or hand-held. The axis direction of the graph display can also be switched during the measurement operation.

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* Main mode: Vibration analysis graph in log scale, instantaneous acceleration
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*Main mode: Vibration analysis graph in linear scale, average acceleration
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In addition, the FFT analyser provides the ability to analyse the frequency components of low-frequency vibrations. It can also be used to characterise vibration sources.

* FFT mode: vibration frequency analysis
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* Utilization examples
- In cases such as car traffic, to analyze the vibration and frequency components on the floor and walls.
- To measure the howling level such as Audio equipment.
- To detect the vibration and acceleration of train or automobile.
- Check the sense of balance by the sensing of the horizontal direction of the body swinging.

Detailed information about this app is available on App StoreTM and can be found at the following link.

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(Note: 2023/4/22)
Updated to version 7.1!
The upper limit of the measurement display range has been extended, so very large vibrations can now be displayed.
posted by toons at 15:35 | News