It was the first cosplay photoshoot event that I have ever attended and certainly it won’t be the last. It looks like there will be another similar event on December called Toronto Cosplay Skating. Check out this original thread on cosplay.com and facebook event.

Larger version of each photo is available on my flickr account.

When I arrived at High Park, it was not as busy as I thought it would be. Maybe the cloudy weather does have its affect so I had the freedom to take pictures from any different angles. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures .

Inspired by Danny Choo and his Tokyo Photo Walk series , I have decided to start my own series. There is no specific day/week/month to post unfortunately because I don’t want to burden myself and make blogging in to a work. As for title, I chose Toronto since it is the city where I currently live in and as for the ‘Eh’ part, it’s a trademark for Canadians to end their sentence with ‘Eh’ (not everyone speaks like though). More info can be found on Wikipedia. For first post in this series, it includes photos from recent visit to High Park and some bits and pieces about myself.

For those who live in countries with 4 seasons, summer is one of the season that we all really look forward to ( If you look forward to winter, please do tell us why ^^). It is the case for me as someone who has been living in Canada for almost 9 years and it will be 9 years exactly on July 28th. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it ?. Whenever I have a chance, I always try to go outside and enjoy as many outdoor activities as I can. At the same time, I try avoid just sitting at home in front of my computer all day (it happened a lot when I was playing FFXI hardcore). It is not that I don’t like, in fact, I love it. I mean who does not like sitting in front of their computer watching anime while enjoying cold/warm beverages depending on the season.

Many events/festivals are being held in Toronto during summer and it is a way for us to enjoy the sunshine and meeting other people. In case, you have not noticed I have a new category called Toronto as my way to show about the city I live in. Most of my readers/lurkers probably expect something more japan-related but unfortunately, I don’t live there ^^;; nor I am planning to live there. I think my heart is set to live in Canada since I stepped my foot at Vancouver International Airport 9 years ago.

Paid another visit to High Park for the second time after my first one. Clearly one visit is not enough to explore the whole park. It makes me wonder which one is bigger? Stanley Park in Vancouver or High Park ?. In High Park, there is a designate area where you can let your dogs off-leash and the area is marked with yellow colour in the above picture.

I found this unique car on my way to the picnic area. The sun flower matches with the summer season. For those who drive, do you decorate the body of your car with anime characters ? I have been wanting to do it after seeing Danny’s post about itasha but at the same time, I worry that someone will vandalize my car ^^;;;. It’s going to cost around $200 depending on the details.

Plenty of parking spaces are available in High Park if you drive, although, I would not recommend because you will be missing out the view. If you have a bicycle, you can take your bicycle with you riding the subway and get off on High Park subway station.

Further deep inside the park, there is a small zoo where you can find various animals (probably around 10-15 animals).

A male peacock shows off its feathers trying to attract the female one.

It is quite amazing that that I found new things in this park. We have a kangaroo in Canada ^^.

“What are you looking at?”. The mountain goat and I were having a starring contest. I wish I have a better lens than 18-55mm for zooming in.

The smell is awesome near the bison btw ^^. It was a sarcasm in case anyone missed it. Does anyone ever try a bison meat ? heard that they are pretty good and healthier than beef.

This is my first time seeing a Llama. They don’t look like an intelligent animal.

I couldn’t recall what this animal is called. It looks like a mix between beaver and mouse. Do you have any animals or plants that represent or becomes a symbol of your country?

If you are tired after walking around the park, you can take a train for $2/person ^^;;

Seeing a view like above makes me feel that I am not in the middle of a city.

Inside the park, there are many small paths here and there so if you feel little bit more adventurous , small paths will give you better view in my opinion.

Check out my other High Park photos

We had a long weekend here in Canada called Victoria Day where we celebrate Queen Victoria birthday. A long weekend / day off is hard to come by here in Canada so I took a full advantage of my long weekend and spent some time with my family + do some photoshoot. I found out about Sakura tree in High Park from googling around and we decided to pay a visit after several cancellations due to weather (Sigh… stupid rainy weather).

We went to High Park, a largest park in Toronto area. My sole purpose is to see the Sakura Tree and hopefully take some pictures with my figure. I brought along my Saber Lion nendoroid and recently acquired Horo by GSC to spend some time for photoshoot. To go to High Park, you have 2 options of either taking the subway to High Park subway station or drive there. We opted to ride the subway. If anyone happens to visit Toronto, I will gladly take you guys to High Park ^^.

The park itself is enormous and it took us approximately 15 to 20 minutes walk to get to the Sakura tree area which is located far inside the park but the views along the road are quite nice. As most of you may already know , Sakura tree only blooms for approximately 1 week of Spring so the best time to watch sakura tree would be the first week of end of April or May. I realized that I was little bit too late but was still hoping there were still some of them left.

The Sakura trees that we have in High Park are from many varieties which include Yoshino Sakura trees (Prunus x yedoensis), Akebono Sakura trees (Prunus x yedoensis ‘Akebono’) and Kwanzan ‘Fugenzo’ Sakura trees (Prunus serrulata ‘Fugenzo’). All of them seemed to bloom early and well known to have white flowers with pale pink near the stem.

Above is our proudly Maple Leaf tree and a national symbol of Canada.

Sakura tree in High Park is a symbol of friendship between Japan and Canada. Japan consulate general in Toronto gave Sakura tree to Toronto Major at that time and planted them there. There is a carved stone in the middle of Sakura tree area with little bit of history.

After a long walk, we managed to find 3-4 Sakura tree in one of the area (there are 2 areas where you can watch sakura tree if you look at the map above). We only went to one of the area (bottom left area) which happens to be the larger one in HIgh Parks

At this point, taking some photos of my Horo figure is somewhat impossible because i have to somewhat hang the figure on three and I don’t want to damage the tree branches due to the figure weight. My only option to take some photos of my Saber Lion nendoroid which is tiny enough so I can put it anywhere by the tree. It was quite windy and freezing when we were there due to nearby lake I was guessing.

Browse more photos can be found using the slideshow below: