Walking with Lee

Tenso Jinja Shrine/ Komagome, Bunkyo ward

2011-11-21T01:24:00.010+09:00

It's November already, but not getting so cold here in Tokyo.
I think, in an average year, this weekend would be the best days for enjoying yellow colored ginkgo trees, actually the Ginkgo Festival was held in Jingu-Gaien today. But, at least in my neighborhood, gingko leaves have not turned bright yellow yet.

Komagome Tenso Jinja Shrine. According to the sign board, this shrine was established in 820 years ago,,, really?

There are some big ginkgo trees in the shrine yard. It's slightly colored yellowish green. I'll visit here next weekend to get the bright yellow ginkgo leaves.

La maison du chat noir / Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ward

2011-05-05T20:38:00.007+09:00

To tell the truth, I hadn't known the presence of this unique building until my friend ブライアン(Bryan) who lives in the US told me. He said he run across this cat accidentally during his Sanpo when he lived in Tokyo.

This building is located in near the Konnyaku-Enma. It's a neat and quiet residential area. (Regarding the Konnyak-Enma, please visit my previous posting)

Recently I found that the owner of this building is a famous journalist, nonfiction writer, Takashi Tachibana. I like his article because he is very good at introducing a cutting-edge of science or political things with his plain wording.
I heard that he used this building as a library. As I learned this information, I feel the face of this cat seems to look intelligent, , , don't you think so?

Azalea / Nezu shrine

2011-05-03T21:40:00.010+09:00

Azalea festival is held at Nezu shrine.

These photos were taken on 24th April. I guess they are full bloomed now.

This shrine has 3000 trees of Azelea. So gorgeous! Don't miss them.

The azalea festival will be held until the last day of the Golden week.

Regading the history of this shrine, please refer to the previous posting (click!).

For a long while, we hadn't walk such a long distanse. It became two and a half hours walking. Lee looked tired a bit... Me, too.

The closest station of this shrine is Nezu or Sendagi of Tokyo Metro Chiyoda-line. It takes about 5 minutes from these Metro stations on foot.

The other Nezu shrine postings:
The celebration of 300 aniversary (Sep. 2006)
Fallen leaves (Dec. 2006)
Azalea (May. 2007)
Ume (Feb. 2009)

Tokyo Skytree reached 634 meters high

2011-05-03T18:36:00.005+09:00

Tokyo Skytree reached the highest altitude, 634 meters high, on March 18th
,,, just a week after the earthquake.

It should have been a big news if that didn't come.

The construction will be finished in the end of this year, and they will open in the spring of next year.
I hope that the news of the opening will be featured in a front-page next spring.

Earthquake

2011-03-22T05:29:00.005+09:00

March 22nd. Eleven days have passed since a big earthquake, but even now, aftermaths often have been hitting North East Japan. The actual picture of estimate of damage has not been revealed yet. The total count of deaths and reported missing persons hit 21,911 people yesterday noon, and it has been increasing day by day. Around 350,000 people evacuated into the shelter, and they are confronted with the lack of foods and fuels. Yes, I know, you might have seen and known these information already via News or web, but, sorry, I cannot stop writing and doing something. Please pray for them to get over the difficulty, and look for something you can do for them. Thank you for your kind attention. Babies and their moms are experiencing tough days in the shelter. I found this site that solicit for entries of accepting home-stay of babies, kids and their families. http://www.mamatomama.info/ (Japanese site)

Art event / Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower

2011-02-27T20:34:00.008+09:00

A strange object appeared suddenly on the 2nd floor in Mitsui Tower Building.

What's this? Sea shells? Cokkies? Macaroons?

From Feb.15th, An art event has been held in Nihonbashi area. On the public floors of "Coredo Nihonbashi", "Koredo Muromachi" and "Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower Building", a lot of art works created by young artists are being displayed.

... I didn't know that the 1st and 2nd had been held here.

Melted chocolate ice popsicle? (1st floor / Mitsui Tower Bldg.)

??????????? (1st basement / Mitsui Tower Bldg.)

The sign board says "please sit down and feel this art" and I felt my butt hurts.... oops, sorry.

I'd like to check the other works displayed in the other buildings before the installation ends on March 14th.

The closest station is "Mitsukosi-mae" of Tokyo Metro Ginza line.

Tokyo Skytree / over 500 meters

2010-12-26T13:11:00.006+09:00

Sorry! I couldn't have touched "Waliking with Lee" for a long time. Lee is fine. Me too, but very busy, have no time to spare. Anyway, while I left this blog, the Skytree is growing up steadly.

At the end of November, the height reached 500 meters, and now it is 530 meters high.

The first observatory seems to be done, and the second observatory appeared!

Tokyo Skytree / 461meters now

2010-09-20T22:28:00.009+09:00

Hi, guys. How have you been? I'm sorry I haven't reviced this brog for a long time. I'm back.

According to the Tokyo Skytree official web site, The construction is coming excellently, and the hight has reached 461 meters.

The Skytree photo taken in March.
The Skytree photo taken in April.
The Skytree photo taken in May.

Eating around Beijing / May 2010

2010-07-24T02:30:00.016+09:00

Let me introduce you some nice restaurant where I visited.

Dong Xing Shun Baodu Zhang.

Baodu is Lao Beijing(Beijing Loco)'s traditional snack. Boiled guts of sheep and cow.

Menu. Please click to enlarge the picture.

Yanjing Beer. I'm loving it!

Ma Doufu and Yan Duren. Yan means sheep. Duran is the first stomach. Eat with sesame sauce. Ma Doufu is,,, Uh,, sorry I cannot explain. Can anyone help me?

Yan Sandan. Sandan is the third stomach.
I heard that most of young Chinese people have not eaten Baodu, and they say "it's a snack for elderly men". But as far as I saw there, a lot of young guys tried them. Actually, they look a little bit terrible but the taste and texture are great.

Amount: 64CNY.

Dong Xing shun Baodu Zhang(东兴顺爆肚张) is located in Qianhai, Xi Cheng ward (前海, 西城区).

Bao Yuan Jiaozi wu. They serve various varieties of dumplings.

I ordered "pork & Chinese cabbage", "lamb & fennel" and "5 kind of ...something". Sorry I forgot it.

Anyway they are so juicy and really tasty!
Amount was 34CNY. Wow!

Althogh there are no English speaking staff, this dumpling restaurant is very popular with foreigners. I think one of the reasons is that all of staff are cute and friendly. They don't speak foreign languages but well know the hospitality.

Garlic... I didn't try it.

I went there again the other night.

At that time, I ordered a pot of tea, and realised that the beer was cheaper than any tea.

Meat ball soup. Taste good!

Bao Yuan Jiaozi wu (宝源饺子屋) is located in Maizidian streat, Chaoyang ward (麦子店街, 朝阳区).

I found these restaurants in a small gourmet book.

The author doesn't introduce any famous or gorgeous restaurant. She shows us common touch restaurants which serve really tasty foods with reasonable price. If you can read Japanese and have a plan to visit Beijing, you should get it before you get the plane.

「北京で満福」（勝又あや子）（←Amazon.jp）

Walking around Beijing 2 / May 2010

2010-07-24T00:35:00.011+09:00

Every spring the yellow sand has come from the western desert area on the Chinese continent. Even in Japan we can see it sometimes. Last mid May, I went to Beijing on the business trip and I could observe the “real” yellow sand of China…..I could observe it? No way, actually, I was covered with it. Although the arrival time was the mid noon but the sky was darken and the air was colored, just like the view thorough the yellow filter. “Where has the huge and clear sky which I saw in December gone?” The trip started with the surprise.
Last time I visit there in December, that trip was set suddenly and it was very short, flew to Beijing Thursday evening then got the afternoon fright of Saturday. Fortunately, this trip was relatively long and I was lucky to get a day off in Beijing. Of course I was walking around there.
I visited Xihai/Houhai/Qianhai (西海/后海/前海), Gulou(鼓楼:Drum Tower) and Zhonglou(钟楼:Bell tower). This area is the North side of the Forbidden City. At first, I got off the subway line #2 at Jishuitan(积水潭) station. Then walk to Xihai.

Guo Shoujing 郭守敬 (1231-1316), Chinese astronomer, engineer, mathematician, and he was a leader of water projects in ancient China. He developed ponds and canals, and then the water transportation system in China had been drastically improved. Of course these ponds, Xihai/Houhai/Qianhai were his project.

Houhai. There was a good walking course along with the water side.

It was a very peaceful place. You can find lovers, granny & grampas, kids with parents, fishes, flogs, swimming uncles….

…swimming uncles?!

This is the end of Houhai. Beyond the bridge is Qianhai.

Near the bridge, there is a small good restaurant. Dongxingshun Baidu Zhang 东兴顺爆肚张. I will introduce this restaurant in the next posting.

Gu lou(鼓楼; Drum tower).
This drum tower was built in 1272. This building was rebuilt in 1420. Once, the drums were beaten twice a day, 5 AM and 7 PM as time signals.

Water clock.

The drum show is performed every 30 mins (9:00-11:30, 13:30-17:00).

The view from Gu lou.

From the entrance of Gu lou, you can see another tower, Zhong lou(钟楼: Bell tower).

This tower was built in 1420 originaly. This building was rebuilt in 1747.

Until 1942, this bell had been rung to signify the hours.

Please click the above picture and check the location of Gu lou, Zhong lou, the Forbidden city and Tian An Men Square.

Hutong 胡同; old living area of commoners.

For moving around Beijing, subway system is very convenient and reasonable.

Have you ever read Lao She(老舍)?

I didn't know that Haruki Murakami is so popular in China.

Tokyo Skytree / almost 400 meters

2010-06-07T23:19:00.003+09:00

This photo was taken in the end of May.
The height has been 398 meters already.
They started to construct of the lower observation deck.

Today's Tokyo Sky Tree (30th April 2010)

2010-04-30T23:17:00.007+09:00

According to the Tokyo Sky Tree homepage, the tower has reached 358 meters high. Until the end of the March, Tokyo Tower (333m high) had been the tallest tower in Japan for 50 years, but now, the Tokyo Sky Tree is on the top. When it's completed it'll stand at almost double its height, 634 meters.

Sorry, it's inclined a bit.

The Sky Tree photo taken in March is here.

Sakura at Harimazaka park / Bunkyo ward

2010-04-13T21:20:00.006+09:00

Last weekend was the last chance for ohanami party. Now, most of Sakura petals already scattered down, and instead of that, fresh light-green leaves have appeared.

These photos I posted today were taken at Harimazaka park 10 days ago.

It was a little bit cold but Sakura were in full bloom.It was before 9 AM, but many ohanami fans had come to the park to enjoy Sakura.

Below is the Sakura of Yushima Seido at Ochanomizu. I'd like to introduce the Yushima Seido on the next posting.

Sakura: not in full bloom yet / Edogawa park, Bunkyo ward (part 2)

2010-03-29T21:40:00.008+09:00

Since theSakura in Tokyo started to bloom on last Monday, the temperature here has been getting colder again. Thanks to the lower temperature, they say the Sakura will be still bloomed till next weekend.

Here is the Sakura of Edogawa park on last Sunday morning.

About 50-70% of Sakura was in bloom.

The weather was cloudy. It was just a little bit cold for Ohanami.

The entrance of Edogawa park is the side of the Edogawabashi crossing. You can see the Sakura trees from the "1A" exit of the Edogawabashi subway station (Yurakucho-line, Tokyo Metro).

I hope the weather will be good on next weekend.

Ohanami season is coming soon / Edogawa park, Bunkyo ward

2010-03-24T00:25:00.005+09:00

This Monday was the national holiday "Shunbun-no-hi", Spring Equinox day. Astronomically, Shunbun-no-hi is defined as the day when night and day are of equal length, but for the ordinary people who don't care about astronomy, like me, this day is the day they can feel Spring coming.

In the morning of the Shunbun-no-hi, Lee and I went to the Edogawa park and found "Spring".

Somei-Yoshino, the most popular Sakura tree, started to bloom.

I guess we can enjoy Sakura in full bloom this weekend. I'll go there to take Sakura pics again.

Another Edogawa park posting is here.

Tokyo Sky Tree / Sumida ward

2010-03-15T01:45:00.005+09:00

Oops! I haven’t revised this blog for three months long. I’m back. Since the last posting, approximately 600 of visitors kindly have visited here. I am so sorry.

I had been looking for the suitable “object” for the continuous posting, and finally found a good one.
Here it is:

Tokyo Sky Tree, a 634-meter-tall TV tower constructing in Sumida ward (east-side of Tokyo). According to the press release, the construction, which was started in Feb. 2009, will be completed in the end of the next year. I found I can see it from my office. I will post the progress report monthly (as long as I can stay this office).

Now, the tower is around 300 meters high. It will reach the half of the planned height when I report next month.

Walking around Beijing

2009-12-22T22:01:00.018+09:00

Last week I went to Beijing on the business trip. That was very short stay, just three days, but very impressive trip.

Beihai Park

The temperature was sub-zero. The lake of Beihai was covered with thick ice.

China was the country where I dearly wanted to go. Around 30 years ago, I lived in a dormitory of high school. One of the teacher who lived with us was very good at speaking Chinese (Mandarin) and taught me Mandarin and Chinese literature. Since then, I have been thinking how wonderful if I could get the opportunity of business in China. Now, my dream is about becoming true.

Tienanmen Square

My free time was very limited, just only the 1st day’s night and the last day’s morning. In addition to that, my camera's battery went dead. So I cannot introduce you so many photos. Sorry.

Tzuchingch`eng Palace

In the most of places, I had to communicate with people in Mandarin because they didn't understand English or Japanese. I realized that my Mandarin worked. (^^)

Subway cars and stations were very clean.

Don't jump in!!!

Wangfujing shaochijie (Wangfujing snack town)

Goubuli restaurant.
I had heard that "bao-zi" of Goubuli wass very good, but I didn't know that there are two types of Goubuli. One of them is decent restaurant and another one is fast food shop. I took my colleague to the latter, the fast food Goubuli. Actually, the price was very reasonable, but taste was mmmm.... if you want to have a good food, I recommend you to go to the another Goubuli. Anyway we enjoyed Beijing fast food.

I ordered three glasses of beer (Pi-jiu san bei), but I got three bottles of beer(Pi-jiu san ping). I need to improve my Mandarin.

Zaijian, Beijing. I will be back.

Lighting-up autumn leaves in Rikugien garden / Komagome, Bunkyo ward

2009-11-29T22:24:00.011+09:00

From 27th November to 13th December, Rikugien garden is opening its gate until 8:30 PM and you can enjoy autumn leaves which are illuminated.

My daughter and I visited there yesterday evening before the supper... and were stunned. It was so beautiful!

You can have Matcha, green tea, and fancy Japanese confectionery with a fine view of the pond in the pond-side tea house.

Set price of Matcha and sweets was 500 yen. I think it was worth it.

Yummy!

The weather was not so cold. That was a very comfortable evening.

Some of Momiji leaves have not turned into crimson. I’d like to try to see them again in December.

Caution: Taking photos with tri-pod is prohibited around the pond. if you want to take a clear night scape without tri-pod, use your buddy's shoulder.

The other Rikugien postings are here.

Rikugien in the daytime: June 2006
Lighting-up in the spring: March 2006-(1), March 2006-(2)

The closest stations is Komagome(JR Yamanote-line, Tokyo Metro Namboku-line).

Otonashi Shinsui Park (Otonashi water park) / Oji, Kita ward

2009-11-22T21:06:00.012+09:00

Zee, two months long absence! I couldn't had updated this blog because my work was really hectic. Now I'm Ok and would like to restart. Let me start with a little bit out-of-season photos.

There is a pleasant park nearby JR Oji station. I took these photos in September and the weather was still muggy, but I could feel cool welcome breeze here. This park is placed along with the stream, and away from the traffic and commercial facilities. So, although it's very close to JR and subway station, you can enjoy the cozy space.

This park is located the west side of Asukayama park. From the west end of Asukayama, you can see the old big Otonashi bridge.

The sign (above pic) said that this was built in Showa five (1930). This was designed to tolerate the weight of combat vehicles, so people called it Tank Bashi(Tank Bridge).

The side of the bridge, you can see the steps to the riverbank. This is the entrance to the park.

This area, Otonashi river / Tokinogawa, was famous for the scenic landscape in Edo era. You can find the scene in some pictures. The guidebook of Edo era, "Edo meisho zue" (I've mentioned about this book on Komagome Ogannon posting) introduce this area. This place has been loved by ancient people.

Unfortunatery, this stream was polluted by the gabage and sewage contamination after the WW2. Then the stream became underground culvert in the line of the community development program, and once the beautiful Otonashi river was disappeared. However, in 1988, the city government built a new water park here in response to the wishes of the residents. The Otonashi river was reborn as a park.

This park was selected as one of the best 100 urban park in Japan in 2000.

You can aproach there from Oji station(JR / Tokyo Metro Namboku-line) and Asukayama station (Tram).

I assure you that you can enjoy autum leaves now.

Goblins at work / Kishibojin @Zoshigaya, Toshima ward

2009-09-27T21:45:00.010+09:00

Kishibojin. My favorite place.

I love this cozy temple and have often visited here with Lee, but I realized that I had overlooked an interesiting creature in this temple until today.

Can you see that?

Here it is!

Goblin has received the weight of the roof.
Other goblins are on the both side and also have held up the roof.

Right side,

... and left side.

The name of these goblins is Amanojaku. They are not so outrageous bad creature, but they try to do anything that is against the rule intentionally anytime. So, Buddha commanded them to hold the temple roof as punishment.
There are many goblins in the Buddhism art work. You can see them holding up big heavy incense burner, trampled dowm by the guardian statues.... poor Amanojaku!

The antique market is opened here on the 4th Sunday of each month.

Owners were preparing for open stalls.

Wow, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) the dock of the bay"!

Assumedly, this might be the first press in Japan. I forgot to ask the price of the disc. Interestingly, the title was written on the cover as "Dock ov bay" in Japanese characters. The disc on the right is Mary Hopkin's "Those were the days". You can see the Apple record's logo in the cover. Please click on the picture to enlarge.

"No dog toys?"

The biggest event of this temple "Oeshiki" is coming soon (16-18th Oct.).

Regarding the Oeshiki, please visit my previous posting(1, 2).

Other Kishibojin postings are here(1, 2).

"Let's get back home through the Homeiji temple yard."

Meaka Fudo, Nankoku-ji temple / Hon-Komagome, Bunkyo ward

2009-09-13T23:48:00.005+09:00

Perhaps, the place names "Meguro" and "Mejiro" are well known to the people who live or had lived in Tokyo area. And if you have some knowledge of Japanese, you would know that the terms "Meguro" and "Mejiro" are consisted of "Me(eye) + kuro(black)" and "Me(eye) + siro(white)" respectively. And you might know there is Meguro(black-eyed) Fudo Buddha statue in Meguro and also Mejiro(white-eyed) Fudo Buddha statue is in Mejiro.

Interestingly, there are three other colors (red, yellow and blue) eyed Fudo statue in Tokyo. Lee and I visited "red" one today.

Meaka (red-eyed) Fudo.

Fudo (Fudo-myo-oh) is one of Buddha. It is recognized as "immovable guardian". They say his angry face means his posture to the sin in the world.

There was the Meaka Fudo statue in this small temple. Inside the temple was dark and I couldn't confirm the color of eyes of the statue.

Other color eyed Fudo are Megi(yellow-eyed) and Meao(blue-eyed). They are located in Taito ward and Stagaya ward respectively. Someday, I would like to visit them.

Meaka Fudo is enshrined in the Nankoku-ji temple.

The closest station of the temple is Hon-Komagome (Tokyo metro, Nmboku-line).

Have a short break at Mac after walking!

Running / Interim report

2009-08-20T21:21:00.002+09:00

Let me report the progress situation of the regular exercise plan what I posted on 5th Aug.

I achieved the first goal on the day-5, 2.8km non-stop running. Time was 14min+10sec. Not so bad for a novice runner, wasn’t it? As a next step, I decided to increase the distance. Now I’m examining courses.

As I started running, I realized that there were not a few runners on the road even though it was a hot & muggy summer night. Finding person with same interests is fun… when they were running another direction. But if you found them running before you, they would become your competitors and you couldn’t help but urge to go past them. I think it is a natural instinct of runner.

By the way, on the 5th Aug. posting, I told that I’ll take photos on the way running and show you on this blog. but I realized that there was no room for doing anything except for running. Wait a moment until I get some endurance.

Shige

(Lee, in his 10 months)

Nikolai-do (Holly Resurrection Cathedral) in the daylight / Ochanomizu, Chiyoda ward

2009-08-08T10:54:00.013+09:00

Saturday morning of Ochanomizu Surugadai area was very quiet. Lee and I were walking along the alley between the college buildings. It was 7:30 AM and few people there.

We had walked for around 80 minutes, and he was a bit getting tired.

Here we are!

The contrast of the green copper roof and white wall is beautiful. When the cathedral was built on this hill top, there were no buildings around the church and it became the landmark of this area.

You can find the description regarding the Easter Mass held at this church in Meiji ara, in the famous novel "Sorekara" written by Natsume Soseki.

The board says:

This cathedral's completion of the construction was Feb. 1891.
This cathedral was listed as the important culturel asset.
This is the biggest Byzantine architecture in Japan.
This cathedral's building designer was prof. Shchurupov of Russia Institute of Technology, and the construction director was Josiah Conder.

... Several years ago, I have posted some photos of architectures built by Josiah Conder. Please check them later (Furukawa park), (Mitsui club).

As I wrote in the last posting, there was a Russian language institute in the church yard. It was the pioneer in Russian language education in Japan and boasted over 100 years history, however, they ended the history 10 years ago. I heard that the building used for the language institute still remains even now.... sorry I'm not sure which building was that.

Let's get back home before getting hot!

The closest station of this cathedral is Ochanomizu (JR Chuo-line / Tokyo Metro Marunouchi-line) or Shin-Ochanomizu (Tokyo Metro Chiyoda-line).

Nikolai-do (Holy Resurrection Cathedral) night view / Ochano-mizu, Chiyoda ward

2009-08-07T22:17:00.008+09:00

Nikolai-do is an old Russian Orthodox Church, established in 1891.

When my father was in his late twenties, in the late 1950s, he belonged to a chemical laboratory located in Ochanomizu area as a researcher of the high-polymer chemistry. He said that Russia (the Soviet Union) was a pioneer in the heavy chemical industry at that time, so he needed to study Russian to catch the cutting-edge technical information. Then after leaving work, he went to the Russian language class opened in this church.

As I took these photos, I imagined the scene a young guy who looked like me came out from the gate and walk away.

Anyway, it is a bit regrettable that I couldn't hear any Russian he spoke.

I'd like to take this church's photos in the daylight again.

I am back

2009-08-05T23:57:00.006+09:00

I am very sorry for my long absence. I’m back.

I want to extend my appreciation and apology to all of you who kindly dropped in this weblog although I haven’t posted for such a long time. Now, I’m OK and I’ll restart this weblog from today.

As the 1st posting of restart, let me introduce what I'm into now.

I have recognized the necessity of the regular exercise for a long time, but I couldn’t start anything. Last weekend my daughter and I went swimming pool. Recently she joined the swimming team in her junior-high, and I would have liked to see how she improved. However this activity reminded me my decreased cardio-respiratory function. I was shocked I could not follow her at all! I often said to her “Don’t say do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is always tomorrow. Say do it today.”,,,, zee, these words were just for me. Then, I decided to commence this Monday. In the way home from my office, I get off at the next to my closest station, wear a T-shirt, short pants and sneakers, then run! It’s about 2.8 km gradual rise. The first goal of this exercise is “running through the full distance without any stop (except for red lights)”.

Today is the day-3 and I have achieved 2.3 km. I would like to take some photos and post it on this blog, after I would manage to run the entire distance.

Sorry for my long absence / Status report

2009-06-27T22:39:00.004+09:00

Hi, guys.
I am sorry for my long absence.
Actually, I could not have touched this blog.

To tell the truth, the very important man in my life passed away last month.
The hectic days have gone, and I came back to my daily life already, but,,, something sinking feeling has been lurking in my mind.

I will be back. Please wait a moment.

Shige

Ukiyoe and Asukayama park

2009-05-06T13:26:00.007+09:00

Sakura season is long gone. I know it's a little bit too late to post such pictures, but please let me complete my Asukayama series with Ukiyoe featuring Sakura and Asukayama.

I found a very interesting Ukiyoe picture featuring the Asukayama park in Newspaper “Mainichi Shinbun” last month.

There are yomeiri gyouretu(wedding procession) marching in the Asukayama. The full bloomed Sakura trees are drawn in the background. You can see all of the procession members are foxs.

Fox is often recognized as kinds of fairy… oh, I’ve written that on the previous post. Anyway, Asukayama is very close to the Oji-Inari which is very famous for the stories of fox.
This Ukiyoe was drawn by famous Ukiyoe artist Utagawa Hiroshige. You can find some Ukiyoe of Asukayama drawn by him on the net.

"Asukayana, Kitano chouboh (North view)"
National History Museum and Institute, Chiba prefecture.
http://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/NATURAL/special/ukiyoe/spring4.htm

And many other painters have featured Sakura of Asukayama.

"Asukayama Hanami" drawn by Torii Kiyonaga.
http://www.ukiyoe.or.jp/ukisho/uks-05/05-b/024.html

"Shinban Ukie Asukayama no zu" drawn by Gountei Sadahide.
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History.
http://ch.kanagawa-museum.jp/dm/ukiyoe/gountei/syougai/d_syougai04.html

Asukayama have been really loved by people for an extremely long time.

Asukayama's Sakura was in full bloom / Asukayama Park, Oji, Kita ward

2009-04-05T22:33:00.009+09:00

At last, Lee and Shige got to Asukayama park and enjoy the full blown Sakura on Saturday.

So many people came to enjoy Sakura.

Some of them were spreading sheets and sitting there, eating lunch or preparing a OHANAMI party. Maybe this scene has been seen there every spring for 270 years long.
This park was build by Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune(1684-1751). He thought the leisure facilities where anyone could enjoy safely was needed. Then he commanded to make a hill and plant Sakura trees. When the opening of Asukayama, Shogun Yoshimune himself came here and had a party for appealing this park to the public. Thank you Shogun! We can enjoy Sakura even now thanks to you.

I found some Ukiyoe pictures, which was drawn in Edo era, featuring Asukayama's Sakura. I'd like to introduce them on next posting.

Sorry, no photo today.

2009-03-31T21:19:00.006+09:00

In the last posting, I wrote I would post Sakura photos of Asukayama park in the weekend. But, regrettably, I couldn't go there last weekend because I had to do some errands. It takes about an hour on foot (Lee's tiny foot) from my house to there, so I had to forgo it. I am sorry if you were expecting the Sakura photos in Asukayama park.
According to the "Sakura report" on the web, Asukayama park's Sakura has not reached full bloom yet. They say "around 50%-blooming" now.

I assume this weekend will be the best timing for OHANAMI (cherry blossom vewing) at Asukayama Park.
Of course, I'm going to go with Lee.

Yamazakura is in full bloom / Asukayama Park, Oji, Kita ward

2009-03-23T00:48:00.005+09:00

Saturday morning (20th. March), Lee and I went to Asukayama Park and found that Yamazakura was in full bloom.

Yamazakura is known as the early riser. As you can see, the color of petals is bright-white, and red colored young leaves appeared simultaneously, in contrast to the ordinary Sakura (Somei Yoshino), which has pink petals and no leaves when it blooms.

On Saturday morning, except for Yamazakura, Sakura (Somei Yoshino) trees had not bloomed yet.

But the blossom buds seemed to be prepared to bloom.

I couldn't go there to watch them this morning but I suppose they have started to blossom today. I'm looking forward to taking the full-bloomed Sakura photos and post them on this blog next weekend.

A little bit too early for Sakura / Asukayama Park, Oji, Kita ward

2009-03-17T21:45:00.007+09:00

The season of Ume flowers was over. Broadcasters say its about 2 weeks earlier than usual. But its still a little bit too early for Sakura. On first weekend of March, Lee and I went to Asukayama Park to check how the Sakura trees were.

There was a very quiet and calm atmosphere around the park.

In the end of this month, the park will be crowded with a lot of people.

Oh! the early riser was there.

I coudn't identify the species (because there was no name plate (LOL)). Presumably it would be "kawazu-zakura" or something,,, sory I'm not sure.

Most of the Sakura have been sleeping in the buds as yet.

According to the forecast of the Meteorological Agency, this year’s Sakura will start to bloom around 21 March, then full-bloomed around 30 March. I'm looking forward to seeing full-bloomed Sakura at Asukayama.

Please visit my another Asukayama posting (2008 August).

Ume and Komagome Ogannon / Kogenji-temple, Bunkyo-ward

2009-03-08T11:31:00.012+09:00

Let me introduce some last month’s photos.

There are a lot of old temples around Yanaka-Sendagi-Nezu area (YANESEN area). I found Ume flowers were blooming in the yard of Kogenji-temple in mid-Feburuary.

Kougenji-temple was opened in Kanda area in the end of 16 centuries, then moved to YANESEN area in 1648. This temple has been famous for the big statue of “Ju-ichi men Kan-non (goddess of Kan-non with 11 faces)”, which was made in 1697. This Kan-non statue was called “Komagome Ogannon”, and became one of the sightseeing spot of Tokyo. Below is the picture of the statue appeared in the guidebook “Edo meisho zue” published in Edo-era.

Unfortunately, that statue was burned out in the fire of the Tokyo Air Raids 1945. In 1993, they rebuild the statue.

I heard that the Hozuki festival would be held at the yard in July. I’d like to visit there at that festival and post the photos on this blog.

The closest station is Hon-Komagome of the Nanboku-line (Tokyo Metro). It takes about 5min on foot.

--revised on March 9th.--
Speaking of the Tokyo Air Raids, tomorrow, March 10th is the 64th anniversary of the Great Tokyo Air Raids. The serial bombing burned out not only the historical things like Komagome Ogannon, but also tremendous numbers of Tokyo citizens. Tonight, I would like to pray for the victims of the raids and for all victims of all of the war and the terrorism which occurred /have been occurring all over the world.
Peace for all of the people who live in the earth.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Sakura blooming in February / Kawazu-zakura @Harimazaka park

2009-03-01T21:19:00.007+09:00

In early February, Lee and I went to the Harimazaka park. As I posted before, there is well known as a good place for enjoying Sakura (Cherry blossom). But, as you are aware, the best season of Sakura is the end of March to early April. So, we had not expected we could see the Sakura blossom in February…..

Wow! Sakura is blooming!

This is “Kawazu-zakura”, Prunus lannesiana Wils. cv. Kawazu-zakura. A kind of Sakura which was found at Kawazu, Shizuoka pref. in 1955. It starts to bloom in the end of January. Botanists estimate they were produced by natural crossbreeding between Kan-hi-zakura and Oshima-zakura.

As you can see, these petals have deeper pink color than the popular Sakura (Somei-Yoshino).

In Kawazu-cho, the home town of this Sakura, the “Kawazu-zakura Matsuri” festival has been held until March 10th. I found the homepage of this festival.
http://www.kawazuzakura.net/index.html
Unfortunately they don’t seem to have English page, but you can enjoy the Sakura trees via Live camera.

http://www.kawazuzakura.net/html/sakuralives.html

Speaking of Kawazu-cho, that was located in the Izu peninsula and famous for the Onsen (hot spring), wasn't that? Why don't we go there and take a good Onsen, Shige?

Ume (P.mume) in Nezu shrine

2009-03-01T02:00:00.010+09:00

Please forgive my long absence. Zee, I can't believe that we are already in the month of March!
It has been getting warm here in Tokyo, and Ume flowers are in full bloom now.
Two weeks ago, Lee and I went to the Nezu shrine. The main building (Haiden) and the big gate (Roumon) have been under the restoration, so most of the architectures are covered with white vinyl sheet, but the Ume flowers are welcoming the visitors with sweet smell.

Turtles did sunbathing.

According to the official site of the Nezu shrine, the restoration will be finished this September.

Please visit the previouse post of the Nezu shrine:
Mar. 2007 (Azalea)
Dec. 2006 (Fallen leaves)
Sep. 2006 (Maturi) ...you can find a Shige's photo here

GENKI?

2009-03-01T00:22:00.008+09:00

Hi! it's Lee. How've you been?

Shige says he is very sorry he has left this weblog for a long time. Two months long!

He is excusing that he has had hectic days, so he couldn't touch his PC.

But I know he has walked along me as always and taken a lot of pictures for this blog. I think he'll restart soon.

Kappa-bashi kitchen town / Taito ward

2008-12-30T21:07:00.013+09:00

Between the famous sight seeing places, Ueno and Asakusa, there is a unique town which has been attracting people who are interested in cooking. Kappa-bashi; the mecca of cooks and owners of all kind of restaurant.
If you want to open your own restaurant, I recommend you to visit this town. And also you can enjoy your shopping there as a non-professional visitor.

There are many cutlery shops, utensil shops….

Interior and Exterior shops…

Here is a food sample shop. These samples are made by wax and plastic. These were very exquisite and,,, looked yummy!

Don’t forget stools, chairs and tables for opening your restaurant.

What kind of uniform do you need?

You can buy a cash register here.

This shop attracted me very much.

Look! You can roast coffee beans by yourself on a gas range.

You want to open a chinese restaurant?

And otherwise, there are many shops for soba restaurant, confectioners, etc, etc...

The closest station of Kappa-bashi is Inaricho or Tawaramachi of Tokyo metro Ginza line.
You can find the landmark buildings, the first photo of this posting and the photo below, from Asakusa-dori street. This is a gate for Kappa-bashi area.

You'd better visit on weekdays or Saturday. On Sunday, most of shops are closed.

Hagoita-Ichi (Hagoita Fair) / Senso-ji temple, Asakusa

2008-12-22T22:55:00.007+09:00

Hagoita is, originally, a paddle of the traditional racket game, Hanetsuki, which is played by kids during the New Year’s holiday. It also has been made and displayed as a charm against evil. Ancient people believed that Hagoita would hit bad lucks away. It has become one of the craft arts of Tokyo.
Every December, Hagoita craftsmen gather at Asakusa Senso-ji temple for the Hagoita-Ichi (Hagoita Fair). This fair has been held there since Edo era and it has become one of the signature winter event in Tokyo.

Hagoita-Ichi poster displayed at JR Ueno station.

Last Thursday night, I dropped over at Asakusa on the way back home, and took Asakusa night scene and some Hagoita pictures. (All of pictures can be enlarged by clicking them.)

It was already over 20 o’clock, so most of the shops on the approach pavement to the Senso-ji were about closed.

I often had been there in the daytime, but it was a first time to visit at night.

Most of the Hagoita were featuring the Kabuki-actors.

Apparently the range of prices of normal sizes were around 20,000 - 50,000 yen. Bigger hagoita were over 300,000yen,,, zee, who could buy them?

Some of craftsmen feature celebrities or athletes who were active this year.

The boy with red cap in the above picture is Ryo Ishikawa, Japanese professional golf rookie, who won a golf tournament when he was just 15 (he was recorded in the Guinness book as the youngest winner of the regular golf tournament) and became a professional golfer this year.

“Hello Kitty”?

The dates of the fair are 17th to 19th December, every year. Please note on your next year’s calender.

The closest station is Asakusa (Tokyo Metro Ginza-line, Tobu Isesaki-line and Toei Asakusa-line).

Foxes in the Oji Inari shrine / Oji, Kita ward

2008-12-10T23:28:00.011+09:00

Please allow me to post the photos taken in this September.

Near the Asukayama park (posted in 06/Sep/08), there is an old and famous shrine called Oji Inari. One morning, Lee and I went there to see the location of the famous Rakugo story "Oji no Kitsune (the fox in Oji)".

Foxes had long been described as mischievous creatures in old fairy tales. In the Rakugo "Oji no Kitsune", the trick matches between the fox who lived in the shrine and the man who visited the shrine was described comically.

There were many statues of foxes. Foxes are guardians of Inari shrine, and also messengers of Inari god.
Ohji Inari is recognized as the top of the Inari shrines in Kanto area.

I found a fox statue having a key.

It's my guess that means this fox (or this shrine) plays a key role in the "Inari industry".

When we were about walking into the backyard of shrine to see the "fox cave", I saw a man appeared at a window of the shrine office.

The man, who seemed to be a shrine priest, gave us a sign of "not permitted" gently as waving his hand slowly. I looked down at Lee and talked to myself "yeah, the combination of fox and dog was not so good, especially from the point of view of fox". I raised my eyes and nodded to the man,,,,, but he had disappeared already.
I am not sure if he had a foxtail.

According to the legend, huge numbers of foxes who serving at Inari shrine all over the Kanto area gather to join the annual meeting held in the shrine yard on new year's eve.

Above is the Ukiyoe drawed by the famous painter Andoh Hirosige. Foxes who intend to join the annual meeting are gathering in front of a big Enoki tree to fix their clothes (fur coat & muffler?) before entering the Oji Inari.
My friend Kaz infiltrated into the fox anual meeting and wrote about it on his weblog several years ago. I was shocked by his scoop photos. Vast numbers of foxes were parading the street. Please check it! (Kaz's weblog)

The closest station of Oji Inari shrine is Oji (JR) .
If you want to join the fox parade in New Year's eve, please visit the official HP (Japanese only).

Kiku Matsuri - Chrysanthemum Festival / Yushima Tenjin

2008-11-09T21:17:00.020+09:00

Kiku Matsuri (Chrysanthemum Festival) has been held in the shrine yard of Yushima Tenjin.
Now is the Shichi-Go-San season. There were some Kimono girls in the shrine yard. (Explanation of the Shichi-Go-San is Here)

There were various kinds of chrysanthemum everywhere.

Let me introduce the type of the chrysanthemum.

Atsu-zaki (Thick flowering)

The most orthodox chrysanthemum. Making three flowers from one stalk is very popular.

Atsu-bashiri (Thick and running(?) flowering)

Adding dynamic taste on Atsu-zaki.

Kuda-zaki (Tubal flowering)

These flowers are consisted with tubular petals. The sensitive curl of petal ends is the charm point of Kuda-zaki....the signboard said so.

Edo-Giku (Edo chrysanthemum)

The old type of chrysanthemum established in Edo-era. Actually, I had never seen this type of chrysanthemum.

Tomoe Nishiki (Sorry I couln't translate it)

These are also the old type of chrysanthemum. They were established 200 years ago. Inside of petal is crimson red and outside is golden yellow. Very gorgeous, huh?

Senbon-zaki (1000 branch flowering)

I couldn't believe but these flowers came from just one stalk. According to the signboard, producers of these chrysanthemum started to grow the base stalk from last autumn, made branch repeatedly, then made 250-400 floral buds, and finally, blow the same size of flowers simultaneously.

The upper is a little bit too early to appreciate, but good for learning the structure of Senbon-zaki.

I'd like to take off my hat to the producer's skil and effort.

Kiku Ningyo (Chysanthemum Dolls)

The theme of this year's Kiku ningyo was NHK's period drama "Atsu Hime (Princess Atsu)" .

When I was a child, Kiku ningyo dolls could be seen frequently at the place people gather like public park or amusement park in autumn. But, I heared that many of Kiku ningyo festivals have been aborted recently because of the unpopularity. I feel sorry that such a traditional exhibition, started in Edo-era, has been ebbing away.

FYI: Kiku Matsuri of Nan-yo city in Yamagata is the most famous Kiku ningyo festival having the longest history in Japan. Please look at the Kiku ningyo photos on the website. They are amazing.

This one is also a kind of the chrysanthemum doll?

This festival will be held until 23rd Nov.

Regarding the Yushima Tenjin, I have writen that history in the 2008 February posting.

Yushima Tenjin is near by the University of Tokyo. The closest station is Yushima of Chiyoda-line(Tokyo Metro).

Are you looking for the accomodation?
For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices visit Tokyo Hotels for more information.

Yakuoh-in temple / Shimoochiai, Shinjuku ward

2008-10-25T16:06:00.007+09:00

Shinjuku is, as you well know, one of the most chaotic town in Tokyo, but that also includes some lush greenery and peaceful place in the area.

Yakuoh-in temple started that's history in Kamakura-era, around 800 years ago. Most of the buildings are not so old, but some stone monuments dated from Mid-Age are still remaining.

Temple yard was very quiet, calm and well cleaned.

Yellow lotus.
This photo was taken in early October... Wasn't the lotus flower season Summer?

This temple is famous for the Botan (peony) garden (the left side of picture).
I'd like to visit there in the Botan season and introduce the pics on this blog.

I had not known this temple until I found there serendpitously. I love this place.

You can go there from the Shimo-ochiai station (Seibu Shinjuku-line), or Takada-no-Baba station (JR, Yamanote-line / Tokyo Metro, Tozai-line).
It's a bit difficult to describe how to get to there. Instead of that, I drew a rough map. (Please click to enlarge the map)

If you need further information about this map, please ask me via "comment" field.

Cow Parade 2008 / Marunouchi - Otemachi

2008-10-18T03:33:00.011+09:00

I'm so sorry for long absence. Before anything else, please let me introduce an art event, which has been held until next Sunday.

In front of Tokyo station north exit, around Marunouchi and Otemachi area, you can see the cattle grazing.

The Cow Parade. According to the official site, this is an international art event started in Switzerland ten years before. This is the third time here in Tokyo. 73 of cow objet are walking through the downtown.

Kashiwa Sato's work.

I have introduced him in a previous post, haven't I?

Cows in the night.

The exhibition will be closed tommorrow, but you can see all of the cow from "here" as long as the official site remains.

Asukayama　Koen (Asukayama Park) / Kita ward

2008-09-06T16:35:00.007+09:00

Asukayama park is located in Kita ward; the far north side in Tokyo. Next to the Kita ward is Saitama prefecture. This park is a little bit far from our house, it takes about an hour on foot, so very suitable for our weekend walking.

I have introduced lots of parks/gardens located in Tokyo in this weblog thus far (please check the tug “garden” in the left column). Each of the parks has a long history, and most of them were once the garden built for Shogun, Daimyo or other tycoons as a part of their mansion. This Asukayama park has also a long history, but, was not established for tycoons. From the beginning of the history, this park has been loved by commons. In Edo era, this hill had become very famous for Hanami, cherry blossom seeing. Many common people carrying lunch box gathered from all over the Edo(Tokyo) area to enjoy cherry blossom. You can find the scene in Ukiyoe even now.

The classic Rakugo(comic storytelling) titled "Nagaya no Hanami"(Hanami party in tenement’s style) was also set in this Asukayama in Edo era. It’s a funny story. You will see the elation of the common people who enjoyed the picnic here several hundreds years ago. 　

And even now, this place is an oasis in the Tokyo desert.

People doing Tai Chi (Tai Kyoku Ken).

The north end of the park fronts onto the platform of JR Oji station.

The closest stations are Oji (JR, Keihintohoku line) and Asukayama (Tram).

To tell the truth, I've never visited here in Cherry blossom season. Next spring, I'll take Sakura photo and introduce you.

Yami ni saku hana / Theater play

2008-08-20T22:39:00.006+09:00

Before I begin today’s post, I would like to confess that I am not a theatergoer. The last stage what I saw was "the Lion King"; I went with my daughter 3 years ago, and before that was "Fiddler on the roof", which was an educational program planed by school around 30years ago.

I, such a theater-novice, had a chance to see this lovely stage, Hisashi Inoue’s “Yami ni saku hana” the flowers blooming in the dark (this is not the official title. It’s just my arbitrary translation. Sorry.), and was moved deeply. Let me tell you about it today.

The scene is in the year 1947, two years after the end of the WW2, and the stage is set on a small shrine yard which was burned out by Tokyo air-raids. The main characters are a priest of the shrine who lost his only son to the war and five of war-widows who assemble in the shrine yard for making masks and selling them to get some money for their daily living.

One day, the priest's son who was believed to have died come back home. Everybody is overcome with joy and recognized him as the hope for their future.
But an officer from the GHQ comes to the shrine to arrest him. The officer says he was indicted as a class-C war criminal. When he was in the Guam base, he played catch with local young guy, and the guy caught the ball in his head accidentally. The officer says he was sued for the abusive behavior to the local people...

The author of this drama is the famous Japanese novelist, Hisashi Inoue. It was a three hours long stage but I had never felt boring from the beginning to the final curtain.

Everybody is facing tough situations but everybody helps each other and don't forget cheerful look anytime. Everybody cares about the shrine as their resting place. Everybody is funny and sweet.

I felt the author's deep love for the ordinary public people who struggle with their life. And also, the languages what launched from the actors were fresh and lively. They got to my heart. When the final curtain fell on, I found that the tears gathering in my eyes.

Additionally, according to the comment written in the program by the author, this stage is very important for the Japanese drama history. The three young guys make their debut as the professional actors in this stage, and they are the first graduates of the New National Theatre Drama Studio, which was established 2005 as the first drama school run by the state.

To tell the truth, one of the three young actors is a distant relative of mine, and as you can imagine, that was the first trigger for seeing this stage.
Anyway, "R"-chan, you were great! I really enjoyed the stage. I am very proud of you.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I'm just a theater-novice, so I am not sure if my opinion/impression is correct. I recommend you to see and confirm it by yourself if you could understand Japanese. I bet you'll enjoy it.

“Yami ni saku hana” is going on the board at the Kinokuniya Southern Theater (Shinjuku) until 31st Aug. The schedule since this September will be as follows:

4th Sept. -------Kawanishi-cho, Yamagata
6th Sept. -------Ichikawa, Chiba
12-13th Sept. --Iizuka, Fukuoka
14th Sept. ------Nohgata, Fukuoka
15th Sept. ------Tagawa, Fukuoka
17-18th Sept. --Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
19-20th Sept. --Ohita, Oita
21st Sept. ------Beppu, Oita
23-29th Sept. --Kitakyushu, Fukuoka
1st Oct. --------Miyazaki, Miyazaki
2-4th Oct. -----Kagoshima, Kagoshima
6-8th Oct. -----Kumamoto, Kumamoto
10-18th Oct. --Fukuoka, Fukuoka
20th Oct. ------Sasebo, Nagasaki
21-23rd Oct. --Nagasaki, Nagasaki
24th Oct. ------Isahaya, Nagasaki
25th Oct. ------Shimabara, Nagasaki
27-29th Oct. --Saga, Saga
31st Oct. ------Kani, Gifu

Sugamo Walking / Tokyo SC, Roku Jizou

2008-08-17T13:45:00.011+09:00

I always get up late on weekends normally, however, now in the summer, I have to get up early like weekdays because Lee can not walk outside in the daytime. Currently air temperature has been raised around 30-35 degrees C, and the road surface become hotter than that. It is too hot to walk with his bare feet, and also might be a cause of the heat stroke.
Of cause I like early morning walk. That is fun. There is no exhaust gas and no crowd. Let me introduce the scenes which were taken during our recent walking.

Tokyo Swimming Center (Tokyo SC)

One of the oldest swimming school in Tokyo. This is the home ground (home pool?) of Kosuke Kitajima; the Gold Medalist of 100m and 200m breaststroke in Athen(2004) and Beijing(this week!) Olympic games. Kitajima started swimming here when he was just 5 years old, and even now, he belongs to this SC.

This picture was taken just before the Beijing Olympic. There are the messages for the Olympic swimmers here on the window.

It says "Go in and win! / Kosuke Kitajima / Reiko Nakamura / Haruka Ueda / 2008 Beijing Olympic Game".

And this is the current picture.

“Congratulations! / Reiko Nakamura _ 100m back _ Bronze Medal _ Japan record./ Kosuke Kitajima _ 100m and 200m breast _ Gold Medals, two consecutive win _ World record of 100m breast: 58.91sec.”

Tokyo SC is located in the north east side of the JR Sugamo station. It takes about 10min on foot. Go and see the lesson If you want your kids to become Olympic swimmers!

Rokujizou / Shinsho-ji temple

Go out the JR Sugamo station, cross the multilane roadway(Hakusan-dori), and turn to the right. Walk through the pavement several minutes, then, you will see a big Jizou statue on your left side.

Jizou is a kind of buddha. I explained about it simplistically in the previous post, so please check here for further infomation.

In Tokyo area, there are famous six big Jizou statues, and they are called “Edo Roku Jizou”. And this is the 3rd one of these six(roku) Jizou. They are in Shinagawa(#1), Asakusa(#2), Sugamo(#3), Shinjuku(#4), Fukagawa(#5) and Ueno(#6).

According to the guideboard, this statue was built in the year 1714.
Actually, Sugamo is famous nationwide for "Togenuki-jizou". So, sometime people who watch this statue are confused this statue with togeniki-jizou. Togenuki-jizou and this roku-jizou are different Jizou in different temple.

Urgent Information!!
I was surprised when I walked by the Sugamo Roku Jizou this morning, because there were no Jizou statue. Actually, he was here when I saw him in the end of July. Where has he gone?!

The sign board said:

“The Jizou statue was built 294 years ago and there are some corrosion damage in his body now. He needs some fixing. So Jizou has gone to Kyoto for repair since August 2008 until May 2010.”

A new miniature sized Jizou was there on behalf of him.

The rainy season has started!

2008-06-06T22:58:00.004+09:00

According to the announcement of the Meteorological Agency released on 2nd June, the rainy season has started in Tokyo area and they said it was about one week earlier than in an average year.

I hope it will end earlier than in an average year(around 20th July).

How we secure time for walking everyday during rainy season is very important for us. The veterinarian who see Lee monthly has pointed out that Lee has to try to reduce his body weight. Regular excercise is needed.

Anyway, as preparation for Japanese muggy summer, I brought Lee to groomer to get his hair cut short. He got slim and became look like a puppy dog.

The grooming fee? That was more than three times my hair cut cost. Boo.

Tsutsuji,,, Rhododendron?

2008-05-06T21:47:00.011+09:00

When I wrote about Tsutusuji of Nezu Shrine in previous posting last year, I described that this flower's English name was "azalea". But, according to the wikipedia, it was an inaccurate description. It says there are two stream of this flower. One is deciduous and called azalea, meanwhile another is evergreen and called rhododendron.

What I wrote was evergreen, so rhododendron was correct???

In addition to that, it says the deciduous one is the group of Tsutsuji and the evergreen one is the group of Shakunage... Whoa! Wait a minute. The flower what I uploaded hear and posted last year are/were evergreen and we call them Tsutsuji.

Anyway, my dictionary says that the English name of Tsutsuji is "azalea" and "rhododendron" is Shakunage.

Azalea? Rhododendron? Which is correct?

Could anybody explain it?

Edogawa Park and Basho-An　/ Mejirodai, Sekiguchi, Bunkyo ward

2008-05-03T22:48:00.009+09:00

Edogawa Park

Near the Edogawabashi station of Yurakucho-line (Tokyo Metro), there is a small and calm park which we often visit.

This is more like a promenade than a “park”. Narrow but long cozy space along the Kanda river.

In Edo era, the water of Kanda river was supplied to Kanda, Nihonbashi, and Kyobashi area of Edo city through the artificial water line. This was lifeline of Edo and called “Kanda Josui (Kanda water supply)”.
This area was a bifurcation point of water line. There is a ruin of water gate of the water supply in the park even now.

The capital freeway was running alongside the river but this park was incredibly calm.

Basho-An (House of Matsuo Basho)
Around 100 meters away from the Edogawa park, there is a small old temple on the Kanda river.

Before telling about this temple, let me tell you about Haiku, the shortest poem in the world. It consists of three short phrases, 1st and last phrases are 5 syllabled, and 2nd phrase contains 7 syllables. One season word is required.

I heard that some of elementary or Junior-high school in the West teaches Haiku in English or other languages. Have you ever seen this one?

Furuikeya / kawazu tobikomu / mizuno oto

Old pond / frogs jumping in / sound of water

（translated by Lafcadio Hearn; you can find a lot of other translations of this Haiku here）

This is a one of the most famous Haiku, and the author of this was Matuo Basho (1644-1694), the Haiku saint. Before him, Haiku was a kind of hobby for common folk, but he ennobled it as literary creations.
Basho started his Haiku author's carrier as an amateur in his home town Iga (Mie prefecture). He was also a petty official.
When he was 36years old, he moved to Edo (Tokyo) to study Haiku. In next year, he found a job of a site overseer of the flood maintenance project of Kanda Josui.
He had lived in a small temple on the river for 4 years. 4 years after he had worked there, he quitted his job and moved to Fukagawa (Edo downtown area), and became a 100% professional Haiku author.

After his death, this place became a mecca of his disciples, and people named here Basho-An.

Ukiyoe artist Andou Hiroshige drew this temple and the river in his series of pictures "Edo Meisho Hyakkei (Edo 100 notable sights)".

This place has been loved by people.

The story of "Yaoya Oshichi" / Enjo-ji temple, Hakusan, Bunkyo ward

2008-04-14T23:39:00.011+09:00

There is an old and tiny temple, named Enjo-ji, near the Hakusan station of the Mita line(Toei Subway). Lee and I are often passing by the front of this temple on the way of weekend walking to the Nezu shrine. I don't know why but Lee wanted to walk into this temple whenever we walk by there.

This temple is famous as the locale of the story "Yaoya Oshichi". Let me introduce the story.

There were many fires in Edo(old name of Tokyo). According to the record, there were 96 big fires, which burned out the huge area over 15cho(approximetly 1.6km) radius, during the Edo era(1603-1867). Approximately once a 3 years.

Oshichi was a daughter of a greengrocer(Yaoya) who lived in Hongo area. When the big fire occurred in 1682(Tenna-fire), Oshichi and her family took refuge in the Enjo-ji temple. Young Oshichi found the boy who was employed in the temple, then she was falling in love with him. They had a good time during her evacuation. Even after she came back home, she couldn't forget about him, however, it was very difficult to meet him. Then, she hit upon an awful idea; she decided to make the same situation as she had met him without any hurdles. She attempted arson, and, she was arrested. It was 1683, the next year of the Tennna-fire.

Criminals committing attempted arson deserved the death penalty in Edo era. They had to suffer at the stake, if they were older or equal to 16years old. At that time, she was 16. (In Japan, the age was counted as follows; the newborn baby was 1year old, then the baby became 2years old on upcoming New years day, after that he/she got older on every New years days. So, actually, Oshichi was at a mere age of 14years.)

The judge pitied her because she was so childish and guileless. He wanted to save her from the brutal penalization, then asked her, "Girl, you are 15 years old, aren't you?". But she insisted that she was 16 years old, and accepted to be burnt alive.

3 years after her death, the popular writer Ihara Saikaku wrote about her story in his novel. As soon as it was released, her story became a best-seller and the authors of the Kabuki and the Joruri(the traditional puppet play) scrambled to make plays of Yaoya Oshichi.

Actually, I kind of think calling her "idiot" would be easy. She could not make appropriate judgement and ended up committing the crime.
However, her purity for love was remarkable. I think that is why people have been moved by the story of Yaoya Oshichi.

There is the grave of her in the Enjo-ji temple yard.

Sakura / Otsuka and Harimazaka park

2008-04-04T08:25:00.007+09:00

Now, cherry blossoms are full bloomed.
I took these pics at Otuska Park yesterday morning. It was in transit, so I could'nt take enough time, just hit and run.

Actually, last weekend was the best (and seemed to be the last) chance to go Ohanami (cherry blossoms watching), and I was planed to Harimazaka park with Lee, but I missed it. In these days, I have been hectic with my work and Kana's lessons and so on.
This is a good place for enjoying Sakura blossoms. I checked there a week before last weekend.
Here are some pics which were taken at that time. A bit untimely, but beautiful, aren't they?

Did you enjoy Ohanami?

"Sakura at Harimazaka 2006"

Ume (prunus mume) 3 / Ushi-Tenjin

2008-03-20T21:45:00.008+09:00

Yushima Tenjin, which was introduced previous posting (1),(2), is well known nation wide and always crowded with examinees, meanwhile, there are many quiet small local tenjin-sama allover Japan.

Ushi Tenjin, which have been cherished by Koishikawa neighbors for a long time, is one of them. Lee and I went to there to see Ume on March 1st.

In here, Koubai (red Ume) dominated rather than Hakubai (white Ume).

Gardian animal, Komainu.

I've never seen such a fantastic Komainu. It(she?) was in the middle of breast feeding! I didn't know that Komainu has gender difference. This feeding Komainu stood right side of the gate.

So then the left side one was the father?

The closest station is Korakuen(Marunouchi line and Nanboku line, Tokyo Metro), but it takes about 10 min. on foot from station. You can find the map from Ushi Tenjin's web site.

Ume (prunus mume) 2 / YushimaTenjin, two weeks after

2008-03-09T21:56:00.017+09:00

On March 2nd, The ume flowers in Yushima Tenjin were full bloomed.
It was only 9:00 am, a bit early for sightseeing, however there were many Ume-watcher in the shrine yard.

Most of ume of this shrine were Hakubai (white Ume), which were full bloomed.
....and there were some Koubai (red Ume), too.

The pile of Ema was growing larger than 2 weeks before.

The students who had succeeded their entrance exam were hanging "Thank you-Ema".
You can find there are several piles of Ema all around the shrine yard.

As I mentioned in previous post, this place is recognized as a mecca for examinees.

Ume (Prunus Mume) / Yushima Tenjin shrine

2008-02-22T00:21:00.010+09:00

Ume flower is often described as a harbinger of spring in Japanese literature or songs. The combination of "Ume and Uguisu[Japanese Nightingale]" is very popular as a golden battery that marks the end of winter. During Sunday morning walking with Lee, I found some Ume flowers began to bloom. Although the cold weather has been continuing even now, spring is actually coming here in Tokyo.

I had heard the Ume Matsuri[Ume festival] was held in the yard of the Yushima Tenjin, so Lee and I went there to see the Ume bloosoms.

The temprature has been still cool and there were some snow remaining on the pavement (11th Feb.).

Yushima Tenjin is famous shrine that enshrines Sugawara-no-Michizane. Michizane was a top ranking elite bureaucrat in Heian-era who excelled in scholarship, and now a day, he's defined as Tenjin-sama or Kami[God] of academics. At the end of his life, he fell into a political trap of his rival and demoted to the officer of far west area. At the day of departure, he made a "waka"[short poem] regarding Ume flower.
"Kochi hukaba nioiokoseyo Ume no hana, nushinasitote haru wo wasuruna" [When you feel the east wind, Ume flower, remind yourself to bloom, even if I am not there. (I'm so sorry my terrible translation)].
According to his regend, an Ume tree, which was loved by Michizane, flied out to his far west house from Kyoto (the regend of Tobi-Ume[flying Ume]). Ume flowers thus became to be recognized as the theme flower of Tenjin shrines (Tenman-gu) across Japan.

Since he is a Kami of scholorship, many students preparing for their college/highschool entrance exam visit there and pray for their success. Students hang Ema[wooden plaque] in which their wishes were written.
It was a entrance exam season, thus so many Emas were hanging there.(11rd Feb.)

And , below is the photo taken on 17th Feb. Students who succeed their exam visit to thank Tenjin-sama for thier success.

Anyway, it was too early to enjoy full bloomed Ume bloosoms.
We'll try to get there again in the end of Februaly. Ume Matsuri will be held until early March.

Yushima Tenjin is near by the University of Tokyo. The closest station is Yushima of Chiyoda-line(Tokyo Metro).

Snow day

2008-02-07T21:59:00.001+09:00

When I woke up last Sunday morning, I found the heavy snow was falling thick and fast outside. Weather reporter said it would be a record snowfall in Tokyo.

I wore my ski jacket & cap, put Lee on a raincoat, then brought out him to the snow covered land.

Generally, dogs are said that they like snow. In the lyrics of a Japanese famous nursery rhyme about snowfall says "a dog is excited and dashing around the yard, while a cat crawls into Kotatsu* ". But, Lee did not seem to enjoy the snowfall so much.

Lee, you dogs love snowfall, don't you?
"No, I'm NOT that kinda guy."

"I hate the feeling the snow is melting on my head."

"Are you satisfied, Shige? OK, let's get home."

The snowfall had continued all day long.

My daughter had a Kanji Kentei (Kan-ken: Chinese character proficiency test) at Ochanomizu University in the afternoon, and I went there with her. It was the first time for me to walk in this campus since it was a women's university. However, I could not walk around the campus because of the heavy snow. I was just reading and waiting in another room while she was struggling with her exam. So, regrettably, I cannot describe the image or atmosphere of this university. The only photo I could take is the below one.

How was the exam?"
"Not so bad."

The result of the exam will be send to her next month.

* Kotatsu: A heater-installed low table covered with blanket. It could be a dangerous item for you. Once you were trapped into it, you could not get out easily :)

The Koishikawa Korakuen Garden/ Korakuen, Bunkyo ward

2008-02-02T17:09:00.000+09:00

Last Friday, I had a day off to have an annual medical check-up. The check-up was finished earlyer than I expected. It was a clear sunny day. I found there were no clouds in the sky when I left the clinic. I realized there was a famous garden near the clinic, and its a good chance to enjoy walking. So I dashed back home, grabbed my camera and hurryed back to the garden where I had wanted to enter for a long time (previouse post regarding this garden is here).
The Korakuen garden. When most of the Japanese hear this place-name Korakuen, it might reminds them (including me) the Korakuen amusement park or the baseball park. But originally, this place-name was named after the Korakuen garden. In edo era, this place was the garden of the mantion owened by the important and influential Daimyo (feudal loard), Mito-Tokugawa family.

As soon as you enter the garden, you will see the big dome roof of the baseball park and the building of Bunkyo City Hall. Its a bit disappointed view, but you'll forget those soon.

Engetsukyo bridge.

This stone bridge has been there since this garden's opening (17 centuries).

Shiraitonotaki falls.

There is a big pond in the center of the garden. I heard that, in edo era, the owner and his guest had enjoyed boating on this pond

Unlike the other Japanese garden in Tokyo, e.g. Rikugien (please see the previous post), Koishikawa Korakuen has some artificial hills.

The picture below is the ruin of Saigyo-dou. Unfortunatery, some of wooden architecture were lost in fire during the World war II.

This is a Saigyo-dou photo taken 70 years ago.

Gardian dog still has been guarding the site.

Although the garden is located in the center of Tokyo, I could find some Kosagi (Egretta garzetta) came flying.

I fully enjoyed a peaceful afternoon.

The closest station of this garden is Korakuen station(Tokyo Metro Marunouchi-line, Nanboku-line).

Ice skating / Nikko, Tochigi pref.

2008-01-28T23:36:00.002+09:00

We joined the ice skating tour to Nikko from 12th to 13th January.
This is an annual event what my parent’s friends have held every January for several years (decades?) (Last years tour is here (click)). We stayed again at Nikko Kanaya Hotel. Old but well maintained facilities, great services and comfortable atmosphere of Hotel welcomed us as usual. The only thing what we surprised because it was “unusual” was that … the ice skate rink of Hotel was not available! It was not enough for skating. The skate rink there is a natural rink where you can enjoy skating in crisp air. We were looking forward to skating there, but we could not. It might be the effect of Global Warming.
So, we went to indoor skate rink, which is located in Imaichi city.

Anyway, despite the rink, another highlight of this tour was the hotel dinner. Every year I had tried to take photos of the full course, but I could do that because it was very tough to control my mind when I saw big meal. Every year, I had to say “AH!” after enjoying the dinner. But finally, this year , I could manage to control myself and took some photos of them. OK, I will introduce the Kanaya hotel’s preimier grand gru dinner!

This is the Menu for Today

1. Hors-d’oevure

White material on the plate is Yuba. Tofu skin. You can produce it from the boiling soy milk as film like material. This is the coagulation of the soy bean’s protein. Kana and I (and many Japanese and Chinese) love that texture and the flavor. This is one of the Nikko’s specialties.

2. Gobou (Burdock) potage soup
I am sorry there is no pic of this soup. I forgot about taking photo. To tell the truth, I had assumed that gobou (burdock) was the foodstuff for Japanese food, this French style soup with gobou was a kind of sensation for me. It was delicious with great flavor.

3. Saute of Rainbow Trout Kanaya-style
I am so sorry I could not stop eating before taking picture! Please allow me to introduce the skeleton model of rainbow trout.

Instead of that, let me introduce the looks-delicious photo from the Hotel broacher.

This is my most favorite fish cuisine. The detailed explanation is in the photo (please click the photo to read it). You can also have it for lunch, too. I think its worth more than the price. Please try it!

4. Fillet steak
This beef is also the specialty of Nikko area.

5. Dessert

Gochisousama deshita ! (We really enjoyed the meal)

It was snowing during the night.

Next morning, we went to the Hotel skate rink to check the ice condition.

My daughter stand by the closed ice skate rink with regretful look..

You can see the skating scene here(last year's posting).

Anyway, we were satisfied the stay. We will come again for skating here next January.

Hotel homepage is listed at the end of the previous Kanaya posting (click).

BTW, according to the weblog of Hotel staff, the ice skate rink is available now.

Sumi Jo ! / Live at Suntory Hall, Tokyo

2007-12-29T00:51:00.002+09:00

At last, on December 9th, I could get a chance to listen to her voice directory!
An amazing coloratura, which was acclaimed as “a voice from heaven” by Herbert von Karajan.

In the end of last year, we saw her on a very popular Japanese TV program named " Daimeinonai Ongakukai”(the concert with no name) that have aired her stages repeatedly, and we were bewitched her performance as soon as watched it. Hence, we bought her some CDs and a DVD forthwith, and then my wife & daughter went to her recital that was held at the Tokyo Opera City this March, and they were knocked down completely. Luckily for me, the recording source of that recital of March was aired on NHK-FM radio this summer. I listened and was really impressed. Lascia chio pianga, Agitata da due venti, and La traviata .... those were miracles. However, my daughter insisted that "the emotion of the 'real' stage is incomparable! "

So, we got her "S-seat" tickets of this December concert for three of us. I knew it was a little bit,,, nope,,, very expensive considering that our daily life, but I expected that it would be a special treat to ourselves as a Christmas present. Actually, it was worth it.

She was collaborating with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by maestro Yuri Simonov.
All of numbers were wonderful. Especially what impressed me were;
L’etoile du Nord - C’est bien l’air que chaque matin (Meyerbeer)….the collaboration of flute players and her coloratura was amazing!
Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Doll Song (Offenbach)….it was very comical and super performance. You can see her performance with maestro Simonov on YouTube.
La traviata – E strano / Ah fors’e lui / Sempre libera (Verdi)….my favorite song!
Encore songs the blue Danube Waltz, O mio babbino caro, Sakura/Arirang (a cappella)” were also beautiful.

To tell the truth, I am not a hard-core mania of classical music, but just a novice listener, so I cannot describe any professional perspectives about performances. But I can say it really really moved me!
Sumi Jo, the voice from heaven. It was the best Christmas present I've had in years.

Autumn colours in Jingu-Gaien

2007-12-09T00:11:00.000+09:00

This weekend, I went to the Jingu-Gaien park to see the ginkgo trees. The line of ginkgo trees in Jingu-Gaien is one of the popular autumn colour spots in Tokyo. Let me introduce the beautiful coloured ginkgos and the symbolic building of this park, Kaiga-kan.

The road was vehicle-free for walkers. There were lots of family groups and amateur photographers who came to enjoy the autumn colors.

The end of the line of ginkgos, you can see the "Kaiga-kan", a kind of art museum.

It was originally established for honoring Meiji Emperor in 1926, 13 years after he pasted away. There are lots of paintings regards to the historical events what Meiji Emperor played a big role.
Actually, I like this beautiful masonry building, but, to tell the truth, I couldn't enjoy those paintings displayed in there. I kind of think they may be valuable not for their artistic value but historical value. Anyway, it's an interesting place for studying modern Japanese history. You know, the reign of Meiji Emperor was a turning point from the Samurai world to the modern Japan.

Other than the "Kaiga-kan", Jingu-Gaien includes many fascilities, such as the National Stadium, Jingu Baseball Stadium/the home-ground of the professional team "Yakult Swallows", baseball grounds for amateur players, Ice skate link, tennis club, futsal courts, etc. They also lend bicycles and offer the free bike riding lesson. Actually, Kana learned riding there when she was in kindergarten.

The closest station: Shinano-machi (JR Chuo line) or Kokuritu-kyogijo (Toei Subway O-Edo line)

Click here to Jump to the Jingu-Gaien homepage.

It's December already!

2007-12-04T22:13:00.000+09:00

Finaly, the last month of 2007 is begining.
At the start of this year, I vowed to myself that I would try to post 4 times a month. But regrettably, I'm ashamed to say, and as you well know, I couldn't keep the vow at all.
The actual frequencies of posting were as follows; mean(SD) 1.6(1.23), range 0-4, median 1, mode 1 (times/month). Yeah, I know, I was not able to accomplish the quota.

"Uh, I've been rushed off my feet lately....."
"Mmm, my PC has been troubled since this summer...."
"Zzzzz...."

Well, I replaced my PC this November. The new one has sufficient memory, smooth response, so there are no stresses during blogging or uploading photos.
OK, there is no excuse to wag off.

Common term: Philadelphia

2007-11-29T22:50:00.000+09:00

This poster, put up at a metro station, announces the gig of "Philadelphia Soul", which will be held as the promotion for the exhibition "Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art" at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

Yeah, I love both. I love the fine art. And also I love Philly Soul. The Stylistics, Barry White, the Three Degrees... I used to listen to their songs on the radio.

But...

Isn't it a bit far-fetched, huh?

Mt. Fuji in the dusk / the view from Nihonbashi

2007-11-24T02:42:00.000+09:00

This is the twilight view from our office. There were no clouds between Mt. Fuji and Nihonbashi (around 100km).

It's a typical winter weather of Kanto-area. High atmospheric pressure overlies the Pacific side of Japanese archiperago. We can enjoy crisp air during winter season.

According to the picture of Edo era, Mt. Fuji could be seen clearly from Nihonbashi. (click to the Ukiyoe of Nihonbashi 1, 2) Now a day, it can barely be seen between skyscrapers from the top of tall building.

This is a morning view of Mt. Fuji from the same position.

It's a little bid blurred. Can you see the snow-covered top of Mt. Fuji behind the white building? I think you could see it more clearly if you would click the photo to enlarge it.

(Jump to another Mt. Fuji posting)

(Jump to another Nihonbashi posting)

Autumn decoration

2007-11-19T12:53:00.001+09:00

This is an autumn decoration displayed in our office building featuring Susuki, Japanese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis).

Whenever I see Susuki even it is fake, I remember my childhood. There were huge vacant lot with bushes of Susuki behind my house (there were lots of vacant places anywhere at that time). That was our favorite play ground. Susuki bushes were taller than children, and we played "exploration force", played tag, hide-and-seek or just walked around alone there. After school, my friends and I ran around there until dusk.

When I told my daughter this my story, her response was "How dangerous!". She said I was very lucky I wasn't involved in any crime. "Didn't you think like some 'strange guy' hid in the bushes, dad?" Yeah, I think I was lucky I spent my childhood four decades ago. Giving you the opportunities that you can play around safely is our priority issue.

Autumn colors @ Kyoikunomori Park / Myogadani, Bunkyo ward

2007-11-19T12:51:00.000+09:00

Every morning, I'm walking through the Kyoikunomori park. This is my favorite morning walking course with Lee, and also a part of our (Kana and me) route to school/office. There is the Myogadani station of the Tokyo metro Marunouchi-line behind the park. I feel blessed that I can enjoy walking the park everyday.

One of the reasons why I like this place is because we can feel the turning of the season there.

Let me show you some photos of autumn colors.

This was taken at the end of October. Leaves just began to yellowing/browning. (28th Oct.10:00am)

And now, mid November, trees are turned to crimson. (18th Nov. 6:30am)

Gingko leaves just start turning yellow.

This place once was a college campus. Uh, I wrote this in last year. (click to previous post)

Kaiseki cuisine @Sugamo Tamura

2007-10-28T16:40:00.001+09:00

I'd like to say very sorry I haven't posted for a long time..... if there are any kind guys who look forward to reading my new article. You do? Wow, I appreciate it!

Actually, I've been suffered from my PC trouble since this July. My PC does shutdown & reboot automatically every 20 minutes. It could be a fatal damage for a slow hand-writer like me, and this is why I haven't renewed this blog for 3 months long. I think it may be a sign of the time for the PC replacement. Good grief... Anyway, the times they are a changing, regardless of the PC trouble. The hot and muggy summer has gone. It's time for new posting. I don't give a damn about rebooting!

Today I'll introduce the autumn flavors what we enjoyed last month. We had a gorgeous(!) Kaiseki lunch in Ryoutei, Japanese traditional restaurant.

Kaiseki Ryori (Kaiseki cuisine) is a kind of Japanese most authentic and traditional full course cuisine. The base-line of Kaiseki is soup+sashimi+grilled fish+simmerd vegetable. Adding to that, meat, seasonal ingridients and some deserts are lined up by the artistic sense of the cook. You can enjoy that delicate flavors, textures, taste and appearance.

The theme of that day was "early autumn".

1st dishes

From the upper left to bottom right, Kurumi Dohfu(walnut-Tofu), Tamagoyaki(Japanese style omelet)+ beans with sweetened miso-paste, Prawn-sushi + Canard viande, Gindara Saikyouyaki(grilled sablefish with miso flavor), Terrine + eschalot.

2nd dish

Clear soup with mashroom.

3rd dish

Sashimi; very fatty tuna.

4th dish

Tempra; Kisu(Sillago), Shishitou(green chilli pepper), Shiitake, Shimeji, Sweet potato, etc.

5th dish

Simmered vegetables. The texture and flavor was so delicate.

It was in a cute bowl.

Closing

Miso soup and rice with otsukemono(pickles).

Basically, they serve plain white rice for closing, but Sekihan(red rice) was served at that time.

Usually, Sekihan is served as a congratulant meal.

Desert

Did you enjoy the lunch?

Sugamo Tamura; the Ryoutei where we enjoyed the Kaiseki lunch.

(from Tamura's website; http://www.sugamotamura.co.jp/)

I think its a very good Ryoutei where you can enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine with comparatively reasonable prices.

Tamura is located next to the Shinsho-ji temple. Around 5 minutes from JR Sugamo station.

Asagao-Ichi (Morning Glory Fair) / Iriya

2007-07-11T20:04:00.002+09:00

The rainy season has not finished yet, but summer is coming soon.
When I was in the 1st grade of the elementary school, the homework for the summer vacation was the observation of Asagao (Morning glory:Ipomoea nil ). Whenever I saw Asagao, it reminds me the old scene of the summer day... yeah, I dried it out (LOL).

Asagao-Ichi (Morning glory fair), a symbolic festival for the opening of summer. Especially, Iriya Asagao-Ich, which is held in front of the Iriya Kishibojin temple in early July, is very famous for it's scale and history.
Last Saturday evening, three of us(my wife, daughter and me) and my wife's mother, who came from Osaka to spent this summer with us, went to there for buying Asagao. (please allow me to describe her as "Gramma" in this blog. OK, Gramma?)

The 6-lane road (Kototoi-street) was closed for a block (about 200 meter long) and there were filled with many Asagao stalls and many buyers.

I learned that there are many kinds of Asagao; Japanese Asagao, European Asagao, Ryukyu (Okinawan) Asagao etc... I should've studied that before shopping. It took so long time to make up our mind what kind of Asagao we should buy.

Gramma kindly bought us a big pot of "Crystal Blue", a kind of Ryukyu Asagao. The seller said "color of flower is so beautiful!".

Exactly!( photo (below) was taken in the next morning) It'll be fun to see it every morning.

Gramma bought a pot of Yuugao(Lagenaria siceraria var. hispida) along with the Asagao, too. Thank you, Gramma.
While Asagao blooms in the morning(Asa), this plant blooms in the evening(Yuu) , so it is called Yuugao. But these plants belong to the different families.

Yuugao seems too early to enjoy the bloom. We're looking forward to see it!

Iryiya Kishibojin. We couldn't enter the temple yard because of the big crowds of people.

A lot of people made the line to enter into the temple.

After enjoying shopping, we moved to Asakusa (it's close to Iriya) to enjoy the Tempra Dinner!
Our favorite Tempra restaurant "Sansada" is located in the side of Asakusa Kaminari-mon.

This is an old restaurant with 160-years history. The taste of tempra is great, and also the cost performance is good, too. Unfortunately, the atmosphere of the hall staffs (old ladies) is a little bit ,,,,,,, scary. If you talk with them, you'll find that they are friendly grannies, maybe, but,,, they make me feel the "DON'T BOTHER ME!"-aura. Actually, I love this restaurant, but I cannot get used to them.

Anyway we enjoyed our Tempra dinner! I recommend you to try delicious Tempra here, if you'll visit Asakusa.

Hydrangea @ Hakusan shrine / Bunkyo ward

2007-06-12T00:11:00.001+09:00

The rainy season is coming. Speaking of the rainy season, "hydrangea and snail" has been a core battery in my mind.

I've hated rainy day but I liked finding snails on leaves of hydrangea when I was a kid. Recently, I restarted snail watching with my daughter after long(30years!) absence, , , , but, where have they gone? I cannot find them easily like I did 30 years ago. Besides, if I can find some but those are really smaller than I had gotten. What's happen?

Fortunately, we can enjoy hydrangea like before. Lee and I went to Hakusan shrine to see hydrangeas.

From 9th to 17th June, ajisai-matsuiri (hydrangea festival) has been held in the hakusan shrine. There are 3,000 pieces of hydrangea in the shrine yard.

Gaku-ajisai (Hydrangea macrophylla).

Gaku means picture frame. As you can see, tiny flowers(just like buds but are really flowers) are surrounded by bigger flowers(just like petals but are really calyx). Someone thought that these bigger flowers looked like the frame of picture, then it has become to be called Gaku-ajisai.

Someone says the pH or some elements of the soil determine the color of hydrangeas, like a litmus paper. I heard that certain criminal novels describe the scene in which a victim's body found beneath the different color hydrangea tree in hydrangea colonies. Is that color really not depends on the variation of hydrangea trees but the character of the soil? Does anyone know that?

----poster of ajisaimatsuri---

Hakusan shrine: the closest station is Hakusan of subway Mita line. A small and cozy but historically important shrine. I will post the historical aspect of this shrine on the other day.

Reunion @ Chinatown (2) / Yokohama

2007-05-29T22:03:00.000+09:00

(Continued from previous posting)
Let me show you other photos I took at Yokohama Chinatown.

Kantei byou(in mandarin: Guan Di Miao) is located in the center of the Chinatown. This temple enshrines the historical hero Kan-u(Guan Yu). As my friend Kazu mentioned in his comment on the previous posting, you can see Kantei byou temple in most of the Chinatown all around the world.

Kan-u was a real warload of ancient China who was active in the end of 2 centuries ~ the beginning of 3rd centuries. And also, he is a very popular character in the historical novel Sangoku-shi (Sanguozhi Yanyi / Three Kingdom Saga).

Here is a question; why is the famous warrior Kan-u enshrined by Chinatown people although most of them are not military personnels but restaurant owners or merchants? Why do they pray to a warrior?
They say there are several reasons.
At1st, Kan-u has been a very attractive and popular hero. Chinese people(and other people who have read Sangoku-shi; including me) love Kan-u. That is why they have enshrined him.
2ndary, Kan-u has been credited with a person of honor who had a loyal heart. I heard that ancient Chinese people thought it was the most important part in their business, then, Kan-u became a god of business.
Does it make sense?

Can you see his face? I heard that his red face means loyal.

He had a long and beautiful whisker and was called Bizen-kou (Mei ran gong / Sir Handsome Whisker(?). Sorry for my awful translation. I would appreciate it, if anybody could tell me an appropriate English name. )

Kantei byou official site(Japanese)

Reunion @ Chinatown / Yokohama

2007-05-23T12:14:00.001+09:00

Last Sunday, our family had a reunion at the Chinatown in Yokohama. My relatives on my father's side who live in Kanto area joined the party. The total 10 participants gathered, my parents, my causins & their son, my sister & her daughter, and I. Unfortunately, my daughter caught a cold, so she and my wife had to give up to join.

When I lived with my parents, we used to go to the Chinatown for treating the guest to lunch. Now I'm living in Tokyo and visit there less often than the past. I found there were some new findings in the town after quite an absense.

Maso byou
I'm not sure how I should introduce the name of this temple. "Maso byou" is Japanese name, but this is Chinese temple. In Chinese(Mandarin), this is "Mazu miao". However, in this Chinatown, people who speak Mandarin seem to be the one part of the population. Maybe there are people who speak Guangtonese, Sichuanese, Fujianese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, etc. So, please allow me to write it in Japanese. Sorry for my too lengthy preamble. Anyway, this temple was SO beautiful.

They said the Maso byou was brand-new, just built up last year. I heard that this place had been bought by a land developer at 1st . When the developer layed out a construction plan of new condominium(!), all of the Chinatown people opposed it, and, finally, they bought up the land from the developer and built the new temple. Wow. It's a nice story, isn't it?

Shoufuku-mon
This is the dim sum restaurant where we enjoyed the lunch. I'd never seen that kind of restaurant in the Chinatown before, it was a "all-you-can-possibly-eat" type. No time restriction. Great! We ate a lot as much as we could. Of course, I didn't forget buying some takeaway dim sums for my wife and daughter.

....borrowed from Shoufuku-mon HP.

That was a good reunion. Thank you for joining, everybody. See you again!

Yokohama Chinatown official site(Japanese)

Shoufuku-mon homepage(Japanese)

Maso-byou homepage(Japanese)

Azalea festival @ Nezu shrine

2007-05-06T16:27:00.001+09:00

Lee and I went to the Nezu shrine a week before last Sunday.

From early April to the last day of the golden week, the azalea festival has been held there.

There are 50 species & 3000 pieces of azaleas. How beautiful!

Hi! It's Lee! I haven't been this blog a while. How you been?

There are many species of azaleas and the timings of full bloom are depends on the species. So you can enjoy various kind of azaleas during the festival. It was around 8:00 AM, but many visiters were enjoying the flowers.

I love this shrine. It show me various scenes at each season.

Please have a look the scene of another season, too.

Sakura @Mitsui Club / Mita, Minato ward

2007-04-29T00:29:00.003+09:00

Since the end of March, it has been a very busy days and I couldn't have chances to go around ohanami area and to take sakura(cherry blossom) photos.
On the second Sunday in April, I barely took photos of the last sakura of this season.

Sakura blossom season is very short. but after the sakura petals fall off, there are fresh and bright green leaves. these leaves shine brightly with the spring sunlight. I love this scene. it's beautiful. I can feel the vital energy of nature.
Will you laugh at me, if I say I feel it is very symbolic that this event come off at the Easter season?

Let me talk about the place where these pics were taken.
The Mitsui Club at Mita. That was the building next to the Australian Embasy.
The building was built in 1913 as a guest house of the Mitsui conglomerates. The architect was Josiah Conder, father of Japanese modern architecture. Last autumn I posted Condor's other piece of arcitecture, the Furukawa residense. Unlike the Furukawa residense, which is British classical-style architecture, the Mitsui Club has a Renaissanse design.

The Mitsui Club has a beautiful garden.

Yamabuki(Kerria Japonica) flowers were in full bloom. A color named yamabuki-iro(yamabuki-color) has been used as the color of gold or gold currency. Nowadays I can barely find this expression in poems or histrical dramas. Can you imagine this color as gold currency?

Sakura petals were falling on yamabuki leaves.

Tsunamachi Mitsui Club
Closest station: Azabu Ju-ban (Nanboku line of Tokyo Metro)

There is a fancy restaurant. Don't forget your jacket and to make a reservation!

Art workshop in the National Art Center / Roppongi

2007-03-25T17:43:00.003+09:00

Last Saturday morning, my daughter joined the art workshop for kids at "the National Art Center, Tokyo" in Roppongi. This museum just opened its doors in this past January. Several years ago, there had been the Institutes of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo. When I was a highschool student(a quarter of a century ago), I often walked around there, because my grandmother had lived near Roppongi. That was my first visit in a while, and I was supprised the landscape was completely changed.

The theme of the workshop was "Let's design your own simbol". The lecturer was the artist, Mr. Kashiwa Sato, the art director of this museum. This is the symbol of this museum, which was designed by Kashiwa-san.

Around 20 kids gathered to have the workshop.

During the working, all parents were withdrawn. We could not enter the working space until the presentation time. It was just around 1.5hrs, a little bit short to see the gallery (ticket fee was 1500yen), So I walked around the museum building.

There were some cafes(1F and 2F and basement),,,

and cozy restaurant(3F),,,

,,,Paul Bocuse?!!

According to the museum website, this is Mr.Bocuse's first brasserie outside France. It was over 30minites early to opening, but many peaople made a line to get their tables.

There was a musum shop in basement. I'd never seen such large space for a museum shop. I could enjoy there, although I didn't intend to buy anything. There were not only really artistic items but also many kitsch souvenirs. Sorry I forgot taking photos.

I spent most of my time at Art Library(3F).You can read various art books in open stacks freely.

Now the time for presentation!

Kids presented their thought, changes of ideas and final design. She made her symbol mark by fusing a Kanji from her name and her favorit animal, dog.

Wrap-up by Kashiwa-san. (To tell the truth, first time I saw him, I couldn't recognize him as Kashiwa-san, because he was not look like "the art director". I'm sorry, Kashiwa-san!)

Well done, everybody!

The National Art Center, Tokyo: The closest station is Nogizaka of Tokyo Metro. Exit #6 is connected to the museum directly. You can go there from Roppongi station. It takes about 5min on foot.

EXPERIMENTIA @ Institute for Nature Study / Shirokanedai, Meguro ward

2007-03-21T04:03:00.001+09:00

One Saturday morning in late February, My daughter and I joined the science open class for kids that was held by the National Science Museum. The theme of the class was "Let's watch the DNA!"... Off course you couldn't see the DNA at all even if you used the highest performance optical microscope, but you would see the fruction that includes DNA via some simple scientific procedure.

Materials

Broccorri, saline, ethanol, detergent.

Methods

1. Collect the broccorri buds using a dissecting scissor. (the cell density of bud is extremely high. It's a very good material for this experiment.)

2. Grind down well the buds in a mortar.

3. Add saline and a dush of detergent (to extract the DNA into the water layer).

4. Percorate the water layer using gauze.

5. Add ethanol gently, then the DNA fruction is separated out into the alcohol layer (DNA are soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol).

6. Get the bundle of DNA out.

Result and Discussion

Can you see the white sediments in the tube?

Ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll) this is (a bunch of) DNA!! Give them a big hand!(approse)
Thank you , Hamao-sensei. We enjoyed your class very much.

This class was held at "Institute for Nature Study", one of the branch institute of the National Science Museum, located in Meguro-ward. Believe or not, it's a real forest surrounded by Tokyo concrete jungle.

Actually, I've intrroduced some gardens(Rikugien, Furukawa-teien, etc) as the nature spot in Tokyo on this weblog, but they were sort of "artificial nature". I didn't know there was a such kind of real nature reserve in the center of Tokyo. I heard that this place has been designated as a national natural monument since 1949.

Look! Daisagi(great egret) is there!

"If you're lucky, you can come across Kawasemi." A bird watcher who talked with us said so. Coming across Kawasemi in Meguro-ward? Really?

Institute for Nature Study: The closest station is Shirokanedai (Metro, Namboku-line), 4min walk from exit #1. You can also get there from Meguro station east exit (JR Yamanote-line), it takes about 7 min on foot. Open hours are 900-1630, except for every Monday.

Sunset in the Mt. Fuji / from the observation room of Bunkyo City Center

2007-02-11T17:34:00.000+09:00

Last year, I introduced the Bukyo City Center in the posting regarding "Konnyaku Enma" and "Korakuen ball park". (Don't you remember? Please check the previous posting Jan. and May 2006 . ) This is a sunset view from the observation room of the Center. You can see the beautiful silhouette of the Mt Fuji clearly. It's amaging.

Twin towers in front of Mt Fuji is the building of Tokyo Metropolitan Government which located in Shinjuku.

Bunkyo City Center: It includes concert halls, exhibition room and Bunkyo ward office.　The observation room is on 25th floor. You can get the Center directly from Korakuen station of Tokyo Metro (Marunouchi & Nanboku line.) or Kasuga station of Toei Subway(Mita line).

Setsubun (Feb.3rd) / Kagurazaka

2007-02-10T01:59:00.000+09:00

February 3rd is Setsubun, the day celebrating the end of winter (by the lunar calendar).
Temples hold the "Mamemaki(bean throwing)" ceremony in the day. A lot of people join it because the people who can catch the thrown beans is believed to be able to get a great fortune.

We went to Kagurazaka Bishamonten Zenkokuji Temple to enjoy the mamemaki ceremony. When we arrived there(15 min before the ceremony start) , there were a huge amount of people who had been waiting the opening of the ceremony. Oops, it was too late to get there. We couldn't get into the temple yard but could keep a position where we could see what going on inside the temple yard.

At 1st, Okagura were performed. They performed shishimai(Lion dance; please visit my friend Kazu's blog that explain what Shishimai is.)

and jugglery

and Ebisumai(the dance of Ebisu).

Ebisu, one of Japanese gods and the symbol of happiness(right), sing and dance with Daikoku, another symbol of happiness(left).
The aim of okagura is dedication to gods but, as you can imagine, that became one of few indulgences of ancient public.

Then, Mamemaki was starting.

People who were born in the year of the boar* threw the pouches of roasted soybeans,,, it's too far to get the beans!!
* Boar: the Chinese zodiac of 2007. Men / Women who were born in that year's zodiac were called Toshiotoko / Toshionna. Actually, in China, Korea or the other area of Asia, this year's zodiac is Pig. When this custom imported into Japan, pig was not popular in Japan because most of Japanese people hadn't eaten meat (except for fish meat) and even hadn't seen pigs. So pig was translated into wild boar which was more popular in Japan. Interesting, isn't it?

Instead of the thrown beans, we bought the pack of beans at the supermarket in my neiboughood. When I was a kid, in the Setubun days, we were scattering beans from the window and shouting the magic words "Oni wa soto!" (Devils, go away!). The good memory of Setsubun. Regrettably, we can't do that because now we are living in the condo. Instead of that we ate the same number of beans as our ages; it is also believed as the charm of health and wealth.
I found Kazu has posted an article "mamemaki at home" on his weblog. They were having fun!
Did you enjoy mamemaki at home?

Kagurazaka: Tiny and cozy street. There are many good shops and restaurants. Kagurazaka was also famous for Geisha. Even now, you can find some Geishas in the ceremony like Setsubun.
The closest station is Iidabashi(JR:Chuo-line / Metro:Nanboku-line).

Ice skating @Nikko Kanaya Hotel / Tochigi pref

2007-01-26T20:51:00.001+09:00

My daughter and I went to Nikko to go ice skating with friends,,, strictly speaking, with my parent's friends and their kids or grandkids. We stayed at Nikko Kanaya Hotel where one of the oldest resort hotel in Japan. There are many interesting interiors. I'll show you some of them.

The ceiling of the old dining room.

This kind of ceiling art is often found in Japanese shrine or temple. You can also see it in the main dining room of the Hakone Fujiya Hotel.

The "real" art deco lamp which was made in Meiji era.

We stayed at annex. This is the front door of annex. Cool carving, isn't it?

There were old photos(around 1900) of the hotel. It seemed the exterior was almost the same as the present Kanaya Hotel.

We enjoyed skating in the hotel rink. It's an open air natural rink. It was sunny, the air was crisp and the ice condition was great. I'm not a professional skater and don't have any knowledge of ice condition, but I feel more comfortable when I'm skating there, rather than the machine controled indoor skate rinks in Tokyo.

There is a cozy cottage in the rink side. Grannies see their grandkids skating through the window, or have a tea around the fireplace,

but the cottage was used as a photo gallery this winter, so the grannies were waiting in here.

From the rink, you can see the Nantaisan mountain; one of the "Nihon 100 mei-san (best 100 mountains in Japan)".

I really regret that I didn't take any photos of dinner/breakfast/lunch, although dining was the highlight of our trip. I should've taken them but I had forgotten about photos until I ate up them all because they were so wonderful.
If you have a chance to visit Nikko, I strongly recommend you to have a lunch or dinner at the main dining room in this hotel. Especially, the trout is best! Actually, it's a little bit expensive (for me who have a 500yen-lunch-box everyday), but I believe it's worth more than the price. Don't miss it.

Nikko Kanaya Hotel
Nikko Kanaya Hotel -Dining room- (including breakfast, lunch and dinner menu)

New Year days

2007-01-17T15:29:00.001+09:00

Yeah, I know it's toooo late to post such topic, but I'd like to start this 2007's posting with the Oshogatsu photos. Please allow me to introduce our New Year scene.

Let me start with food.
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There are variety of Ozoni in Japan, white miso-based soup, red miso-based soup, chicken-based soup or bonito-based soup / round-shaped Mochi or square-shaped Mochi / baked or not baked. My wife is from Osaka, a white miso-based soup with round-shaped Mochi(not baked) is popular there. Meanwhile, I was raised with Ozoni with chicken soup and baked squre-shaped Mochi. Of course I love both.
I heard that the Ozoni of Shikoku-area(southwest Japan) include Mochi with Anko(sweet bean paste). I've never had that and I cannot imagine the taste. Does anyone know the taste?

Janualy 2nd, we visited my parents in the suburbs of Yokohama.
BTW, do you know the Hakone Ekiden race? This is the intercollegiate marathon relay race which held on 2nd and 3rd Janualy. 10 runners of 20 teams from Kanto-area relay the Tasuki baton between Tokyo and Hakone. This race began in 1920. It has become a signature event of New Year.
Our parents house is located near the Ekiden course and I went out to see the live race.

During the Ekiden, the Route #1 is occupied by runners, staffs and broadcasters.

Hurrah!

Hakone Ekiden has produced lots of great runners, including Olympic medalist.
I reckon some of guys who entered this year's race will perform great run at the Beijin Olympic game 2008.

Let me introduce the guests who visited my parents house.
My father put a cut orange on the tree for birds. Two Mejiro came to the yard.

Please click the photo to enlarge. You'll can see 2 Mejiro in this pic.

I took these photos from behind the window. Not bad, is it?

I hope this year 2007 will be a happy and successful one for you all!

Fallen leaves / Nezu shrine

2006-12-22T08:24:00.000+09:00

The season of the ginkgo leaves has almost finished. The leaves that entertained us have started to fallen. Last Sunday morning, Lee and Shige visited the Nezu shrine to enjoy the last yellowed ginkgos.

Last time we visit there, we came into the big festival of 300 anniversary (the festival's report is here), so the shrine yard was filled with so many people. Last Sunday, there was filled with calm and peaseful atomosphere.

Sniff shiff. Lee was cheking th sweeped and collected "momiji (maple)" leaves. Right after Shige shot this photo, Lee jumped into this "bed".

The history of this shrine had started around 1900 years ago (really?!). The original shrine had been established at Sendagi. In the reign of Tokugawa, the shrine had become bigger and bigger under the aegis of the Shogun family. Then, 300 years ago, the 5th Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi had removed and rebuilt in the present place. The 6th Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu held the gorgeous festival in 1706. You can check the sketch of the 1706 parade in previous post. The festival we saw last Sepetemver was the 300 aniversary of it.

In the shrine yard there are many beautiful national important cultural assets, including the main building and the gates.

Ginkgo leaves turned to bright yellow / Kishibojin-Zoshigaya-Myougadani

2006-12-05T12:37:00.000+09:00

Finally, it's the last month of the year 2006. Tree's leaves are turning to autumn color and falling down.
When I(Shige) was a child, I often smelled the fall leaf burning, and it told me that winter was coming soon. It was smoky but a little bit sweet scent. I loved that inscence.
Nowadays, I seldom get a sniff of the burning of fallen leaves.
How is your neighborhood?

I went for a walk with Lee to enjoy the yellow colored ginkgo leaves.

Kishibojin has an old ginkgo tree that is said to be 600 years old.

Kishibojin has perfectly changed the atmosphere from the summer(see the previous post).
I love both, the summer and the fall.

Zoshigaya cemetery's ginkgo leaves.

At the "Kyoiku-no-Mori" park.

This is the place I routinely visit during the morning walk with Lee.

This place was originally the campus of a university. At 1st, "Tokyo Koto Shihan Gakko(Tokyo higher normal school)" was established here in Meiji era, then it was restructured as "Tokyo Kyoiku Daigaku(Tokyo University of Education)" after the WW2. When it turned to the University of Tsukuba in 1975, most of the facilities were moved to Tsukuba city of Ibaraki prefecture, and the vacant site of the University turned into the park. This park includes the gym, indoor swimming pool, the playground, etc. The closest station is Myogadani of the Marunouchi-line (Tokyo Metro).