At long last, snow in Tokyo. Never trust the weather forecast. “Rain all day” it said – and here we are, with gorgeous snow swirling everywhere and even starting to stick. I grew up with snow and missed it when I lived in California (as you know if you read […] Read more
Omi-Jingu is seeing a different sort of pilgrimage than it’s used to these days. Having made the journey to Enoshima last month and seeing that York Shin isn’t likely to be an option anytime soon, there was never really any question that I’d be visiting Omi-Jingu while in Kyoto. And […] Read more
I haven’t had many of them, but this was one of those days where from the first moment, everything just seemed destined to be right. The road to Kurama is a winding path; at a glance the distance appears to be quite near, but it is quite far. – Sei […] Read more
If you’ve never been to Kyoto, it’s mighty hard to grasp the sheer magic of the place. In a way I find it a rather frustrating destination, because no matter how much time I spend here I can always find a list of things a mile long that I don’t […] Read more
I swear there are times this country is so sugoi I think my head is going to pop like a champagne cork… It’s Hatsumode time in Japan, and that means a visit to a temple or shrine on the first three days of the year. For many that comes on […] Read more
I wouldn’t exactly call attending Comiket fun, per se, but in a way I do think it’s sort of (stay with me here) inspirational. I think I played up the sheer terror of Comiket in my mind so much that in the actuality of the thing, it really wasn’t all […] Read more
Nikko is a good place to go if you want to dispel the notion that all of Japan displays a Zen sensibility. I made the 2-hour trip to Nikko yesterday. Along with Kamakura it’s probably the most historically important (and popular) destination with reach of an easy day trip from […] Read more
Holidays are a wonderful way to bring the differences between cultures into focus. I spent Christmas Eve in real Tokyo style – in a proper Japanese queue. I waited over an hour to slowly proceed through another Tokyo tradition – the “light-up”, this one at the Tokyo Midtown complex in […] Read more
Sometimes the reality lives up to the fantasy. This post was derailed by my untimely meeting with e.coli (or his cousin salmonella) but before I fell ill I’d spent the day on a return trip to Kamakura, wanting a chance to revisit on a sunny day and take things at […] Read more
It’s finally autumn for real in Tokyo, at least as far as the momiji are concerned. I stopped by the Koshikawa Korakouen yesterday before school. It’s about a 15-minute walk from my apartment, and quite a lovely place, though there’s something a bit surreal about walking a 17th-Century stroll garden […] Read more