Yes, it’s already blossom season in Tokyo. I paid a brief visit to the small but pretty Ushi Tenjin Shrine today, about a 20-minute walk from my apartment near Chuo University. The snow hasn’t even melted yet (in fact it flurried while I was there) but the shrine’s Ume Matsuri […] Read more
So fleeting, this fragile beauty. There’s definitely a metaphorical component to watching the snow melt away almost as quickly as it arrived in Tokyo. We ended up getting 27 CM officially (just about 11″) which is a respectable snowstorm even by Chicago standards. For Tokyo it was the largest snowfall […] Read more
I love snow. The Japan Meteorological Association issued its first Heavy Snow Warning for Tokyo in 13 years today. I feel really lucky to be here for this, because I love snow. I love the way it looks, the way it sounds when shoes crunch down on it, everything about […] Read more
February came in like a lamb. The unseasonably warm weather continues, so I paid a visit to Tsukishima today. It’s the 120 year-old man-made island across the Sumida River from Tsukiji, but you may know is as the setting for Umino Chica’s marvelous manga 3-gatsu no Lion. I’d never been […] Read more
More photos? Oh, why the hell not – it is a holiday weekend… Just a few pics today from my old haunt, Kanda Myojin. They’re holding their Daikoku Matsuri this weekend. Folks line up by the hundred to symbolically get bonked on the head by the guy on the right […] Read more
Cats everywhere. Just another lazy day of wandering about Shitamachi. This time it’s Gokokuji, which of all Tokyo’s most important temples is the closest to me. I took the 25-minute walk up there today and snapped some more pics (along with a few at a small but picturesque temple I […] Read more
I love the newly born year in Japan. Hatsumode is the tradition of visiting a shrine or temple to pray during the first three days of the year, and one which Japanese folks overwhelmingly observe, irrespective of their daily spiritual inclinations. There’s a strong element of family and community to […] Read more
Well – mostly. Hard to believe it’s my second New Year’s in Tokyo already. I actually have a TV this time, so I decided to start out with the classic Japanese New Year’s Eve tradition – the Kouhaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Competition) on NTV. It would be […] Read more
Boy, does that suck the life out of you. The “choose your own adventure book for fetishes” is back for it’s Winter incarnation. Maybe it was because I went on the first day this time (for 83 and 84 I never did) but the crowds were even more insane last […] Read more
It’s Shueshia’s world – they just let us use it. I didn’t go to Jump Festa last year – I was still pretty new to Japan, and Chiba seemed a lot farther away than it really is (about an hour with one transfer to Makuhari Messe, ¥480). In truth I’m […] Read more