Fall semester ended at Waseda University early in February. The entire campus was immediately transformed into a giant testing center. For most of February there are daily entrance exams for high school students (and some college students looking to upgrade schools) trying to get into Waseda. Most of the normal entrances to campus have been closed. The one or two that are open feature tight security.

For the few of us walking around campus it is rather bizarre. Just a few weeks ago there were tens of thousands of students. Now you can do several laps around the buildings and see few, if any, people. Regular students cannot enter campus.

The other morning, a Sunday no less, I happened to arrive just as some test takers were. We were greeted with shouts of ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) and ganbare (good luck/hang in there/do your best) from a cheering section of people. Not only did I have to show my ID to several people in order to get to my office, I had to show my ID to leave campus as well. I’m guessing they had a problem with someone pretending to be someone else to get that someone else into school at least once in their history. Why else would they have this ridiculous amount of security?

The sign above says test takers are not allowed to leave campus until the last test has been completed.

Personally, I prefer the normal campus to the February “prison” campus.

Posted on February 24th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buildings, signs, waseda university. Comments: None

Toki no kane (時の鐘) is the name of Kawagoe’s original bell tower, which is still used four times a day. We heard the noon ringing. The original is about 400 years old. This one was built in 1893, after the great fire that burned most of the town. If you look closely at the bottom, right part of this picture you can see some newlyweds having their pictures taken.

The bell and tower are also featured on Kawagoe’s manhole drain covers. (Kawagoeshi = かわごえし = 川越市 and shi means “city” in Japanese) (おすい = 汚水 and osui means “sewage” in Japanese)

There are all kinds of interesting shops and restaurants in Kawagoe. The one pictured above is called the Garden Cafe, run completely out of an old VW van, which I’m guessing isn’t from the Edo Period.

Posted on January 26th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buildings, drainspotting, jinrikisha, kawagoe. Comments: None

Last week we had some unseasonably warm days. On Wednesday we went to Kawagoe (川越) in Saitama Ken (埼玉県) to be tourists in “Little Edo” (小江戸). There is very little in town that is actually from the Edo Period, but there are many old buildings from the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, some made to look like they are from the Edo Period. It made for a great day trip from Tokyo, especially on a weekday with no crowds.

I lived in nearby Tokorozawa many years ago, but this was my first visit to Kawagoe.

We arrived at one of the temples (or was it a shrine?) just as the neighboring kindergarten was letting out. All the moms parked their bikes on the temple grounds before picking up their kids.

This lovely, 360-year-old building is known as Jigendo (慈眼堂) and can be found on the grounds of Kitain (喜多院).

Posted on January 25th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: bikes, buildings, kawagoe. Comments: 1

I’ll wrap up Thailand’s Grand Palace today with another flurry of photos.

This Thai man was working on the grounds. The above, close-up shot doesn’t fully revel his environment so I went for a wide angle shot, below, as well.

Just like Denmark and Norway, the king of Thailand has his guards too.

Above is the Chakri Maha Prasat Hall. We didn’t see any live elephants in Bangkok, but we saw many in Phuket a few days later.

I caught these two hanging out on the grounds of the Grand Palace.

The place almost looks like Disneyland… Older and not so phony though…

These two, Thai Buddhist monks sported far larger, fancier, and more expensive camera equipment than my little TZ7.

This last structure is called the Aphorn Phimok Prasat Pavilion.

Posted on January 6th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, buddhist, buildings, clouds, people, skywatch. Comments: None