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If you arrive to sumo early in the day you can watch the lesser ranks do battle. Sometimes the matchups seem hardly fair, but they are entertaining anyway.
I took today’s photo just before the big yakuza sumo scandal. In looking at the photo closely, I’m thinking those guys right in front of me could have been yakuza. Hmmmm….
Today is Setsubun (節分) in Japan. Even if you aren’t in Japan, if you happen to run into a Japanese person, today is a good day to say “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (out with the devils, in with the luck) to them.
Today’s photo is from the Setsubun bean-throwing festivities at Rinnoji in Nikko. They threw treats and prizes instead of beans. We were handed handfuls of beans as we headed out after though.
There were several famous actors who tossed the prizes. In this photo, for instance, you can see Nakayama Jin (中山 仁) and Otonashi Mikiko (音無 美紀子), whose names are displayed beneath them.
There are three places in the world where you can find both the Eiffel Tower (or something similar) and the Statue of Liberty (or something similar). Can you name them?
The first one is easy–Paris. There you can find the original Eiffel Tower and one of the original Statue of Liberties.
The second place is today’s photo. In Tokyo you can find Tokyo Tower, modelled after the Eiffel Tower, and a recent Statue of Liberty–separated by the Rainbow Bridge across Tokyo Bay.
The third place features the newest copies–Las Vegas.
In less than five months I’ll be checking out the Statue of Liberty in New York for the first time.
Today’s photo brings a smile to my face. Since I’m usually the one holding the camera, it is rare that I’m actually in a photo, but in this case someone must have thought the ridiculousness of the scene warranted a photo. Ellie seems to think that my singing literally stinks. 😉 Ryan is sporting his Unicorn t-shirt we picked up (just down the street from this Karaokekan–カラオケ館–in fact) at Uniqlo.
If you can read Japanese, you already know what this photo is about. If you can’t, try and guess. A funeral? A wedding? But why all the kids? I’ll give you a hint, I took this photo in April. Still not getting it?
April is when school starts in Japan. This is the first day of school at a Japanese kindergarten. And the first day of school for these four- and five-year olds is a huge deal. Just getting accepted to some Japanese kindergartens is a big deal. One of my Japanese friends paid tens of thousands of yen for a kindergarten prep-school for her three-year old daughter so that she could get into a good kindergarten. Crazy right? This is not a rare occurrence. If you see a Japanese mom with a three- or four-year old, both dressed to the T, in a train station in Japan the odds are very good that they are on their way to, or from, one of these kindergarten prep schools.
幼稚園入園式 = yochiennyuenshiki = Kindergarten Entrance Ceremony
Japanese photographer takes aim at some plum blossoms in Ikegamibaien (池上梅園)
When you get bored of taking photos of flower blossoms in Japan you can always turn your camera on the dozens of (mostly) old, Japanese men targeting the flowers with their giant DSLRs.
One of the best places to see plum blossoms this time of year in (or near) Tokyo is Ikegami Baien. The flowers probably won’t hit their peak for another few weeks, but the viewing should be good for the next six or seven weeks.