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I took today’s photo at Ikegami Baien. An artist had multiple works of bonsai on display and ready to sale.
By the way, if you are in the Tokyo area during the next three weeks or so (late February and early March) you should check this place out. The plum blossoms are amazing.
I’m a sucker for thatched roofs. While on water walk #8 I stumbled across this deserted temple. This view from under the old thatched-roof gate was breathtaking. I wandered the grounds for a long while without encountering another soul. Clearly the place was well maintained though. The loving care that went into this pine tree alone was remarkable. There was a lotus pond (photos coming someday). I lingered so long at Kaiganji that by the time I got to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in nearby Koganei Park I was starving. I opted to eat instead of go to the museum, something I now regret. Someday I will have to go back to make up for this blunder!
I love everything about a good traditional Japanese restaurant–the food, the service, the atmosphere. We ate at the place in today’s photo in Kawagoe.
The national pastime in Japan is not baseball or sumo; it is bathing. These days, most people have a really nice ofuro (お風呂) room in their apartment for such activities. Back in the day, few people could afford such a luxury so they went to the sento (銭湯 or public bath or bath-house) on a regular basis. Sadly, most of these are now gone.
You can still spot the remaining sento from a distance, though, because of the smoke stack (visible in the above picture). Notice that no steam is coming out of this one. That’s because it is no longer used as a sento. Instead, Scai the Bathhouse, the name written in English on the wall in the above photo, has been converted into an art gallery. You can find it in the Yanaka part of Tokyo.
The wires hanging above the streets in Japan drove me crazy for a while. Then I got used to them and hardly took notice. Returning to the USA caused me to notice the lack of wires. It’s strange how the mind works–focusing on differences rather than the “normal.”
Ellie took today’s photo on the day before Valentine’s Day last year in Tokyo. I think she was in a train or subway station. Valentine’s Day works a bit different in Japan. Instead of swapping valentines with significant others, or guys getting their gals flowers or chocolate, females give males chocolate (and not just because they like them). That’s about it–no dinners together or real romance. If a Japanese girl gives you chocolate today be sure to give her chocolate back on White Day in a month.
More than a year ago I promised some photos from the Momoteshiki held at Meiji Jingu on Seijin No Hi. The dress was amazing as was their skill. Hopefully it won’t be another year before I break out another of these photos.