Snowy Toshogu
My random, desktop image of the day is this photo from Toshogu in Nikko. I took this picture this past February. Although this building looks rather splendid, especially in the snow, it’s actually a mere storeroom.
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Chanko ちゃんこ
This is a picture of Chanko or Sumo Soup. You can actually purchase and consume Chanko at the Sumo arena (Ryogoku Kokugikan) in Tokyo if you know where to look and are there at the right time. I took this picture there last September. The price can’t be beat at just 250 yen a bowl. I went back for seconds.
The November tournament in Kyushu just finished, and it turned out far more exciting than I predicted a couple weeks ago. Toyonoshima lost just one match to become the first Japanese sumo wrestler with a chance to win the tournament in many years. However, he lost a playoff to Hakuho, who also had only one defeat, extending Hakuho’s dominance of the sport.
Hair Imagine Shinto Shrine
The Tenso Jinja Shinto Shrine near our apartment frequently has festivals. Lanterns are strung up for the occasion. Not that I ever saw another foreigner there, but a foreigner who couldn’t read Japanese would probably look at the lanterns as rather exotic and quite cool with the Japanese characters and all. As I mentioned before, though, such lanterns are just advertisements.
The ad for the lantern on the far right, for instance, is for ヘアーイマジン (Hair Imagine), probably a local hair salon. Next to it is 一風堂 (Ippudo), a ramen restaurant. They actually have Ippudo Ramen in New York now. Hopefully it spreads across the country and one opens in my town. See, the advertising worked! 😉
An Engakuji Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving I’m in Eugene, Oregon eating a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with family. Last Thanksgiving I went to Kamakura by myself and had a PB&J to eat. The food may be better this year, but I’ll always remember the fall colors from my Thanksgiving in Kamakura.
Karaoke and Party in Ikebukuro
The establishment in the background says “Karaoke and Party” (カラオケ & パーテイー). If you have seen “Lost in Translation” you may be familiar with these kinds of places. This particular カラオケ館 (they are all over Tokyo) is to the southeast of Ikebukuro Station.
Nishi Waseda Park Tower
Today’s photo is from Kansenen, the nice little park near our apartment in Shinjuku Ku. The building is Nishi Waseda Park Tower, a building that we saw daily out the window of our apartment even though we were on the ground floor. This residential tower is currently the 35th tallest building in Shinjuku Ku. 25 of the tallest 35 buildings in Shinjuku Ku were built since I left Japan in 1989. Needless to say, things look very different in Tokyo and will continue to change at a rapid pace I’m sure.
Nishi Waseda Park Tower is either on, or right next to, what was once Waseda University’s baseball stadium (Totsuka or Abe Kyujo, 戸塚球場, later called 安部球場). Most of the baseball field now has the library sitting on it.
While looking at an old map of the area, posted next to an old shrine, one day I noticed the stadium on the map and asked the lady who was chatting with me how long ago the stadium was there. She had fond memories of watching baseball games there in her early years. Now Waseda plays its baseball games at Jingu Stadium.