The other night I was going through a box of old things and found some postcards I purchased in the 1980s while in Japan. One was a picture of Shinjuku. I showed it to my son (who looked at the Shinjuku skyline on a daily basis for the past year) and asked him where the picture was taken. He had no idea. The place has changed that much. In the postcard there are about a half dozen skyscrapers. In the picture I took above (from Shinagawa) in 2009 there are over 50 buildings that are more than 20 stories high, most can’t even be seen because they are being blocked by other, taller buildings.

Posted on October 7th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buildings, shinjuku, Tokyo. Comments Off on Shinjuku

Today’s photo is of an alley near the Ueno Train Station.

Posted on October 6th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: bikes, signs, ueno. Comments Off on Ueno Alley

I didn’t know which blog this would be most fitting to post on so I’m posting it, with different photos, both here and on my Ashland Daily Photo blog.

This past Sunday, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was having its “Culture Fest.” At noon a matinée Green Show featured Mitsuki Dazai on the Japanese koto. Ms. Dazai was lots of fun between songs, telling stories and enchanting the crowd.

Here she is performing Shaei (斜影 or “Diagonal Shadows”) by Hikaru Sawai (沢井 比河流). Sawai was in a heavy metal band before writing this piece for the koto.

Posted on October 5th, 2010 under Japan, Oregon. Tags: people, video. Comments Off on Heavy Metal Koto

The Japanese Pro Baseball league is supposed to be over by now, but there is still another week to go before the playoffs. Why? Games are being made up at the end of the season. Some teams are done. Others still have as many as five games to play. Weird, huh? That’s nothing. Here are some other strange things…

My team, the Seibu Lions, finished in second place even though they had two more wins than the Softbank Hawks who came in first. What? How can this be? They also had two more loses than the Hawks. The Hawks tied 5 times, while the Lions tied only once. OK, so that makes no sense to those only familiar with MLB.

Today’s picture is something else that will be quite odd for those who haven’t been to a game in Japan. Who is this guy and what is his purpose? I’ll give you a hint. He isn’t an usher or security guard. He isn’t even a cheerleader.

Posted on October 3rd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, seibu lions. Comments Off on Differences in Japanese Professional Baseball

Today’s pic is a bit out of season. I took this back in February when the ume were in full bloom at 亮朝院.

Posted on October 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, lanterns, nishi-waseda, temples. Comments Off on Plum blossoms at Ryochoin