not exactly from 市川のアイリンクタウンの展望室

Following a tip I received online I took a train from central Tokyo to the city of Ichikawa to the east of Tokyo. There is a 45-story building in Ichikawa (called I-Line Town) that towers above everything around it and provides a potentially spectacular free view of Tokyo, including the Sky Tree. Unfortunately, the free observation deck is behind thick, hazy glass, and there are numerous things on the other side of the glass that obstruct the otherwise impressive view.

On the day I went it was extremely humid so I couldn’t see much of anything in Tokyo from the 展望室. For best results go in the early morning or at dusk.

The best view was the one shown in today’s photo which was from the glass elevator, not the room with the view, which looked toward a less humid portion of Tokyo (Ichikawa 市川市 actually).

The tip, by the way, came from this photo which I saw on Flickr.

Posted on January 10th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: aerial photography, mt. fuji, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, sky tree, sunset, Tokyo. Comments Off on Tokyo from a glass elevator

omikuji in Tokyo’s Chokokuji (長谷寺)

Halfway between the Shibuya and Roppongi Stations (but closer to the Omotesando Station than any other) you can find the Chokoku Buddhist Temple. Far less famous than its counterpart in Kamakura that bears the same characters but is pronounced very differently, Chokokuji was an interesting place to visit. We were the only ones there (except for a turtle that crept along freely as if he/she owned the place), the temple houses an impressive giant Kannon statue, with a peaceful face, made out of wood.

If you want to look for this place online, you’ll end up at the Kamakura temple if you put in 長谷寺 so be sure to include 西麻布 in your search.

Rousoku (蝋燭 or ろうそく or ロウソク) means candle. Smalls were 30 yen and larges were 100 yen.

In today’s photo it looks like someone may have stolen from the omikuji box once upon a time. I’m guessing doing so is bad luck.

Posted on January 6th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, japanese language, omikuji, Tokyo. Comments Off on Omikuji

Otsuki City’s Kuradakesan (倉岳山)

While following one of the suggested hikes in the book “Day Walks Near Tokyo” (sadly, this was now more than five years ago) I came across the map below at the mountain top above.

map of Otsuki’s 12 peaks with beautiful views of Mt. Fuji

Apparently there are 11 other awesome hikes near Otsuki. I need to get back to Japan for some more exploring.

There is also a website, in Japanese, about these 12 views here. The website includes many photos from contests they’ve had over the years. Here is one of them:

Posted on January 5th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: hiking, mt. fuji, otsuki. Comments Off on Otsuki’s 12 beautiful viewing peaks of Mt. Fuji (大月市・秀麗富嶽十二景)

白川村

Posted on January 4th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: shirakawago, thatch roof. Comments Off on Shirakawago

Kushida Jinja (Fukuoka, Japan) cement torii blocks from central shrine

The acreage under many of Japan’s Shinto shrines has decreased over the years. The torii gate in today’s photo welcomes you to Kushida Jinja, yet you have to walk a while to get from this gate to the modern shrine grounds these days. Does the shrine still own all of the land between its historic perimeter and its current location? I don’t know.

Posted on December 31st, 2014 under Japan. Tags: fukuoka, kushida jinja, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, shinto, torii. Comments Off on Shrinking areas of Japanese shrines