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Posts tagged japan pictures
諏訪神社 祭り Suwa Jinja Matsuri (Festival) – Part 1
This past Saturday I spent about 3 hours on trains going to and from one of the places where I am teaching (Atsugi Naval Air Base). There were many more people dressed up in summer yukata than normal. It dawned on me that, it being a Saturday, summer festivals could be happening. As I exited my train station I took a look at the nearby display board of public events. On the one I was looking at there was a notice for a 祭り (matsuri or festival) at 諏訪神社 for that day and the following day.
I told the family when I got home that they probably shouldn’t eat much at home. They were still unprepared for their first summer festival, however, as they didn’t come hungry.
Festivals aren’t just about food though. There are lots of games too. The game above allows you to catch (and sometimes keep) goldfish.
The above sign says that you can catch and keep up to 5 fish for 300 yen. If you want to just catch them for fun (and not keep any) then the price drops to 200 yen (about $2).
If goldfish aren’t your thing then perhaps you’d like to fish for toys instead?
The last photo is supposed to be one of the traditional, Japanese summer dress. The yukata look authentic, but I don’t believe Crocs were very styling in the Edo Period.
Golden Arches and the Mirrored, Gray Arch
For the current McDonald’s ad campaign in Japan they have chosen a random foreigner to be the poster child. They stuck some geeky-looking glasses on him, put a heart above his head, and attached the slogan “Nippon All Stars.” What any one of these many components have to do with each other, McDonald’s, or anything else is a mystery to me. I suppose that is the case for anyone seeing the ads as well.
Currently, Mr. Nippon All Stars (actually I think they are calling him Mr. James) is pushing the “Tamago Double Mac” (たまごダブルマック) which is a piece of bacon, an egg, and two hamburger patties on a bun. I will pass on that one.
Uni Qlo, in the background of the above photo, is a clothing store which we have already endowed with a few thousand yen. The prices are pretty good and the selection is nice. What does Uni Qlo (or Uniqlo) mean you ask? I have no idea.
From the front of Uniqlo a different view of the Golden Arches can be obtained. I believe this is a Waseda University building forming the single arch across the (Meiji Doori) street. The main campus is a 10 minute walk to the northeast though.
Friends in the neighborhood
From my apartment window I can see the top of a Buddhist temple not far away. It took me almost a week to actually pay the place a visit. The Nichiren sect temple is called Ryochoin (亮朝院). The structure and grounds are set a bit above the rest of the neighborhood. At this link you can see an old Edo Period drawing of the place.
These two guys are the Nio guardians of the Buddha. Usually they are in the sides of the gate leading to the temple and made of wood, but at this temple they are out in the open, past the gate, at the top of the stone stairs, and made of stone. I posted some more typical pictures of them previously.
I imagine I’ll be taking many morning walks through these temple and burial grounds in the coming year. It’s nice to have so much protection nearby. 😉
This last protector is on the roof of the bell tower at 亮朝院.
早稲田通り Waseda Street
This is the view each day as my kids walk home down Waseda Doori toward our apartment halfway between Takadanobaba Station (高田馬場駅 – just behind me when I took this picture) and Waseda University.
築地 – Tsukiji – Part 1
I’m writing this at 4 in the morning on our 5th day in Japan. When will I be able to sleep like a normal human being again? I don’t know. Hopefully soon. What are the causes you ask? It’s a combination of factors I suppose. Jet lag is probably the biggest one. My excitement over each day is another. A pillow I have yet to become fond of is also a possible contributor. Finally, I get too hot without the AC on, yet I can’t sleep with any sort of fan blowing on me either. Am I tired? You betcha. Can I sleep? Not to save my life. Oh well, this will pass at some point.
Yesterday morning I was also up by 4. My daughter has usually been up by 4 as well. Since there is nothing else to do at 4 in the morning, my daughter and I decided to go to the world’s largest fish market. We went to Tsukiji once before, two years ago, but I felt rather unfulfilled since we never found the tuna auction on that morning, my SD card of pictures from the day (including the Tokyo International Anime Fair) went bad and I lost all the photos in the process, and we didn’t sample the sushi. This time we succeeded on all three accounts that we failed before.
The first train doesn’t run until 5 in the morning. We were on that first metro, leaving Takadanobaba at 5:06. I’m not sure why they don’t begin earlier as many people need to get to Tsukiji before 5:30. The first train was packed by the time we got there, standing room only, and Tsukiji workers were literally running to their jobs at 5:30 a.m. It was quite a sight considering the early hour. Surprisingly, thousands of people were already at Tsukiji. I wondered how they all got there without the trains yet running. I suppose some live in the area, but then I spied one of the large, motorbike/motorcycle parking lots.
The seemingly endless rows of fresh seafood and the variety are staggering. I’ll share a few of the 100+ pictures I took in this Tsukiji series.
The characters for Tsukiji (築地) mean “build earth.” That is because this neck of the Tokyo woods (and indeed many coastal areas in Japan) is artificial land or land reclamation. I read a book on Tsukiji before visiting last time, and that helps to make Tsukiji more meaningful to me than it may be to some.
The tuna auction was the highlight of our trip this time. I’ll show you a video of it in a future post in this series.