It’s a great feeling at night when I’ve finished my class and commute and find myself at Takadanobaba Station ready to walk the final stretch home. Recently I’ve come to anticipate the street musician just outside of the station. He plays a shamisen but not like the geisha. No, he plays a heavy metal version that is quite unique. I really like the vibe.

I was going to talk to him on the night I took the above picture. However, as I approached him he scowled as he tuned his three strings. I figured I should keep my distance. So I went across the street to get a picture. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a clear shot as people kept passing before him.

While I waited for people to clear out, I turned my lens to an icon of the area, Big Box.

The view got nicer, at times, but I still didn’t ever get a good photo of the Metal Shamisen Dude. Next time, if I get up the courage, I’ll ask him if I can take a video.

From there I walked down Waseda Doori passing many curious shops. The one above features an 赤提灯 (あかちょうちん, akachochin, or red lantern) that seems to have been in use for decades. Rather than replace it, they have put plastic over it to keep it from wearing out so fast. The bottom half is literally hanging by a thread.

Places with an akachochin out front are great for a drink and/or bite to eat.

Farther down the street (upper right corner of the above photo) you can see Wendy’s, one of the last places in Japan to not ban smoking. The place reeks inside. Japan’s smoking habits have really changed in the past 20 years. When I was here in the 1980s people smoked everywhere. Now, seeing someone smoking is something of a rarity. There are small, designated smoking areas outside of most train stations, away from the major traffic areas. I no longer have to experience the stink, unless I’m walking by Wendy’s at the same time a customer is coming out the door.

Posted on September 21st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: japan pictures, night photography, nishi-waseda, people, takadanobaba. Comments: 2

Yamituki Curry is the closest restaurant to our abode. It is also quite yummy. There are 12 curry dishes to choose from and go for about 800 yen each. Unless you are extremely hungry, splitting one with a friend is the way to go. They taste quite different from typical Japanese curry. Many feature cheese in the sauce–very unique and delicious. I believe this is a chain and can be found outside of Nishi-Waseda as well although I’m not sure where.

Posted on September 3rd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: curry, food, night photography, nishi-waseda, recommendations, reviews. Comments Off on Yamituki Curry (やみつきかりー)

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.

Posted on August 23rd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, japan pictures, night photography, people, signs, takadanobaba. Comments: 2

First a little Japanese lesson for you. Bon Odori can be written in three ways in Japanese–ぼんおどり (all hiragana), 盆おどり (kanji and hiragana like the lanterns on my street pictured above), or 盆踊り (mostly kanji).

Bon (or o-bon) means the annual summer festival which celebrates or brings to mind the deceased. O-bon happens in both July and August, usually around the 15th of each month. In some parts of Japan it is only celebrated once, rather than in both months.

Odori simply means “dance.” Odoru is a verb meaning “to dance.” Put Bon and Odori together to get something that loosely means “dance of the dead.” Viewing a Bon Odori doesn’t conjure up visions of a dance of the dead however.

After the magic that was the first night’s dance I made sure my family came with on the second night, even though my daughter had already fallen asleep again. I brought her in a nearly comatose state so perhaps it was a dance of the dead after all. 😉

I think they really enjoyed it too, especially watching the little girls, all dressed up, trying to learn the dances from their mothers and grandmothers. The taiko drumming that accompanies the dance is fun to experience as well.

After each song an announcer thanks everyone for their participation and then introduces the following number. They probably did a dozen different songs, or more, each night. Each song has a different dance with which it is associated. Some of the participants were amazing in their ability to remember the steps and movements in each of the folk dances. I don’t think they ever do the bon dances outside of the night or two each year.

My wife and daughter were invited to join the dance, but they politely declined.

The songs remained in my dreams both nights, going through my head over and over again. Maybe we’ll still be around next year (in July anyway) to catch another Bon Odori or two.

Posted on August 18th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: bon odori, japan pictures, night photography, nishi-waseda, shinto, taiko, Tokyo, torii, video. Comments: 1

It has been 21 years since I saw my last Bon Odori. The dancers came right down the street I was living on at the time in Kofu, Yamanashi Ken. Fast forward to the present and the morning after we arrived in Japan. I saw an announcement that the local shrine in Nishi-Waseda was having a Bon Odori on that very night and the following evening as well. I was so excited!

My family didn’t have the energy to attend, and my daughter feel asleep before the dance began, so I headed to the shrine on my own. It is only a two minute walk. The music began just as I arrived. There were only a dozen or so dancers. The dancers’ husbands were all sitting together, in matching yukata, fanning themselves.

As the music reached the ears of our neighbors, they all seemed to creep out of their homes and make it to the shrine. By the time I left, an hour later, over a hundred people were in attendance, and the number of dancers had increased by several fold.

I was, of course, the only non-Japanese person there. The whole evening was enchanting. I felt as though I had traveled through time and space. The tall, modern, Tokyo buildings couldn’t be seen in the darkness. The light from the paper lanterns was dim, and the shrine in the background provided the perfect setting. My lack of a yukata and foreign looks seemed to ruin the authenticity so I stayed back in the shadows.

Posted on August 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: bon odori, festivals, japan pictures, night photography, nishi-waseda, shinto, taiko, Tokyo, 天祖神社. Comments: 2