We’ve been in Japan for two months now. I remember on those first couple of days thinking that I should immediately take lots of pictures of interesting things in our neighborhood as they would soon become so common in my head that I would forget how curious they are to someone not living here. For whatever reason, I didn’t take those photos and now I can’t remember what those things were. As I originally thought, my immediate surroundings have become too familiar and are no longer strange.
On my walk to Waseda University I pass the above home. It is just around the corner from our apartment. While you may think that Tokyo is all high-rise apartment buildings, there are actually many neighborhoods with few such buildings. Ours is one of them.
The lady who lives in the above home is frequently out watering her plants or chatting with her neighbors. On this morning she is airing her futons, which is a common sight when the weather is nice.
A close up of some of her plants and flowers revels that Mrs. Uchida has won an award. If you can read Japanese click on the above photo to see her award for flowers and greenery.
When a matsuri is going to happen in the neighborhood these lanterns and gohei line the streets.
The streets of Japan, even a big city like Tokyo, are usually spotless and would be very aesthetically pleasing were it not for the power lines that obstruct and foul the view. Maybe one of these days they will be put underground.
Here is a rare camera angle that actually was able to capture a bit of Tokyo without any wires. This home doesn’t look very Tokyoish. It looks more like one you could find in Denmark or other parts of Europe. Our neighborhood has many such “different” homes. I’ll show you some more in later posts.
Posted on October 14th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, gohei, lanterns, nishi-waseda, Tokyo. Comments: 5
