This past Sunday, Ellie was invited to Maya‘s Ballet Festival in Kodaira, just west of Tokyo. The quality of the performance was surprising. The kids were much better than I was expecting, and the costumes were stunning for an amateur, show-off-what-your-kid-has-learned-in-class type of event.

The above is Maya…

And Maya’s friendly friends Ririka and Kanon.

After the Ballet Festival (小平市民文化祭のバレエ・フェスティバル), some pictures were taken, and then we jumped in a cab to head off for dinner, which was even more fun.

Posted on November 30th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: ellie, kids, people. Comments: 5

On a recent Friday, Linda, Ryan, and I visited Asakusa. I thought it wouldn’t be so crowded, being as how it wasn’t a weekend. However, it was swarming with people, just like how I remembered it from my first visit here in the late 1980s.

Nakamisedori (仲見世通り) is a long street, featuring almost 100 shops as you approach the temple. The exterior of the temple is currently being remodeled. The original temple is the oldest in Tokyo.

We followed the tour/map in Tokyo: Exploring the City of the Shogun (which I recommend) for the most part, but the pictures you see here are out of order.

Here we are in front of the famous Kaminarimon (雷門). Ryan is growing fast. He passed up his mom a few weeks back and may catch me here soon too.

I have no idea what this last image is supposed to be. 踊神 means “dancing god,” but this is the ugliest looking dancing god (that can’t even dance) I have ever seen. This shot was taken on Rokku Broadway (六区ブロードウェイ), near the Asakusa Entertainment Hall and Toyokan.

Posted on November 22nd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: asakusa, people, Tokyo. Comments Off on Asakusa (浅草) – Part 1

I understand that some of my relatives, following the blog, wanted to see more pictures of overweight males wearing little. So today’s entry is for them. 😉

It is at moments like those shown in the above photograph that you are glad you don’t have a first row seat. There isn’t much space outside the ring before the Sumo wrestlers fall into the spectators below. With hundreds of bouts in a day, several people end up with hundreds of pounds of flesh falling into their laps. I’d be surprised if there haven’t been some injuries.

Today’s pictures are from the September tournament. The November tournament is now underway in Fukuoka. The above photo is of the Ryogoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) in Tokyo.

As mentioned in a prior entry, the above yokozuna, Hakuho (白鵬), was defeated on this night. Hakuho has been the best sumo wrestler of late, winning 10 of the prior 15 tournaments. This photo captures his last happy moment of day 6 in the tournament. Hakuho went on to win the rest of his bouts, including one over the other yokozuna, Asashoryu. Unfortunately for him, Hakuho’s loss on day 6 of the tournament meant that he would have to beat Asashoryu twice to win the tournament. Asashoryu doesn’t lose twice in a row often and he didn’t on day 15 of the tournament either. Asashoryu won the September tournament with a record of 15-1, including the playoff victory, for only his fourth tournament victory in the past 16 tournaments.

I can hardly wait for January to come around as the tournament will return to Tokyo. I have tickets to the final day. Stay tuned.

Posted on November 21st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, clouds, hakuho, people, sumo. Comments: 4

Next stop on our Grutt Pass tour of Tokyo was 国立科学博物館附属自然教育園. That’s a mouthful. It doesn’t get much better in English with “Institute for Nature Study, National Museum of Nature and Science.”

This place is walking distance from Meguro Station. If you are looking for an uncrowded piece of nature in Tokyo then this is it. We were even there on a Sunday afternoon (by far the worst time to visit such places), and it was still very peaceful. No more than 300 people are allowed into the 200,000 square meter area at a time which means you’ll have plenty of elbow room.

Linda and Ryan enjoyed one of the ponds on the grounds while an old Japanese couple ate a bento nearby.

The trees in this place are really beautiful. There are countless kinds. They were all still very green for us in early November, but the place must be even more gorgeous in late November when the colors change.

Posted on November 13th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: grutt pass, nature, people, susuki, Tokyo. Comments: 2

Mt. Fuji sunset from Shinjuku (Tokyo, Japan – November 3, 2009)

On a recent, extremely clear sky day, after rain and wind, I went to the top of Shinjuku to watch the sun set. It was marvelous. And yes, that is Mt. Fuji (in the upper right part of the photo) from Tokyo. The sun set on one side of the building and then…

The moon rose over the other side of Shinjuku…

And then the people came out to play…

Posted on November 11th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, japan pictures, mt. fuji, night photography, people, shinjuku, sunset, Tokyo. Comments: 1