The typical picture of the Waseda University campus looks something like the above. In the background is the Okuma Memorial Hall (which has the Okuma Auditorium inside). Actually, it’s just the bell tower you can see here. In the foreground is the statue of Shigenobu Okuma.

From this angle, with the help of the trees, it almost looks like the trees form, or frame, a heart around these icons of the campus. I suppose I could make t-shirts that say “I heart Waseda University” with this photo serving as the heart.

This next photo is not of Waseda University but is the view from the building on the Waseda University campus where I teach. The Shinjuku skyscrapers are a bit left of center. On a clear day I’m hoping I can see Mt. Fuji from here. I’ll let you know if that ever happens.

Finally, here is a not-so-typical angle on the Okuma statue. I took this one from Building 11, 14 stories above the statue itself.

Posted on October 13th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: shinjuku, Tokyo, waseda university. Comments: 9

You will not have a hard time finding a place to eat in Shinjuku at night. The streets are lined with places, sometimes six or more stories high. The restaurants aren’t hard to see either. With all the light coming from them, Shinjuku can be brighter at night than during the day.

The above photo is of one of the entrances to Kabuki-Cho on the east side of Shinjuku station. The building on the right has a 7-11 on the ground floor and then other floors featuring shabu-shabu, okonomiyaki (pancake filled with vegtables, squid, mayonnaise, etc.) and takoyaki (octopus balls), a bar, a manga cafe, and a place to play mahjong.

Kaiten Sushi (回転すし) is when you don’t order sushi, you merely pick your sushi choices off the rotating conveyor belt. That’s what the above place is, with prices starting at just 100 yen per plate. You frequently see fun pictures of the creatures you will be eating in Japan, something that doesn’t seem too appetizing in the states.

Which of these smiling fish would you like to eat?

Or perhaps you’d prefer pork in the form of a pig pretending to be a tanuki? Apparently they don’t serve raccoon dogs here, but you can get something made out of pig like tonkatsu. I love tonkatsu, but this pig at the door makes me want to eat it somewhere else.

Posted on September 24th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, japan pictures, night photography, shinjuku. Comments Off on Eating in Shinjuku (at night)

Just left of center is the Shinjuku Center Building. To the left of it, the building that flares out at the bottom, is Sompo Japan Building. Just to the right of the center of this photo is perhaps the most interesting of the Shinjuku high-rise buildings, Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower. My daughter says it reminds her of the Bird’s Nest Stadium the Beijing Olympics were centered around. On the far left is the Mitsui Building and the far right is the Keio Plaza Hotel.

I took this picture from the free, observation deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office.

Posted on September 23rd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, shinjuku, skywatch, Tokyo. Comments Off on Shinjuku Skyscrapers

I took a walk the other day through Shinjuku’s Chuo Koen (新宿中央公園). The park provides quite a contrast to the high-rise buildings that surround it. 新宿中央公園 features a rather wide, two-sided waterfall. The side you can see above is almost 10 feet high and more than a hundred feet wide. The other side is at least twice as high.

The building in the background is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office (東京都庁舎 or just 都庁). Like many of the buildings in Shinjuku, it didn’t exist when I last lived in Tokyo in the late 1980s.

If you look very closely at the above photograph you’ll see turtles in the water beneath the waterfall.

And here is a closeup of those same turtles.

The next evening I found myself on the observation deck of the 都庁 with a view of the spot in 新宿中央公園 from which I had taken the top picture. From this vantage point you can see the other side of the waterfall. The turtles are probably still there, but you can’t quite see them in this final photo.

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, shinjuku. Comments Off on Shinjuku from below and above – Part 1

The other morning I got on the train for a couple of stops to Shinjuku in order to open a bank account. Why go so far you ask when there are a dozen banks closer to my apartment? Because I’m a foreigner and Japanese banks, for the most part, won’t let you open an account until you have lived in Japan for six months. I’ve actually lived in Japan for two years now but that doesn’t count either since I’ve only been here a few weeks on this occasion. It’s really bizarre that I can get a working visa but not a bank account. I’m not applying for a loan, credit card, or other service where I could possibly split the country with their money either. I just want a place where my employer can make a direct deposit.

So I took the journey to Shinjuku to open an account with Shinsei Bank 新生銀行, and I’m glad I did. This bank is the best bank I have ever dealt with. I walked in to a waiting room that looked like I had entered a luxurious spa. This is very different from every bank I’ve ever entered in Japan. Most look like a very clean DMV with everyone working around one giant desk in the middle. Not so here. Employees had their own fancy offices. The design and decor of the place was unlike anything I’ve experienced. One wall was a giant screen TV. Not only that but my A’s were playing the Mariners (and winning for once) on this flat screen.

The lady helping me apologized, saying it could take 40 minutes to set up my account. No problem with this kind of atmosphere I thought. I have done currency exchanges that took longer than 40 minutes at Japanese banks and post offices. Setting up an account while watching baseball in the lap of luxury could take much longer for all I cared. All she needed was a copy of my Foreigner Registration Card (外国人登録証明書). She did the rest and had it all done in 15 minutes. I had my choice of over 30 different colors for my ATM card. She smiled at me smartly when I chose bamboo.

Seriously, if you ever need to set up a bank account in Japan look no further than Shinsei Bank. The service is outstanding, you can get an account as soon as you have your 外国人登録証明書, and you can use pretty much any ATM in the country for free (including the post office and 7-11). Supposedly their employees speak English too, but I started in Japanese and we therefore did the whole set up in Japanese so I can’t tell you if they really can speak English or not. The documents she gave me at the end were all in English though.

Posted on September 15th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: shinjuku. Comments: 19