雑司ヶ谷霊園
Ikebukuro (June 2010)
TravelJapanBlog.com - Japan (07, 09-10, 13), Denmark (08, 11, 16-19, 21, 24), Korea (13), Poland (21), Mexico (14, 15, 19), Iceland (17, 19), Hawaii (14, 17, 22), Czech Republic (16, 17, 19, 21)
The above will search Traveljapanblog.com.   Concerts - Landscapes - Sports
|
Posts tagged Tokyo
Waseda revisited
早稲田大学 (April 2010)
Revisited in photos only, unfortunately. I haven’t set foot on the grounds for almost 10 years, and today’s photo comes from over 12 years ago when I was working at Waseda University. Those were some good times.
Should I ever make it there again, what I’d really like to see is the new Haruki Murakami Library. I checked out (and of course read) many Murakami books in the old library.
両国物語
Tomb of the faithful cat
You can find this between the Ryogoku Metro Station and the sumo arena in Tokyo. It’s a story from the Edo Era.
This photo is from 2010, and the plaque has since been replaced. The new version has the title in English (but no translation of the rest).
The story in English is something like this (copied from elsewhere, not a direct translation of the above):
“Near the vicinity of Fukagawa, a cat-lover and fish-dealer named Rihei would come to the house of Tokita Kisabu to sell some fish. Tokita had a mottled cat that he had kept for about four of five years, and Rihei never failed to toss a fish to the cat when he came calling.
A time came when Rihei fell ill and could no longer go on his rounds selling fish. That same mottled cat came calling instead at Rihei’s house and said:
“I haven’t seen you for such a long time, I thought I had better come and check on you.”
“I am ill and have not been able to sell my fish.” Rihei answered.
Hearing this, the cat’s head hung low as he slinked out of the home. He soon returned, bearing a single golden koban coin in his mouth.
With this, Rihei was able to go back into business and once again returned to his custom of tossing a fish to the cat when he was on his rounds. The cat came calling once again to Rihei’s house, this time bearing a bounty of three coins in his mouth. Sadly, Rihei was not in and the clerk at the shop was so startled by the cat’s strange appearance that he swung at the mottled cat and killed it.
Rihei was saddened by this, and after discussing it with Tokita decided to use the money born by the cat to build a grave for him at the Ekou-in temple, where it stands to this day.”
Tokyo from Waseda University
Taken from the building in which I taught back in April of 2010, you can see that Tokyo Skytree was still a year away from completion. Thunder Dolphin (steel roller coaster in Tokyo Dome City) and the Tokyo Dome are also visible.
11 years ago today…
品川
A fun walk, with views for days, can be had from the Shinagawa Station to Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. Before crossing the Rainbow Bridge, you’ll pass this section of town.
Art in Yushima Seido
湯島聖堂 (Confucian temple Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan – 2010)
More than 10 years have passed since we lived in Japan for a year. 2020 is the year in which every day seems the same. 2010 was far from this reality. Every day was different. Take the day I took today’s photo for instance. I probably wasn’t teaching, and the weather was not good. So I got on the train, rode it to a station I hadn’t gotten off of before, and then roamed the neighborhood–discovering new places and eating at new restaurants.
I wandered into a Confucian temple called Yushima Seido where many art pieces were on display, most getting wet in the downpour that was happening.
Sorry, I don’t have the name of the piece or the artist’s name. Now I know better and take a photo of the name of the work and artist whenever I shoot a piece of art.