芝大門 with Tokyo Tower in the distance

Once upon a time, Zojoji was a huge, sprawling temple of the Tokugawa family. I think it included all of the land which is now under and around the Tokyo Tower. One of its entrances was Shibadaimon (the grassy big gate), pictured to the right of this image. Now, if you walk from the Hamamatsucho Station to Zojoji you will pass through Shibadaimon several blocks before you get to the formerly inner Zojoji gates which are now the outer Zojoji gates.

Posted on May 29th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: night photography, Tokyo, tokyo tower. Comments: 1

I’m guessing that you won’t find people fishing in the middle of most of the world’s largest cities. In Tokyo however…

Arisugawa no Miya Kinen Koen is a nice oasis in the middle of Tokyo near the Mormon Temple and the Hiroo Station.

Posted on May 25th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: fishing, people, Tokyo. Comments Off on Fishing in Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park (有栖川宮記念公園)

Today is the long-awaited opening of the Tokyo Skytree. With the high demand to check out Tokyo from the top, you would have had to have won a lottery months ago to ascend the Skytree this week. Supposedly, you can get a ticket a bit easier beginning in mid-July. In any case, admission isn’t cheap. Look to pay between 2,000 and 3,500 yen (> $40 US) to check out the view from the Tokyo Skytree.

I took today’s photo a couple years before the Skytree was completed from the Rainbow Bridge. You can see the under-construction Skytree to the far right in this pic.

Posted on May 22nd, 2012 under Japan. Tags: buildings, rainbow bridge, sky tree, Tokyo. Comments: 1

和 = wa = peace, harmony, balance, and the like. There is nothing quite as peaceful, in harmony, and fulfilling of balance than death.

Posted on April 24th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: cemetery, gokokuji, Tokyo. Comments Off on Ultimate 和

This street musician packed all of his percussion instruments around on his bike (with no trailer). Here are a couple of short video clips of him testing things out and then performing for the ever-growing crowd.

Posted on April 5th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: Tokyo, ueno, video. Comments Off on Ueno Park Percussionist