Tokyo
Well, it's a rainy Monday (I think we're getting all the rainy season rain in one hit today), so not much to do. Bit of a waste of a holiday, but the rest has done me good. Also means a short week at work this week, which will do me even more good...
Anyway, I've got a huge backlog of photos to post, so I'll get right into them. This is from back in the first week of April. I'd been offered the job, but had some time to kill before it started, so I decided to do some proper sightseeing. I caught up with Mariko, who kindly lent me her digital camera, as well as acting as tour guide for my weekend in Tokyo. So, on to the piccies...
The first stop was Asakusa and Senso-ji temple. It was in the middle of Sakura, when the cherry trees blossom, and people rush out in any weather to get pissed under them. Here, of course, being a holy place, they do the respectable thing and set up market stalls and flog just about anything you can imagine...
This day, though, for some reason they had a papier mache Thai white elephant in the courtyard...
And a giant sandal hanging on the wall...
And a huge pagoda. Apparently, there's a golden image of the goddess Kannon that was miraculously fished out of the river near here about 1400 years ago, but, as is the way with such things, no-one's allowed to see it.
Onward from Asakusa, to a river cruise down the Sumida-gawa, we were struck by this marvel of modern architecture, two buildings which wouldn't otherwise resemble a commode, if it didn't have this gigantic golden turd floating over the bowl. Can't you just hear the angels singing, then an almighty flush...
And an excellent representation of the paradox of modern Tokyo. Ultra modern buildings, the beauty of the cherry trees blooming on the river banks, and the blue tarps of the homeless people living there...
Then on to Hama Rikyu Onshi Teien, an extension of the Imperial Palace Gardens near the famous Tsukiji fish markets. In amongst the madness of Tokyo, a stone's throw from Ginza, is this park with an old-style teahouse in the middle. We got caught in a sudden rainstorm, and managed to escape the downpour in this teahouse. After warming up over the most expensive cup of tea I've ever had (1000yen!), the rain stopped, the sun came out, and we were afforded a picture-postcard view of the garden. Kirei desho?
At the other end of the garden is a 500 year old pine tree, planted by an emperor or somebody famous (sorry, it was a while ago). I can't help thinking that without being propped up by those sticks, it would have fallen over, died and sprouted a new forest by now, but certainly this is this art of bonsai taken hardcore.
The next day, after brunch watching the Harajuku girls tottering along on their ridiculously high heels, torn fishnets and flinging their purple, pink or fluorescent green hair about, and debating whether or not it was analogous to goth, it was on to Yoyogi park. Apparently, this is the biggest torii in Japan. Could do with a lick of paint, methinks...
This is the inner courtyard of Meiji-jingu, in the middle of Yoyogi park. There was a Shinto wedding going on, but nobody did anything to discourage the tourists, so I took a pic. In the background are two trees tied together with a rope with those folded paper thingies, that I'm sure had some really deep story behind it, but alas, I've forgotten whatever it was...
The holy of holies...
The gateway to the courtyard...
And the sake given as an offering to the shrine. That oughta keep the priests happy for awhile...
Afterwards, it was on to Shibuya, and possibly one of the busiest intersections in the world. I was on the lookout for the crazy fashions that have become the stuff of legend in the West, but alas, I was sorely disappointed, finding only a few mildly ridiculous ganguro or yamamba. An interesting phenomenon, and not just confined to Tokyo - I've seen a few of them around Nagoya, too, mostly working in combinis. They are almost a photo-negative version of goth, with super-blonde dyed hair (but at least it's not orange, like so many I've seen!), white lippy and eyeshadow, and super-dark artificial tans - almost like something out of an old Disney cartoon. I guess it was just too early in the day for them to come out.
The only real gathering I saw was of the infamous black vans, blaring their marching music and waving their ultra-nationalist slogans. However, the noise and chaos of Shibuya blessedly drowned them out. Speak of the devil, though, I just heard one going by outside!
I just had to get a picture of this. After suffering under the draconian edicts of the anti-smoking nazis in Oz, Japan is a breath of (well, OK, not exactly) fresh air. OK, parts of the city are non-smoking (only outside, of course), and a few places are inside as well (like Roppongi Hills, which is where this is from), but at least if they are, they provide facilities to those who would otherwise suffer. Really, I just thought it was cool to see that symbol without a line through it. The view from this particular one was quite impressive. That's the Tokyo TV tower in the background.
I'll spare you all the panoramic shots of the city, as it all looks much the same. As a representative sample, this one is from the observation deck of the Roppongi Hills tower, looking north with Ginza on the right and that green patch on the left is the Imperial Palace.
From there it was on to Odaiba for a great okonomiyaki dinner. A great view looking back across the river at the Rainbow Bridge. I tried to get a pic with the miniature Statue of Liberty they have there, but it didn't turn out.
On the Monday, I was sans camera and guide, but I thought I'd have a bit of a wander around before catching the shinkansen back to Nagoya. So, near where I was staying is Ueno park, famous for its zoo, museums and legions of homeless people living there. This statue of a samurai walking his dog is Saigo Takamori, who initially supported the Meiji restoration and then later resisted it when they started dismantling the samurai system, and committed seppuku when all was lost. If you've seen The Last Samurai, then you know the story - Ken Watanabe's character was based on this guy.
The best view you can get of the Imperial Palace. Not terribly impressive, but I can appreciate that the Emperor enjoys his privacy.
And to finish off with, Japan's most famous celebrity. While wandering around Ginza with my trusty Lonely Planet guide, I found a star on the map with the legend "Godzilla statue". I wondered why I had never heard of this, as I would imagine such a thing would draw legions of Western travellers. I wandered around the vicinity, expecting at any moment to be confronted with that familiar looming shape, looking forward to taking the corny pic of me lying prostrate before him as his latest victim, but with no success. I was looking for a bench to sit down and check my guide again, when I spotted him, all 50 centimetres of him, skulking behind me. I tried to use a good angle to make him look bigger, but the truth is, he may just as well have been holding an ashtray or rubbish bin. So much for the respect and admiration due to the figure who put Japanese cinema on the map and made Tokyo known for so much more than the world's most expensive coffee...
Anyway, I've got a huge backlog of photos to post, so I'll get right into them. This is from back in the first week of April. I'd been offered the job, but had some time to kill before it started, so I decided to do some proper sightseeing. I caught up with Mariko, who kindly lent me her digital camera, as well as acting as tour guide for my weekend in Tokyo. So, on to the piccies...
The first stop was Asakusa and Senso-ji temple. It was in the middle of Sakura, when the cherry trees blossom, and people rush out in any weather to get pissed under them. Here, of course, being a holy place, they do the respectable thing and set up market stalls and flog just about anything you can imagine...
This day, though, for some reason they had a papier mache Thai white elephant in the courtyard...
And a giant sandal hanging on the wall...
And a huge pagoda. Apparently, there's a golden image of the goddess Kannon that was miraculously fished out of the river near here about 1400 years ago, but, as is the way with such things, no-one's allowed to see it.
Onward from Asakusa, to a river cruise down the Sumida-gawa, we were struck by this marvel of modern architecture, two buildings which wouldn't otherwise resemble a commode, if it didn't have this gigantic golden turd floating over the bowl. Can't you just hear the angels singing, then an almighty flush...
And an excellent representation of the paradox of modern Tokyo. Ultra modern buildings, the beauty of the cherry trees blooming on the river banks, and the blue tarps of the homeless people living there...
Then on to Hama Rikyu Onshi Teien, an extension of the Imperial Palace Gardens near the famous Tsukiji fish markets. In amongst the madness of Tokyo, a stone's throw from Ginza, is this park with an old-style teahouse in the middle. We got caught in a sudden rainstorm, and managed to escape the downpour in this teahouse. After warming up over the most expensive cup of tea I've ever had (1000yen!), the rain stopped, the sun came out, and we were afforded a picture-postcard view of the garden. Kirei desho?
At the other end of the garden is a 500 year old pine tree, planted by an emperor or somebody famous (sorry, it was a while ago). I can't help thinking that without being propped up by those sticks, it would have fallen over, died and sprouted a new forest by now, but certainly this is this art of bonsai taken hardcore.
The next day, after brunch watching the Harajuku girls tottering along on their ridiculously high heels, torn fishnets and flinging their purple, pink or fluorescent green hair about, and debating whether or not it was analogous to goth, it was on to Yoyogi park. Apparently, this is the biggest torii in Japan. Could do with a lick of paint, methinks...
This is the inner courtyard of Meiji-jingu, in the middle of Yoyogi park. There was a Shinto wedding going on, but nobody did anything to discourage the tourists, so I took a pic. In the background are two trees tied together with a rope with those folded paper thingies, that I'm sure had some really deep story behind it, but alas, I've forgotten whatever it was...
The holy of holies...
The gateway to the courtyard...
And the sake given as an offering to the shrine. That oughta keep the priests happy for awhile...
Afterwards, it was on to Shibuya, and possibly one of the busiest intersections in the world. I was on the lookout for the crazy fashions that have become the stuff of legend in the West, but alas, I was sorely disappointed, finding only a few mildly ridiculous ganguro or yamamba. An interesting phenomenon, and not just confined to Tokyo - I've seen a few of them around Nagoya, too, mostly working in combinis. They are almost a photo-negative version of goth, with super-blonde dyed hair (but at least it's not orange, like so many I've seen!), white lippy and eyeshadow, and super-dark artificial tans - almost like something out of an old Disney cartoon. I guess it was just too early in the day for them to come out.
The only real gathering I saw was of the infamous black vans, blaring their marching music and waving their ultra-nationalist slogans. However, the noise and chaos of Shibuya blessedly drowned them out. Speak of the devil, though, I just heard one going by outside!
I just had to get a picture of this. After suffering under the draconian edicts of the anti-smoking nazis in Oz, Japan is a breath of (well, OK, not exactly) fresh air. OK, parts of the city are non-smoking (only outside, of course), and a few places are inside as well (like Roppongi Hills, which is where this is from), but at least if they are, they provide facilities to those who would otherwise suffer. Really, I just thought it was cool to see that symbol without a line through it. The view from this particular one was quite impressive. That's the Tokyo TV tower in the background.
I'll spare you all the panoramic shots of the city, as it all looks much the same. As a representative sample, this one is from the observation deck of the Roppongi Hills tower, looking north with Ginza on the right and that green patch on the left is the Imperial Palace.
From there it was on to Odaiba for a great okonomiyaki dinner. A great view looking back across the river at the Rainbow Bridge. I tried to get a pic with the miniature Statue of Liberty they have there, but it didn't turn out.
On the Monday, I was sans camera and guide, but I thought I'd have a bit of a wander around before catching the shinkansen back to Nagoya. So, near where I was staying is Ueno park, famous for its zoo, museums and legions of homeless people living there. This statue of a samurai walking his dog is Saigo Takamori, who initially supported the Meiji restoration and then later resisted it when they started dismantling the samurai system, and committed seppuku when all was lost. If you've seen The Last Samurai, then you know the story - Ken Watanabe's character was based on this guy.
The best view you can get of the Imperial Palace. Not terribly impressive, but I can appreciate that the Emperor enjoys his privacy.
And to finish off with, Japan's most famous celebrity. While wandering around Ginza with my trusty Lonely Planet guide, I found a star on the map with the legend "Godzilla statue". I wondered why I had never heard of this, as I would imagine such a thing would draw legions of Western travellers. I wandered around the vicinity, expecting at any moment to be confronted with that familiar looming shape, looking forward to taking the corny pic of me lying prostrate before him as his latest victim, but with no success. I was looking for a bench to sit down and check my guide again, when I spotted him, all 50 centimetres of him, skulking behind me. I tried to use a good angle to make him look bigger, but the truth is, he may just as well have been holding an ashtray or rubbish bin. So much for the respect and admiration due to the figure who put Japanese cinema on the map and made Tokyo known for so much more than the world's most expensive coffee...
posted by Ia Ftaghn at 5:14 pm
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