Monthly Archives: May 2024

While looking for things to do off the beaten path in Tokyo, I found out about a light show being held at a Japanese garden. I went online to try and buy tickets, but the site was only in Japanese through the Line App (the app many people in Japan use to communicate – like WhatsApp or Telegram, but apparently you can buy tickets through it too). Not to be discouraged, I brought it to my teacher during break and she helped me buy the tickets. As usual, getting there was as much a part of the journey as the actual destination. I arrived about an hour early so I explored the neighbourhood a little bit. The garden was right near one of the Piers on Tokyo Bay, so here are some shots of the area around the garden.

Below is a glimpse of the Tokyo Sky Tree tower – finished in 2012, it is still the tallest freestanding structure in the world, standing at 634 m. The second tallest is Canton Tower at 604m (was only briefly the tallest tower in the world in 2010 until the Sky Tree surpassed in during its construction), The CN Tower in Toronto is 3rd at 553.3m.

One of the things I kept coming back to as I walked around, was that even in the middle of all of the concrete, there was always room made for greenery. Everywhere in Tokyo that I went, there were bursts of nature, sometimes in container gardens, and sometimes there was just a sliver of earth left free to plant trees or flowers, and in many cases, there were huge green spaces left available to have a rest from the concrete. In Tokyo alone there are at least 20 official Japanese Gardens and that does not include all of the many parks.

I loved this – this tree extended above and could be see from the highway.

As for the light show itself, I found it to be a little bit underwhelming. Partially because it was very windy and so some of the special effects could not be appreciated as much. There were all of these smoke machines, and because it was so windy, the smoke immediately dissipated. Overall though, it was a beautiful night, there were a lot of people there, but it did not feel too crowded, and the night views were pretty awesome.

Here is the view before it got too dark:

Here is the 360 video of the view ( maybe a bit too fast at the end – sorry!)

And here is the view once it got darker:

Here is a small snippet video of the light show:

This shot was taken on my walk home – it is one of the Tokyo tower poking out above the buildings (formerly the tallest tower in the world at 332.6 m from 1958-1967.

I ended off the night with a trip to another small Izakaya ( tiny hole in the wall restaurant that sells alcohol and food). This one had a fairly wide menu but also sold okonomiyaki (savoury Japanese pancake usually made with cabbage and meat or seafood) which I have been craving. I asked for a meatless one with a fried egg on top. I have to say that I like mine I make at home better, but it was still good. I am still looking to go to a good okonomiyaki restaurant – maybe with Erez when I see him next week. It came with an appetizer of bean sprouts you could eat cold or put on the in-table grill – I tried it both ways.

Second course – mushrooms in foil – Yum!

And here are a couple shots I took on the way home…

On my way back from the Welcome Cat temple, Google maps recommended a route where I would change trains in Shibuya so I had to get out and see how things had changed in the past 23 years. It was pretty busy before and it is even busier now. Here is a video of the Tokyo Pedestrian Scramble Crossing:

As you can hear in the video – it is pretty loud there. Like a lot of Tokyo, it is just a sea of humanity. I quickly caught a glimpse of the Super Mario Cart tour of Tokyo driving through the scramble (wearing costumes of course!) Not the best photo – they were zipping by, but I like the couple in the front who I inadvertently took a picture of 🙂

Here are the people on the second floor of Starbucks trying to get a better view of the scramble for Instagram:

Here is a short video of a busker and more shots:

It was such a busy day I am going to put the rest in another post.

Gotoku-ji is certainly an instagram attraction. The shrine compound itself is beautiful and would be worth the one hour train ride regardless, but the reason why many people come is because of the Maneki-Neko (welcome cats)

You may have seen the happy welcome cats in many different types of Asian restaurants and stores. Although many people think it originated in China, the history as told from the Japanese perspective is that it originated in Japan.

For more information, here is a link:https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/gotokuji-temple-tokyo

When people come to visit this shrine to pay their respects and pray, they might buy a cat, and then leave it at the shrine as an offering. Once a year, the offerings are cleared out and it starts again. There are different shrines that represent different entities, for example I went to a Daruma shrine when I lived here before. there is one near Osaka, but there is one in Gunma Ken which I visited with my friend Liz who lived on that area. For more info on that temple – here is a quick link: https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/report-1602. The cats were definitely adorable, and it was cool seeing so many in one spot – all different sizes. Very instagrammable!

I did NOT do that – it just looked like an interesting photo

I really enjoyed my time there – it was very quiet and serene even with the visitors. I also enjoyed taking the train out of the city a bit to experience some towns without the towering sky scrapers, and taking the local two car tram.

I also saw an ad in the station for a kaiten sushi restaurant so I stopped for a quick snack. The conveyor belt wasn’t ready as it was a slow time but you could order directly- Yum!

When I consulted google maps for my trip home, I had to change trains in Shibuya, so I HAD to get out and see how things had changed in 24 years – it has gotten even busier. I will put that in a separate post!

I went to class in the morning having no idea what I was going to do in the afternoon – I thought about going on a kayak tour, but there wasn’t one available. I asked my classmates and teacher for suggestions, but nothing was resonating.

In the end, after a lot of hemming and hawing, I decided to go to Kitanomaru National Garden. It turned out to be a park full of trees and beautiful winding paths right in the middle of the concrete jungle. It was located along Imperial Palace moat. I bought a soft serve matcha ice cream in a delicate waffle cone and strolled the paths. Heaven.

I then looked on the map to see what was around me that would be interesting to explore next. I remembered seeing signs in the station for a shrine called Kanda Jinbosho. I thought I remembered a beautiful vermillion coloured shrine complex that I wanted to see so I set off in that direction. It was about a 25 minute walk from where I was. I wandered through the streets and saw some interesting things.

When I arrived, this was the shrine I found nestled in between an apartment building, and some offices :

So, I set off once again, and actually found the shrine I was looking for – it was another 30 minute walk away. Here are some highlights of some of the things seen on my walk there:

Here are some of the interesting buildings, the one on the right is part of the Meiji University campus.

And then I stumbled upon the best thing of all! A street that is famous for guitar stores. There were more than 20 stores, some being 5 floors tall. There were also other music specialty stores. I couldn’t believe it. What is more unbelievable is that I did not buy anything – even the amazing travel guitar that was a great deal!

I finally arrived at Kanda Myojin Shrine.

There happened to be a ceremonial Noh theatre performance happening as I walked into the compound. Here is a short video:

I then went to Akihabara for the second time (see last blogpost). On my way way back, I came across a place I had walked by at least twice before but never noticed it – it was called “Taiko Lab” – if we get to come back I will try to book a spot for my family to do a Taiko drumming workshop.

When I arrived back in my neighbourhood I was pretty weary so I found by a tiny Izakaya around the corner from my apartment, where I ate some great food! From left to right: hiyyako (chilled tofu), deep freid garlic cloves with miso, stir fried eggplant, and tempura lotus root. Delicious! Another great day!

I am in class every day from 10am until 1:10pm, then I plan an adventure for the rest of the day, usually taking the train to a location to start with, sometime up to an hour away, and then sometimes making my way back on foot, changing my plan as I go. The day I went to the Nippori Fabric town I ended up wandering the area, then headed to Akihabara ( Electric town) and then back home – this whole adventure probably took about 6 hours and I was on foot most of the time. Travelling this way has allowed me to discover interesting places that may or may not be in any tourist guide.

one place I enjoyed was a standing sushi bar.

One place I stumbled upon was a market filled with vendors that sold regional culinary specialties. I bought a bottle of corn tea. Very interesting – it tasted almost exactly like you would expect.

I also noticed someone ducking into an interesting area under the bridge where the train runs. It turns out it was an artisan market. The area underneath the track was pristine, each shop was like an art gallery. I ended up buying a beautiful hand made leather wallet to replace the one I lost a few months ago. I wandered through the area appreciating all of the handmade artisan items – pottery, prints, figurines, hats, leather goods, hand dyed clothing, handmade umbrellas of all different sizes among other things. The work was beautiful.

I was in Akihabara twice this week, so this is a summary of both trips. First off, I have to say that this is not the same Akihabara I visited 28 years ago. It has changed SO much. When I arrived in Japan in 1995, one of the first things on my to-do list was to buy a fax machine. Yes, you read that right, a fax machine. There were no cellphones, or email, and calling was extremely expensive. Having a fax machine meant that I could instantaneously connect with people at home, instead of them having to wait up to three weeks to receive a letter. I also used it to fax friends who were in Japan as well as long distance within Japan was also not cheap.

There was a labyrinth of stalls with everything electronic you could possibly want or need – that part of Akihabara is still there, but it is overshadowed by Anime, Manga, video games and Pokemon. Don’t get me wrong, anime was a thing 28 years ago too, but its popularity has exploded since then. You can’t look anywhere without being inundated with anime character posters. They are everywhere. You can get blue-ray discs, and all kinds of merchandise connected to every anime ever created. The challenge is finding out where your particular show merch is – it is a bit overwhelming, and there are so many anime series to choose from.

There is another addition to the landscape now – Maid Cafes. There are young women every couple of hundred metres dressed up in “maid costumes” handing out flyers to promote their cafe. Apparently there are over 200 Maid Cafes in Akihabara alone. They started in Akihabara in 2001 and have now spread all over the country. Your time slot is usually just over an hour. The “maids” are dressed up in these sort of cosplay costumes that resemble a French maid costume. They role-play as if the clients are the master and\or mistress of the house. You can play games with them, and they serve “cute” food and decorate your food order – for example if you order an omelette – they might draw a picture of a cute bunny with the ketchup squeeze bottle. There are specific rules – you are not allowed to touch the maids, or their clothing, even to shake their hands. It is also forbidden to offer or ask for personal contact information. You also cannot take photos of them with your personal phone, you have to pay for official photos that come as a cute keepsake.

One of the other quirky things about Japan is the vending machines. In Akihabara there are stores just filled with strange vending machines, selling everything from snacks, to collectibles, to stuffed animals, and sometimes it is a game, and you do not always get a prize when you put your money in.

For example, I put 500 yen in a vending machine to try and get a special Pokemon card. There was also a chance you could get a package of 5 cards. I put in the 500 yen and won a card. So got I proceeded to get more change so I could get a couple more cards – one for each of the three boys at home – unfortunately my next two tries were failures I basically got the “sorry try again” card in the plastic bubble that came out of the machine. Here is a photo of the machine with the winning ball

There were also a plethora of extremely weird things you could buy at the stores – a couple are pictured here:

Here a couple of videos of some of the vending/game machines:

Here are some special addition Converse only sold in Japan:

I still have more to write but will put the other places I visited in separate posts even though I saw them on the same day 🙂

So, I still woke up at 4:30, but this is progress!

I had time to work on a yoga teaching related course, do some yoga, do my meditation course, make myself a nice breakfast, and do some research so I can plan the rest of my trip. I left some days purposely open, and I have to start making some decisions about my options.

Class was challenging as usual. I am really at a disadvantage because my writing skills are not great. While learning Japanese, I never really focussed on writing, just reading, listening and speaking. In fact, the last time I did any work on writing was 28 years ago. All of my classmates are taking notes off the board in Japanese, and I am taking FOREVER to fill in my work sheets. I know the answers, but writing them is another thing altogether. I am not discouraged, I am just trying harder. I am finding work-arounds, like taking pictures of the board instead of writing everything down, and then reviewing them at home. The worksheets I cannot complete in class, I have been finishing at home.

In my quest to see parts of Tokyo that I think my family would not be interested in, I decided to start my adventure off with a trip to Nippori Fabric town. I reminded me of the shmate district in Toronto around Spadina. There were over 85 buildings dedicated to fabric and notions. There were stores specifically filled with only buttons, others for embroidered trim, some exclusively sold home deco fabrics, another sold only silk and chiffon. There was a store called Tomato which took up half the block spanning five buildings, one of them had 5 floors. There was another company called And Leather… that had three stores, and specialized in…leather and hardware. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, but, believe it or not, I did not buy ANYTHING. I only brought a carry-on and there is no room in my bag. Besides, I decided I won’t buy any more fabric unless I have a plan for it. Considering that we may come back in December, I can make a plan and then buy something then. Here are some photo highlights:

miniature dress dummies to showcase fabrics

There were several ladies shopping in full kimono.

In the bead store

Traditional Japanese prints

Sushi, Ramen and Onigiri fabric

I will continue my adventure for the day in the next post…Akihabara…Electric Town

In spite of doing everything right, I am still feeling the effects of jet lag. I went to bed last night at 10:30 but then woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Not great because I was starting class this morning at 10. I headed over a bit early because I had to pay for my tuition. Unfortunately my credit cards didn’t work in their machine – they suspected that perhaps the chip wasn’t compatible with their reader. In any case, I had to go to an ATM where I had to do three separate withdrawals from some reason and was charged a service charge for each one…

I have 6 other students in my class: 3 from Taiwan, 1 from Thailand, 1 from China and one from the US. I am the oldest by far, but that doesn’t seem to matter. It was intense, but I enjoyed it. The focus was purely on speaking which was exactly what I need. I really liked the instructor too. I had lunch at the conveyor belt sushi place again – this time with one of the other students who has been there for a month already. He informed me that the teachers change up everyday – not the best news from a consistency perspective, but I am looking forward to the rest of the week nonetheless. Also, the restaurant wasn’t as good as it was last night – fewer choices. But, sushi in Japan is still sushi in Japan.

Erez landed last night and met up with his boss today. He had a long day full of paperwork and touring and challenging red tape at the municipal office, but is slowly unravelling one challenge at time. He is exhausted, but has a good attitude, so he will be fine.

I do not have too much to report as it was pouring rain all day, and I had a lot of homework that took me forever to do. Now I am just trying to stay up until close to 10pm so I can try to kick the jet lag- I do not want to be up at 3:30 again.

When choosing activities for this trip, I wanted to see things that I may have not seen before, but also things that my family might not be a priority for them to do when we come here together. Sure, they might have enjoyed my trip today, but I know there are things they might enjoy more. The beauty of today was that I started with a loose plan, and then I just let the day unfold – it was great!

After doing some research, I decided to go to Nihon Minka-en: The Japanese Open Air Folk House Museum in Kawasaki. It is situated in Ikuta Ryokuchi Park.

I consulted Google Maps and the route said to take two different subway trains and then a bus. The trip would be approximately an hour and a half. Finding the trains was easy, then I got to the bus station and there were no English signs anywhere. I asked for help (In Japanese) from a small group of slightly older people that I thought might be familiar with the attraction I was going to. It turned out that they were taking the same bus as me, so once we got on the bus, we struck up a conversation. I was proud of myself that I was able to make myself understood, even if I couldn’t always understand 100% of what they were talking about. They were going to a rose garden close by. I filed this information away in case I had time to stop by later.

I arrived at the park and quickly realized there was a lot more to do than just the Open Air Folk House Museum. I started the adventure by taking a short hike up the into the hills, surrounded by old growth forest and bamboo. It was incredible. After two days in the concrete jungle in Tokyo, I was craving nature. here are some shots from the hike:

From Conde Nast Traveller: “The sprawling grounds are home to 25 marvelously preserved Edo-era homes relocated from all over the Japanese countryside, spanning an array of styles from farmhouses to samurai houses and includes a shrine, water mill, and kabuki stage. The houses are arranged in five villages according to their places of origin. Most are open to the public, allowing you to step back in time and wander through the various rooms. Placards describe the structure of the house and give background on how the previous owners lived.”

The museum was truly fascinating. the details of the construction methods were mind-blowing – what they were able to do with the technology they had and didn’t have was incredible. The craftsmanship was second to none. I was truly impressed.

Video of the Mill:

The Kabuki theatre:

One of the highlights was a soba noodle restaurant that my friends on the bus told me about. I was able to eat a delicious bowl of hot soba noodles in soup while looking out at a spectacular view while sitting on a traditional tatami mat floor in a historically accurate building with a thatched roof 🙂

Because it was Sunday, they had people giving workshops in some of the traditional cultural arts: thatch roof making, sandal making, bamboo basket making, and weaving. They have an indigo dying studio as well. One of the bamboo craft crew was handing out bamboo rings:

Video of the roof thatch preparation:

After the Open Air Folk House Museum. I stumbled upon a beautifully designed art gallery dedicated to the art and memory of Taro Okamoto. For more information about him click here: https://taro-okamoto.or.jp/en/

He was a multi-disciplinary artist. He was a painter and sculptor, did ceramics, and commercial design. He was also a writer, musician and skier among other things. the gallery itself was also stunning, as were all of the grounds surrounding it. Here are a few highlights.

Last but not least was the Rose Garden my bus buddies told me about. It took about 20 minutes to walk there. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was infinitely better in real life. I came around the bend over the crest of the hill and there were roses as far as I could see – every colour combination, every fragrance. It was impossible to capture the magnitude of this rose garden with a camera to do it justice.

On the way back, Google sent me a completely different way – three different trains – non of which I rode on the way there. When I arrived to my station, I was starving, so I popped into a Kai-ten Sushi place (conveyor belt style) where you sit at the bar and grab whatever plates you like. At the end of the meal, they add up the plates, each colour coded by price. It was quite cheap but delicious!!

I am again trying to stay up even though I am exhausted. I am excited to start classes tomorrow, so I don’t want to be up half the night with jet lag. If you are still reading this, thanks for sticking with me 🙂

Here are a couple of videos from the regular festival. It was really cool.

Here are the musicians from earlier in the day

Here are the shrine bearers as they stopped for a break.

Here are some random shots as I wandered around:

Fried pasta appetizer at the izakaya I went to for dinner:

When it got darker, they lit up the shrines, and after carrying it around for two an a half hours, you would think the shrine bearers would be more subdued, but they were louder and seemed to have even more resolve. Maybe all of the beer helped give them strength.

Then they moved out into the main roads:

When they reached the final destination, they wouldn’t stop, they kept backing up and then moving forward almost to the end and then backing up again. This went on for quite. awhile, even with this guy standing on the poles.

Overall, it was an interesting night. I really enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere, having small conversations in Japanese with a couple of strangers on the street. One couple offered me some Dun-go – soy glazed mocha on a stick – it was delicious! After the shrines came back to their original spots, groups of people were eating refreshments, setting up impromptu picnics all over, and having a great time. It seems like a tight knit community, even though it is in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.

Last bunch of random shots:

Everyone eating Dun-go – rice paste balls on as tick with sweet soy glaze.

The end…