Images from Thursday Oct 25

Nikko was our only day trip outside of Tokyo the entire two weeks. Just too much to see in that city to spend much time elsewhere.

Nikko is famous for Toshogu shrine where Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun, is enshrined as protector of his family.



This is the Shinkyô, the sacred bridge, it is used for special events and normally closed to traffic. the regular road is nearby and the highway runs alongside the river the bridges cross. The bridge is painted in red lacquered.

We did not enter the shrine grounds on the main path, rather we spotted some steps going off to one side and decided to first see where they went.



One of the first things we saw was this temizuya where we purified ourselves before going further. What we found was a series of minor shrines and temples as well as old stone walls and a temple preschool.



One building had 12 carvings for each animal of the East Asian zodiac. This money is a good example of the work.

Then we walked to the main shrine area where we purchased tickets for the grounds. The tickets were interesting consisting of a large strip of paper perforated into sections for different parts of the grounds.



This massive complex was built over several years and expanded with thousand of artisans participating in the work. Stone and metal lanterns such as these were probably donated by wealthy daimyo as signs of loyalty. There are even huge and highly ornate European lanterns from the Dutch king.



This is an example of the gilded tile roof on the major buildings.



These monkeys, at the stable for the sacred horses, are but a few of the large number of carvings of monkeys on the building. Monkeys and horses get along quite well and it was not unusual in Japan to keep actual monkeys in stables.



Some of the smaller structures on the way to the main shrine. The larger one in the background is a bellfry donw in a Buddhist style. The smaller one to the right houses a hanging lantern donated by the king of Holland..



More wood carvings, when the major expansion of the original temple took place in the early 17th century it used up half the government’s budget for a year.



The wall with stairs leading to the Yomei-mon Gate, the gate of the main shrine.



The Yomei-mon Gate as seen from inside the shrine grounds. There were large crowds of people who had come on group tours. One was lead by a very dignified man whose comments at the stables had the tourists in stitches.



Offerings to the gods of the shrine often take the form of food and alcohol. Here are casks of whisky from the major distillers of Japan.



On the other side of the gateway were traditional sake offerings.



The dragons around the edge of the Yomei-mon Gate were all very different in design. Only one example of the variety of art here.



Looking back at the complex and Yomei-mon as we leave late in the day, by now the tour buses have gather their riders are are leaving. The torii in the left forground is actually the second one you pass under as you approach the shrine.



As it is getting close to the time the complex closes up for the night we only see the occasional person.



At a temple is this straw hoop. you walk through it in a figure 8 pattern as you enter to ensure good health.



Cindy and I look at something alongside the approach to another temple gate. It is actually getting late and we are urged to enter before they close the gates. Once inside we are told to feel free to look around. By now taking pictures is difficult as it is not only getting dark this temple is in a little valley and heavily shaded.



The last picture of Nikko. The moon rising over the trees and town as we cross the bridge and head back to the train station where we enjoyed a simple bento as we waited for the time to catch the train back to Tokyo.

Images from Wednesday Oct 24, part 2

Sorry it has take so long to get this batch of images up. The last few weeks were very busy at work and I’m beat when I get home. Add to that the writing work that I have to do, last minute holiday planning (not gift buying got that done some time ago), getting things done after returning from seeing family and I hope you can understand time has been limited.

In any case here we are.

As we could not take pictures inside the Ghibli Museum all of the shots here are from the outside of the museum.



This shot taken from the roof of the museum gives you a good idea of the multi level nature of the building. By the way the design of the building is influenced by Mediterranean villages.



The roof of the building is designed to look like an abandoned garden in a ruined city. Go down a path and you will find this block, about a meter square. Fans of Ghibli animation will recognize it as from Castle in the Sky.



Also on the roof, and from Castle in the Sky, is this robot. This sculpture is quite large intended to be as tall as the ones in the feature film it comes from.



The entire complex is filled with whimsical examples of craftsmanship. This water fountain is only one of them. It also worked quite well. Another feature is that everything is made to be accessible to small children, this means that adults have to adjust a little.



This outdoor circular stairway is how we got to the roof. There is another circular stairway inside, however Steven and I were too large for it so Cindy went up alone and got separated from us. After spending some time wandering about we found each other again and continued exploring together.



This photo is taken from ground level looking into the courtyard that is next to the bottom of the entrance stairway and below some of the exhibit floors and the restaurant.



This is the restaurant seen from the courtyard. We did not have time to order anything as the museum was closing by the time we reached this part of the building.

If you have a chance go see this museum, if you are going to Japan from another country you can buy tickets ahead of time.

Hopefully I’ll have new images up soon, all depending on how my writing goes today and tomorrow.

Images from Wednesday Oct 24, part 1

This time I will be splitting the images into two groups. The first from Oct 24th before we arrived at the Ghibli Museum, the second batch will probably go up Friday or Saturday will be from the museum. For the report on what we did that day see: Wednesday the 24th The Ghibli Museum



This first shot is of a window in the ryokan we were staying in that looked over a small garden. This window was opaque to let in light but prevented one from looking in. If I remember correctly this one was in the toilet.



This is the hall outside our room, the sliding door to the room is on the right. Again it is made with opaque glass to preserve privacy. The ryokan was fully booked with people who came at all hours and yet it was rather quiet.



During our morning walk Steven found this small shrine to Inari on a narrow street of restaurants. The greenery in the vases was fresh and the area swept of leaves.



Another street nearby had these great traditional shop signs. The one on the left is for a restaurant.



Another street had these small statues of tanuki inside the lamp posts. Each one was different, this one seems to be in the form of Shoki the demon queller. Nearby there was a shrine called Chingo-do the origin of which was associated with tanuki.

Check back in a few days for the second part of the images from Oct 24.

Images from Tuesday the 23.

Click here for my description of Tuesday the 23rd: The Kabuki-za, The Ginza, Takarazuka Theater, Imperial Palace, Masakado's Mound, Nihonbashi.

Our early morning walk produced some interesting shots.



This one is a famous theater for traditional comedy. The next day we would not have been able to get this shot as scaffoldings were being set up around the front.



After a short subway ride and walk we were at another famous theater, the Kabukiza. We did not make it to a performance, however I do recommend their gift shop.



The Kabukiza is in the Ginza and nothing symbolizes the Ginza like the Wako Department store. One of Steven’s comments was that the area had not changed much since he last saw in in 1973.

Being a writer on anime I can’t resist pointing out that this area gets trashed in the Lupin III anime feature The Dragon of Doom as a result of a fight between Goemon and a group of ninja.



After the Ginza and the Takarazuka Theater gift shop we wandered over to the outside of the Imperial Palace grounds. This impressive gate, built in the early 17th century, was an inner gate and to reach it you have to cross a bridge, enter another fortified gate and make a right angle turn. Impressive defenses from when this was part of the shogun’s castle.



This is one of the buildings inside the Imperial Palace grounds, you would have to go through gates and cross bridges to reach it.



The masakado-zuka, where tradition says the head of Taira no Masakado is buried. You can read about him and the masakado-zuka in my book The Anime Companion 2.





Both of these images were taken at the Nihonbashi bridge around sundown. Even though the bridge today is under a freeway that follows the course of the river it is still an impressive piece of early 20th century architecture.

Well that’s it for today. I’m lucky I got something up as I’m tired. However I did not want to skip another day, I may do that tomorrow tho’.

These images are from Monday Oct 22

For a description of the day click here..

On our morning walk we found this small shrine dedicated to entertainment on Rokku Broadway, a street famous for entertainment.



There are six statues each symbolizing a form of entertainment. I recognized the 5th one on the right front as Enoken and assumed the other were modeled on famous people. Apparently most were however I could not find information on the specific individuals other than the first one.

The six forms of entertainment are:

utaigami = song modeled on Shiyouji Tarou

kanadegami = playing music

hanashigami = storytelling

odokegami = daidogei (street entertainment)

engigami = performance modeled on Enoken (Kenichi Enomoto)

odorigami = dance (largely hidden behind the torii pillar).



After we got back to the ryokan we met up with Ono Masahiro who had been such a major help with the kanji in my third book The Anime Companion 2. He had offered to be our guide for the day showing us some of the shops in the Jimbocho neighborhood of Kanda. This area is famous for having over 140 bookshops in one neighborhood. Ono-san was the best dressed member of our motly crew of explorers and had done a great job of researching where we were going.

One of the shops we visited was Subunso which had a great selection of books in European languages at great prices.



This photo is on one of the levels of the store and shows shelves of books and sets, often encyclopedias, neatly stacked on the floor. There were even sets stacked along the wall of the stairway.



Steven has a great interest in the supernatural tales found in folklore and there was one shop that had a great window display of books illustrating such tales. This image was taken by him from the street.



After walking quite a bit Ono-san and I had to stop and rest. Jimbocho is a neighborhood I want to visit again and explore more of the streets and shops.

Not many photos today, however there will be more tomorrow so check back then.

Images from Day Four, Sunday Oct 21

For a description of the day click here.



Starting with the flea market at Hanazono jinja. Cindy is checking out many of the interesting small items this woman had. I'm looking at an old photo album of early, mainly silent, Japanese movie stars. Alas no images of Bando Tsumasaburo, one of my favorite early actors.



During the photo session at the shrine Steven and Cindy both spent a great deal of time taking pictures of this small inari shrine. The main gate, at the end of this row of red torii included a very large wooden phallus.



Eventually they started running out of things to photograph and I suggested we head to Golden Gai, a place neither knew much about but which was my major interest for the day. This picture is of the first street and sign you reach as you head there from the shrine.



As I mentioned in the description linked above we lucked out in that we happened to be there on the day of the twice a year Golden Gai flea market. This fellow made the best coffee I had in Tokyo, and all the coffee was great. Each cup was brewed individually. His shirt says “Toast, Butter, Crumbs”.


This view shows the narrow two story buildings that compose this neighborhood of bars and the larger modern buildings surrounding it.




Cindy getting her picture taken while she is taking a picture of plants and both of them are being photographed by Yusuke Komiyama on the far right, and of course all three are caught by Steven who took this shot.



Another street scene, there were potted plants everywhere, not just here but in almost every part of Tokyo we were in.



Cindy looking at a set of small dolls she bought for her daughter. That’s me in the red Zeta Gundam t-shirt in the background.



This is one of the streets on the way to the station after we left Golden Gai. While the streets often had large numbers of people it ever felt crowded as people kept moving and if they needed to stop stepped off to the side. The fashions were incredibly diverse, forget what people say about the Japanese being conformists.



We headed to Shibuya but it was getting dark so we looked for a nonsmoking place for dinner. We ended up a few blocks to the North West of the station in a place that had great noodle dishes and tempura. Here Steven is digging into his udon while enjoying the late 50s rock and roll they were playing.

Well that's enough for today. I put these together rather quickly so please forgive typos etc.