Tokyo, Japan

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Meiji Jingu Shrine IV

There was a wedding inside the Meiji Jingu Shrine this day. I was fortunate enough to watch as the bride walked through the main courtyard. It all happened so fast, I was only able to take this photograph. The angle would have been better from the other side, but the contrast of the red umbrella and the greenery is still excellent.

Outside the main courtyard, I had seen and tried to photograph an ornately dressed priest and his assistants. They must have been part of this ceremony.

Meiji Jingu Shrine III

Inside the main courtyard, there was an area dedicated to bonzai trees. Preserved by the shrine, these trees were nearly all over one hundred years old. This one was grown (or "trained") around a stone at its base. The leaves were flawless. Surely someone tends endlessly to these plants, pruning them to complete perfection.

If I remember correctly, there were a few that were over two hundred years old. Must they be replanted, or is the base also two hundred years old?

Meiji Jingu Shrine II

This photograph further illustrates the scale of all things at this shrine. The courtyard was massive -- and I have seen a number of temples at this point. No single photograph, short of a 360 degree shot, can convey the size. This single tree was the organic center. Underneath were wooden prayer plaques written in a variety of languages from around the world.

When I first arrived there were a large number of people in the courtyard. Perhaps they knew of the wedding on this day and wanted to witness. Even thirty minutes later, there were one quarter the number of people.

While this shrine is huge and beautiful, I expected something more delicate. Over all, the location within Tokyo is more impressive than the temple itself. It is a masterpiece in simplicity, not in dexterity of design like those of Nikko I have seen. Like Central Park in New York, there are places within the wooded lands surrounding the shrine that you no longer feel part of a city of eight million.

Meiji Jingu Shrine I

The Meiji Jingu Shrine is one of the most famous in Tokyo proper. Located directly west of the Harajuku station on the JR Yamanote line, it is north of Shibuya and south of Shinjuku. See a satellite photograph.

I went on a busy, hot day. Even with the usual Japanese crowds, the location was too extensive to ever feel crowded. To understand the scale of the shrine, to the left is a photograph of one of many structures (I don't know the word for these) that guide visitors through the long walk to the center of the shrine. The people are tiny in comparison!

Also, for a city "bombed flat" (to borrow an expression from Richard Robinson) during World War II (or the Pacific War, as the Japanese call it), the trees are giant. Considering the planned state of most things in Japan, especially Tokyo, perhaps they were transplanted from alpine ranges far away. More likely, the United States left these forests alone during the War.

Big Grapes

Japan has the most fantastically overpriced fresh fruits and vegetables. Since this culture values presentation immensely, farmers in turn strive to produce and select only the most perfect fruits. This applies, in my limited experience, to both flavour and appearance. Here are some example prices: (ranges indicate size-wise pricing)
              • Apples: 200-350 yen
              • Asian Pears (half apple, half pear): 200-250 yen
              • Single small bunch of grapes: 200-600 yen
              • Peaches: 350-500 yen
There are three fruits in particular that are very expensive:
  • Cherries - Any decent department store has a boxed set for 10,000 yen.
  • Melons - Most supermarkets have these for 2,000 yen and up. Only the smallest are (barely) less than 1,000 yen.
  • Grapes - You pay for the average size of your grape. There is a box at my local supermarket for 3,000 yen.
Fortunately, I found this box to the left for a mere 980 yen at my local supermarket. I don't know why it is one third the price as the prized box in my other supermarket. Mine had seeds; maybe the others don't. Regardless, the grapes were amazing. I ate the first box, one kilogram, in a single day. This is my second in two days! There is a quarter (twenty-five US cents) in the middle of the box for the purposes of comparison.

Prince Hotel Temple II

I didn't do justice to the Prince Hotel Temple statuettes in my prior post. Here is a closer picture. You can see their peaceful expression, "hoodie", and colourful accessories.

Looking back at the photographs now, I realised these statuettes were not all carved from the same stone. Varying shades were used: from very dark to very light. The one featured was one of the lightest. (It is easiest to see its expression in a smaller photograph.)

Also, the statuettes appear quite new. There is little weathering to their surfaces, but the larger statue in the prior post was aged. (Is this a traveling roadshow of statues for temples?) Perhaps they periodically upgrade their wares to continually attract visitors.

One trend I have noticed as I visit more temples: they appear constantly to be under renovation. I guess with the weather of Tokyo (wet) and nature of the building materials (stone and wood), damage will accumulate over time. Can the donation boxes be enough, or does the nation support them?

Monday, August 14, 2006

Omote-sando Lights

One night walking through Omote-sando looking for a place to eat, there was a festival featuring artist installations of lights (candles). All along Omote-sando Boulevard were unique presentations.

Silent and impressed, people stood to watch the flames wave to the wind. Most had camera phones to capture the moment. Stopping to speak with an artist, he expressed thankfulness for people's receptiveness.

I was told there was no community planning for this event. The artists simply gathered one night to create. The police were no where to be seen.

Can you imagine this in New York City? Not without license or lawyer.

Prince Hotel Temple I

At the nearest major traffic intersection, Akabanebashi (ah-kah-bah-neh-bah-shi), is a huge hotel tower that belongs to the Prince Hotels group. See hotel website. Beside the hotel is a temple. The grounds are largely unremarkable, save for the collection of statues near its edge.

Behind this main statue -- framed perfectly by the bushes -- are two rows of small, cartoon-like stone statues. Beside each is a vase of colorful, plastic flowers and pinwheels(?). Finally, each is wearing a red, knit cap. I do not pretend to understand their significance. To the right of this statue is a booth with simple offerings -- some fresh fruits.

Monsoon II

Angling to my left, I took another photograph. Torrential rain covered my neighborhood for less than one hour. By sunset, the sky had mostly cleared. Sunsets have been incredible this time of year.

Is there a difference between monsoons and typhoons? Unlikley. Foreigners regularly use them interchangably. Sounds like a hurricane to me.

Monsoon I

On Saturday afternoon, I awoke to a monsoon was enveloping Tokyo. I took many impressive photographs from my balcony. This is the best pair. The main building on the left is Mori Tower, the crowning jewel of the Roppongi Hills development. Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and Yahoo! are all based in this building.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Andy's Izakaya III

More coworkers and a friend of Richard. From the right, we have:
              • Igor Ignjic: German-born to first generation Bosnian (former Yugoslavia) parents, speaks Bosnian, German, English, and French, grew up in Munich.
              • Dennis Wong: Canadian-born to first generation Shanghaiese parents, speaks Chinese Mandarin and English, grew up outside Toronto. Works in sales at Goldman Sachs.
              • Richard Robinson: Welsh-born, speaks Welsh (first language!), English, and Japanese, grew up in Wales (UK)

Andy's Izakaya II

These are my coworkers at Andy's. From the left we have:
              • Andy Ju: Taiwanese-born, speaks Chinese Mandarin and English, but grew up just outside New York City in New Jersey
              • Michael Wong: Hongkong-born, speaks Chinese Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, and English, grew up in Lo Wu (last stop before the Mainland China border with Hongkong), but moved here from Hongkong Island (home to Central business district)
              • Will Karlin: Colorado-born (United States), speaks English, moved here three years ago from New York City

Andy's Izakaya I

One of Richard's favourite places to eat is an izakaya owned by a British man, Andy. It is literally located under the train tracks of a JR stop (Japan Railways). The Yamanote line roars above as patrons gorge on daily-fresh seafood and nama bieru (draft beers).

The mix is about half foreigners and half Japanese. Each come for the "authentic" experience. For the foreigners, they are looking for working class / salaryman food. For the Japanese, they can rub elbows with foreigners ("Westerners" as they say) they might otherwise only pass in their daily lives.

According to Richard, the legend of Andy's is as follows:

A British man, Andy, married a Japanese woman and ran an izakaya with her parents. (Andy is fluent in Japanese.) After some time, her parents become disillusioned with Andy working as a waitor at an izakaya. After a fight with the family, Andy and his wife stopped working with her parents.

In a matter of months, the her parents' izakaya went out of business. It needed the perfect mix of gaijin (foreigners) and Japanese to survive. After a make-up between the families, they opened a new izakaya with smash success. Today, it is under the Yurakucho JR station and across the street from the Hibiya Tokyo Metro station on the Hibiya line.

This is a picture of Igor Ignjic, a coworker of mine, eating a tiger shrimp. It is the size of a small lobster! (His name in katakana is Iguru Igunitsu.)

Kasai Rinkai Park III


The manmade beach at Kasai Rinkai Park was a welcome change from the concrete of Minato-ku (my district in Tokyo). Unfortunately, further down the beach, it was littered with rubbish. I was surprised Tokyoites would allow this in their city.

In the far left of this photograph are hotels part of Tokyo Disneyland. I could see the monorail throughout the day as it made its way around Disneyland.

Ueno Izakayas


Call this accidentally good photography. We were in Ueno one night with Richard Robinson -- my local manager -- walking between restaurants, and I caught this picture. The taxi in motion in the front with a pack of Japanese salarymen in the rear... Throw in a healthy mix of bright lights, and you have Ueno.

This is a closest neighborhood to tough in Tokyo. If anything, it is distinctly working class whereas most other places feel middle class.

When alleys have entrances like this, you are sure to find a mix of izakayas and strip/massage/sex clubs. Richard is familiar enough with Ueno to help us navigate the madness. I have returned during daylight, unable to find these same restaurants again. To foreign eyes, each alley seems the same as the last.

Kasai Rinkai Park II


This ferris wheel is over 100 meters tall. Tokyo has an obsession with ferris wheels, and they build them big. I was lucky enough to ride this one in Kasai Rinkai Park at sunset. It provides unobstructed views of Tokyo and Chiba (the prefecture to the east). This was the best 700 yen I spent that day.

Unlike ferris wheels I rode in the United States, this one does not stop. Rather, it spins very slowly. Attendants at the bottom assist passengers boarding and exiting the passenger cars. Typical to the Japanese experience, there was music playing in each car, along with a separate air conditioning unit.

Kasai Rinkai Park I

Two weeks ago, I went to a beautiful park I found in my Tokyo atlas. See this Google map. In the middle of an industial tangle of buildings, landfill, freeways, train tracks, and smoke stacks is a stunning piece of open, green space. In the Fifties, when the Tokyo Bay first experienced wholesale environmental destruction, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government preserved this property. Over the next thirty years, the wetlands were restored. Two landfill beaches were created. Much later, a giant ferris wheel was built.

From Tokyo station (the second largest after Shinjuku), it is less than twenty minutes by express train. Tokyo Disneyland is only one stop further on the Keiyo line. Read about the history of the Keiyo line.

I picked this photograph because it is -- without a doubt -- the best I have taken since arriving in Tokyo. There is a "welcoming" (visitors) center that is a three story glass building. It is nearly empty, save for the people staring from its windows. Combined with the sunset, adjacent gardens, and ferris wheel in the distance, it makes for an under-celebrated piece of architecture in Tokyo.