The Japanese love their anime. Facebook and their location services on my iPhone appear to have determined that I am a Japanese male (despite my English only settings) and are flooding me with cheesy girl anime ads.
No idea what this is or what it is for, but I find it a bit creepy. Kind of like Akihabara.
Cleaning out my iPhone.
If it takes too long to shred documents you can always burn them. Before we moved to Tokyo I sorted and scanned a very large filing cabinet. I am sure the neighbours wondered what I was up to. I think this was 2008.
Why yes, that is Windows running on a Mac. Thanks for noticing. Mac still doesn’t have a great selection of games so a dual boot is required and I must constantly answer the question “Why didn’t we buy Alienware?”
In Japan when they tear down or build a building they use high tech scaffolding. Safety men everywhere. This is how they do it Hong Kong.
And this is how they make tea in Malaysia. It is a looooong pour. Tea and condensed milk. Is it better tea? Reality is that anything is better with sweet condensed milk.
A last Australia shot from Christmas. Waiting for a pizza on Manly beach. Great spot.
A store in Tokyo is filled with unique finds .. most in Japanese and indecipherable to the gaijin.
Condensed milk in a tube. Purchased to make a Vietnamese coffee at home.
An individually wrapped prune goes well with your Cream Collon (tube cookies with a creamy center). You can’t make this stuff up.
I was speaking with someone about how healthy Japan is. But a fellow in pharmaceuticals said that the cholesterol and diabetes drug markets are growing rapidly in Tokyo. This is why; the only thing I will eat in McDonalds is an egg mcmuffin but I won’t eat that. Obesity on a bun. Hey McDonalds, “Big Canadian” could go there too (unfortunately).
In Tokyo there are safety men everywhere. I mean everywhere, with their hands waving to ensure you don’t crash into a truck or workmen or any of 1,000 other things going on near the roads.
But automation is on the way …. A bit hard to see, but the LED safety patrolman.
A butcher skinning something on the street. What is it? No idea, but he had a big crowd.
You never know what you will see next.
Update: adding one more. Sitting in the doctors office I saw an add for this brand of baby diapers.
As I left Seika Dormitory I noticed this …
Those are brand new skis (3 sets) sitting on the front porch of a house .. not locked up.
I was speaking with a friend the other day and he was asking what it was like to live in Tokyo and I said the things that stand out are the cleanliness, how friendly people are (mostly) and how incredibly safe it is.
There are police everywhere, but I have no idea what they do? No guns. Low crime (unless you seek it in a seedy bar in Roppongi) and safe. The stories of people leaving a laptop or iPhone on the train and getting it back abound, children ride the subway alone and people leave their skis on the front porch and no one takes them.
A city of 40M+ .. and safe as a town of 500. A truly unique city.
Tokyo is filled with great restaurants, the most Michelin stars in the world. But it isn’t all about expensive places, there are amazing small restaurants for all budgets and as the Japanese BMI demonstrates, very few western style fast food places.
I took a couple quick snaps of my favourite “fast food” take-out sushi place near Hiroo station. Great prices (I think it might be lower cost than North America) and super fresh.
Y380 for 4 pieces maguro (tuna). I could eat sushi everyday.
.. what the owners of this extra clean car and incredibly well manicured property think every morning …
.. as they look at this abandoned scooter (smile).
I continued my Haikyo, ready to explore the insides of the building. It was getting dark quickly so I shot a mix of handheld HDRs and RAW depending on light conditions. I was also worried about stepping on a few floors, the hallways were concrete but the rooms?
The first room I looked in. It is like the fire happened and everyone just ran, never to return. So odd.
OS/2?
I would have left the Beethoven behind too. But Tchaikovsky? Heresy.
It must have gotten quite hot to melt whatever that is on the shelf …
I was fascinated by the piano.
I would have left it behind too.
A fully stocked kitchen.
Proof that the CD is dead. Why else would leave behind such a fantastic boombox?
And this is where my camera died. When I finally figured out where to go I parked quickly and decided to leave my camera bag and all of the piece parts behind. I was in a hurry. The only problem is that I didn’t look at my battery status.
It went dead. If I hurried I could run back to the car, move it to the closer parking spot, and then hustle back onto the site before all of the light disappeared.
Urban exploration can be a lot of work when you wing it.
Coming home for dinner.
Would love to know what is on those tapes. Some Magnum P.I. perhaps?
Student dormitory kegger …
I should have grabbed the worlds worst tie.
Cool afternoon out.
I run from the car to the “potential location” and there it is. Awesome.
I duck under what must be a “Do not enter” sign on a rope and slip into the lot before anyone sees. It is like the other sites have described, this overgrown building in the middle of Tokyo. Odd .. interesting.
There is a brand new mini-van parked in a portable canvas garage out front. Odd.
There is debris everywhere. Garbage seems so out of place in uber-clean Tokyo. Why are there so many abandoned bikes?
A history of the dormitory via. (great shots also)
Near the campus of Takushoku University (literally the University of Colonial Expansion) in Tokyo is an abandoned student dormitory built in 1927 by the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan. The university was particularly established to train Taiwanese students to serve the empire and to “develop” Taiwan.
Since the end of war, both Taiwan and China have claimed ownership of the building, citing that it was built using Taiwanese taxpayers’ money. Although the legal status of the building remains unresolved even today, Taiwanese and Chinese students were encouraged by their respective governments to occupy and live in the building, creating essentially an “one building, two systems” situation. The dormitory, also known as Seika Dormitory, has been abandoned since 2007 when a fire killed two of its residents.
A pot balances on a balcony over the entrance.
Who in their right mind would leave behind a purple bike? Purple awesomeness.
I stepped inside and was greeted with a “konichiwa” as two fellow explorers made their way around the site. They looked nervous. Don’t worry fellows, I am clearly not the Tokyo police.
There are lots of pictures of the building’s central area, broken roof overhead.
Had to hustle, sun was going down.
I am surprised there isn’t more graffiti.
Looking up wasn’t that interesting. Looking down was much more interesting. I wonder how many people have stepped on this record?
Odd that someone would leave behind a toy gun.
This umbrella had seen better days.
The yellow ball behind the umbrella caught my eye. That is a nice 5 wood.
I decided to start from the top. Up to the roof I went.
It offers a great view of the floors below.
Or the doors below.
Time to go open some doors and peak inside.
Odd weekend as the family was in Saipan and I was home alone on Saturday. This is a very rare occurrence as weekends are family time and if the boys are with friends, Narda and I are usually out doing something. Saturday had not even started and I was already bored (it had been a brutal long week at work).
What to do? Read a book. Hit the gym. Watch a few shows. I contemplated heading to the office to shoot the sunset against Mt Fuji (great view) with my new 2X extender and 70-200mm. Then I remembered a few sites I had come across around urban exploring … and Tokyo.
Haikyo.org, Michael John Grist and Tomboy Urbex are a few sites dedicated to haikyo (Japanese for urban exploration). I have never done this before other than at tourist sites such as Normandy and figured this could be a nice Saturday afternoon diversion.
First, select a target. I set my sights on Seika Dormitory, a burned out building in the heart of Tokyo.
Second, the address. The problem is that finding these locations is tough – where is the address? And for some reason no one posts it, perhaps to add to the sense of adventure as you hunt for the place?. Our concierge set my GPS for the approximate location as he could not find the exact address. Makes sense. I will get to 1 Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo and have a look around. What could go wrong?
And so my adventure started. I arrived, found a spot to park the car and proceeded to randomly approach people and show them my iPhone with the name of the location (精華寮) prominently displayed.
There was a lot of smiling (I was out of the expat area, English was nowhere to be found). Two police officers pulled over thanks to a super friendly elderly woman who flagged them down to help me while asking me “Kanada?”.
After much debate they sent me off by pointing to the map on my iPhone, giving me a sense of confidence that this was the general area where I would find the site.
Off I went. A few shots along the way. February and lemons on the trees. It was 8C and brisk, I had forgotten .. semi-tropical Tokyo.
Someone’s door.
As I searched around I was on this back street and could not believe that I had come across a donut shop. A fancy one, but still, a donut shop with English. Made me wonder about their clientele .. were these donuts so good that gaijin’s made the trip?
I don’t know why I stopped for this other than the kettle and hose interested me. Why buy a watering can?
I don’t know what this says, but I hope it is pro-cat. You get a distinct feeling that Japan likes dogs more than cats.
This door headed to a temple. It was locked.
Maybe it wasn’t a temple and I almost walked into someone’s backyard. We will never know.
And here is a map of my wandering around in circles. This is from Lightroom (I love the GPS on my Canon 5D Mark III). Wherever there is a bubble is where I took a photo. I started in the bottom left, made my way over to the Suido area where the elderly woman and policemen sent me NE toward Kasuga convinced that if I headed over to the Meidai Jr school that I would find it.
At the school I happened upon a nice man who promptly walked me over to the Koban (police box) where I engaged with the incredibly friendly and “sorta speak English” woman officer (near the Koishikawa Post Office)
This turned into a group project as more offers arrived, huddling around trying to figure out how to get this gaijin from “Kanada” to a burned out building.
As everyone spoke I got into a conversation that went like this:
“Kanada?” … “Yes, I am Canadian. Arigato” .. “me go yellowknife one time” .. “Wow. Yellowknife? Very cold up there.” .. (he smiles) “Big lights”
“Yes. Northern Lights. They are very pretty. I had a trip scheduled there once but had to cancel”
“F#c!ing cold” (I burst out laughing) “Yes. It is very cold there. Kanada is cold”. My English interpreter smiled, gave me a “Sayonara” and left smiling.
We are now at 7 officers, with maps on the table, several officers looking through different map books, one reading the website on my iPhone and one on the phone with headquarters (seriously). Finally they reach an agreement that it must be in the area directly south of the school over the tracks. OK, I think I am making progress. Using Google maps I head to the area. I circle, go into back yards, read two more website on the frigging place. Nada.
This blog gives me hope and really ticks me off because I think that she has a geocaching reference in her blog post (GXR A16) and I have NO idea how to utilize it. I go to this geocaching website and they have a location reference, but I need to become a member to get the LOC file .. which I would have no idea how to use while sitting on some random side street with a bag full of camera gear, an iPhone and tripod.
I am hungry. I head to the only restaurant that I have seen but they have just closed.
I need to go to the washroom.
Hang in there old chap.
I see a cemetery on top of the hill (where the 3 is on the above map). I walk down the hill to the entrance. I head into the cemetery and to the top to see if I can figure out where I am.
Maybe I will spot it.
I like cemeteries, what people leave behind interests me and there is always beauty to be found.
Even plastic beauty.
OK. Focus. Stop looking at the headstones. The sun is going to go down. You are walking in circle.
New buildings .. one burned out building. Where the heck is it?
Wow. It is February, the Japanese are talking as it if already spring and the cherry blossoms are starting to come out.
Aaarrrgggghhhh. Where is it? I laugh and start to figure out if I can make it to the office to shoot a Mt. Fuji sunset in time.
Around another corner. Another temple. Beautiful.
Alright. I am not going to get frustrated.
I started to walk through it in my mind. It could have been torn down. There is lots of construction and a whole bunch of areas where they recently cleared buildings.
It was a good wander .. several hours wandering around. Some fresh air, a good walk.
I resign myself to the fact that this is no longer an urban exploration but just a good walk. I jump in the car, time to go home.
A couple kilometers out I stop at a light and check my email. Jimmy-san, our concierge had followed up shortly after I left with some more information, the exact address of Seika Dormitory:
I found exact address of the building, 1-23-31 Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo.
The location is nearby Takushiyoku University.
You are awesome Jimmy-san. I whip the car around.
It was 3:30pm, if I hurried there would still be enough light … because .. of course .. when I packed my camera bag I had grabbed my flash and then put it back – why would I need a flash?
Hurry.
I have been cleaning out some photos and found the very first shots I took with my new Canon 5D Mark III in the summer. The coneflowers (Echinacea) were out, and so were the butterflies and bees.
The Japanese economy is in trouble (which economy isn’t?). You never hear about it unless you seek the information for a few reasons; the Japanese like to keep their problems to themselves, the lack of immigrants means that no one abroad pays close attention as they don’t have family trying to carve out a new life in Japan and Japanese debt is held by Japanese.
So why is it in trouble? I reflected on that as I exited Costco a few weekends ago with my son’s English paper top of mind (He is writing on the economic crisis and we had been discussing supply/demand, the impact of consumer confidence on the economy and the downward spiral that leads to a recession).
In North America you exit a Costco with your fellow shoppers sharing a common concern: how the heck am I going to fit all of this stuff in my vehicle?
In Japan, there are a few of us with a full trolley, but many others are exiting with half a trolley full or more commonly only a few items. How many times in North America do you see someone exit a Costco with 4 items? Almost never …
Also, I have yet to see a single person wrestling out one of those impulses items that stock the middle of the floor of Costco. You know, the items you see couples “discussing” all the time in North America. It goes something like this:
“But we came in here for a brick of cheese and milk. Nothing else.”
“I know. I know. It sounds crazy. But at that price, how can we not buy the trampoline?”
In North America you enter a Costco thinking that you will spend $50 and leave spending $900.
The new Prime Minister is keen on kick starting the economy and getting out of deflation. He has launched another huge debt incurring public works program after a big debt year and is pushing the bank of Japan to weaken the Yen to encourage exports.
But it might not be enough. Economies are fuelled by consumer confidence and spending. If Costco is an indicator … Japanese consumers need to spend more. The question is, can they afford it when living in the most expensive city in the world?
I am far from an expert on Japan, but I have heard a few different opinions that I thought I would share as the Japanese “teach” me their ways. These folks know sushi:
A block-shaped piece formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chef lines the bottom of the oshibako with the toppings, covers them with sushi rice, and then presses the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and then cut into bite-sized pieces. Particularly famous is バッテラ (battera, pressed mackerel sushi) or 鯖寿司 (saba zushi).[24]
My 2 Yen on sushi (smile).
One other sushi comment. I don’t buy patches or little gadgets when traveling as reminders. For me it is a magnet. Always try to find a magnet which we then add to our very large magnetic world map. Narda found me a sushi magnet the other day.
As an aside, I also like the fact that half the time I have no idea what I am eating (smile).
There was a holiday on Monday and when I asked a few colleagues they didn’t know anything about it .. other than it being a holiday. National Foundation Day:
The origin of National Foundation Day is New Year’s Day in the traditional lunisolar calendar. On that day, the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu was celebrated based on Nihonshoki (日本書紀), which states that Emperor Jimmu ascended to the throne on the first day of the first month.
In the Meiji period, the Japanese government designated the day as a national holiday. This coincided with the switch from the lunisolar calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1873. In 1872, when the holiday was originally proclaimed,[2] it was January 29 of the Gregorian calendar, which corresponded to Lunar New Year of 1873. Contrary to the government’s expectation, this led people to see the day as just Lunar New Year, instead of National Foundation Day. In response, the government moved the holiday to February 11 of the Gregorian calendar in 1873. The government stated that it corresponded to Emperor Jimmu’s regnal day but did not publish the exact method of computation.
In its original form, the holiday was named Empire Day (紀元節, Kigensetsu?)[citation needed].[3] It is thought that the Meiji Emperor may have wanted to establish this holiday to bolster the legitimacy of the imperial family following the abolition of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The national holiday was supported by those who believed that focusing national attention on the emperor would serve a unifying purpose.[4] Publicly linking his rule with the mythical first emperor, Jimmu, and thus Amaterasu, the Meiji Emperor declared himself the one, true ruler of Japan.[5]
With large parades and festivals, in its time, Kigensetsu was considered one of the four major holidays of Japan.[6]
Given its reliance on Shintoism and its reinforcement of the Japanese nobility, Kigensetsu was abolished following World War II. Ironically, February 11 was also the day when General MacArthur approved the draft version of the model Constitution in 1946.[7]
The commemorative holiday was re-established as National Foundation Day in 1966.[8] Though stripped of most of its overt references to the Emperor, National Foundation Day was still a day for expressing patriotism and love of the nation in the 1950s.[9]
What did not happen this National Foundation Day is the “muted” Japanese nationalism that was suggested in this note:
In contrast with the events associated with earlier Kigensetsu, celebrations for National Foundation Day are relatively muted. Customs include the raising of Japanese flags and reflection on the meaning of Japanese citizenship. The holiday is still relatively controversial however, and very overt expressions of nationalism or even patriotism are rare.[10]
The nationalists were out in full force due to the Chinese and Russian tensions around territories, and the growing support for greater Japanese national defense forces. We live near the Chinese embassy, there were police everywhere and they were dressed for trouble.
The trouble that they were monitoring were these trucks that seemed to be everywhere. Their loudspeakers were blaring some form of rhetoric, which a bystander explained to me were calls for the Japanese people to unite around the themes previously mentioned.
Big loudspeakers.
I guess they need big loudspeakers in the Shibuya area to compete with the trucks that drive around blaring pop music to advertise their video game, pop music group or product.
I can handle the video game trucks .. the pop group trucks with their bubble-gum music blaring set your teeth on edge.
We spent a few hours in Shibuya as I needed to hit the Apple store. There are cool buildings in the area. This one looks like it came out of Battlestar Galactica.
This one does a good job of optimizing their 3m x 200m property.
A little Japanese restaurant for a quick lunch.
And probably Tower Records last store ….
Thanks for dropping by …
At first it can be daunting. The signs are not in English in most places and hard to understand. Based on my experience, I have now concluded 4 things:
1. Don’t bother on the street as most locations only allow 60 minutes.
2. The price is Y300 per 30 minutes everywhere. (Roughly $6.50 and hour)
3. There is a lot more parking in Tokyo than I would have thought. The GPS is awesome at helping you find a parking lot. Without the GPS? Good luck.
4. There are two types of parking; the traditional parking lot where you pull into a spot and a little flap pops up and locks your tire into place until you pay. The other type is the robot/tower parking.
This usually involves a circle (which flips your car around) and some form of stackable parking.
This is what a parking “tower” looks like. It is filled with cars.
You pull into the parking garage (note the circle, it flips your car around).
And here is where it is stored. I have been wondering what it looks like inside one of these parking machines. It was the first time I could ever take a shot. Now I know …
A vertical parking lot. Cool.
After the Ghibli Museum we stopped at a random Tokyo intersection to grab lunch. Here are a few shots; a mix of handheld HDR and others via my Canon 5D Mark III.
A busy Tokyo street.
What is a pepper lunch? Have I mentioned how I find it odd that even in the outlying areas of Tokyo there is so much random English?
For example, English advertising signs. I am not quite sure that this sign would go over well in Canada or the US? Made me smile.
We decided on “Japanese BBQ” which they call Yakiniku. The front of the restaurant was a huge open kitchen with open BBQ grills.
It was very smoky. A combination of people smoking and the BBQ fumes. On a Saturday afternoon, people enjoying a beer and some BBQ.
I didn’t get a shot of what we ate, it disappeared too fast.
Definitely a “true” Japanese exploration for the family.
One last shot from the street; we came across another Japan first for us – a bicycle parking lot. There must have been 500+ bikes.
Here is where you pay.
A good wander.
A colourful sunrise, via my Canon 5D Mark III shot using the internal HDR, handheld. I recently replaced my tripod, but grabbing it early in the morning is so much harder than simply shooting away. Canon has done a great job with the technology. Zero post processing.
Through the bushes.
It took months to get tickets to the Ghibli Museum, but the Saturday finally arrived. Our family headed out to this “home of animation” not knowing what to expect:
Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館 Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan?, Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum) is a museum featuring the Japaneseanime work of Studio Ghibli, and is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan.
The museum is a fine arts museum, but does not take the concept of a usual fine arts museum. With many features that are child-oriented and a sprawling and occasionally mazelike interior, the museum is a playfully created place. Centered around the motto appearing on the museum’s website “Let’s become lost children together” (迷子になろうよ、いっしょに Maigo ni narō yo, isshoni?), or “let’s lose our way together” as it is translated in the English leaflet. It has no set path or order of viewing. While the museum brochure contains a variety of languages, the signs within the museum are in Japanese only.
Unfortunately, I missed that last line. It is a very cool museum, with a very “Gaudi” feel to it.
One of our first stops was the roof top garden. I remember watching the Iron Giant with the kids years ago.
A very serene and beautiful garden.
Inside is stuffed with interesting drawings and the history of animation from around the world. However, you are not allowed to take pictures and there is zero English to be found.
It is a real shame and very frustrating as we wanted to learn. So much in front of you and not accessible. In some ways like all of Japan.
Still, it was a beautiful day, in a park with some beautiful architecture.
One of our boy’s teachers encouraged them to watch the Ted talk by Sir Ken Robinson.
The video was particularly interesting to me as I was one of those people who found University incredibly boring. I found learning how to sell and how business works at my part time job much more interesting. The only flashes of interest for me were the occasional challenging project where it would capture my attention and I would throw myself into it. The rest? Repetition and memorization.
Our education system needs an overhaul. Only 9M people have seen this, hundreds of millions need to see it.
PS: On the education side, a great video on how to understand the UK here. 🙂
TimeOut Tokyo suggested the Earth Day market as a “what to do this weekend” so we headed over on the Sunday afternoon to explore. It was across the street from Yoyogi Park (we had to do some wandering to find it). There were street food vendors everywhere.
This was my lunch, BBQ squid.
The market was filled with colourful trucks, showing their wares.
The Love hut espoused ….
Be vegan, make peace.
Across the way, the Love Farm. Lots of love at this market. Mostly English love.
I could not understand what this root was from the vendor, but everyone was looking at it. Must be a good root.
The market itself was quite fun. Filled with an assortment of fruits, vegetables and “healthy” products. A nice way to spend a sunny January afternoon.
While walking through Yoyogi Park I saw a few men shooting birds in the trees. All I can say to this is “wow”. Thing is almost as tall as he is.
Yoyogi park is a park that is commonly written up in books on visiting Tokyo. Filled with eclectic people, right beside one of the most famous shrines in Tokyo, it is worth a visit.
What is now Yoyogi Park was the site of the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan, on December 19, 1910, by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa,[1] after which it became an army parade ground. During the post World War II Allied occupation of Japan, it was the site of the Washington Heights residence for U.S. officers.[2]
It was later the site for the main Olympic athletes village of the 1964 Summer Olympics[3] and the swimming, diving, and basketball venues. The distinctive Yoyogi National Gymnasium which hosted swimming, diving, and basketball was designed by Kenzo Tange for the Olympics,[4] and is still in use, but most of the area north of the gymnasium complex and south of Meiji Shrine was turned into a city park in 1967.[5]
Today, the park is a popular hangout, especially on Sundays, when it is used as a gathering place for rock music fans.[5] The park has a bike path, a public basketball court,[6] and bicycle rentals are available.
A few weekends ago we dropped over for Earth Day, which is a farmers market. We did not think that the bands would be there, they were. They were REALLY enjoying themselves.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and people were out in droves enjoying themselves. These lads were having fun with sticks.
Drummers.
Not really sure what these women were up to?
This man was entertaining people with his bubbles.
It is still the winter (ish). So no roses.
Some brilliantly colored graffiti under the bridge.
Cool place. Can’t wait to go for a wander in the spring.
The concept of central heating is not one that the Japanese have caught on to. The common heating model is to have independent heating and cooling units in each room.
The benefit is that you gain room by room control which can be more energy efficient. The downside is that each room is different and there is no ability to add a central humidifier as you do in a forced air system.
As the weather moved from insane scalding hot (August) to a beautiful warm fall and now into their winter the humidity has changed (Insert Canadian scoff at 8C winter .. The other day I walked to a restaurant without a jacket and everyone around me must have thought I was nuts as they were bundled like it was -10).
Returning from holiday it became very apparent that we had a problem with humidity, as the apartment had become unbearably dry. A brief conversation with the building manager brought out that every gaijin complains about it each year and then goes out and buys more humidifiers. The Japanese can figure out how to store data on glass for 10’s of millions of years, but when it comes to central humidity it is a no go.
The only option? Buy a few humidifiers. In our case 6. What a pain.
![Ultrasonic humidifier aroma Apice Apikkusu SHIZUKU PLUS +] [Aqua Blue AHD-012-BL](https://i0.wp.com/ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/31-g6dOEo1L._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Two quick pictures from my iPhone. I sent out less Christmas/holiday cards than I usually do this year (it has been manic), only 300 or so. I sent a few old colleagues a card and one sent a note back. My assistant handed it to me last week with a comment “I have no idea how this actually got to you, look at the address” … no company, title, street address or prefecture and for the record – Mori Tower is 40 stories.
This was stuck to a metal pole in Minato-ku. Is it just me or is the height and weight reference odd?
But the dude has a posse.
Our next stop was a Zen temple. Everything is so neat.
Orderly.
Until that doggone cat from next door shows up again ….
I can see the monk the next morning, starting to fume and then stopping himself. Ok, remember, deep breaths, stay calm. Now where is my rake and a plastic bag?
I am sure that he wished that the lions served as a cat scarecrow.
Our next stop was a Buddhist temple where they chant and pray 24×7. In the courtyard are several mini-shrines.
The heartbreaking shine was to children who had passed on. Parents left remnants around the shrine to their children. I found this stuffed animal a sad reminder of someone’s loss.
Next to this shrine is a vanity shrine, where you leave a frog as an offering and request for good “skin”. Japans answer to Clearasil. Lots of frogs …
There were paper cranes all over the shrines .. and I now admire the dedication that it takes to finish 1,000 paper cranes:
Thousand origami cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru?) is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes (鶴 tsuru) held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise) and is said to live for a thousand years: That is why 1000 cranes are made, one for each year. In some stories it is believed that the 1000 cranes must be completed within one year and they must all be made by the person who is to make the wish at the end. Cranes that are made by that person and given away to another aren’t included: All cranes must be kept by the person wishing at the end.
Our last shrine was to the Kappa. I didn’t take a lot of shots as we had to bolt, but we did hear of the dangers of the Kappa:
As water monsters, kappa have been frequently blamed for drownings, and are often said to try to lure people to the water and pull them in with their great skill at wrestling.[12] They are sometimes said to take their victims for the purpose of drinking their blood, eating their livers or gaining power by taking their shirikodama (尻子玉?), a mythical ball said to contain their soul which is located inside the anus.[12][14][15][16] Even today, signs warning about kappa appear by bodies of water in some Japanese towns and villages. Kappa are also said to victimize animals, especially horses and cows; the motif of the kappa trying to drown horses is found all over Japan.[17] In these stories, if a kappa is caught in the act, it can be made to apologize, sometimes in writing.[17] This usually takes place in the stable where the kappa attempted to attack the horse, which is considered the place where the kappa is most vulnerable.[3]
A fascinating tour. Looking forward to doing another.
They are cute. Yes. But what happens if you get bit while trying to get them to sit on your shoulder?
I post this as a public service to others who will go through that stress if they get bit.
On our trip to the Monkey Forest we had a bit of a fright with a monkey bite. One of the problems with the internet is that it is filled with opinions. From what I can ascertain from the International SOS clinic and reading, here are the facts:
Online forums are filled with “I was bit by a monkey” questions, panic and forum answers, with nothing of value. The reality is that if you have not been vaccinated for rabies, the protocol according to the World Health Organization is:
Full WHO document here.
The moral of the story – what would we do differently this time?
Hope it helps someone else “calmly” determine what to do.
As previously mentioned, we went on a Ghost Walk tour on the last day of the New Year holiday. One of the frustrating things about Japan is that they are not that interested in sharing their rich and diverse history. Everything is either hidden away or only in Japanese. They really don’t care about sharing. This is not a stretch, just look at their history, foreigners have never been popular in Japan.
However, there are a few gaijin who have been here long enough to assemble the history. If you are in Japan, I would highly recommend taking one of Haunted Tokyo’s tours. The tour we were on was positioned as a ghost tour, but it quickly became obvious that it was more of a shrine tour filled with history, culture and Japanese mythology. We loved it and will definitely take their other tours.
We wandered around Tokyo FINALLY learning the history (beyond what we have dug up on our own). We started here … a building that she is convinced is haunted with pulled curtains and odd sculptures. Not sure. But I think someone was looking out at our group through the curtains …
We stopped off at Shitaya shrine, where our guide explained how the corner is guarded by foxes as there is only one location that the demons and bad spirits can enter from. A beautiful shrine .. with a demon entrance.
While looking at the shrine we were told that many of the shrines are being disassembled and stored by developers and the government. If you want to bring a shrine to your home, you simply need to agree to reassemble it and pay for transport (although I can find no reference to this on the web).
Still amazes me to see berries and flowers in January (especially after that snow fall)
As we wandered the streets we came through an area which was home to many geishas at one point in time. One of the few areas in Tokyo where very old buildings remain.
And very old vending carts …
I have been meaning to blog about construction in Tokyo and last weeks “event” prompted me to write.
Construction in Japan is very different than in Canada and probably everywhere else in the world. When we first moved here I noticed a few things; security guards with glowing light sticks at every construction site, well constructed enclosures around each site and crazy levels of cleanliness.
It seems that Japanese construction starts with the enclosure. When a building is set to be demolished the building is scaffolded and enclosed so you cannot see anything. The building comes down piece by piece and parts of the scaffolding remain.
The above photo from my iPhone has 2 interesting elements to it. The first is the wet pavement. As every single vehicle leaves the site, a group of workmen hose down the truck so that it comes out as clean as if it went into a carwash. They then clean and sweep the street (multiple times a day).
The other interesting element is the LED screen on the left.
A decibel meter to measure site noise. I have yet to hear a lot of noise out of one of these sites. They could use a few of these at some of the vacation resorts I have been too.
But it doesn’t always go right. Near our home the “demolition screen” went up a week ago and they started tearing down a building. One of the boys sent me a text that there had been an accident …. demolitions are tricky stuff. After getting home I grabbed my camera and had a look.
Whoops. That is a big wall.
There were a lot of guys with brooms (smile). Luckily, no one was hurt.
Most are handheld HDR.
The sunrise .. the tide is out.
I became quite fond of their beers. Australian beer is almost as good as Canadian beer. Almost.
Moon overhead.
Beautiful place.
Getting to the end of my Australia posts.
One of our excursions was to the barrier reef. The boat ride out to the reef (we were heading to the outer reef) was beautiful as we wove through the islands to the outer reef.
There are a lot of islands with no one on them.
Arriving at the outer reef is an odd experience as it is not an above water destination. You look down and it is there. Fish quickly congregated off the back of the boat, obviously conditioned to our arrival. These fish were big .. and friendly.
The coral was beautiful.
It amazes me how the colors change over short distances. This is the same coral (as above) but from a bit farther away. Note the way the colors wash out. I have just started playing with underwater photos and the G12, but one thing is clear – closer the better.
A beautiful pink coral.
As luck would have it the trip was rather uneventful as snorkelling is all about timing and we didn’t see any fish life that were more interesting than what we saw in the reef off the beach. We had better luck in Belize, but one off the bucket list – we have been to the great barrier reef.
.. continuing on the theme. Canon 5D Mark III with my 24-70mm lens.
A full moon over Tokyo.
Sunrise off of a picture I love by Christos Palios.
Sunset reflections on Tokyo.
A cool sky that morning.
A not so cool sky the morning of the big storm. Getting to the airport was a nightmare.
But most often, Tokyo skies are clear. Especially this time of year. This weekend? 17C in February. Excellent.
While in Australia we had the barrier reef on our “to do list” and for me, I learned an expensive lesson there.
Over the years I have had a lot of trouble with face masks and leaking. I recently upgraded all of the family’s gear (we love to snorkel) and had some success with masks.
However, the same thing kept happening over and over on trips. The longer we were at the hotel/resort, the leakier my mask would get. It was was driving me INSANE. The family had gotten use to it and was convinced that I am just finicky.
We traveled all the way out to the barrier reef and the same thing happened, I spent more time clearing my mask than snorkelling. The mystery being that a couple of days prior I had snorkelled for 4 hours with no issues. What was I doing wrong?
The skipper finally solved the mystery: my beard. When I go on holiday I like to skip shaving. As the week progresses, it gets thicker. At a certain point, the mask is incapable of making a seal with my skin due to the stubble and starts leaking. Mystery solved: shave. Which is alright, there is a surprising amount of grey anyway (smile).
The boys have no such issue, they swim like fish.
The tide goes out in the afternoon providing excellent access to the reef system off the beach. You walk in ankle deep water for 300m and then make your way out to the system. The wind and waves will determine the visibility. On boxing day we spent a couple hours snorkelling with excellent visibility. I was swimming with my Canon G12 and an underwater case.
The coral is beautiful.
I have no idea what type of fish this is but the camouflage was very impressive.
There were a few jellyfish so you had be careful. Most people were not wearing a stinger suit.
I happened upon this huge sea turtle grazing. No one else was around so I just hung out for 30 minutes swimming beside him/her and snapping shots. They are such magnificent creatures.
He/she was not bothered at all.
The turtle was over a meter long. Beautiful.
Amazing experience.
You almost stepped on the cute little bear too …
Everyone is writing, talking, tweeting and blogging about Lance Armstrong. Me? I don’t care. His fall from grace is neither surprising or noteworthy (sports and Hollywood falls from grace are everyday occurrences). As long as these sports are ultra-competitive with the high stakes of money and fame, people will push the limits and many will do “whatever it takes”.
That being said, it is JUST sports. It isn’t world hunger. It isn’t about faking the cure for cancer. It is weekend entertainment. The only difference between Lance and the other dopers in his sport is that he got caught. The sport is LITTERED with dopers including the godfathers of the sport like Merckx (who would have doped even more if the stuff had been invented).
The real point of all of this is that society has misplaced their faith and should re-evaluate what is important. Who they look up to. I don’t see anyone writing about that. And I still say watching sports on the TV is boring (smile), give me the latest episode of Wilfred any day.
A few interweb items that did catch my attention:
And a photo from a cab in Malaysia – couldn’t get much clearer:
;
We spent our Christmas Day on Whitehaven Beach lazing on the beautiful white sand and swimming in the ocean. They handed out stinger suits for everyone to ensure that no one got stung.
I did not see any jellyfish, but these little fellows caught my attention. I have no idea what they are and they look like a plant, but clearly swim and are beautiful.
We didn’t get to the head of the river that feeds into the beach. They dropped us on the other end and it is a 7km walk. Would have loved to see that area.
We had dinner at the yacht club. While the meal was not that great, the venue was spectacular with beautiful views.
The harbour area of Hamilton Island is beautiful at night.
The handheld HDRs were a little tough with the shutter speeds slowing.
One thing I did not catch was the bats. On one night they covered the sky on a full moon –another reminder of “always carry your camera”.
I am glad I am not in Toronto. A friend sent me a note with a pic of the streets of Toronto .. dark .. and –25 with the wind chill. I do not miss that. 8C is t-shirt weather for a Canadian (smile).
Our first couple of days were rather spotty, filled with rain. As a big fan of Trip Advisor, I had planned using the tool and had a list of options. One of our first “rainy day” actions was to head up to Passage Peak, the highest point on the island. A 3KM hike in on and off again rain is very do-able when it is 27C out.
The view from the top.
View of the hotel area.
The vegetation goes from very lush to dry brown.
We also went to Target Sports, which is a range. I grew up in Alberta shooting. My boys had never shot a gun. They did very well.
And we stopped off at the Wildlife Park to see the koalas. I have never seen or touched a koala. We all took a turn holding “Elvis”. Their fur feels matted and wiry, and his “hug” very soft. Beautiful animal.
As I mentioned it was raining. Here is how a Koala weathers out the rain.
I found this fellow’s eyes piercing. He just stared right at me. I wonder what he was thinking?
As the rain stopped, this fellow came out of his sleep.
And a mother brought out her baby for a swing.
The island does not have a weeks worth of activities but it was good for a few days. Luckily, the sun came out.
They have taken their cigarette packs to a whole new level. I am against smoking but even I found this a little hard to stomach.
And I have to admit that I was perplexed by the need for this sign in the bathrooms. Was this a problem at some point?
For Christmas week we headed up the coast to Hamilton Island, just off the great barrier reef. Here is my simple take on Hamilton Island after much back and forth trying to get the straight goods around tourism in Australia:
But …. the one thing people need to be aware of is that Australia beaches are not like other beaches (see my other posts). Australia is a dangerous place with strong currents, different threats and with several different types of jellyfish kicking around including the Irukandji that can put you in the hospital for 3 days of excruciating pain – you need to be careful.
This isn’t Grand Cayman. I think that if my goal was to head to a beach only – it would be to Thailand or somewhere like that, not Australia. Once you accept that vacationing in Australia is an “adventure”, then you enjoy what is around you.
A few shots of Hamilton Island. The view from our balcony was spectacular.
The cockatiels were very friendly and inquisitive. They are said to have the intelligence of a 3 year old. They were definitely looking for food.
They were also quite comfortable around us.
A few more views from our room at the Reef.
We had to hop back to Akihabara the other night. In the evening it is filled with young women dressed in (how to describe it?) manga/frilly/high school girl/tailor moon/prostitute outfits trying to get men to head to their various “retail” locations such as MaiDreamin (below). We found the whole things creepy.
The lights are cool though.
We took the Haunted Tokyo Tour on the last day of the New Year week with one of the stops being a cemetery that houses one of Japan’s most famous painters Hokusai Katusika. I picked one of his most famous pieces The Great Wave off Kanagawa for my New Years cards this year.
The cemetery was filled with stories (thanks to a great guide). Many had paid tribute to their ancestors with sake …
and incense …
and flowers.
These flowers caught my eye, a stark contrast to the headstones they adorned.
One more angle.
A solemn place brought alive with color.
Our second stop (amazing how fast the day flies by) was the Maritime Museum. Every time I go to Sydney I stare out the office window at this museum, wanting to get over there and have a look. I have never been on a military ship before and it did not disappoint. I just wish we only had 90 minutes as it closed at 5p.m.
Our first stop was the tall ship.
The Endeavour is a replica built in 1988 (took 5 years) of James Cook’s original ship that was used to discover Australia and New Zealand between 1769 and 1771. It is rather cramped quarters and the tour (thanks to local volunteers) gives you excellent insight into what life would have been like. I would not have made a good seaman. Interesting point, the shuttle Endeavour is named after this ship.
Having quickly popped through that tour we made a sprint to the other ships as I really wanted on that submarine. Walking through it made it clear that I would never want to be on a sub either, but what a fascinating world of dials, tubes and cramped spaces.
The first volunteer talked all about the ships armaments, having been on a sub in the 70’s. At the other end of the sub are a host of other tubes that were decommissioned for torpedo storage and repurposed by the men to hold 48 cases of beer (smile).
Some traditions are the same in all navies, the Captain’s china. The quarters on the submarine and the destroyer were of the same time period. Fun to see a TV with a dial and a VCR, which I am sure was state of the art in the 70s.
I say old chap, is that a Canadian symbol on the wall?
The engine room.
Up we climbed onto the next ship, the “Vampire” destroyer. This shot is in the shell loading bay below the big guns. The instruction method to the loaders is quite straight forward.
Big guns
Unfortunately we didn’t have much time inside the museum which is 3 stories and chock full of memorabilia and stories. My only advice is that if you head here – you need 3-4 hours to truly enjoy it. Next time …. One last ship, an odd looking one. It is a lightship built in 1917.
Our first “tourist” stop in Sydney was the Hyde Park Barracks:
Constructed by convict labour by order of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the Barracks is one of the most familiar works of the accomplished colonial England-born, Australian architect Francis Greenway. As the principal male convict barracks in New South Wales it provided lodgings for convicts working in government employment around Sydney until its closure in mid 1848.
It has had many occupants since then. It was an Immigration Depot for single female immigrants seeking work as domestic servants and awaiting family reunion from 1848 to 1886 and also a female asylum from 1862 to 1886. From 1887 to 1979 law courts and government offices were based at the Barracks.
It is a beautifully maintained building, full of fascinating bits.
Not knowing a lot about Australia’s history, it was a good first stop. The barracks walk you through one of the original intake buildings, detailed descriptions of the evolution of the colony and how it evolved from a penal to a proper society.
What is most interesting is the collection of memorabilia from the rats, it makes up a huge part of the exhibit; all of these pieces that they stole away and were later recovered in the foundation and floor boards. Amazing.
While there I bought the book A Little History of Australia. I read it on the beach the week after and enjoyed the 10,000 word essay, although I found it a little too politically. I would have liked to read more about specific incidents that shaped the Australian society.
A couple interesting quotes/facts:
I would highly recommend stopping here if you are in Sydney, worth the visit.
On the Friday before Christmas I took the day off and we toured Sydney. The ride in was a) to the right location and b) beautiful.
A beautiful building beside the ferry harbour. Love the big mirror.
We decided to “big red bus” it. I love the big red bus in most cities (except Tokyo as it is all in Japanese). You get a sense of history, tour the city and can jump on and off. Sydney is a beautiful city. Reminds me architecturally of Montreal .. have I mentioned Toronto could learn something?
I happened to enter this mall during the week (searching for a football) and it is beautiful.
The library.
Old against new.
Growing a wall garden. I have seen a surprising number of these in Tokyo.
Beautiful city.
Advertisements in English are more frequent in Tokyo than I expected.
In some of these advertisements they trend to the literal more than they would in a North American advertisement.
This one made me smile. I would have thought that “cleanliness” was a given, not a feature of the club.
A snow storm is hitting Tokyo. A world class, inches on the ground, can’t see very far snow storm in a city with a) no snow plows b) no piles of salt for the roads and c) not many snow shovels.
Looking at the little trucks sliding around with their pencil thin wheels I would also wager there are not many snow tires on the road either.
Manic. Particularly crazy if you consider that I was on the deck yesterday afternoon with a beer enjoying the 13C sun on my face.
Reminds me of when NYC got a big dump and they called out the National Guard a few years ago. Where is the Tokyo National Guard when you need them?
It also reminds me of our time in England. Snow shut the place down. Tokyo isn’t a lot different, all forms of transportation are pretty much shut down.
The really bad thing is that today is a national holiday, adult day. This is where people who are 20 dress up and celebrate becoming an adult. It is a big deal and a snow storm has to be messing with a lot of celebrations.
Day two and instead of taking the Sydney fast ferry I took the Manly fast ferry. The same boat that I had taken the night before from Darling Harbour to Manly beach, or so I thought. It ended in the same location – Circular Quay. So I started walking, again.
A few shots of Manly Beach in the morning. Good morning Mr. Hemmingway.
There are a lot of 40’s themed murals around.
We always struggle finding good surf shops for things like flip flops and bathing suits for our boys. Not so in Australia, every other store is a surf shop of some type.
My exit point.
Sydney has a LOT of military ships kicking around. This one was coming into port. When I shot a few photos, they waved.
This shot was from the night before. A big port.
Not to get too far off track, but these two shots were from the night before also. The clown creeped me out.
And a very big cruise liner in port.
I laughed at this sign. I really wanted to go in and ask where I could get a good cappuccino.
This building has no scientists according to this article.
According to this article, Leopold struck out on his own on January 4th, 1888 (right side of the page).
Almost at the office.
Another good walk.
As a friend said “There really is no perfect camera bag”. I now have a couple bags and thought I had found the “perfect” one in the spring. After a few trips, I have abandoned it again for my trusty Maxpedition.
I don’t know why, but even though the Maxpedition isn’t a camera bag (I put gear in sleeves or cases and then neatly stack it in the bag with a few hand towels in there for insurance padding), it works. It is comfortable even with a bigger load (5D, 18-70 lens, 70-200 lens, 2X III extender, extra battery, cards and bits and bobs) and as our trip up Passage Peak proved – nicely water proof.
I bought it years ago while we were still in England from their US website and after a good hose-down, it still looks brand new. Military tough.
Plus on the trek up the hill (3K up, 3K down) I slipped my iPhone into the back and blasted Christmas tunes via Spotify the whole time. Hiking AND singing Christmas carols, in a on/off rain (but warm!).
Great pack.
While staying at Manly Beach I commuted to downtown Sydney each day for work. Despite a significant amount of coaching and planning, I kept getting on the wrong ferry out of Manly Beach each morning (there are 3 every 30 minutes and many go to different places – a few permutations). The upside is that I got dropped off at different places each morning and had my camera, so I explored my way to the office with a little help from Google maps on my iPhone. The downside … it often took longer.
A few (quite a few) photos from Day 1’s wander to the office and the ferry ride in.
A friendly ferry.
No one honked while I stopped in the middle of the road.
I have been to Sydney a handful of times and never explored the city. It has always been airport > hotel > office > customer > office > hotel > airport. It was nice to walk through the streets. I was struck by how Sydney has preserved so many older buildings. Toronto and Sydney are similar in age, and compared to Sydney – Toronto falls way short. They would have torn most of these buildings down by now .. which is a shame. Well done Sydney.
Someone told me this is a rubber tree. I think they are wrong, I believe it is a sycamore tree.
Beautiful church.
This fellow stopped to have his photo taken. He was charming the people exiting a long line of buses.
During my “lost” wander to the office I stumbled upon a coffee shop that I had been to before. It happened to be the shop which serves the best cappuccino in Sydney (or the best that I have had so far). I asked about the froth – as I would love to get it that thick on my home machine. Alas, it is a special milk only delivered to the shops.
The sky was very blue in Sydney. This is a zero processing handheld HDR. Well done Canon.
The place where I should have gotten off each morning. I only got it right the last time. Which isn’t a bad thing.
Thanks for stopping by.
A few shots around the beach.
From our room. Nice view.
Michael Weening: a few pictures 