So, this is the last post about Tokyo. Basically it’s a whole lot of photos from my various walks that I want to show but don’t really gel into stories of their own. I tried to hit as many of the main areas as possible. Places such as the ritzy Ginza area where I sipped … More Random stuff いろいろなこと
Asakusa is the old downtown, or ‘shitamachi’ area of Tokyo city. It’s where you can go to see what Tokyo used to be like. Central to Asakusa is the 1300 year old Sensou-ji. For most people, Sensou-ji and the big lantern adorning the Kaminari-mon (Thunder and Lightning gate) are the main draws but there are … More Asakusa 浅草
As a fan of sumo wrestling, one of the things I really wanted to do when I was in Tokyo was to go to a morning practice at one of the sumo stables. I searched out one of the foreign writers of the Japan Times newspaper who writes a sumo column as well as writes … More Sumo keiko 相撲の稽古
So, since the Lunar New Year is upon us, I guess I should get the Gregorian calendar’s new year post out of the way. I spent new year eve at Yasukuni shrine and new year day at Meiji shrine. New Year is THE holiday of the year in Japan and loads of people go to … More Tokyo New Year 東京のお正月
My second day trip was north into Tochigi prefecture to visit the shrine/temple complex of Nikko. Nikko is the resting place of the shogun who began the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his grandson Iemitsu. The main precincts of Nikko are primarily Shinto but Nikko was established in 766 by the construction of Rinno-ji. The … More Nikko 日光
The first day trip away from Tokyo was about an hour to the south to Kamakura in Kanagawa prefecture. Between 1185 and 1333, Kamakura was actually the capital of Japan. I was up and gone very early and arrived in Kita-Kamakura (North Kamakura) shortly after 8:00am. I thought I would follow the suggestion from my … More Kamakura 鎌倉
Technically, its official name it “The Tokyo Metropolitan Wholesale Market”. But everyone just refers to it as the Tsukiji fish market. I’ve been wanting to visit for years especially since the government is planning on moving the market to a new location by 2012. Something to do with the aged buildings of the current site. … More Tsukiji Fish Market 築地市場
