Yasukuni Shrine: March 22, 2010

Yasukuni Shrine is famous in many reasons.

The shrine is a symbol of political and ideological controversies between nationalists and left activists. The shrine enshrines A-class war criminals.

I saw nationalists marching in the shrine. They held Japanese rising sun flag and sang nationalistic songs.

The shirine has a museum on Japanese war history in the garden.

The shrine is also fames for its cherry blossom. The judgment of the start of Tokyo’s cherry blossom season is made by Japan Meteorological Agency based on a cherry in the shrine.

The agency declared the start of the season today (March 22nd ) as it found more than five flowers open. When I visited, however, I found most buds were yet open.

The shrine is quite near from the Imperial Palace. The cherry trees in the palace's banks and in the walkways surrounding the palace were about to blossom. The pink buds were also beautiful.

Tokyo Dome Ciry (2): March 21, 2010

I visited Tokyo Dome City for the second time in three weeks. It was rainy three weeks ago, but it was fine today.

People enjoyed the roller coaster. The coaster moved up and down through modern buildings. People's screams were heard. The sky was blue.

A pre-season baseball game was held in Tokyo Dome, which locates in the center of the City. Thousands of people came out from the dome when I passed through it.

The Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame is in the Dome. It was crowed with baseball-freak boys and girls. The baseball shop was also full with boys and girls.

There were many girls enjoying cosplay, or dressing-up performances, outside the Dome. They wore eye-catching costumes (most of them were designed copying the clothes of comic heroines) and put bright color wigs (pink, gold, silver, green ...). Tourists were taking photos.

The Tokyo Dome City locates in the north of the Imperial Palace.

Koishikawa Korakuen Garden: March 21, 2010

It’s the beginning of cherry blossom season. I visited Koishikawa Korakuen Garden.

The garden was originally a private house of Mito Tokugawa family, one of most powerful Tokugawa families in the Edo period. Mitsukuni Tokugawa, or Mito Komon, famous white hats in the Edo era and a hero in today’s samurai TV programs, once lived here.

A cherry tree was in the center of the garden. The branches as well as the flowers hanged loosely.

There are ponds, small hills, flower beds and plant fields. Some gardens were covered with mosses. They also have bridges, small temples and monuments.

There stands Tokyo Dome baseball stadium behind the garden.

The cheering of the supporters were heard from the dome.

The walls of the garden are also historical. The wall stones were carried from the Edo Castle.

Rapeseed @ Hamarikyu Gardens: March 20, 2010

I visited Hamarikyu Gardens to enjoy rapeseed flower blossom.

There were about 300 thousands rapeseed flowers in a 3000-square-meter field. The yellow ground was so beautiful. There are tall buildings behind the field. The contrast between them was impressive.

Nanohana ya

Tsuki wa Higashi ni

Hi wa Nishi ni.

This is a famous Haiku poem by Yosa Buson, a famous Haiku poet in the Edo period. The meaning of it is:

Beautiful rapeseed flowers

The moon is coming up in the east

The sun is going down in the west.

The sun was in the west when I visited the gardens. The scene reminded me of Buson's Haiku.

Hamarikyu Gardens were made in the early Edo period by one of Tokugawa families. It has become open to the public after the World War 2.

The gardens are designed in Japanese style. They introduce the sea water into the ponds. (Unique!)

There is a tearoom on a small island in the pond. I found a tourist group from Russia enjoying a tea ceremony. They served a cup of tea and a Japanese sweet. The sweet was made in cherry-flower design today.

Hamarikyu Gardens locates about three kilometers south from Tokyo Station and faces Tokyo Bay.

Shoin Shrine & Setagaya Castle: March 14, 2010

Japanese Shinto, the country’s natural spirituality, has long history. However, the shrines are not always old. Some famous shrines were built after the Meiji era. Such examples include Meiji Shrine, which honors the Meiji Emperor, and Shoin Jinja (Shrine).

Shoin Shrine is in Setagaya-ward, western Tokyo. The shrine honors Yoshida Shoin, a spiritual leader of the Meiji Revolution. He was born in Choshu, Yamaguchi Prefecture and became a teacher when the country was in turmoil at the end of the Tokugawa era.

He was executed by the Tokugawa Government just before the Meiji Revolution. But his students carried out the Revolution and became the leaders of the Meiji Government. They included Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s first prime minister, Yamagata Aritomo, powerful conservative politician who served several times as premier, and Takasugi Shinsaku, military leader of anti-Tokugawa Choshu local government.

Shoin is still respected by many people. I found a visitor who prayed at Shoin and his students’ tombs in very serious manner.

The copy of his school building “Shokason Juku” is in the shrine. The original is in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

I also visited the ruin of Setagaya Castle. The castle was built in the 15th century. Now the place is a park. There remain moats and mounds.

Spring flowers @Setagaya: March 14, 2010

It is getting warmer and the sunshine is becoming brighter. It is spring. I walked along walk paths in Setagaya Ward, western Tokyo.

Flowers have started to bloom. Here are pictures of them.

Some cherry trees started to open their flowers. A young cherry tree opened its faint pink flowers.

There are various kinds of cherries in Japan. Scarlet cherry cold has pink-red flowers.

Pansy and other flowers were in a flower bed.

The primrose opened its purple flowers.

Rapeseed (yellow flower)

Daffodil

Magnolia liliiflora





Saxifraga stolonifera (It is called snow flower in Japanese)

Tokyo Dome City: March 6, 2009

There is a complex of amusement facilities surrounded by many office buildings in central Tokyo. It is Tokyo Dome City.

It includes a baseball stadium “Tokyo Dome”, an amusement park, entertainment halls, a hotel, restaurants and many other facilities. The city is crowded with fans in the baseball season.

It was rainy when I visited there. I found some queues. People were making a line to buy the baseball tickets (for the new season which begins late March). They made another line to buy baseball-related goods.

There is an off-site betting office of horse races in the city. Hundreds of people gathered.

The combination of a baseball dome and a roller coaster or a ferris wheel gave me surrealistic images.