New Year's Eve @ Meiji Shrine: Dec. 31, 2012

Today is New Year’s Eve. I walked around the city and found people were preparing for New Year’s events.

Meiji Shrine attracts more than millions of visitors every year. Huge wooden box was places in front of the main building. New year's tablets were put in the entrance gate of the main building.

Green trees were put around the shrine gates.

People enjoy special foods (Osechi ryori) in the New Year days. Stores were crowded with shoppers, some of them seek Osechi.

Campaign Sunday @Shibuya, Shinjuku : Dec. 9, 2012

Japan will have a general election (lower house election) on Dec. 16th. Official campaign started on Dec. 4th and today is the middle of the term.

I found campaigners at any major railway terminals in Tokyo. I visited Shibuya as well as Shinjuku.

Japan’s politics is in confusion and the expectation for coming election is low.

It was enthusiastic 3 years ago (in 2009) as first full-scale power shift was expected in the last election. (And power shift from Liberal Democratic Party to Democratic Party of Japan happened). But the politics by DPJ had been disappointing, which lead to deepened disillusion for politics.

There are 12 parties (with seats in the Diet) which had candidate for the election. The difference in policies is vague. Most parties appeal “east to say” but “hard to do” policies.

Some candidates appealed from the campaign cars while others speak standing on the ground.

It was not only political parties but also NGOs had campaign in and around the stations. An anti-nuclear group was appealing their messages at Shinjuku Station.

Maple @ Gotokuji Temple: Dec. 2, 2012

The season is turning from late autumn to winter. Today’s temperature was between 4-8 degrees in Tokyo.

The autumn color was in its peak at Gotokuji Temple, western Tokyo. There were many maple trees in the temple. Some were red while some were yellow.

They also have evergreen trees. The combination of red, yellow and green was impressive.

Visitors were enjoying the colors.