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.

Hanami@Umegaoka: Feb 21, 2010

It’s season to enjoy Hanami, Japanese traditional practice to enjoy flower blossoms. We usually enjoy Ume blossoms (Japanese apricot) in February and Cherry blossoms in March and April.

I went to Hanegi Park in Umegaoka to enjoy Hanami. Umegaoka means “the hill of Ume”. There are about 650 Ume trees in the park.

There were so many people in the park. Some were enjoying their lunch boxes. Others were taking pictures. It was a beautiful day. Spring is at the corner.

Statues in Tokyo

There are many statues to remember in Tokyo. I took some pictures of them during my Tokyo Walk.

The statue of Saigo Takamori in the Ueno Park and of Chuken Hachiko in front of Shibuya Station are probably the most famous statues in Tokyo. I am sure that most Japanese know them.

Others include:

>>The Heroes:

Oyama Iwao: an army general in the Meiji era. The statue is in Kitanomaru, north of the Imperial Palace.

Wake no Kiyomaro: a politician who showed his royalty to the Emperor in the Nara era (8th century). The statue stands in the north-eastern corner of the Imperial Palace.

>>Japanese culture’s big characters:

Godzilla: a monster (and hero). The statue is in Hibiya. The shape is different from that designed in the Hollywood cinema.

>>Popular figures among prople:

Moai: in fromt of Shibuya Station.

Shibuya: Feb 7, 2010

Shibuya is popular among young people. There are many youth brand shops. Many high school boys and girls get together in this area after the school hours in the weekdays and at weekend.

Many people meet in front of Chuken Hachiko’s statue. The dog lived around 80 years ago. It came to the station every day for years to greet its owner even after the owner’s death. People made the dog’s statue to praise its royalty. The station also has a Moai statue outside the building. It is a copy of the statues in the Easter Island.

The shops in the town has been changing rapidly in the past years. There stood a huge building of Tsutaya, a rental video shop, in front of Shibuya station. H&M and other new stores attract young shoppers (probably) from traditional department stores. I also saw many customers in a new electronic goods store LABI.

Opera City: Feb 6, 2010

I went to a concert held in a hall in the Tokyo Opera City. It is about 20-minute walk from Shinjuku Station.

The building is 54-story high. It has a few concert halls, galleries and other cultural facilities. The New National Theater is next to the City.

The main hall has around 1800 seats. The ceiling is high and it has good acoustics.

Other concert halls I often visit include: the Suntory Hall, the NHK Hall etc.

Iwasakitei, Ogai House@Yushima: Jan 31, 2010

The northern and western parts from the Imperial Palace were the busiest commercial districts in Edo (former name of Tokyo) in the Edo era (early 17th century - mid 19th century). The areas turned to Ueno, Asakusa, Kanda, Nihonbashi and other small towns in current names.

Yushima locates next to Ueno. There are temples and shrines including Yushima Shrine in the area.

I visited Kyu-Iwasaki-tei-teien (Former Iwasaki family house garden). It was originally a private house of the Iwasaki family, the founder of the Mitsubishi group in the early Meiji period. It became open to the public after the World War 2.

There are the western and Japanese style houses in the garden. The western house was built in 1896 by a British architect Josiah Conder. They spent their daily lives in their Japanese house and used the western house when they welcomed their guests, according to a tour guide.

Mori Ogai, one of the most famous novelists in the nation in the Meiji era, lived in the area and wrote “Maihime” (The Dancing Girl), one of his greatest works. The house has turned into a hotel. The old house remains and is used to dine their guests.

The Shinobazu Pond lies between Yushima and Ueno districts. There is a small shrine in a small island (which is connected with the land by a path) inside the pond.

I found several monuments. One monument was built to console the spirit of cooked globe fish. Others were for cooked birds, broken knives and broken glasses. They were so funny.

Chinzanso and Cathedral@Sekiguchi: Jan 24, 2010

Chinzanso means a house of camellia trees. I visited the garden as it was the season of camellia flower.

The place was originally a house of Yamagata Aritomo, one of the most powerful political leaders in the Meiji era. The place is now used by Four Seasons Hotel.

The garden is covered with camellia and other trees. Small creeks run and a watermill is turning around. The pond is beautiful. I found many sculptures of Japanese gods (including the Seven Lucky Gods) along the paths.

There stands the St. Mary’s Cathedral, the seat of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo. The glittering building was designed by Kenzo Tange, one of the most famous architects in the postwar era in Japan. I saw a group taking photos after the wedding ceremony.

Both Chinzanso and St. Mary’s Cathedral are in Sekiguchi, Bunkyo ward. It is north from the Imperial Palace and south from Ikebukuro. The ward has many cultural facilities.

Kanda Shrine and Yushima Tenjin@Kanda: Jan 23,2010

Kanda is only around two kilometers west from the Imperial Palace. Many merchants lived here in the Edo period and the district still keeps traditional buildings. I walked around the area.

Kanda Myojin (Kanda Shrine) is always crowded with people. People come here to place the new-year decorations in the shrine. As new-year decorations are sacred, it is not good to throw them into the garbege boxes. It is better to place them in the sacred places (like shrines).

Yushima Tenjin (or Tenmangu) consoles the sprit of Sugawara Michizane, a politician and scholar in the 9th century. He is seen as a master of study in Japan.

Many young boys and girls, who are going to take entrance examinations to the universities and high schools, come here to wish their success.

Many wooden plaques called “Ema” were hanging on the boards. Orthodox messages are -- “I wish I will pass the exam. May god help me!”

There are lots of slopes in the area. The scenes from the top hills were impressive.