Summer Sky: July 24-27, 2022

Tokyo is in summer.

The rainy season ended in the late June, the earliest in Japan’s postwar history. Then, the weather changed drastically in Tokyo and other parts of Japan.

Extremely hot days continues in the early July; heavy rainy days repeated in the middle of the month; and hot summer days returned in the late July.

The sky was beautiful in the last few days.

Various clouds are seen.

It was observed on July 24.

The cloud was quite different on July 27. (See the top photo)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper house election: July 10, 2022

  

Japan had an upper-house (House of Councilors) election on July 10.

It was the second nationwide election under PM Fumio Kishida’s regime. Kishida took office in early October in 2021 and the lower-house election was held later in the month. 

There are many issues and challenges Japan is facing – international relations and security policies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, economic policies, Covid-19, support for people who have been hit by Covid, the policies to increase payment for workers, climate change and energy policies including nuclear polices and many others.

Discussions on such important (and heavy) issues have not held much in the election campaign period (from June 22 to July 9). One-way appeals by each party have been made everywhere in the country.

The upper house has 248 seats. Half of the seats are elected every 3 years. 148 seats (74 seats in every 3 years) are elected by constituencies and 100 (50 in every 3 years) are elected in the national proportional representation system.

 In Tokyo, more than 30 candidates ran for 6 seats this year.

 Their posters were on the public-built election- poster board. (see also the top photo)

There are more than 40 thousand polling stations throughout the country. This is one of them.

People looked at the posters before entering the polling station.

 Former PM Shizo Abe was assassinated on July 8 in Nara prefecture during his election campaign. It was the first assassination of former PM in Japan after the World War 2.

The ruling parties – LDP and its junior partner Komeito – had a big win in the election. It was the 8^th consecutive wins in the nationwide elections for the ruling parties since 2012.

 

 

Hottest season begins: June 27-30, 2022

The rainy season was over and the hottest season began in Tokyo on June 27, according to the Meteorological Agency.

It is the earliest end of the rainy season in decades.

 

It is very hot every day this week.

The temperature went up over 35 degrees in sex consecutive days after June 25 (toll June 30).

There are fewer people in towns in daytime.

I found fewer cars than usual on the road.

 

Many people use umbrellas to cut sunshine when they go out. (See also the top photo)

 

The peak of flowers change as the season passes.

The combination of lavender and white hydrangea was impressive in the Roka Park, Setagaya City, western Tokyo.

 

Various flowers, including marigold were in the flowerbed.

The sunflower was not yet open in the park.

 

 

Rainy season scenes: June 23, 2022

  

Tokyo is now in the rainy season. It began on June 6 according to the Meteorological Agency. It usually ends in July, but it may be earlier this year.

It was not rainy but cloudy today.

I saw many hydrangea during my walk in Setagaya City.

The leaves are fresh and clean as they are frequently washed out by rain in this season.

When rainy season is over, we will have hot summer days.

 

 

 

Tokyo Station in an early summer day: June 2, 2022

 

I walked around Tokyo Station.

It was a beautiful early summer day.

Tens of skyscrapers have were built in the area in 20-30 years. New buildings are under construction now.

The building left behind the station is Gran Tokyo North Tower. Daimaru Department Store and other shops, offices are in it. It is a 43-story building.

The tower right behind the station is one of buildings of the Tokyo Midtown Yaesu project.

There were not many people around the station. The influence of COVID-19 is getting smaller, but its influence on people's behavior remains. 

The station building was renovated a few years ago. Traditional designs have been preserved.

Today's sky was clear and blue. Tokyo will enter into the rainy season soon.

Kanda River Walk 2022 (4) Iidabashi-Sumida River, May 5, 2022

I had the 4^th and final day of my Kanda River Walk in 2022. The course was from Iidabashi to Yanagibashi, where Kanda River flows into Sumida River.

The JR Chuo Line meets Kanda River at Iidabashi. The river and railroad go eastward together.

Similar scene was found at Suidobashi. (See the 2nd photo)

 

I moved to the Ochanomizu district. There are university hospitals as well as other academic institutes in the area.

A construction work was under way in the river. 

The subway crosses Kandagawa at Ochanomizu.

 

There remains a closed old station (old Mansei Station) at Mansei Bridge, which locate between Ochanomizu and Akihabara.

 

There are many electronics stores in the Akihabara area.

 

I had another 1km walk and arrived at Yanagibashi. Kanda River flows into Sumida River here.

 

There are many boats floating in the river. People enjoy cruising and dining with the boats. People also hire the boats for fishing.

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It was 24km from Inokashira Park to Sumida River.

I found many changes since 2010, when I had a walk of the same course last time. The changes include: redevelopments of areas such as Shinjuku’s Yodobashi area, more local community activities including carp streamers displays, reconstruction of facilities in the riverside walks, flights of airplanes over central Tokyo area, which was not allowed 12 years ago, and many others.

It is interesting to see such changes.

 

 

Kanda River Walk 2022 (3): May 4, 2022

I had the 3^rd day of my Kanda River Walk in the Golden Week holidays in 2022. Today’s walk was from Yodobashi, about 12km from the origin of the river, to Iidabashi, about 19km from the origin.

 

Yodobashi is quite near from the business area in Shinjuku.

 

The river flows between the buildings.

We can see Shinjuku’s skyscrapers over the river in the area.

 

The river goes through Higashi Nakano and Kami-Ochiai districts before arriving Takadanobaba area.

This photo was taken from the water reclamation center in Ochiai, where sewage water is cleaned. The river provides green spaces in the artificial towns.

 

There are many offices, shops and schools in Takadanobaba area.

There are paints of Astro Boy and other comic characters on the walls in the area. These characters are created by Osamu Tezuka, Japan’s great manga artist. He once lived in the area. The paints were drawn to commemorate him. (See the top photo)

Tens of carp streamers were tied across Kanda River in the area. (See the 2nd photo)

 

Street cars (the Toden Arakawa Line) run on the street which goes along Kanda River in the Waseda area.

 

I passed the Edogawa park area, where parks as well as nature rich Chinzanso Hotel locate. In the Edo period, the water from Kanda River was collected at this place and redistributed to many towns in Edo (Tokyo’s former name).

 

Huge highways were built along the river after the 1960s in the downtown areas.

 

This is a scene taken from a place near Iidabashi station.

Some parts of the river are covered with roads.

 

 

Sengen Shrine in Shizuoka: May 3, 2022

I visited Shizuoka City during my Golden week holidays.

I could not see Mt. Fuji from the city as it was light cloudy. Still, the weather was not so bad.

I visited the Sengen Shrine in the center of the city.

The shrine has a long history. There are tens of small shrines in the site.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, the ruler of Japan in the early 17^th century, had a ritual to be an adult in the 16^th century. He was in Shizuoka at the time as a hostage.

 I saw people making prays at one of main shrines. The building stands at the foot of a hill.

 

There is a kofun or ancient tomb on the hill near the shrine. It was built in the 6^th century.

 

Shopping street spread around the shrine.

The Miyagasaki Street is one of such streets. The street is busy when they have a histrical festival in spring. Today, there wer few people there.