Author of the Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) mysteries
Every February, Ushi-Tenjin Kitano Jinja (shrine) holds a koubai (red plum blossom) festival to celebrate the blooming ume (Japanese plum) trees that grow around the shrine. Last weekend, a friend and I hopped a train to Bunkyo to check out the festival, and the early blooms.
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I’ve lived in Japan for five years–three months of which, I spent in a rented apartment one block from the famous Tokyo Skytree–a 634-meter tower that was the tallest man-made structure in the world when it first opened in 2012. As of 2023, the Skytree is “only” the third tallest (behind the 828m Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the 678.9m Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur) but it’s still an impressive sight.
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Since moving to Katsushika (one of Tokyo’s northern wards) last September, I’ve spent a lot of time walking by the river in Mizumoto Koen (Park), not far from my new home. The park is particularly lovely on sunny days, when flocks of ducks swim in the Edogawa (Edo River), and sometimes kids fly kites — you can see one in the picture below, on the far side of the river – which is technically in neighboring Chiba Prefecture. This afternoon, while walking in the park, I noticed a pair of ume (plum) trees beginning to bloom – a traditional harbinger
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I’ve been on hiatus for a while, traveling and recharging the batteries, but it’s time to restart the engines for the year to come! I spent the New Year with family members visiting from the USA; at sunset, we rode the elevators to the 31st floor of the Tokyo Solamachi Skytree Center, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji as the sun went down. As you can see, we got lucky: Wishing you and all of your families a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year filled with delightful surprises!
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I am now officially 1,200 photos “behind” in terms of posting, and at least thirty times that many “behind” on my promise to get on top of the image backlog before the end of 2022. (Important, because of a new project I’ll unveil later in the year.) While I’m down the rabbit hole, please accept this photo of Shmoos in Fog. (Taken at the Teamlab Planets exhibition last weekend.) On the positive side, I’m making progress on the photos and on a new novel I’m quite excited about. I hope to be able to share more about that in the
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A few weeks ago, I ran an errand in central Tokyo that took me within a short walk of Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine). Since I doubted the shrine would be busy on a weekday morning, I headed over for a visit. Meiji Jingu sits on 70 hectares of forested land in central Tokyo; the shrine was established in 1920, after the death of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Although the Emperor and Emperess are buried in Kyoto, they were posthumously enshrined at Meiji Jingu as protective Shintō deities. Emperor Meiji played a major role in the modernization (and
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Themed sweets buffets and “high tea” services are very popular in Japan, especially during different holiday seasons. I’d wanted to experience one for the last few years, but most are reservation-only and until now I’d failed at getting my act together in advance. Last year, most of them were canceled (for obvious reasons), but as of autumn 2021 they’re back–and this week I headed out for the HAUNTED CHATEAU: WITCHES’ HALLOWEEN TEA at The Strings Omotesando.
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(March – May 2018)* I started chemotherapy two days after returning from my Christmas trip to Tokyo. That sleepy smile in the photo above is a combination of traveling and the massive dose of Benadryl I received before the infusion. Jaime (left) and Vickie (right) made my chemo treatments as easy, and as fun, as chemotherapy could possibly be. They were happy, loving, and friendly to everyone, and I will treasure their friendship always. You read that correctly. (That isn’t a COVID mask – it’s what an immunocompromised cancer patient wears to try to stay safe in public). My mother,
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My Japanese skills are improving rapidly since my move to Japan, and I’ve achieved a state of relative (dis)comfort with basic functions like travel, shopping, restaurants, and paying basic bills. In other areas, I can often “keyword spot” and intuit the portions of a conversation I don’t know, to at least achieve an acceptable result. However, it doesn’t take much to remind me that, in the immortal words of Robert Frost, I have “miles to go before I sleep” in terms of linguistic fluency. Case in point: this afternoon’s Great Toilet Parade. (Read to the end to understand the photo…)
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Oobie isn’t good in carriers, so I worried about her reaction to the nearly 24-hour journey from Los Angeles to our first short-term apartment in Tokyo. To my relief, she handled it like a champ.
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