ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

January 2024

Chiyoda City, Tokyo

The bottom of Tori Row at Hie Shrine

The top of Tori Row Hie Shrine

All shrines are packed to the gills during New Year’s, and Hie is no different.  The shrine is close to the New Otani Hotel, and because of its 90 Tori gates, I love just stopping by and walking down the stairs.

Asakusa Tokyo

I remember these from my first visit to Tokyo. I am amazed they still reside in the neighborhood.  These are two of the five heroes of Kawatake Mokuami’s Kabuki play “Shiranami Gonin Otoko.”

The Karioki play centers on a band of five thieves, based on real thieves and criminals of the Edo period in Osaka: Karigane Bunshichi, An no Heibei, Gokuin Sen’emon, Kaminari Shōkurō, and Hotei Ichiemon.

On the Hōzōmon of Senso-ji Temple is a pair of ōwaraji, or giant straw sandals. They are 14.5 feet tall and weigh 1,100 pounds.

The sandals are a larger version of a type of sandal made from straw ropes. These waraji were woven by hand in the traditional manner and made by the town council of Tate’oka-aramachi, Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture.

It is said that the sandals represent the powers of Niō, the Herculean guardians of Buddhist temples. Their presence keeps demons at bay by convincing them that the temple is home to an invincible giant. The sandals were first introduced to Sensō-ji in 1941 and since then have been replaced by a new pair almost every ten years. The current pair was put in place in 2018, and reportedly took around 900 workers over a month to make them.

All over Japan, you will find foreigners renting and then dressing in Kimonos and visiting the more touristy areas. This girl, with her incongruous shoes, had me laughing.

I LOVE Onigiri, but I think it would take a football team to devour these onigiri shaped like pandas.

Shibuya

Myth of Tomorrow

In 2008, this mural by Taro Okamoto was recovered and moved to the Shibuya Station. ‘Myth of Tomorrow’ depicts the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an eruption of vibrant colors, centering around a skeletal figure caught in the blast.

The artist started this work in 1967 when asked to paint a mural for a new hotel in Mexico City. He completed the giant mural in September 1969. The hotel went bankrupt, and the piece was never displayed. The mural then went missing for decades.

In 2003, Toshiko Okamoto found it in a Mexican suburb. Millions of dollars later in restoration, it found a final home.

Hachiko

It is hard to believe that anyone does not know the story of Hachiko, but if you don’t, Hachiko is the name of an Akita dog who was born in 1923 and died in 1935.

Hachiko belonged to a Tokyo University professor in the 1920’s. Born in 1923, he would walk his master Hidesaburo Ueno daily to Shibuya Station and wait for his return there every evening. In May 1925, the professor died of apoplexy at his workplace. Hachiko waited for him faithfully every evening at the station for the next decade until his own death.

This statue was erected in 1934 near Shibuya station.

Toyosu Tokyo

I am not a big fan of immersive art.  Not that I have anything against it. It is just that it has devolved into a money-making Instagram concept.  But one of the hot tickets in Tokyo is Team Lab Planet, so I went.  This was the most intriguing of all of the immersive experiences.  The balls wobbled, and each made a different sound, so if enough people got them moving, they could create an eerie-sounding concert.

Chuo City Tokyo

This giant reflexology unit is truly an only-in-Japan kind of thing.  It is called  Kenko Kimichi (Health Promenade)

The sign reads: This promenade is composed of several kinds of patterns arranged by sizes, shapes, height, and roughness of stones and is properly designed to touch 36 reflection points on the soles of the feet.

It is January 4th, and as I prepare to leave and look around at the coming of winter, it is hard for me to believe that when I arrived in Kyoto, I was greeted with the most amazing fall foliage.  I have loved watching the season change over the last seven weeks.

December 2023

Ningyocho, Tokyo’s Doll Town

Ningyocho is a neighborhood in the Nihonbashi district in Tokyo’s Chuo ward.  Ningyocho (literally “Doll Town”) was licensed by the city as a pleasure district of Japan during the Edo period. The area had puppeteers, dollmakers, and craftsmen necessary to support the industry, as well as Kabuki.

The Clock with Rakugo storytellers

On the main street, Ningyocho-dori, there are two clock towers. One tower features firefighters and the other,  rakugo storytellers. On the hour (which I missed twice) they put on a small mechanical puppet show.

The word rakugo literally means ‘fallen words’. It is a type of verbal entertainment in Japan. There is never more than one performer on stage, and that person takes the role of all the characters in the story. The story is always based on dialogue, and the rakugoka (rakugo performer) indicates the change between different characters by a change in pitch, tone, and/or a slight turn of the head.

Firefighter Clock

The characters in the Firefighter Clock are not hidden behind a curtain, so I could at least get a look at the puppets.

These clock towers were originally called Karakuri Yagura. In the world of performing arts, yagura was an elevated scaffold built over the entrance of a kabuki or bunraku theater, used by drummers to get people’s attention.

Here is a very odd piece of trivia regarding the firefighters. The firefighters (machi-bakeshi) of the Edo Period were divided into 47 groups.  They were named for the 47 letters of the Iroha.

The Iroha is a Japanese poem. The first record of its existence dates from 1079. It is famous because it is a perfect pangram, containing each character of the Japanese syllabary exactly once.

Print of Japanese firefighter brigades, created by Utagawa Kunimasa II.

Created by Hiroshi Matsubashi and Hirotsugu Nakata – 2002

So why the whale? In Japan, Bunraku is a performing art where puppets are brought to life and perform subtle emotions throughout the play. This is largely due to the special strings that manipulate them, which are made from baleen. Bunraku has been declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Bunraku – image from Japanclass.jp

In a park in Nihonbashi is this statue of Benkei, which is a character from the Kabuki Play – Kanjincho

Benkei

This area is fun to wander. It has truly fascinating small alleyways with lots of international cuisines.  It also has lots of sweets shops.  This is a Golden Potato from Kotobukido.   It is a white bean paste-filled cake covered in cinnamon, whose aroma was wafting out into the street and would draw you into the shop even if you weren’t looking for it.  

December 22, 2023

I had the privilege of visiting the original inner Tsukiji fish market fifteen years ago when you could walk the floors with the chefs and the buyers.  That era is gone.

Where the market once stood is a prime piece of Tokyo Real Estate yet to be developed.

Tokyo’s Tsukiji wholesale fish market, one of the city’s most popular destinations for international visitors, closed in October 2018.  It had been an important part of Tokyo since the mid-1930s and was considered the world’s largest fish and seafood market.

The market sat on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay. It was created in the Edo period by the Tokugawa shogunate after the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657.

Tsukiji means “constructed land” or “reclaimed land” and has its roots in the word tsukuru, the verb for “to make”.

Before Tsukiji, there was Nihonbashi.

The now-gone Tsukiji market was built following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Architects and engineers from the Architectural Section of the Tokyo Municipal Government were sent to Europe and America to do research for the new market. However, because of the sheer size of the market and the number of items traded, they were forced to come up with their own design.  The relocation of the market from Nihonbashi was one of the biggest reconstruction projects in Tokyo after the earthquake, taking over six years and involving 419,500 workers. Tsukiji was officially opened on February 11, 1935.

What still remains of the market is what is called the Outer Market. The Outer Market existed side by side with the Inner Market and is still known for its high-quality seafood restaurants and a large variety of other shops that sprang up as a result of the Inner Market.

Standing in Line for Sushi at the Outer Market

The crowds at the Outer Market

Needless to say, this area is now as big a tourist draw as it ever was. Lines for good sushi are long.

Kyoshi Kimura in front of one of his restaurants in the Outer Market

Kiyoshi Kimura, the self-proclaimed “sushi king,”  set a record when he spent $1.8 million for a bluefin tuna at the Toyosu market in 2020.

The Shinto Shrine that serves the Tuskiji Market

Namiyoke inari-jinja was built on the water’s edge when this part of Tokyo was Edo. The name of the shrine literally means “protection from waves.”

After the Tsukiji fish market was built, the Namiyoke Inari Shrine became an unofficial guardian shrine for the marketplace and its traders.

Toyosu Fish Market

Everything was moved to the new Toyosu Market in 2018. This immense market is made up of three main buildings: two buildings for seafood and one for fruits and vegetables. All the buildings are connected to each other and to the Shijo-mae train station. There is also a large area with nothing but restaurants.

The new market takes tourists into consideration, but it is as stale and unimpressive as it gets.  Yes, everyone now can see the tuna selling, but you are high above and behind glass.

On average, 200 fresh tunas and 1,000 frozen tunas are placed on the auction block each day, which runs from 5:00 to 6:30 am. The tuna auction floor is green because the best way to determine quality is by assessing how red the meat is. Having a green floor makes tuna’s meat stand out even more.

There are primarily four types of tuna being sold on this floor. Bigeye tuna, which is a lean tuna with a bright red color. It is found all around the world. Then there’s the south bluefin tuna, which lives in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Then Yellow Fin tuna, and finally, the very best, which is Bluefin.

The fish are frozen on the ship as the ships are often at sea for a year. The tails-ends are half severed to expose flesh for scrutiny by the potential bidders. You will see them shine flashlights on the meat, tear pieces off and rub them between their fingers, and take small pick axes to the carcasses in order to gauge the level of fat and the quality of meat.

Once the auction is over, you can move to the retail building from an observation area.  There isn’t much to see, and it is pretty unexciting, considering other fish markets in the world.

Real Wasabi

There is a retail vegetable and fruit area which the general public is allowed to visit and buy.  Above is what real wasabi looks like.  It is milder and tastier than the mix of horseradish, mustard powder, and green food coloring, most often found in American sushi restaurants.

Some interesting facts about real wasabi. It loses flavor about 15 minutes after grating, and it costs between $80 and $150 per pound.  Here is an excellent video on why wasabi is so expensive and why you most likely have never had it.

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I love Uni. This was heaven.

Three-leaf arrowhead Apparently is excellent when roasted. The taste is somewhat like potatoes.

Peeled Ginko

The fish market is worth getting up before the sun, and yes, it is far more sanitary and safe, but I miss the energy of the old market.

November 19, 2023

Looking down on San’-en-zan Kodo-in Zojoji Temple

Zojoji was founded by the priest Yuyo Shoso in 1393 as the first Jodo Buddhist practice hall in the area. During the Edo period (1600-1868), it was the family temple of the Tokugawa shoguns, becoming the center of all Jodo Shu temples in Japan.  At its peak, the temple grounds held more than 120 buildings with approximately 3000 priests.

Buddhism declined during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and then over the years almost all of the Zojoji buildings were lost to fire, natural disasters, or destroyed in the bombings of World War II. The temple was gradually restored and now functions mostly as a cultural center.

The entry gate to the Shogun Mausoleum

Jizo

The Kojoji temple has a long line of Ojizo-sama running along the edges (also called Jizo, also or O-Jizo-san).  Ojizo-sama is a bodhisattva and is one of the most beloved figures of Japanese Buddhism. You will see them absolutely everywhere.

The Jizo is often seen as a protector of children. The story goes, that the souls of children who die before their parents are not capable of crossing the fabled Sanzu River (similar to the Styx river in Greek mythology) in the afterlife. This is because they have not had the time to do enough good deeds (karma) and they have made their parents suffer. Therefore, O-Jizo-sama is widely recognized as the patron of dead children, especially still-born and aborted children.

The Jizo statues at Kojoji are primarily dressed with a small red bibs around their necks and a red knit cap. Jizo are usually dressed in hats and robes, but anything one wishes to adorn the figure with is fine. It is said that red bibs were worn by children in earlier times, but no one really knows for sure where this practice started. Red is, however, a color that represents safety and protection.

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I have always found Jizo of all types, colors, shapes and purposes to be so very special.

November 2023

Ueno Park sits on land that once belonged to Kan’ei-ji, founded in 1625 in the unlucky direction to the northeast of Edo Castle. Most of the temple buildings were destroyed in the Battle of Ueno in 1868 during the Boshin War when the Tokugawa shogunate was defeated by those wanting to restore the emperor to power.

The triumphant emperor gifted the land to the nation.

Benten-dō Temple

Benten-dō Temple is located on a small artificial island on Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park. The pond is chock a block full of lotus flowers. Benten-do is part of the Kan’ei-ji complex.

The temple is also surrounded by various memorials.  This is the Fugu Tsuitō-hi, or the Blowfish Memorial. The Tokyo Fugu Cuisine Association dedicated it to the spirits of the fugu. The monument is offered in gratitude and in the hope that there are no future deaths by poisoning.

Memorial to Fugu

This memorial is dedicated to the biwa, or Japanese Lute.

A spout that fills the ceremonial ablution pool.

This is dedicated to the Shamisen Strings—the three-string traditional Japanese instrument.

Part of the Toeizan Kan’eiji Temple, this five-story pagoda is one of the remaining buildings. First built in 1631 and rebuilt in 1639, the pagoda is about 118 feet high from the ground to the hoju (uppermost spherical part) and has a five-tiered structure. The roof of the fifth and uppermost floors is covered in copper sheets, while the rest of the roofs are in traditional Japanese ceramic tiles.  The pagoda is technically in the zoo, so I was only able to glimpse it from the park.

The Toshogu Shrine

First established in 1627 by Tōdō Takatora and renovated in 1651 by Tokugawa Iemitsu, the Toshogu shrine has remained mostly intact since that time, making it a great example of Shinto architecture in the Edo period.  It is truly stunning.

One of the more spectacular points of the Toshogu Shrine is the karamon. A karamon is a type of gate in Japanese architecture characterized by the use of karahafu,  a type of curved gable with a style particular to Japan.  This karamon was built in 1651.

Some of the beautiful wood carvings along the walls of the shrine.

This is the Kiyomizu Kannon-do,  first established in the early 1630s, when it was one of the structures of Kaneiji Temple. It has been in its present location since the 1690s.  The tree is the famous Moon Pine, with branches creating a circle right in front of the balcony.

Saigo Takamori was one of the most influential samurai in all of Japan. A man often dubbed as the ‘last true samurai.
Takamori was the inspiration behind the film ‘The Last Samurai’. A man of many talents, Takamori led Japanese fighters during the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion and also wrote poetry under the name Saigo Nanshu.

This is a small sampling of the historic, interesting, and fun things to be found in Ueno Park.  If that is not enough for you, the park is also home to these Six Museums:

1. National Museum of Nature and Science
2. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
3. Tokyo National Museum
4. Ueno Royal Museum
5. National Museum of Western Art
6. Shitamachi Museum

One can ride the swan boats on the pond in Ueno Park in view of Tokyo Skytree.