Tokyobling's Blog

Hikawa Shrine – Omiya

tokyobling — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:13:54 +0000

Last week I was in Omiya, the center of Saitama prefecture just north of Tokyo. Saitama prefecture has a population of only 7.2 million people but if it was a country it would be about the 40th biggest economy in the world, just above the UAE in the Middle East, but it is much smaller even than the territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Amazing. Every time I visit Omiya (which is famous among Tokyoites for the great railway museum) I try to visit the large Hikawa Shrine, the mother shrine of all the Hikawa related shrines across Japan. In Tokyo most wards have on of these shrines. Naturally they also had one of the giant ema (votive plates) to celebrate the year of the dragon, but when I took a closer look at the regular ema I noticed a large proportion of ema that had been decorated with little drawings and anime characters! I’ve never seen this at any other shrine and the reason turns out to be very simple, Omiya city is the home of a major anime business college and it’s also one of the centers of the Japanese anime industry. The stuff you learn from just being curious about ema!

Roppongi Midtown After Dark

tokyobling — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:22:25 +0000

More city photos, this time from Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi which is Tokyo’s latest commercial complex, shops, restaurants, bars, offices, expensive apartments and a big hotel (Ritz-Carlton). At night the whole area turns into a sort of Science Fictionesque labyrinth of polished brass, steel and glass. It’s just like I imagined the future would be like as a kid, just better color coordinated, less rivets and no flying cars or jet packs. Well, we can’t have everything! It is the fourth tallest commercial building in Japan and the tallest in Tokyo. Before this place come up the whole 20 acres were occupied by the US Military but since they left central Tokyo the character of the whole area has really changed, some nights there were more soldiers out in the streets than civilians but these days Roppongi feels like a different town altogether. One remaining legacy is the relatively poor public transport in the area, unlike the other major districts in the city there’s fewer connections into and out off Roppongi than any where else in Tokyo. Well, that still means we are connected by about four different subway lines within a couple of square kilometers, just no trains, leaving us to rely on busses to connect Roppongi with nearby Shibuya. Midtown is another one of those “don’t miss” places for tourists coming to Tokyo, and is most easily done together with visiting Roppongi Hills. I have a personal trimmed to perfection mini tour of Tokyo that I give to foreign friends with a day or two to spare, and we usually end up just about here after a full day of sight seeing! Maybe I should write it up and post it someday?

More Of Kichijoji

tokyobling — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:16:20 +0000

As I promised, here’s more photos from my walk down one of Kichijoji’s many shopping street, or shoutengai. It is a strange feeling to walk down such a narrow intimate little shopping street and still have to share space with these huge city busses passing by more than once a minute during rush hour. I don’t know why exactly, but it’s really hard to get their digital sign properly with a short shutter, hence the strange looking sign at the front of the bus! Another thing I also have a hard time getting used to is the multitude of “help wanted” signs, such as by the door of this little cafes! I’ve never seen a help wanted sign in Europe, but the job market in Tokyo is as hot as ever, global economic downturn or no downturn. I also love the mix of old and new, like the traditional sweets shop in the third photo. As with most cities in Tokyo, smoking in public areas is strictly prohibited with steep fines especially for walking with a lit cigarette. This rule has become almost universal in Japan’s bigger cities in the last few years and I can compare with my experience of the streets here before the law, it is much cleaner, much better air since the laws were enacted. In the second to last picture you can see one of my favorite fast food joints here in Tokyo, the Chikara Meshi! Highly recommended! I also noted the kyabakura called UCLA, right next to a pub chain popular with foreigners in Japan called Hub. If you’re ever in Tokyo, Kichijoji is one of these classical neighborhoods that you just must visit!

The Streets Of Kichijoji

tokyobling — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:06:39 +0000

Earlier this month I was in Kichijoji, a neighborhood inside Tokyo Metropolitan area but in Musashino City, one of Tokyo’s western areas. For as long as I can remember people I meet, both foreigners and Japanese, claim that Kichijoji is one of the best places to live in Tokyo, especially among students and young families. The place is also famous for being the home of the Ghibli museum (the studio that creates the world famous anime movies) and Inokashira Park, a huge recreational area complete with a a zoo, boating and a shrine. Between the station area and the park itself I walked along this shoutengai, or shopping street, which while being closed to regular traffic remains open for buses. Even though it is a pretty crowded street, about once every 50 seconds everyone scoots over to the side to let a bus pass through, pretty scary at first! There’s tons of interesting cafes and restaurants, and even a funky looking book store, Basara Books with some very “un-bookish” book loving decorations! I took so many photo I’ll have to split this post into two, more photos coming tomorrow! Stay tuned.