Hachioji Matsuri – Geisha

This year too I was lucky to catch the geisha participation at the annual Hachioji festival in western Tokyo’s Hachioji City. This year they didn’t limit themselves to the parade but also had a wagon of their own, pulled by supporters while the geisha inside performed beautifully with singing, the stringed traditional shamisen, flutes and drums. One day I hope to be able to afford a proper night out with these ladies! The stories they could tell would make this japanophiles heart burst!

Hachioji City is often overlooked by many people living in the center of Tokyo but it is more densely populated than central London and has both a vibrant city center and quite a lot of nature. It might not be worth a visit for the casual Tourist but if you spend any length of time in Tokyo I recommend going there, especially if you have the opportunity to see one of their festivals! Hachioji is easily reached by the central JR Chuo Line from Tokyo or Shinjuku stations.

Asakusa’s Sensoji at Night

I have visited Sensoji temple at Asakusa, one of Tokyo’s foremost tourist attractions countless times, in the morning, days and even midnights (at New Year’s) but I have never visited it very late at night with all tourists gone and just a few locals passing by. I can really recommend it! The night I was there was almost pitch black, the moon was a mere sliver of silver in the sky and the complete lack of clouds to reflect the light emitted from the great city made the sky above the temple the darkest hue of black I have ever seen in central Tokyo. The temple grounds, lit up by a myriad of lights really stood out. Sensoji was only recently completely renovated and it is now ready to greet visitors again, without those bothersome scaffolds and tarpaulins covering half of the temple up. If you have an evening free and want to see something different, I can really recommend this temple, free of crowds and tourists!

Winter Yokohama At Night

In December while walking around in Yokohama I took these two snapshots of cold and dark harbor area. Where I’m originally from winter nights are often brighter than winter days but on a clear night in Japan, the sky just goes pitch black. I have been in love with the Yokohama skyline since I first saw it, and I think I will never fall out of love. Yokohama is a great place to be!

Sunset Over Hibiya

There’s been a lot of green on Tokyobling lately and perhaps it’s time to throw in a little bit of that concrete and steel that defines Tokyo to all us foreigners. Here’s a few snaps taken while on a walk Hibiya a couple of months ago. Hibiya holds both ultra modern office buildings housing banks and world corporations as well as the most traditional of all Japanese locations: the Imperial Palace. The castle remains of the Shogun can still be seen to the east of the palace but the shogun are long gone and today’s rulers have set up offices on the other side of the Imperial compound. The water in the some of these photos is part of the old outer moat, once protecting the shogun and the emperor alike. If you have a few hours to spare you can’t find much better side walk on which to take an evening stroll!

By the way, sometime yesterday Tokyobling passed the 2000 comments mark! Hurrah! (^O^)