The Things They Carried Were Cats

When I see a cat cafe in Tokyo, I try to peer in the window, but Ang says no, laughs, and then steals my candy. Ang is aggressively allergic to cats, and I’ve been denied, DENIED from entering cat cafes. But when a friend visits, there is great pressure to entertain. So while Ang worked, [...]

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I Know

I know there must be a connection that can be made between the fragile situation in Japan and these precarious, lantern-covered wooden floats that lumber through the streets, pushed and pulled by a community, urged on by the chants and music from those too small to help. But what do I know? We ooh, and [...]

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An Afternoon Stroll

On Saturday Dan and I took a stroll to Nippori in search of Yanaka Ginza.  We recently purchased a new camera and thought the quaint shopping street would be perfect for some practice shots. But first, no afternoon stroll through Tokyo can begin without ramen: We didn’t even make it to the train station before [...]

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1/1/11: A Day in Pictures

To friends new and old and family near and far, Happy New Year!  あけましておめでとうございます！ First it was a champagne toast and countdown to midnight with new friends, then off to Meiji jingu shrine 明治神宮.  Fortunes were told and hot, sweet rice milk was glugged.  New Year’s Day had us strolling the neighborhood to Zenpuku-ji temple [...]

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Nikkō

Have no fear, folks — no talk of afterbirth today, just pretty pretty pictures. A few weeks ago we took our first day trip out of the city to Nikkō. Tokyo was experiencing its hot, sticky, rainy season and Nikkō was cool and so very pleasant, so we congratulated ourselves on our good timing.

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Bike Journey

Today I bought a used bike. I took the subway for 30 minutes to my meeting point at Nakano-sakaue Station, an area just northwest of Shinjuku. Then, I had to get my new wheels home, without the help of the subway.

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Tsukiji, say what?

One of the best things I’ve done in Tokyo thus far is visit the Tsukiji fish market. Officially called the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, Tsukiji (pronounced “skee-gee”) is where 2,000 tons of seafood come into Japan every day. Did you get that? Every day! With the auctions beginning at 5:00 am, I dragged my feet a bit in getting around to visit here — I thought, if this place requires me getting up so dang early, it better be worth it. Since I had a friend visiting who was up at the crack of dawn with a bit of jet-lag, it seemed as good a time as any. With iced coffee and onigiri in hand, we set off soon after the subway started running.

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Tea for Three

We have a friend in town for a visit, which has been a great excuse to check out some of the guidebook sites we haven’t yet seen. Hama Rikyū Teien is within walking distance of our current apartment, and is a pleasant diversion from Tokyo’s humid June weather.

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