Long ago, Akihabara gained the nickname Akihabara Electric Town. That was when the area was home to many household appliance shops. It also had electric stores that sold specialized stuff. Need a whatsit for your whatnot? You could get it there. That’s what I remember from 1991 when I first arrived in Tokyo. But, it …
August 24, 2021, was the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympics. And if you didn’t know, I’m not generally a big supporter of the Olympics. But, as you probably do know, I like airplanes. So, when my wife told me the Blue Impulse acrobatics team would soon fly over the city, I reached for my …
Blue Impulse buzzes Tokyo for the 2020 Paralympics Read More »
Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku mirrors! They are famous. The area has shopping, fashion, pop culture, and crepe stores. But many come to a department store to photograph what covers the walls. They want to see the reflections in their frames. The building’s front entrance has mirrors all over its walls and ceiling. It is something to …
Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku Mirrors – Instagram fun Read More »
King Kong is in Tokyo. I found him in Sangenjaya. He was above a Family Mart convenience. I’m not sure if Japan’s kaiju know if he is there. If they did, we might be in for a monumental battle. Actually, the ape might be the son of Kong. He was relatively small. His latest film …
If you love bookshops, Jinbocho Book Town is the place. It has over two hundred of them. There are a bunch of coffee shops too! The area is a great place to spend an afternoon trying to find something that catches your eye. You might even get lucky and pick up a forgotten literary gem. …
The Hibiya Park chrysanthemums of 2019 were excellent. Its display area might not have been as beautiful as Shinjuku Gyoen’s, but the flowers were terrific. They were amongst the best I’ve ever seen. And they had something a little different from other places! Bonsai chrysanthemums! Until 2019, I had never seen them. These days, I …
I don’t know a lot about the Gundam universe, but I enjoy photographing its RX-0 Unicorn statue in Odaiba. This giant battlesuit is one of Tokyo’s most famous tourist attractions. It has become a Mecca for lovers of the giant robot genre. In photos, this thing looks fantastic! As the statue is full-sized, it is …
Ginko Ogino (荻野吟子) was a medical pioneer. Born on March 3, 1851, in Saitama prefecture next to Tokyo, she married at sixteen. Contracting gonorrhea from her husband, she divorced him soon after. It was very shameful to contract such a disease at that time. And to compound that problem, it probably wasn’t pleasant to be …
Mizumoto Park is the largest park in Tokyo. It is larger than Shinjuku Gyoen, and Showa Memorial. Nature photographers will find so much for their cameras. There is something for every season. I had wanted to go there for many years. But it was in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward! Katsushika was like a distant prefecture for …
Wayback Burgers makes great hamburgers. Luckily for me, I sampled their premium hand-made and vegan menu at their Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan press conference and tasting. It was an enjoyable and educational event. We heard their plans for the Japanese market. It’s a franchise business. If you want to buy into it, they have …
