Pining for Thorns at The Rose and Crown
Monday was Sea Day and most people had the day off. We had a mini UK reunion at a pub in Yurakucho, which is near Ginza. The Rose and Crown, on the surface, is quite authentic. As shabby as much of England is, the pubs [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘japan’
July 24, 2008
Roses and Crowns
June 24, 2008
A Tokyo Rail Survival Guide
In a recent post I wrote about the stress of urban living and blaming a lot of that on the sometimes inhumanely crowded stations and trains. Well, as crazy as it gets sometimes I’ve gotten to know the Tokyo train and subway system pretty well now and I’ve accumulated quite a few strategies and [...]
June 12, 2008
The Stress of Urban Living
A few days ago, a man rented a van and intentionally ran over people in a crowded part of Tokyo. He got out of the vehicle and then proceeded to stab people randomly. Seven people died and another 14 were wounded. He explained that he was “tired of life”. I wonder [...]
May 15, 2008
Firefoxes in the Tama Zoo
Yesterday, one of my students, who’s a reporter, told me her most recent article was about the sharp rise in zoo visitors in Japan. There were a whopping 40 million visitors to zoos in 2007, up from a few hundred thousand, ten years ago. That’s a huge increase. And that’s a third [...]
May 14, 2008
St. Mary’s Cathedral
Japan’s most important architect is the late Kenzo Tange. Previously I wrote about visiting one of his works, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. And I also wrote about one of his works being featured in an exhibit about architectural photography. I visited this structure, St. Mary’s Cathedral. Built in 1963, the [...]
May 11, 2008
Eating Tofu with Swedes
Last night we had dinner at a tofu restaurant with our friends Yukiko, Gustav, and his brother Magnus. Yukiko had been working in Cambodia for an NGO and in Jordan before that. We’re glad to have her back before she returns to saving the world in another country. Gustav is visiting from [...]
April 10, 2008
Sumo
After visiting the Edo-Tokyo Museum (which I wrote about in a previous post) we dropped in at the nearby Sumo Museum. The Sumo Museum is one long room inside the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the main sumo hall for the Grand Sumo Tournaments in Tokyo.
There’s minimal English explanation throughout the exhibit but if you’re familiar with [...]
April 5, 2008
Petals and Other Fleeting Moments
Catch it quick because it’s only going to last another week. One strong wind or a heavy rain can end it in an afternoon.
Once a year Japan consummates its obsession over cherry blossoms. There have been months of cherry blossom blooming forecasts and updates on the news. People make itineraries to squeeze [...]
April 2, 2008
The Edo-Tokyo Museum
Entrance to the Edo-Tokyo Museum
The Edo-Tokyo Museum near Ryogoku Station in Tokyo, is a massive concrete hangar-like structure with a broad outdoor plaza designed for hundreds of school kids and senior citizen tour groups. The main exhibit is divided into two zones. One features the history of Edo, what Tokyo was called before [...]
March 7, 2008
An Art Deco Masterpiece
Before the Japanese emperor regained control of Japan in the mid-19th century, the Shogun exerted control over the warlords through a variety of means. The most important way was to require his lords and their families to live in Tokyo. This allowed the Shogun to keep an eye on them, keep their families [...]
