Old and new

I know it don't look like it but we got Beth singing

We are eating food that we fried ourselves, it was good

The Meiji Shrine, two days before New Year's Eve

Batman's probably hanging around here somewhere

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building courtyard

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Getting that apple

Beth at fountain near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Shinjuku

A shopping area in an opening in the underground passage between Shinjuku station and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

A break in the underground passageway between Shinjuku station and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

The Shinjuku Eye

Beth hanging out on a traditional (seeming) yakitori selling alley in Shinjuku

Streetcorner, Tokyo, Akihabara

Beth in Akihabara. We didn't go to any maid cafes though.

Dansen jivin'

Watching planes land at Narita.
It took a long time for Beth's flight to come in.

You are not addicted to caffeine.
You just aren't, OK?

Another entryway to Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle entryway

Osaka Castle, viewing gallery visible

The fountain at Osaka Castle is captivating

Beth with Hajime and Kimie at Hinoki Sushi

Small girl photographing pelicans at Tokiwa Park

Smorgasboard

The Japanese word for all you can eat is 「バイキン」, that is, "Viking."
I love the images conjured up by this word. Dozens of horned and bearded warriors gathered around a long wooden table. Shouting, pounding down mead and fighting for food.
This contrasts delihtfully with dozens of Japanese people queing up quietly at a nicely laid out buffet.

So I finally got arounds to going to Tsuwano

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been trying to go to Tsuwano for a while now. But rain and laziness have stopped me. Though the other week I finally did it. I managed to wake up at seven in the morning and get my ass down to the train station. I didn't sleep at all on the way, partly becaused I ran into someone I knew on the train, and partly because I just got my iPod fixed and wanted to rock out with my new headphones. On the train ride I was confronted by two surprises seatwise. One, I was in the reserved car. Two, it was a special express so I had to fork over an other thousand yen to the conductor. However, the scenery was pleasant, pastoral and foggy, but not exceptional.
I arrived in Tsuwano around ten in the morning. A lovely was snaking it's way through the hills as I exited the station. I bypassed the bicycle rental shops. An attractive concept to be sure, but I am not acrobatic enough to take photos whilst operating a velocipede. Goal one was coffee. Well, to clarify, goal one was actually hitting the head, but that's not something that'd come up on a to-do list, even for a meticulously planned trip. Coffee has more of a chance of hanging out there at the top of a list.
Anyway, after coffee I meandered towards the Inari Shrine in Tsuwano. It's a shrine dedicated to the fox god, Inari. He's prayed to for wealth. If the prayers are granted those that were praying to him, family, individual, or company, either build a new shrine to him or add to an existing one. The new shrines are usually built on top of a building they were able to construct with their newfound wealth, preferably a high-rise. The cheaper option though, is to add to an existing shrine, usually buying a new torii to put up on the path leading to the Inari shrine. These torii are place one after the other, forming a tunnel almost, each one with the name of the donator posted on it. Most medium to large shrines have a small Inari shrine in the corner, but of course the best place to pray and build is one of the five (I believe) large shrines. Tsuwano is home to one of these. I took many pictures of the numerous switchbacks of red gates leading up to the shrine, ate lunch and caught the last express home. The trip was worth it to see the shrine. I could try to explain it, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

[Scroll past the next two posts.]

It's like opposite land over here

As I don't live in a cave, I've been aware that of late restrictions of several natures have been enacted regarding liquids on airplanes. Though this began in England these things have a way of spreading quickly.
Recently I recieved a bottle of Mao (魔王 or "Satan"), a imo (sweet potato) shochu of considerable, if not extreme, rarity and quality. Naturally I brought it with me to Tokyo. It practically had "New Year's written on it. Or at least it would if all the space wasn't taken up with "Prince of Darkness."
To avoid any trouble with airport security on my way to Tokyo I checked my one bag, shochu buried deeply and safely inside.
My friend, Maiko, Hajime and Kimie's younger daughter, was working the counter. We had a short conversation as my bag went through the prescreening for checked baggage.
Security came over with my bag and said something to her.
She turns to me and says, in Japanese, "Um, do you have a bottle in your bag?" I answered yes and we had to dig it out. They gave me a bag for it. I wasn't allowed to check liquids. They made me carry-on my bottle.

Things you find out in airplanes

I'm in Tokyo now. As the plane left Ube it banked to the left. Much more sharply than I'm used to - that the airport faces southwest and the plane must make a one hundred and eighty degree turn. From the relatively oblique angle of the takeoff I had seen some light patches in the water surrounded by buoys. Oyster farms perhaps.
Then the plane banked and I got a clearer view. Acres and acres of seaweed farms. Green sheets the size of boats laid out flat on the ocean's surface. Perhaps I shouldn't have been as surprised as I am, it has to come from somewhere. I guess I always thought it was harvested wild like mushrooms.
I saw more and more of these farms as we flex northwards. None were as stunning as those just off the coast near Kusae station in Ube. Many were neighbors to factories, millions of gallons of mud and, presumably, other unsavory elements washing brown over the green seaweed creating a 1970s living room in the ocean.
The next time I eat makizusi I will be glad to live in Ube.

My first view of Tsuwano

Sun, main street, and a tree

A beautiful foggy day

Like ants climbing a hill

Side by side, the first torii at the Inari shrine, and whatever shrine is next to it

The first set, the start of the "tunnel"

Going around a corner

Start of the "tunnel"

The main gate of the shrine. Each placard represents the person or company that purchased a particular torii because their prayers for wealth were answered.

In emergencies they use that rope for tying down really big ships

The real deal. The main shrine.

It's like being home in Washington -- you can see the reflections of the trees

The lesser visited off to the side fox shrine

Tsuwano lies in a river valley

They just keep going and going

Abandoned buildings and new lantern

View of Tsuwano behind a lantern

One of the ten to fifteen switchbacks of torii

Some torii on the climb up

Entrance to the Inari shrine

Truck river fog

Some of the carp Tsuwano is famous for

Stairs and a hole in the wall

Bridge to a municipal building

Bridge to a municipal building

Dancing bird costume statues