渡良瀬遊水地の春の風物詩である「ヨシ焼き」は、およそ1500ヘクタールもの面積が真っ赤な炎で焼き払われます。ヨシに寄生する害虫駆除や野火の防止、湿地環境の保全の為に毎年行われています。

お台場の花火大会。レインボーブリッジと屋形船と花火が調和して真夏の夜を彩っていました！

初詣の辞書的な意味は、「年が明けてから初めての神社やお寺へのお参り」ですが、初詣は、地元の地域を守ってくれている神様に新しい年になって初めてお参りし、旧年中の感謝を伝え、新年の祈願をするためのものです。
ただお願いだけにならないよう、感謝の気持ちを伝えることも、忘れないでおきたいですね。

Was passing through Komagome the other day and stumbled across this quaint little shrine in front of the station.

Apparently it was established in the Edo Period but didn't actually look like a shrine until the Meiji Period.

It's also dedicated to Okuninushi who has a lot of different mythology surrounding him, but according to what I could find, he was the head of the gods on earth.
There are also a lot of legends and folklore about him in the Kojiki as well it seems, the most interesting sounding one being 'The White Hare of Inaba" (因幡の白兎) where he apparently wins over a princess that his brothers wanted to married and then is subsequently killed by them with the use of a flaming boulder and he is then brought back to life by the gods after his mother goes up to heaven to ask another deity to bring him back, after which he is brought back to life as a handsome man.

And that's why I like reading about Japanese mythology lol. So much interesting stuff to read about

東京スカイツリー駅の、こいのぼりの写真を撮りました！シーズンの時のものです。
日本の行事にぴったりのものです！さわかやかな風と癒しの季節が香ります。

This Kasaboko (flower parasol) used in 300 years old Japanese festival in Chichibu which actually looks stunning. This chichibu night festival is also known as 'chichibu yomatsuri'. I was really very excited to see it.

初詣は日本の年の初めに行う大切な行事。
みんながこぞって参拝します。
コロナ禍で今は初詣分散参拝が主流となりつつあります。
どうにかしてみんなが初詣を行おうと工夫をこらして参拝しています。
それだけ大事な行事です。

場所は東京靖国神社 大晦日の早朝です。

Was walking through Shimokitazawa the other day and found some really cool street art on the shutter of some shop or something (not really sure what the building was).

Just thought it was cool to see this.
Don't see much street art in Japan, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as usually it involves vandalism, but this doesn't look to be vandalism, although I could be wrong.
Either way I think it's a nice improvement to the empty shutters and definitely adds a little spice to the area.

Aesthetically I'm a huge fan since I enjoy learning about Japanese history, especially samurai, swords, etc., even if this is a fantastical rendition of the likes you'd find in some anime or manga.

Shimokitazawa is a pretty cool place though.
It seems like a lot of younger people go shopping in the area and there's a lot of restaurants as well.

If you're into coffee, cafes, and unique shops with trinkets, etc. it's an enjoyable place to visit. Really trendy

Decided to donate some clothes I wasn't wearing anymore over the weekend so I decided to go to the Second Street in Minami-Senju.

Managed to find some cool stuff along the way.
I was walking from Minowabashi and saw this nice looking temple, apparently called Koshunin (公春院).
It was a really lovely spot and I would have liked to take more photos but I had some luggage with me and also wanted to avoid taking any photos of the tombstones as I thought it might be rude.
It seems the temple focus on memorial services though and looked like a nice place.

The next spot I came across was just a really small shrine that seemed so randomly placed that I wanted to take a picture of it.
There wasn't much space inside the shrine are so it was quite difficult to get a decent photo, but I did the best that I could and tried to take a photo from the side street next to it which was also incredibly narrow lol.

The last thing I ended up finding was a statue of Matsuo Basho!
I'd not been to Minami-Senju as I've never really had a reason to go there, but I saw the statue from the corner of my eye and thought "Hmm I wonder if that's Basho" and sure enough it was.
It even has "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" (奥の細道) written below it.
Also, apparently there is debate about which "Senju" he started at (Adachi or Arakawa), so this is one of the statues depicting the place where he started his journey!

It ended up being a pretty interesting walk.
I'd like to visit the area again as there was a ton of cool stuff.

初詣⛄
荻窪にある井草八幡宮、広くて居心地の良い神社でした⛩?

Meiji Jingu shrine during snowfall

Was walking past a park in Arakawa the other day and came across this interesting statue.

I think the name is read as Honda Takatomo (本田 貴侶) but it was difficult to find any information. I kept finding stuff showing the same statue but instead of "聖なるもののリピドー" they all show "聖なるもののリビドー"

I'm not sure what the differences are though.
Perhaps there are multiple statues in different locations?
All the ones I saw referred to this statue in Arakawa though so maybe there's a misprint or something?

Also I'm not sure what "リピドー" or "リビドー" means, but if anyone has any idea about what the statue's meaning is I'd love to hear it!

Either way it's a nice looking statue. I always enjoy finding things like this around different parts of Japan, they really add to the atmosphere of the city.

船橋大神宮

日本の行事 初詣・船橋大神宮

日本の行事 浅草寺

I didn't have enough space to write it the other day, but after visiting Fukuda Inari Shrine the other day in Nishi-Omiya, Saitama we stopped by a café called Mango Tree Cafe, a small Thai restaurant on the way back to the station.

We'd already eaten, so we just wanted to sit down and relax from all the walking and to catch a break from the cold. We ordered some frozen drinks and a mango ice cream which all tasted quite good. I think the ice cream was the best but I didn't get a picture of it.

I ordered the watermelon frozen juice and it was pretty nice, but they had something called "manaonade" (アンチャンマナオネード) which I guess means "blue tea" or "butterfly pea flower tea-ade" (lol).
It's a type of herbal tea I guess but it seemed interesting. I was considering getting it, but I'd never heard of it before so decided to stay on the safe side and just get the watermelon.

I'll probably try it next time as I know this place is a chain restaurant with other locations in Tokyo. Plus I never really eat Thai food, so it'd be something nice to try for a change

Doesn't matter how old you are, you'll always stop to watch the fireworks.

Taken at the Hachioji Fireworks Festival in 2017.

色褪せて尚
凛とした花姿

日本の行事 成田山新勝寺

Wanted to do Hatsumode this year but didn't want to go anywhere crowded, so I decided to go out to Saitama and find a small shrine to visit. Ended up at this tiny shrine in Nishi-Omiya called Fukuda Inari Shrine (福田稲荷神社). It was super small and not a single person was there so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves.

There was no real path leading up to the shrine so we had to walk through a plot of land that wasn't being used but it ended up being a really cool place.
The approach to the shrine was really mysterious and once you get past the second torii gate you can see a bamboo forest surrounding the whole area. It was really neat as I couldn't see any bamboo from the outside and didn't really know what to expect when I visited.

The shrine itself looks almost deserted but somehow still well maintained.
I wanted to go inside to look at the pictures better but obviously I can't so I just admired them from afar.
The temizuya/chozuya (or at least I think it was that, maybe this would be considered a chozubachi?) didn't have a ladle to wash your hands but maybe it has to do with corona.

Anyways, it was a really nice little shrine and is a great place if you're looking for a mini adventure outside of Tokyo.
Or if you want to do Hatsumode and avoid the crowds completely lol.
Also, happy new year!

Happy new year? I was interested in visiting a kotatsu cafe and finally found one in Shimokitazawa! It was called Cafe Stay Happy and made me happy ? The atmosphere and food was really good ❤️

木にライトアップされるかと思いきや！
地面！！周りが輝く程、哀愁が漂う冬の木を撮りました

Nakamise dori avenue in Sensoji temple. The avenue is well decorated for the new years eve.

The iconic symbol of Tokyo, Sensoji is now fully prepared for the new year's prayer. It looks very beautiful and it is waiting for several hundred people for visiting the Temple in the new years eve.

Five storied pagoda fully prepared for new years prayer. This is from Sensoji temple, the famous iconic symbol of Tokyo.

Went to a soba restaurant in Akabane called "Zenmi Kotobuki" (禅味寿).

I got the "天せいろ" (Ten Seiro "Tempura Soba Served on a Bamboo Wicker Tray" If I had to translate it literally I guess lol).
Cost 1350 yen and it was 大盛サービス (free extra serving of noodles).
And who am I to turn down free noodles? The choice was obvious and so I got the extra helping!

I really liked the atmosphere of the place too. The waitresses were wearing Japanese-style clothing as well, which made it a really nice experience.

I always enjoy visiting small shops like this where the owners have it decorated in their own style and you can see all of the bottles of sake or whatever else is used to create the atmosphere of the restaurant.

Anyways, as for the food, the tempura was cooked really well and the soba was the perfect texture. At the end of the meal they brought some hot soba water so I could drink the remaining tsuyu (soba sauce) as a sort of warm drink. Was a great experience that I haven't had in a while!

Christmas day special Tokyo Tower illumination.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I went to "Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba" over the weekend and there were a ton of restaurants.

The one that I chose to eat at was a tough choice, but I ultimately settled on "Do Miso Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba" (ど・みそ 東京ポートシティ竹芝店), but there was also an Okinawan-themed restaurant right next to it called "Okinawa Bar Kafu" (沖縄酒場 かふー) that looked really nice as well, and smelled good.

Either way from across the isle I got to eat some delicious ramen while listening to the Okinawan music which was really relaxing and created a nice atmosphere.

I'm not sure what the ramen I got was called it was just the normal miso ramen from my understanding and I believe it cost ¥1100.
There's another one that looks similar, has a similar name, and costs ¥1200 but that's a white miso ramen and not the one that I got.
Either way, I'm sure it tastes good as well, because my ramen tasted great!
I really liked that the restaurant had metal cups as well, it gives the water a different flavor and always makes it feel more refreshing too (in my opinion at least).

One thing I forgot to mention about the building; if you open up their website, another futuristic feature you'll find is that the building actually shows the number of people in the building at any one time and also shows that percentage of male and female visitors. I thought this was really amazing.
I'm not sure how it's done, but they must have censors located at the doors or in other places around the building that can analyze body structure or something similar. Either way it's a cool place!

日本の冬 立石

Lets enjoy the beauty of Marunouchi illumination. Here everyone was busy to enjoy the illumination.