List/Grid Monthly Archives: August 2012
Huge ramen cups at Ramen Jiro
Trying to find what to write about, I checked pretty much everything, from magazines to asking contacts and friends ideas, until I asked this simple question to my nice co-worker Kazu: “any idea ?”, in a glimpse, she had found something for me, I couldn’t realize it, “did you write about Ramen Jiro already ?”, she said, I had just found my article for the day. After this, I tried to ask her more basic questions like “what makes it special ?” or “is it expensive ?”, … just one answer: “head there and you’ll see”, so I went to the nearest location this morning (Ikebukuro once again) to try…
The importance of nature in Tokyo
The Japanese have long had a special relation to nature, letting it grow without trying to master it, being scared it could get angry and punish them. Nature is considered as almighty and has to be respected, everything has to cohabit together in peace and harmony, and this is what we can see in Japanese floral arrangements, ikebana, Japanese gardens, bonsais or even cherry blossoms, people pay great attention to their environment. Even in Japanese poesy, haïkus are always related to seasons, animals, which leads us once again to this recurrent idea of nature. This respect is partly due to its Shinto culture, which considers every element is the manifestation…
Shimo-kitazawa, get fashionable for cheap !
I don’t really know if we can talk about fashion, but I’d be more likely simply talking about clothing, actually, this district is full of second-hand cloth stores, as well as full-of-charm independent artists’ shops. Before getting to Shimokitazawa, I didn’t really know what to expect from it, I had heard it had something to do with fashion, but nothing more, so I ended up wandering around, navigating the tight streets of this district, trying to find what was “special” here. At one point, apart from all these lovely and original shops making me think of some kind of mini Shibuya, I entered the New York Joe Exchange store, I…
Swimming and practicing in Ikebukuro
If you had the chance to read my article about The Sunshine 60 observatory in Ikebukuro, you probably ended up wondering what this white windowless huge tower was, and I did the same. Maybe you felt like being in Evangelion’s Tokyo-3 for a second or two, but you’re not, and don’t be worried, nobody lives in this building, growing with no sun, it merely is Toshima garbage factory, and more precisely, the incinerator’s chimney. If you find the opportunity to pass by during the night, the red lights on its wall, used as aerial signals, create a very uncommon ambiance all over the place. Maybe you think it’s not worth…
Get cured by Kogan-ji’s Tagenuki, head to Sugamo
Now living in Sugamo, I really do have to tell you more about the cultural aspect of this district before I get back to France, and even though Hélène already said it almost one year ago in her article about the old ladies Harajuku, Sugamo is a very quiet area. Actually, Sugamo is really famous for being the place where elderlies gather for some shopping as well as “non-young” activities, and even though the Sugamo Kogan-ji temple is dedicated to everyone, most of its visitors are older than average. I’m not going to talk about the temple itself really, because maybe you have seen thousands of them already and start…
Some pure fun for a Sunday
Two days ago, I told you about events in Yoyogi, but If you get to Yoyogi Koen on a Sunday and from the Harajuku station, there’s a high chance you see crazy rock-styled peopleright in front of the entrance of the park, pompadour haircuts, leather jackets, tattoos, you kno who they are, they are Tokyo’s very famous rockabillies. I remember that in 2010, I didn’t get the chance to see them, but my friend did and told me about them afterwards, more than too years later, even when the heat burns your whole body, they’re still here to play the show, definitely a must-see in Tokyo ! Well, to be…
Calm and relaxation at the Sakura onsen
Today I will tell you more about my first onsen experience, because as you know, I’ve been here for more than four months now, and if I get back to France saying I didn’t even try, people will just stone me. The thing is that my boss recently told me about this one very famous onsen located less than 6 minutes sharp from my place, making it harder to avoid the trying, so it’s this morning I went to bathe in a few different hot springs at the Sakura onsen in Sugamo. I took the pictures yesterday night, so don’t think I’m trying to trick you, I would never do…
Yoyogi Park’s lively weekends
Tokyo finally managed to make me like Sundays again, that’s a fact, back in France, the Sunday is the day you just rest a lot because you partied and drank a little bit too much the day before, anyway, all the shops are closed, there’s nobody in the streets except the few depressed drunk people wandering here like zombies. Well, maybe it’s not exactly like this where you live, but this really is where I do, and I can tell you here is much different, first of all, and you know it, pretty much all the shops are open so we don’t even really notice we’re on a Sunday, and…
Kasuga’s Kodokan dojo
Considering Teddy Riner’s late victory during the Olympics, I had to write an article about Judo in Tokyo, on this occasion, I chose to write about one very famous dojo, established in 1882 by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, the Kodokan. Well, the very bad news is I was expecting to post some pictures of karatekas struggling hard to illustrate the article, but when I showed up there, I realized the dojo was closed and this for 5 days, so you’ll merely have a few pictures of the empty premises, and I’m very sorry about that, I got very unlucky on this one. The dojo was called Ko-do-kan, literally…
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