Tokyo, December 2004

 


A lantern starting the walkway to Asakusa Kannon Temple.
One of Buddha's Shoes near Asakusa Temple (these are about 15-20ft. tall).
A picture of some of the architecture at Asakusa.
A five-storied pagoda at Asakusa temple.

Approaching Asakusa temple. It was much more crowded than usual because it was so close to the new year.
The large red lantern that hangs in Asakusa temple is what it is most famous for.
An incense burner outside of Asakusa temple.
An entertainer with his monkey near Asakusa temple.

He had the monkey doing jumping tricks.
The monkey didn't quite make this jump, but he got it on the second try.
There is a stream with very large coi on Asakusa temple's grounds.
Another picture of the coi.

More coi.
These coi were very pretty and there were a few abnormally large ones.
An old man was feeding them so they were swimming closer to the surface. One actually jumped pretty high out of the water.
An old bridge that runs over the coi stream. There is a sign with red letters nearby that I imagine says that you can't walk on it.

A Sapporo beer vending machine. You don't see too many of these with actual beer in them anymore since the government is cracking down on underage drinking.
Here is a temple in Ueno park.
There was a really nice cleansing fountain just outside of the temple this one is shaped like a dragon!
A closer view of the fountain.

This plaque talks about the tomb of the Shogi-Tai Warriors in Ueno Park.
And here is the tomb of the Shogi-Tai Warriors.
A stone lantern in Ueno park. There are tons of these.
Plaque describing the Ueno Park "Monster Lantern," called that because it is so big.

A dark picture of the Monster Lantern (it was getting late).
More stone lanterns.
Stone lanterns along a walkway that leads to a shrine (behind where I am standing to take this picture).
A shrine at Ueno park.

A pagoda in Ueno park. This is actually in the Zoo area.
A large gate just outside of Ueno park.
A busy street just outside of Ueno park.
I took this picture because the sign was kinda amusing.

Another shot of the street just outside of Ueno all lit up. You can see a Mc Donald's in the distance.
Tokyo Tower lit up at night. you can see 2004 on the front of it.
I never saw a sake vending machine before so I took a picture.
The Kabuki-za Theatre is located in Ginza.They allow you to buy cheap tickets to one act plays. A one act play lasts about 45min to 1hr. and that is usually all you can take. While the costumes and sets are very interesting and the Kabuki-za allows you to rent an earphone so you can hear what is going on in English, the plays are still hard to understand. Both Kabuki plays I have seen have left me totally confused in the middle of the play.

A close up of the Kabuki-za entrance.
A view of the city from Tokyo tower. The weather was just miserable that day. It was dark and cloudy all day but somehow never managed to rain.
They say that you can see Mt. Fuji from the top of Tokyo tower on an incredibly clear day... I wonder if that is true.
Every KFC in Japan has a statue of Col. Sanders in front of it. And while that is amusing enough, they decided to dress this one up as Santa for Christmas ^_^;

This sign was just funny. A place called "Gas Panic" in Shibuya.
A large store selling shoes featuring drawings of Popeye on them in Shibuya.
After my trip to see the Tezuka Manga museum in Osaka (see the Osaka section), I had to take a trip out to Ochanomizu subway station in Tokyo just to take a picture of the sign. I think it needs a statue of Ochanomizu-Hakase outside of it.
Ochanomizu subway stop.

A poster I saw in many subway stations in Tokyo. I'm not sure what it's about but it has an angry looking office lady on it. So, I imagine it's about perverts groping women on crowded subways (which has been a problem).
Obviously this sign warns you about rushing for your train and getting stuck in the door.
The Studio Ghibli Museum is hard to get into and you have to reserve your tickets through a travel agent. It's located just outside of Tokyo. Here is one of the signs leading up to it.
A sign welcoming you to the Studio Ghibli Museum. Naturally, you can't take any pictures of the inside of the museum so I only have outside shots. But the inside of the museum mostly walked you through the process of animation. The museum was almost entirely in Japanese, but that didn't really matter since I know generally how animation is done. They also had a Pixar exhibit up while I was there.

Little soot balls from Spirited Away on the outside of the Ghibli Museum right under Totoro. I couldn't get a good picture of Totoro because of the glare on the glass. :p
A life sized Laputa robot on the roof of the Ghibli Museum. He was probably one of the coolest things about the whole museum.
A gate leading to the Meiji shrine in Tokyo.
The main gate to the Meiji shrine.

Two large trees with charms hanging across a rope at the Meiji shrine.
A close up of the rope with the charms.
A Meiji shrine lantern.
A picture of some of the architecture at the Meiji shrine.

Another picture of Meiji shrine architecture.
More Meiji shrine shots.
Some stone ornamentation near the National Treasures museum by the Meiji shrine.
Some shots of the outside of the museum of National Treasures.

Another shot of the architecture.
Another view of the Museum of National Treasures.
A plaque describing Takatora Todo's tea ceremony house in Ueno zoo.
Takatora Todo's Tea Ceremony House in Ueno zoo.

A panda in Ueno zoo. I would have had more shots of the animals but a lot of them came out poorly because it was getting late and the lighting was bad.