Whenever I watch an old Japanese film. I see all these terrific scenes of old Tokyo and just have to know where they were filmed. Sometimes it’s obvious, other times it isn’t. The other day I was watching a compelling yakuza movie,「無頼」より 大幹部 Burai yori daikanbu (1968), aka Outlaw: Gangster VIP. It stars Tetsuya Watari 渡 哲也, the handsome…
(1) Ants Villa and Mary of Ants Town This post is about a name and a place. The name is Satoko Kitahara 北原怜子 a.k.a. “Mary of Ants Town” (1929-1958). The place is 蟻の街, Ari-no-machi, meaning “Ants Villa”, “Ants Town”, “City of Ants”, etc. Ants Town was formed in the wake of World War 2 as a legal cooperative to house and…
There are 158 rail lines in Tokyo. That’s a staggering number. Instead of describing all 158 lines, let me tell you about the 18 most interesting. These include monorails, streetcars, people movers, and more. And a glass-bottomed train! The numbered list below corresponds to the following map: I. Monorails (1) Chiba Urban Monorail 千葉都市モノレール The Chiba Urban Monorail…
I. Reduce Recycling has interested me ever since it was introduced to my hometown dump in the mind 1980s. The idea that waste can be reused is as intuitively appealing as a perpetual motion machine. Once I learned about recycling, the idea of NOT recycling became anathema, and people who didn’t recycle were scorned by my 8-year old brain,…
Intro This post started with a question from one of my readers: what is Katsushika? A few things come to mind: Katsushika 葛飾区 is one of Tokyo’s 23 main wards; it’s on the fringes and probably one of the least well-known The Nakagawa river 中川 dominates the geography of the ward, essentially splitting it down the middle While riding the Skyliner to Narita Airport, Katsushika surrounds…
Although not as famous as the Arashiyama bamboo forest in Kyoto, there are several places in Tokyo to enjoy bamboo. Here’s a list and map of the top bamboo groves in Japan’s capital.
The kawaii singularity is near: robots too cute to resist. In February we were exploring an upper floor of 3331 Arts Chiyoda (map), a creative space in the old Rensei Junior High. The halls were silent, well-insulated from the first-floor crowd. We almost returned downstairs when we noticed activity in one of the classrooms. It looked like an adult-education class: men and women of various ages…
I’ve never been a Japanese school-child, nor have I ever attended school in the early 20th century, yet I feel nostalgic for old-fashioned Japanese schoolhouses. This may have started while watching movies like The Rickshaw Man 無法松の一生 (1958) or Carmen Comes Home カルメン故郷に帰る (1951). Scenes from: The Rickshaw Man and Carmen Comes Home My love was cemented when I…
In the last two years I’ve gotten hooked by the Hakone Ekiden relay race due to its mixture of tradition, athletic excellence, and aesthetic beauty. I saw the 2015 race in person and watched most of the 2016 edition on TV. As much as I enjoyed it, I was mildly disappointed by the lack of…
I caught a tautog when I was 6 years old; that was the height of my fishing career. The subsequent lack of production can’t be blamed on a decline in my skills. No, I have just as much ability as my 6-year old self! Rather, I just stopped fishing. Despite not engaging in fishing, I quite like to…
What are the most popular types of food in Japan? This question crossed my mind after reading a question on Quora: “Which is more commonly eaten in Japan, Western influenced cuisine (Yōshoku) or Chinese influenced cuisine (Chūka)?“ My gut reaction was that Western food is more popular than Chinese food; after all, Italian, French, and…
The November 23, 1946 issue of The New Yorker ran an article by Helen Mears in their “Our far-flung correspondents” section. Titled “You in Tokyo“, the piece was named after a pamphlet given to new American arrivals that explained things like protocols, customs and recreational activities. Excerpt from You in Tokyo pamphlet, published by SCAP GHQ for civilian employees of…
