A summer day in Odaiba with people were out sunbaking, photography classes on field trips and someone taking their squirrels out for a day in the sun.
A quick 2 hour trip on the Shinkansen took us to Kyoto. Kyoto was once Japan's capital and the emperor’s residence between 794 and 1868.
Just up the street I decided I needed a coffee and standing in a Starbucks I turned around and saw this amazing temple just sitting behind a normal street facade.
The last thing you'd expect in Kyoto
Fushimi Inari Shrine (1000 torii) is an important Shinto shrine to the god or rice Inari (as the taxi driver took great pains to explain). It’s famous for its thousands of vermilion tori gates which are over a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 m.
Still don't know what these guys were selling.
Just up the street I decided I needed a coffee and standing in a Starbucks I turned around and saw this amazing temple just sitting behind a normal street facade.
Gion is apparently Kyoto most famous geisha district (we only saw one “true” geisha in the back of a show as he was running to the theatre for the show – originally geisha were men). Gion is filled with shops, restaurants and teahouses. The area contains is also famous for it traditional wooden merchant houses.
Fushimi Inari Shrine (1000 torii) is an important Shinto shrine to the god or rice Inari (as the taxi driver took great pains to explain). It’s famous for its thousands of vermilion tori gates which are over a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 m.
Still don't know what these guys were selling.
If you go out down to the park today you're sure of a big surprise, because today's the day the Zombies have their picnic. Mmmmmm brains.
A semi regular meeting of Tokyo zombies at Yoyogi park – you can’t call it a club, apparently, obvious really when you consider that they are the living dead. Some of their dedication is amazing, while most of the participants prepared in the park big up to the guy dressed in army fatigues – he caught a train dressed up…
Just under two hour’s drive from Tokyo and at the base of Mt Fuji is the Fuji safari park. The park was opened in 1980 and early in the morning it was hard not to take great, memorable, pictures. It was a little strange with these African animals livingin “controlled freedom” (their words not mine) in the middle of Japan.
As a safari park you drive your own car through seven different zones for bears, lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants along with many other animals including rhinos and bison. There are also horse rides and kangaroo feeding – interesting. The petting housesfor cats, dogs and rabbits are best avoided.
As a safari park you drive your own car through seven different zones for bears, lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants along with many other animals including rhinos and bison. There are also horse rides and kangaroo feeding – interesting. The petting housesfor cats, dogs and rabbits are best avoided.
Oshino river, flowing through Oshino village, is a spring creek approximately 2 kilometres in length. The water comes from springs around Mt Fuji and is considered a natural monument of Japan. Oshino is touted as the Mecca for Japanese fly-fishers and only 2 hours from central Tokyo. As the river is a spring creek the water is perfectly suited to salmonoids with Yamane, Iwana and rainbow trout but also a number of different fish species (Koi and char). One problem with the large number of fisher people and gin clear water is that the fish are very spooky and fly’s need to be very small and “match the hatch”. The highlight of the day was breaking the Yamane and Iwana duck and landing several of these beautiful fish (along with a nice rainbow).
On the day I visited, during the week, there were still a number of people and by mid afternoon it got a little busy to find a spot where you could fish uninterrupted (or not disturb others).
Yamame
Iwana
Iwana
Rainbow
Rainbow
A beautiful spring day for a wonder through Tokyo watching people fish in the old moat near Akasaka and the azaleas in Shinjuku gyoen.
At the end of
Golden week I visited Nezu shrine. The shrine is famous for its Azalea festival
which is held in the grounds of the shrine from early April until early May. There are many
stalls set up at the entrance to the grounds including Takoyaki stalls (youtube
video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdMiGwjX6-Q) and many different Azalea species (some claim over 50 different species).
