Snow! (again)

It snowed last night. Of course, then it turned to rain when it was time for me to walk to school. But it was still pretty.

We watched a movie this afternoon in the gym. I don't know the name, but it was a group of guys (and a girl) goofing off, and pulling pranks and the police officer who tries to stop them. I didn't understand a lot of it, but some of the physical humor was very funny. It was filmed in Karasuyama, so I had a lot of "Hey, I know where that is!" moments. I'm going to try to buy a copy of it.

Here's the snow.

Ueno Park

Yesterday, I went to Ueno Park in Tokyo. It's a very big park, just outside Ueno Station. The first time I was there was in 2007. The area that is Ueno Park was originally Kan'eiji Temple. That was destroyed during the Meiji Restoration. The land for the park was granted in 1924. The National Museum, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and several other museums are there. There is also a Zoo.

I went there to see an exhibit at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum called "Morris to Mingei". I'm a big fan of arts and crafts style, and art nouveau, as well as Japanese art. William Morris was part of the beginning of the English arts and crafts movement.

When I got to Tokyo, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The little thermometer I have hanging on my purse indicated 80 degrees at one point during the day.

First, I went to Tokyo station. Maruzen bookstore is one of the few places that open at 9:00 in the morning, and they have a large English book section. Maruzen is on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. That's the side that looks like the original station.

En route, I saw this on the side of an ice cream vending machine.













Maruzen had a display of cat art. While it was all very cute stuff, it was priced out of my range.

















On the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, is the Yaesu Book Center. I had never been there before, although the bookstore in Utsunomiya station is a branch. This one is eight stories high.

Here is a statue outside the store. Japan is like this -- old Japan and bleeding-edge technology blend seamlessly.

The foreign language (books in foreign languages, mostly English) section is small, but they had a neat series of bilingual business books.

Back at Ueno station, I found a very long escalator.














Here is the Panda Bridge between Ueno Station and Ueno Park. There is a very large Panda statue just outside the station exit there. It's a good landmark if you use the coin lockers, like I did.

There are homeless people living in Ueno park, and I couln't always distinguish between the men who were retired and enjoying the weather, the ones who were recovering from the night before, and the ones who lived there.

In Ueno Park, here is the National Museum. I visited here in 2007. It's a very nice museum, especially if you like Japanese art and history.













There are all kinds of performing artists in the park. This guy was pretty good.













Here is the TokyoMetropolitan Art Museum.












Of course, I couldn't take pictures of the exhibit. Morris' things are more neo-gothic, in my opinion. He worked with textiles and furniture and anyone who wanted to decorate a house for D&D would enjoy his stuff. I wouldn't mind a room of it, but I like the later craftsman style.
After I left the exhibit, I saw and exhibit of bonsai trees. Most bonsai are not as small as the ones you can buy at Target.

Here is a cute umbrella sculpture.








There are signs in the park warning not to feed the birds or cats. There are also people in the park who do just that. I found a statue, and before I could take a picture of it, I saw a cute black and white cat. It was shy, but a man (who the cat obviously knew) held the cat for me to take its picture. I had some cat treats in my purse and was able to buy some photo ops. But there was another man who knew what this kitty really liked -- cheese. He even gave me some to feed the cat.

Note: not only is it legal to drink in the park, but you can buy beer there as well. It was warm enough to enjoy a nice cool one.











A crow.




































Here is the statue.










Here is another kitty.












Here are several torii gates.









Some trees were blooming already. I think they are plum blossoms.


































There is a little island in a lake in the park with a Benzaiten shrine. Benzaiten is the Japanese version of the Hindu goddess Sarasvati. She is the goddess of music and eloquence, and also one of the Seven Lucky Gods.













Ducks!












Here is the marshy lake in the middle of the city.












All in all, it was a very nice day. I even got home at a reasonable hour!

Shinjuku on a Clear Day

Sunday, I went back to Shinjuku. That's where the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is. I went there when I first came here, but Sunday was clear so I was hoping to get better pictures.
Here is the TMG Building. I like the architecture, it looks a little Wrightesque to me.






























For free, you can go to the 45th floor, where there are two observatories. I went to the north observatory. And here is what I saw.















Yes, that is Mt. Fuji! Mt. Fuji is about 60-70 miles away from Tokyo. Great, huh?


























This picture is a little dark. You can see a "green roof" on the building down there. Green roofs have plants on them. They are designed to reduce the heat levels on urban rooftops, and reduce the heat island effect.

After that, I went to the port area of Tokyo. Near Toyosu station is a large shopping mall called La La Port. There is a smaller La La Port just outside Utsunomiya Station -- that's where the Utsunomiya Yodobashi Camera is.












Here is the mall.










And more of it.





















There are cruises on the Sumida river. Too bad I didn't have time to take one!




Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Market and Restaurant.

The end of the line.









A neat entrance to the Toyosu Station.

Where am I?

I finally figured it out -- Nasukarasuyama is 514 miles/827 km south of my house in Oshkosh. Better late than never, right?

Here is a gratuitous kitty picture taken on my way to work Tuesday.

Ashikaga

Saturday was rainy and crappy out. I went to Utsunomiya to do some shopping. I bought a book, just released Friday, that contains some Obama speeches, Japanese translations and a CD for listening. It's for the school so I got reimbursed. This is not the first such book -- apparently these books are best sellers, which is odd for a language text.

The weather was nice and sunny on Sunday, so Etsuko and Brian invited me along to go to Ashikaga. Here is a view of mountains from the backseat. These are mountains near Nikko. This view reminds me of Tucson, a bit.











Here are some more hills along the tollway.

When we got to Ashikaga, we found the wind was a lot stronger than we'd expected. So it was *chilly*!

There is a school in Ashikaga that was founded in the 9th century. The school taught Confucianism and I Ching. It was finally closed during the Meiji Restoration. Here is a gate.













Here is a carving on the gate.













Here you can see the building with its thatched roof.






Compare with the tile on the gate's roof. I love these old tile roofs.





Here is a famous old and large wisteria. Of course, it's not blooming now.



Another picture of the school.









A nice, small garden.









A statue of a mendicant monk.















Another garden.










Here are some winter plum blossoms.








Here is the pagoda. You can see a plum tree to the left.















Here is a building made of Oya stone.









Here is a cat sculpture I saw while walking around Ashikaga.














It's the year of the cow, so here is a painted stone cow.






Also in Ashikaga is the Kurita Ceramics Museum. The pieces on exhibit are mainly from the late 17th-18th century. During this time, only the Dutch were allowed to trade with Japan. Many pieces were clearly made for the European market, but most look like Imari porcelain.

Here is the inside of one exhibition hall.






I found a nice piece to use as an urn for my Moogie.






It's February now, so I have less than 8 weeks before I go back to the States. I'll try to get as many pictures for you as I can!