Nerdtour 2016 Japan: Day 2, discovering exhaustion amongst the blooms…

After walking around a whole lot Wednesday (about 7 miles total), Thursday was not a “wake up at 5 AM” day. I barely woke up when the alarm went off at 7:30, after having fallen asleep Wednesday night about 9:30, so I decided to put the “Do not disturb” sign out and start into working on yesterday’s blog post and sorting through the day’s photos. I made it pretty far, but as the morning wore on I discovered that I could either blog about my experiences, or I could actually go out and HAVE experiences to blog about!

Samidagawa_Asakusa-005So, I set out to find more places that should have cherry trees in bloom. According to promotional literature, the Sumida Park area near Asakusa was supposed to have a bunch of famous trees planted by one of the shoguns a long time ago, so I decided to set off for there. Fortunately it was a relatively straight shot from my hotel, so at the end of the Asakusa Line, I came out into Asakusa proper, which is just across the Sumidagawa River from the newest “big thing”, Tokyo Sky Tree. Sky Tree is the tallest structure in Japan, and is one of the tallest structures in the world (tallest non-office tower, I think). I plan to go there on this trip, and take pictures from the observation decks, over 1000 feet up. I will find out if alcohol defeats acrophobia, or, how much sake will it take to get me to stand on the “glass floor”.

 
 
 

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I soon discovered from the map that Sumida Park actually sits on both sides of the Sumidagawa, so I crossed over one bridge to the east shore, and took in the views from that side. The part on that side had one wide “park” area, which was wide open, but the main part is a narrow strip right along the river, where people gathered in groups for “hanami”, or “cherry blossom watching.” This is basically an excuse for companies to let their employees gather in groups to drink, eat, drink, socialize, drink, and build camaraderie with their fellow workers, while sitting on tarps (traditionally blue) under the cherry trees. And drink. Other groups are made up of old friends, college students (drinking age is 20), and families.

 
 
 

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That day there were also continuing “matsuri” or festivals along the banks, where you could buy grilled chicken on a stick, or various other kinds of snack foods, along with beer. I forgot to mention that the headquarters of Asahi Beer Ltd. is right there near the Sumida Park, so they were kind enough to provide lots of beer for sale. Near one of the booths I struck up a conversation with two of the people standing around, a man and his wife. I say “struck up a conversation” but I really mean “exercised my minimal Japanese while actually understanding and being understood about 30% of the time”. It was fun, and we three had a good time for a few minutes, while I rested for a bit before moving on.

 
 

Samidagawa_Asakusa-022I crossed the “Sumida Friendship Bridge” and continued on back down the Park towards Asakusa. I got to see some of the tour boats and “dinner boats” that cruise up and down the Sumidagawa, which are very interesting and which go back a couple hundred years into Tokyo history (not the current boats, obviously, but the idea of them). Once I got back to the Asakusa area, I stopped to eat a huge bowl of soba noodles and a “katsudon”, which is a bowl of rice topped with a fried, breaded pork cutlet. The noodles came in a huge bowl at least 8 inches across and 3 deep, with miso broth. The katsudon was almost as big, so between them the meal was probably about 2 pounds of food, all for 720Â¥, which is about $7. The secret to saving money in Japan is to eat where the locals eat, not where the tourists eat! There were no tourists there, just middle-aged locals who came in for a quick meal.

After eating I walked further down to the Sensoji Temple area of Asakusa, but that’s going to be the next blog post.

Have some cherry blossom pictures for now! Enjoy!

Nerdtour 2016: Naritasan!

_MG_7989Okay, this is going to be a short one, although today was eventful and productive, I’m about out of energy for the day, and the bed in my new hotel room in Tsukiji is inviting.

I checked out of the hotel in Narita early this morning, and after a very small breakfast at Mr Donut down the road, I set off to find the Naritasan Temple complex and “Peace Park”. When I got there I was disappointed to find that my camera had gotten damaged sometime earlier, not sure where during the trip. Somehow a couple of camera batteries had slipped down beneath the camera, and the live-view screen got cracked when the camera bag was set down or banged around on one of the flights. Fortunately the camera still works fine, the part that cracked was a protective screen to help keep the body of the camera waterproof. It will still need to be fixed though.

At any rate, I managed to get quite a few nice pictures of the temple, including a few of the first cherry trees blooming in Narita. The season just started, and they won’t be in full bloom in Narita until I’m ready to leave. I will be staying the night at Narita before I leave, so I might just get a chance.

After I saw the temple and park grounds, I grabbed lunch at a small shop that was serving barbecued eel, unagi. I had never had it before, but it was good, especially since I was hungry!

Finally I got my suitcase from the hotel and set off by train to the hotel in Tsukiji, not far from the famous fish market. The room is the smallest I’ve had of all the hotels I’ve stayed at, it’s so small I have to step outside to change my mind!

At any rate, here are a few pictures from Narita. Enjoy!

Nerdtour Japan 2016: Once More With Sakura!

Sakura by moonlightSo, once again I prepare to depart for the Land of the Rising Sun, where the cherry blossoms (sakura) are in bloom!  This will be a relatively short trip, only two weeks, but the goal is to take as many pictures of cherry trees in bloom in as many iconic Japanese places as possible, given the short time they bloom.  Plus since the Tidal Basin here in DC is full of cherry trees from Japan that are now also in bloom, I hope to take pictures of them before go, too!

Blogging may be spotty, but I’ll try to at least post something each day.

The Nerdtour 2016 starts Sunday, March 27!

DC Sakura Matsuri 2013: Tidal Basin Morning

So, the last of the cherry blossoms are dropping their petals, and the primary colors are turning from pink and white to green, after a seemingly endless Winter. Here are photos I took during my walk from the Tidal Basin to the DC Sakura Matsuri (street festival) on Saturday.
I’ll have photos from the matsuri itself in a later post.

Enjoy!

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As promised, more cherry blossoms…

Here we go, a batch from Tuesday evening (the only time I can get down there is around 5:30. Dang job!). I got some pretty neat pictures of the blossoms, and especially pictures of people enjoying them! I also got some eerie effects by photographing cherry trees at night, lit by streetlights!

So, here are some more, and even more to come later! Enjoy!

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Evening on the Potomac

Just a few scenes from Washington DC, near the Tidal Basin and along the Potomac River, near sunset Friday night. The cherry trees are just barely beginning to open, especially the “weeping sakura”, the willow-like species from Japan. The main trees, the Yoshino, will be in full bloom in a couple of days, now that our cold weather has (finally!) moved on, allowing the warm Spring air to coax the blossoms out. I will have some photos from the peak in a couple of days.

Until then, here are a few to enjoy!

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Pictures from the Washington Cherry Blossom Street Festival

Here are some pictures to give a feel for the kinds of things that went on at the annual Washington DC Cherry Blossom Street Festival (a “sakura matsuri”, “桜祭り” in Japanese). Continue reading “Pictures from the Washington Cherry Blossom Street Festival”