There’s a big festival to burn the decorations from New Years. They can’t be thrown in the trash so there’s a bonfire at the biggest shrine in town. I can smell it from a mile.
Archive for January, 2004
Burning offerings
January 14th, 2004Yay for chocolate!
January 14th, 2004
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A symphony in taxicabs
January 14th, 2004
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The magical spectral Japan
January 13th, 2004In some ways trying to see the old Japan is like an archaeological dig. It’s there, but buried under layers of technology, industry, and Starbucks. But if you’re lucky, you might spot a remnant in the form of a woman wearing kimono or the random Buddhist monk.
Case in point: today out the window of the bus I spotted a woman wearing the full getup. Before I could pull out my camera, the bus moved on. That’s why it’s hard to capture Japan in snapshots. Much of it is so ephemeral.
Put another way, it’s like trying to capture a ghost on film.
The Big New Year Update Post
January 5th, 2004These are the photos I took during my big trip. You’ll notice that there are no thumbnails here; this is because there are simply too many of them. I want the page to load up quickly enough for everyone!
Without further ado, here is the list:
Light Pageant, Sendai – done by volunteers, no less
Osaka river
Man feeding the birds, Osaka moat
Osaka castle (reconstruction)
40 story Osaka building, Umeda
Osaka, view from the top
Osaka nightfall
Kurashiki idyll, 1200 year old temple
Princess Haesung & co. in full regalia
3 day holiday
January 2nd, 2004New years is a 3 day affair here. I took a jaunt downtown today because there was supposed to be a big sale at Yodobashi, the big electronics store. In fact, every major department store has a big sale on the first shopping day of the year, and they give a gift to anyone who shops on that day. Some stores even sell mystery grab bags priced at \10000 (about $100). People line up and crowd around to get one, so I guess there must be something good inside. But I think it’s a bit nuts myself.
Happy monkey year!
January 1st, 2004It’s the year of the monkey. Happy new year everybody!
I’m on the Shinkansen back to Sendai now so expect some photos from my trip as soon as I can get to my computer.
