Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan

  I stole the title of this post from a book by the late 19th Century author Lafcadio Hearn. Now that I have a digital camera, I'll post pics from time to time. But as with other viewing matter, if you don't like it, you don't have to look. I'll put them in the order they were taken, rather than anything thematic.

  This is the first picture I took with the digital camera. The gray building houses the store where I bought it. The green structure at the top carries the tracks for the train I rode to get there.

  The inner gate and courtyard of the Kanda Shrine. It is an important one for Shinto believers in Tokyo. They have a major procession through the streets every other year.

  This is the Kanda River, near the shrine, looking toward the area where I bought the camera.. I took the shot because at first glance the little buildings on the left reminded me of "Little Venice" in Bamberg, Germany. But Bamberg doesn't have such large, modern buildings behind the small ones. Enclosing the rivers in channels is standard practice in Tokyo. The bridge in the background is for one train line and you see a subway crossing at the bottom in the foreground.

  Two photos from the Nihombashi area. Top — a shot of the bridge. The green thing above is the viaduct for a automobile expressway which is built over the river which the bridge crosses. If you build the expressway over the river, you don't have to tear down any buildings. Bottom, the streetscape looking north from the bridge. The building on the left is the world-famous Mitsukoshi department store.

  Three pictures from the Shinagawa area. Before modernization and the expansion of Tokyo, Shinagawa was the first stop on the Tokaido, the road from Edo (as Tokyo was then called), where the shoguns lived, to Kyoto, where the emperors lived. Top — Shinagawa Central Garden. Middle — a traditional-style house. Bottom — a bit of the old Tokaido in the area near the old station. The paving is modern, of course, as are the buildings. But it looks like a typical commercial street in a residential neighborhood. And the street is said to be the same width as the old Tokaido.

  Two shots of a Buddhist temple near where my brother lives. Top — the main building. Bottom — a hall to the left, facing the courtyard. There is another building to the right, also facing the courtyard. It looks similar in style to the main building, but smaller in size.

  The Grand Kabuki Theater.

  Sister-in-law and brother at lunch in their house, my last day there on this trip. (Please don't copy this.)

  BTW, the cat in my profile pic (for now) is theirs.