Drawn in by bright red posts festooned with crimson maple leaves arching over a covered street, I decide to follow wherever it leads. Japan has many shotengai like it, covered avenues filled with tiny shops of every sort. From inside proprietors call out irasshaimase! That’s welcome with the underpinning imperative root, come! Continue reading
A little break from themes Japanese today. A few days ago I received an apologetic email informing me that Leaf Press had selected my poem “Final Round” to appear in The Wild Weathers: a gathering of love poems. The anthology will be released in time for Valentine’s Day. Continue reading
By Roger Dahl in The Japan Times, 20/11/11. Used with permission.
While chatting at breakfast with a career diplomat on leave from Kabul, he says: It’s nice to be back. It’s so safe. No worries about suicide bombers.
You’re right, I answer. You’re more likely to get killed by a bicycle. Continue reading
In seconds it’s possible to become disoriented in Tokyo’s snakes-and-ladders streets. Sometimes it’s much easier to haphazardly wander than find a specific location. Doorways often aren’t numbered in Arabic numerals. Outside the major tourist hot-spots, signs are primarily in Japanese. Continue reading
Every time I enter a crowded elevator or the hotel breakfast room it happens. Immediately everyone shrinks slightly and turns away from me, a subtle but noticeable shift. As a non-Japanese travelling most mostly among nationals I’m not sure how, but I immediately understand the situation. Continue reading
On my way to Sensoji I had noticed the simple display: a pot of bushy, russet-coloured chrysanthemums and several bottles of sake on the stoop. This spot, a few steps south of my hotel, is fixed on my highly reliable restaurant-radar. I hesitate. There is no picture menu posted. No English. With no idea what I’m in for I take my chances. Continue reading
My room is not ready. No matter. I leave my bag with the desk clerk and head out. The enticing light and warmth of the afternoon prompt me to visit Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple, Sensoji, the central attraction of Asakusa. A quieter and older part of the city with a long history, Asakusa is a former entertainment district and working-class neighbourhood west of the Sumida River. Continue reading
Having found the correct train from Tokyo Station with surprising ease, I disembark at Ueno Station. I walk north alongside the overhead tracks on the station’s east side toward my hotel in Asakusa. Situated near the intersection of two major thoroughfares–Kototoi-dori and Kokusai-dori–I should be able to find it. If it takes longer than the guidebook’s ambiguous instructions to walk 12 minutes from the station, it will be good exercise. Bonus: It’s a glorious day. Continue reading
After breakfast I board the hotel shuttle back to Narita Airport, validate my JR Rail Pass and follow the signs to the Narita Express (NEX) track for Tokyo. You’d think I did this every day—it’s that easy. Continue reading
Pre-departure I confess that my solo venture through Japan worried me. When Yamakawa-san realized I planned to travel around Western Japan for 33 days without a tourist agency, he asked, “How will you catch the right train? The last time I was in Tokyo Station I got lost, and I’m Japanese.” Continue reading