Keep Kameido Weird

Photos taken May 2014 in Kameido, Tokyo.

Sale on cassette tapes.

A bus that becomes a boat.

Something to the effect of, "Don't be fooled, a story that sounds too good to be true usually has a catch."

Someone went out of their way to build a miniature car with a witch on it so it would match the sign.

Bike with a camera mount.

Construction panels with bunnies.

Kameido Tenjin's Wisteria Festival, Part 2

 

The famed wisteria festival held every year at Kameido Tenjin shrine. These photos are from way back in June.

The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, the patron of scholars. It did not get its current name until 1936, but has been around since the Edo Period, in the mid-17th century. 

The wisteria festival, which consists of 100 wisteria trees creating 15 large roofs, runs from mid-April to the end of Golden Week (around May 6) every year. The shrine also holds a plum blossom festival every february and a chrysanthemum festival in November.

Their website gives you a daily update on the state of the flowers, a practice that many parks and shrines now follow. As of Monday, April 28, the flowers were at their peak. 

The wisteria are lit up from sundown to midnight, which I would definitely like to see. It may also be a great way to beat the crowds.

Kameido Tenijn's Wisteria Festival, Part 1

 

The famed wisteria festival held every year at Kameido Tenjin shrine. 

The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, the patron of scholars. It did not get its current name until 1936, but has been around since the Edo Period, in the mid-17th century. 

The wisteria festival, which consists of 100 wisteria trees creating 15 large roofs, runs from mid-April to the end of Golden Week (around May 6) every year. The shrine also holds a plum blossom festival every february and a chrysanthemum festival in November.

Their website gives you a daily update on the state of the flowers, a practice that many parks and shrines now follow. As of Monday, April 28, the flowers were at their peak. 

The wisteria are lit up from sundown to midnight, which would definitely be a beautiful sight. It may also be a great way to beat the crowds.

Toyama Castle Park

Matsukawa River, around a ten-minute walk from Toyama Station.

It was rainy the day I went, but the best time to visit would have been early April anyway, when the cherry blossoms bloom.

 

Toyama Castle, which I did not enter. It's said to have been built in the mid-16th century. The area surrounding the castle is Toyama Castle Park, and includes a library and small art museum.

 

It may take a bit longer than Tokyo for the cherry blossoms to bloom, but it seems there is no such delay for wisteria. In fact, during this time of the year, there doesn't seem to be much difference in temperature between Toyama and Tokyo.

 

Hokuriku Landscapes

Taken from the JR Hakutaka Express train from Toyama Station to Echigoyuzawa Station in Niigata. You can see the Tateyama Mountains all the way on a sunny day, and they are a most beautiful sight. 

Last Sunday, there were a lot of farmers out planting rice.

You would frequently see shrines and cemeteries right in the middle of a rice field.

Wisteria, snaking their way around all the trees and giving themselves away by their color. The forest must smell wonderful this time of the year.

This building looks like an old barn converted into...something. I'm guessing it's a city hall.

 

An old lady working on her farm.

The Joetsu-Shinkansen Max Toki from Echigoyuzawa to Tokyo Station. The shinkansen has two floors, and the first level is so low that you can only see the barrier. The second floor allows a better view...until the tunnels start up.

It was so cloudy that day, I missed out on a chance to see the mountains.

I wonder what you can see from up there?