Early Morning Senso-ji

One of my goals on this trip was to see things that I hadn't gotten around to yet. During my two years in Japan I saw a lot of sights, but there is always more to see and do, especially in a city as large and dynamic as Tokyo. One of the places on my list was Senso-ji, the largest most famous Buddhist temple in Tokyo.



The story of Senso-ji, also called Asakusa Kannon, starts in the 600's when two local fishermen find a golden idol of the goddess of mercy, Kannon in the nearby Sumida river. The temple was built to enshrine the statue, and over the centuries grew to its present dramatic size and popularity. The temple did burn down in the war, and the current buildings are concrete reconstructions.



I found that one of the downsides of starting my day before 5 am was that by 8 I had been up for hours, and yet little was open yet. Senso-ji was almost empty, the myriad trinket vendors lining the entrance street all locked up and silent. Even when I walked over to the nearby Kappa-dori, home of the plastic food and restaurant supply stores I found that early Saturday morning was not a busy time for them.



After a fair amount of aimless meandering, I walked back through the temple grounds close to noon, and found that things had picked up remarkably. There was some sort of festival in full swing, so there were street vendors with snacks and drinks on offer, and booths set up to display chrysanthemum flowers.



I had intended the trip to Asakusa to take up a full day of sightseeing, but I had done all I needed to do, and it was barely noon! I felt that a walk to the Edo-Tokyo Museum was a good idea, even though I didn't really have a map, nor a good sense of how far it was...

Tsukiji

The Tsukiji fish market is an overwhelming riot of sounds, colors, smells and speeding mini trucks. This is not your typical tourist market, indeed large tour groups cannot visit and during the busiest season all tourists are banned.



However, for those that brave the very early morning wake up call and the chaotic market traffic, the reward is a look at the largest wholesale seafood market in the world. Around 2,000 pounds of seafood a day passes through Tsukiji.



The area is built rather like an onion, with a surrounding district of shops forming the skin, and then layers of supplementary shops and stalls selling a wide variety of non seafood items mixed in with sushi restaurants. The actual market occupies a large area in the center. The Saturday morning that I was there was a popular one, as many tourists and Tokyoites had come down for a taste of the freshest sushi you can find, leading to lines that ranged from long to staggeringly long.



The best reason to make the trip is the sheer spectacle. From lobsters to live clams to squid to slick silvery fish to massive frozen tuna, every sort of sea creature you can imagine, and a few you probably can't, makes an appearance. I was most impressed by how the frozen tuna are handled, as if they are big red frozen fish logs, saws and all. I certainly never thought I would see a fish fed into a band saw!



I really enjoyed my early morning visit, though I did have to be careful not to get too wrapped up in my shot composition, as the carts, both motorized and not, won't stop or slow down for anybody.

The Glory of Jetlag

I have returned after my most epic trip to date. In 30 Days I visited two countries, 6 airports, 12 Cities, and 17 friends. I shot approximately 23 Gigabytes of photographs, the best of which will grace this blog in the coming weeks and perhaps months.



From the moment I landed back in Japan I had this strangely giddy expression fueled by excitement, exhaustion and the hustle and bustle that is the land of the Rising Sun. My hotel was located right in the heart of urban Tokyo in the district of Shinjuku. While there are many nightlife hot spots in Tokyo, Shinjuku is among the biggest and the best.



I was up very early the morning after my arrival, a victim of the time change. I spent some time from around 3 am shooting photos from my hotel room, seen above. After an hour or so of that, I decided that a trip to the Tsukiji fish market would be a good idea. I had never visited before, as the market does most of its business before 6 AM which is a simply ghastly hour to be awake if you aren't jetlagged. With the early riser problem solved, I hit the streets around 5, en route to the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.

HDR Clearinghouse

Here is a grab bag of HDR Images from various places that I've visited over the past couple of years. First up we have the Ring of Kerry in Ireland.



Followed by St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.



And then we have St. Peter's in Rome.



The Trevi Fountain, also in Rome.



The Denver Center for Performing Arts.



Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple built on Oahu as an exact replica of the temple of the same name near Kyoto. The Kyoto version is actually featured on the 10-yen coin. Funnily enough, I saw a book, 1001 Gardens to See Before You Die, that included the garden of the Japanese Byodo-in, but used a file photograph of the Oahu version, complete with the distinctive volcanic cliffs in the background.



Finally we have a view of Honolulu Harbor at sunset.

Schnoodle Snow Balls

While much of the snow from late last week melted over the weekend, the back yard still has a fair covering. Fritz the Wonder Schnoodle (TM) is absolutely fascinated by snowballs, and will 'fetch' them all afternoon long. He will dig like crazy searching for the missing ball, until a new one is formed and lobbed. We had a photo shoot this afternoon with dad chucking the snowballs while I tried to capture him in mid pounce. I never really succeeded with that, but I got some fun photos anyway.

The first snow

Today marks the first major snow of the year, with a winter storm warning in effect for Denver all day today through to 6 PM tomorrow. It's been a chilly, wet summer and it so far the fall and winter seem to be following that track as well. Alas!

Aloha Lizzie

My sister has arrived safely in Hawaii, beginning her year stint at the Surfing Goat Dairy. Interestingly enough, it has been exactly a year since MY trip to Oahu, so I thought it would be a good time to dust off a few pictures that never made it on the blog. Of course, these are all from Oahu, and she is on Maui. I guess I'll just have to visit so I can get some proper Maui photos, and some beach time.