Hayashi Fumiko was a famous author who lived in Tokyo in the mid-20th century. Her and her husband Ryokubin, a painter, built this beautiful house in the Ochiai area in northwest Shinjuku surrounded by a small but lovely traditional Japanese garden. Their house was actually two buildings due to building restrictions around the war time,…
Category: People
Arise Coffee
Taiji Hayashi is the master roaster and owner of Arise Coffee in the up-and-coming Tokyo “coffeetown” neighborhood of Kiyosumi Shirakawa in the eastern Tokyo 下町 area. He runs two businesses in the neighborhood, Arise Coffee Roasters, where he roasts and sells beans and personally serves up handpours, and Arise Coffee Entangle, a cafe that serves…
Poodle TrioBike Guy
We don’t really know how to describe this guy any better. He rides around on a TrioBike Cargo with his five toy poodles enjoying the ride and attention from mostly young women. Now that the weather has warmed up, you’ll often find him cruising the streets around Daikanyama, Shibuya and Omotesando. We can’t tell you much about…
Rikishi
Travelling around the eastern part of Tokyo, it is not uncommon to find rikishi, or sumo wrestlers, going about their daily business. This is especially true around Ryogoku, home of the Tokyo Sumo Hall known as “Kokugikan” and the training stables (yes, they are actually called stables) for sumo wrestlers. Rikishi are organized in highly…
First Lady Akie Abe
It’s difficult to keep track of the revolving door of Japanese Prime Ministers, let alone their wives, but Mrs. Akie Abe is a woman who sticks in your mind. Mrs. Abe is politically active on many fronts in Japan including supporting women’s rights, opposing nuclear power, and opposing an unpopular consumption tax hike, the latter…
Zombies
When the weather turns nice in Tokyo, the zombies awaken from their hibernation to fulfill their most carnal desire: a walk in Yoyogi Park. Yes, the Tokyo zombies are out for their walk on a Spring Saturday afternoon. The exact date varies from year to year, so you’ll have to keep an eye on local sources…
Miko
Miko are young girls working at Shinto shrines, usually in menial positions selling charms or cleaning the grounds. They are easily recognizable by their white haori jacket, red hakama pants and ribbons in their hair. The modern miko is likely just a university student working a part-time job, but historically, miko were much more involved in…
ウルトラマン Ultraman
As a child, I spent quite a lot of time running around the yard chasing my friends while making the crossed-hands pose of Ultraman attacking his enemies. 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Ultraman and with a Guinness world record for number of spinoffs, the franchise shows no signs of slowing. A new spinoff film called…
365 JAPAN 