About the Emperor's Birthday

It seems that another year has come and gone. And tomorrow is again the current Emperor's birthday. Every year on the 23rd of December, the Emperor and his family appear before throngs of people about once every 30 minutes and wave, say a greeting and then disappear again as the crowds are heralded out through the exit gate. Once they disappear, yet another throng of thousands are admitted through the entrance gate and the whole process begins anew. This happens from about 10 am until 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. Every year. Until the man dies. Every year, the Emperor and his family know exactly how they will spend the Emperor's birthday. It's considered a duty of the Imperial family. And they all show up dressed in the frumpy designer digs that have been allocated for them on that day. They don't even attempt to look majestically Japanese. They all wear "yofuku" or western style clothes.

The real irony to this is that about 10 days later, everyone has to do it all over again as the Imperial Palace is once again open for tourists and well-wishers wishing to come and pay homage to the Emperor and his family.

I went last year on the 2nd of January to the Imperial Palace. We went because it was one of the few things you could do in Tokyo over the holidays and ... let's face it, it's not something you can do throughout the better part of the year. Now as both days draw near, I shudder to think of the crowds and the crowd control planning that are again taking place. If I ever felt the need to delve into the psyche of cattle to know what it feels like to be herded or prodded, rest assured, it is a need that should never arise again after last year's experience. The only thing missing from the experience was the branding. Can't say I regret not getting that experience though.

I will say this --- last year, I didn't know enough Japanese to understand what was being said when the Emperor delivered his message. But if I decided to go again this year, I would be able to understand enough ... to get me into trouble. I feel no urge to go. I feel no urge to be herded again. Right now, it's nice to be out and about during the day as most office workers are still in the office working... but come next week when the Oshougatsu arrives, the train stations, bus stations, and airports will all be packed. I think I will breathe a sigh of relief and welcome again, the downtown Tokyo that I haven't seen in over a year. In about 10 days, it's like a ghost town --- the streets are quiet and peaceful. Hardly a car passes you by on the road. You can get almost anywhere without touching another person on the train --- even during the normal rush hours.

The only time, it didn't feel like a ghost town was when we were at the Imperial Palace packed in like sardines and when we were at Sensoji Temple on New Year's day, again packed in like sardines. This holiday season, I'm going to do my best to avoid being part of a huge crowd. To that end, tomorrow's event at the Imperial Palace is a no-go. Skipping it like I skipped a bad class in my youth. Happy Birthday Emperor-sama... but you'll have to celebrate this one without me.

Izakaya near Shinagawa station.

One of my friends was leaving Japan (again) and we organized several good-bye dinners for him for various reasons. This first one we had at an Izakaya near Shinagawa station. I've forgotten the name and I can only remember that it was in the basement of one of the tall buildings on the east side exit of Shinagawa station. It was right beside a set of circular stairs and just outside there was a small garden and fountain that was shared with the building opposite. I know that the facing building had a Starbucks. And I seem to recall that we went to a Hokkaido chain restaurant on the 5th floor in the winter.

Aside from these horrible directions, the restaurant itself was memorable. There was a fireworks display on the ceiling (in lights and lasers with accompanying sound effects) and it had these backlit latterns up on one wall. The whole pit area was open concept so it seemed so spacious when you had one of the outside booths. They also had those small private, Japanese style, tattami rooms, but we had requested an outside booth to be able to enjoy the fake fireworks.

The place was busy for a weeknight. I remember watching one group of four being turned away at 7:30 pm and thinking how glad I was for my Japanese friends who had called in advance and booked our seats for the group. The place continued to be busy for the next hour or so when people actually started leaving.

We closed the place after trying a diversity of Japanese and Korean style plates and downing a good variety of Japanese alcohol. If I can find the email describing the place, the name and how to get there, I will include it when I fix up this post. But for now, you can enjoy the view of the purplish backlit latterns.

A Little of Piece of USA

No, I didn't take a trip to the States recently. This photo was taken with my keitai. This mini-Statue of Liberty sits adjacent to the man-made beach found in Odaiba. I was there this past weekend for a beach volleyball 4's tournament and we managed to completely miss the beach the first time and had to double back. We u-turned at this statue. My team had awesome players, but we didn't win. Maybe next time.

Giraffe in Ginza

I was sorting through some of my keitai photos because I needed to clear some memory to make it run more smoothly. I came across this one. It took me a while to figure it out, but at the time of the photo, I was walking through one of the main streets of Ginza at night. Actually, it was only about 5 pm, but it was already dark. Ginza is a really pretty area to go for a walk at night since they make an effort to spruce it up and hang lights everyone. All the haute couture brand names and big name stores are in that area somewhere.

I happened to look up, and there, on what looked to be about the 8th or 9th floor of the building across the street, seemed to be a giraffe. Yup, clearly a giraffe. I don't think it was real since it didn't move its head perceptibly while I was standing there trying to get a clear enough and close enough photo of it. I only had the keitai on me at the time, but I so wished for my more powerful DSLR camera so that I might get a close up of the giraffe's face. It did strike me as peculiar but gimmicky. It did make me want to run into the building and see what the giraffe was all about, but I refrained from indulging that particular whim. To this day, it remains one of those Tokyo mysteries to me.

So all I have to show for that evening is this one photo of a white building with lots of windows that has a giraffe peering out onto the streets of Ginza. Walking down that same street, I can't recall seeing that same giraffe again. Now, I have to make it one of my missions to find it again.