Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
Ah, spring. A time of flowers and sunshine. Or for “ladies of the night” in ancient Edo, it meant time to harvest sprouting shoots of bamboo and greenery, parade a giant phallus through the city of Kawasaki, picnic in the courtyard of the Kanamara Shrine and pray for protection from syphilis. The enthroned phalli are…
Then: Japan Pavilion, Epcot, Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA—June 2008 Now: Heiken-ji Temple, Kawasaki Daishi, Japan—April 2009 Hmm, 10 months can make a world of difference! Err–half a world, anyway!
About 80 percent of the buds have opened into blossoms along the stream between Sakuragaoka (Hill of Cherry Blossoms) and my place. Many trees are 100 percent fluffed out as if hundreds of bunnies were living in the tree tops. Bare branches barely starting to bud in some stretches brings the average bloomrate down. Photos…
Kamakura retains its status as my favorite place in Japan after another fun day trip. Chris and I looped through its shrines and temples our first week in Japan and I keep finding reasons to come back. When I first visited the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine near Kamakura Station for Bean-Throwing Day in February I knew…
I heard a weird reedy instrument today while walking through Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Temple in Kamakura. Oh, it’s a wedding procession. Well who wouldn’t want that noise at their wedding? It was a beautiful day for it, though—sunny, a half-mile of cherry blossoms leading to the temple, and temperatures rose to the upper 50s! Aaahhh, I…
Mid-50s, sunny 🙂So! I got my Lupicia tea delivery first thing this morning!! My teacups were so excited they formed a receiving line. It’s the limited edition spring Sakura black tea—that’s black tea with cherry blossoms. How perfect is that?? I just had my first cup (left) and it smells floral and faintly sweet with…
This weather and I have a special something. Seriously. That seems to be the weather for adventures and one thing most major cities have in common, regardless of the time of year I visit: Paris in May: 50 degrees. Raining. Moscow in August: 50 degrees. Raining. London in May: 50 degrees. Raining. New York in…
