Springtime sightseeing
March is a terrible time to visit Canada because the weather is so unstable and unreliable. But, I visited Canada from March 1st-to-March 16th. I couldn’t help myself. While I was there I visited my alma mater for the first time since graduation in the 1980s. I returned specifically to take pictures to preserve my memories. Taking pictures is not something I was disposed to do as a young man, but these days I’m crazy about picture-taking for exactly that reason - to preserve memories by capturing moments in time. (That is exactly why I like Japanese poetry forms - the haiku, the tanka and the waka. These are brief styles of poetry aiming to capture and freeze moments of time, not to tell a story in verse.) The next day, I went to Niagara Falls for the umpteenth time in my life. Niagara Falls, which is super crowded and busy in the warm summer months, is virtually empty in the winter. So, maybe it was a good time for me after all.
In the month following my return to Tokyo I embarked on a busy round of sightseeing in the capital. I had the time, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom - much earlier than happens in Canada. Much of what I did was revisitation of places I hadn’t seen in a while. At this time of my life, I care for flowers, leaves and Nature much more than when I was a young man. March is the season for cherry blossoms in Japan. One visits parks, of course, but also cemeteries, shrines and temples.
First, two days after returning, was travel to Mt. Takao in Hachioji City, western Tokyo. At 600 meters, Mt. Takao is the highest land feature in the capital and it’s a popular school trip destination. This was a first for me. I’ve known about Mt. Takao for over thirty years, but I’d never gone there. So, after thinking about it for the last seven months, I finally went. Although it takes some time to get there from central Tokyo on commuter trains, Mt. Takao is easy to reach. It is most popular in the autumn for autumn colors, and in the spring for cherry blossoms. The day I visited was not ideal, but at least I did it.
In Shinjuku Ward, I visited the Hanazono Shrine, plus the nearby Golden Gai neighborhood of tight alleyways and bars. I re-visited Shinjuku Central Park and the Juniso Kumano Shrine that is inside the park, and Taisoji Temple and Jokakuji Temple, both in Shinjuku-sanchome. I revisited the Anahachiman Shrine and the Ryusenin Temple, both near the Waseda University main campus, then for the first time ever I traversed the Waseda campus taking pictures as I went, and crossed the Edo River to re-visit St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Bunkyo Ward.
In Suginami Ward, I went to Sanshi no mori Park, then I went to Wadabori Park and the adjacent Omiyahachiman Shrine. I also re-visited the Kansen-ji Temple, which is good anytime, but best for autumn colors, I think.
I returned to Ofuna Station in Kamakura City more than an hour south of central Tokyo to re-visit the well-known Ofuna Kannon Temple there. Then I went to Odawara Castle in Odawara City southwest of Tokyo on the shore of Sagami Bay. I last visited there in May 2019. I returned to Tokyo on the Odakyu Romance Car express train, the first time I’d ever ridden that train. It was a smooth, comfortable ride.
Closer to home, in Nakano Ward, I re-visited the Jouganji Temple in Nakano-sakaue, and Kitano Shrine and the Araiyakushi Temple across the road from it, both near JR Nakano Station. And, since I was in the neighborhood, I sought out and found the site of the old Nakano Prison. The prison closed in the early 1970s, but the original portal still stands as a monument.
I revisited Tokyo Tower in Minato Ward, but I did not go to the nearby Zojoji Temple or Shiba Park. I’ve been to both of Tokyo’s communications towers and I prefer the older Tokyo Tower because it seems more graceful to me. Plus, it’s closer to home.
I visited the Koganei Outdoor Architectural Museum in Koganei Park near Musashi-koganei Station for the first time. That park was recommended to me several times, and I finally went. It features a number of historical buildings that were carefully disassembled and then reassembled exactly in their original form inside the park, for people to see and enter and experience.
I went to Ueno Park and Ueno Zoo in Taito Ward, east central Tokyo, near the Sumida River. I hadn’t been there for a couple of years and thought another visit worthwhile. During the COVID pandemic ticket sales were only done online, and visitors had to reserve a time. But now the zoo is open for same-day ticket sales and a pre-pandemic volume of visitors. The weather forecast was poor on the day I chose, but I went anyway. Serendipitously, the weather was nearly perfect for the time I was there. Ueno Park is so large and contains so many features and attractions that a person could spend a whole week there. I’ll return once more some time, because there are two museums there I’ve never seen, and one museum I haven’t visited in 30 years that I would like to see again.
After that, I went to Yokohama. I’ve been there several times, but one thing or another has prevented me from doing everything I wanted to do there. I’ve thought about returning for a couple of years, and I finally did it. The only way to accomplish something is to actually do it, after all. There are many things to see in the harbor-side park there, and the neighboring vicinities. As one of the first ports opened to foreign trade in the 1850s, Yokohama is particularly historic and important. Yokohama is Japan’s second largest city, after Tokyo. Many foreigners wrongly think that Osaka is number two. I did three things in particular that I last did in February 1990, and ever since I’ve fantasized about repeating them: tour the Hikawa Maru floating museum (a former cruise ship which, except for the war years, sailed the North Pacific Yokohama-to-Seatle route from 1930 to 1960); climb the Yokohama bluff and walk through the Yokohama General Foreign Cemetery; and, tour the Yokohama Doll Museum.
Then, I visited the neighborhood near JR Ochanomizu Station in Tokyo, which straddles the boundary between Tokyo’s Chiyoda and Bunkyo Wards. I revisited the Orthodox Christian Holy Resurrection Cathedral. I happened to visit late on a Sunday morning while a worship service was in progress, so I entered and witnessed some of it. It was my first time seeing an Orthodox worship service. It was exotic and wonderful. Then I crossed the Kanda River to visit the Yushima Seido Confucian Temple. I first tried to visit that temple during the coronavirus pandemic, when it was closed. So, this was my first time entering. It had some similarities to a Japanese Buddhist temple, but many dissimilarities. Most of the visitors were ethnic Chinese. Following that, I revisited the nearby Kanda Myojin Shrine.
Finally, on Saturday, April 29th, just before the end of the month and the start of the annual Golden Week spring time holiday, I re-visited the famous and controversial national war memorial, Yasukuni Shrine, in Chiyoda Ward. The shrine was not crowded, and the weather was perfect. As usual when I visit a place, I covered every square meter of it.