Posted May 5, 2014 by Jonelle Patrick Just another day in Japan

Fish Flag Day!

Gigantic fish flags take to the sky at Nishiarai Daishi temple

On a fine spring day, how can you not be cheered by spotting koi nobori swimming through the sky? It’s Children’s Day again, here in Japan, and fathers & sons everywhere are celebrating by having iris fights in the bath.

Carp flags school over the shopping street in Kameido

KoiKawagoe1 — Fancy golden ones in a Kawagoe shop window.

Here are last year’s beauties at Tokyo Tower and hanging from a kite string at Yoyogi Park: Swimming In The Sky

And just for fun, here are the eleven strangest shrines in Tokyo, with all the inside scoop on the resident gods’ superpowers. One of them is at Nishiarai Daishi temple, which also flies some awesomely huge fish flags!

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Jonelle Patrick View All

Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!