Tag Archives: Yoyogi Park

March 06

Hacking Hanami: How To Get Yourself Invited To A Cherry Blossom Party

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Kicking back under clouds of pink blossoms in the warm spring sun, eating a picnic and drinking with friends – it’s something you always dreamed of doing in Japan, isn’t it? And then you get here, and you discover that unless you’re a member of a work group that puts on a hanami party, you’ll be […]

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November 16

Where To See The Best Fall Leaves In Tokyo

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I hope you’re all rested up from our cherry blossom death march last spring, because it’s time to strap on your camera and a couple of extra batteries to hunt down the best autumn leaves in Tokyo! Here are my picks, from momiji season through ginkgo: Arranged from earliest to latest: SHOWA KINEN PARK – Tachikawa DIRECTIONS […]

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August 02

Fishing For Women

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Of all the rakugo performances I’ve seen, Fishing For Women is my fave. It’s got great characters, including a guy who’s more of a nightmare than the worst Tinder story you’ve ever heard! THE CHARACTERS In this story, a nice old fisherman is visited by a beautiful ghost, but the dateless wonder next door has other ideas… And then…! If you watch the video, […]

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May 05

Fish Flag Day!

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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. Here are last year’s beauties at Tokyo Tower and hanging from a kite string at Yoyogi Park: Swimming In […]

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May 05

Swimming In The Sky

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I love these. Every year on May 5, families fly koi nobori outside their houses as a sort of prayer that their sons will become like the carp that climbed the waterfall to become a dragon. These fish flags always cheer me up, but this year for some reason the public displays are particularly exuberant! […]

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September 08

Sit Down Stand Up

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One day last fall, as I was walking through Yoyogi Park on my way to fall off the slackline, I saw this guy standing by a tree in a vaguely medieval-looking costume. In America I’d have hustled by, careful to make ZERO eye contact, sure he was either a member of a rabidly proselytizing religious cult […]

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June 10

Running Blind

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Today in Yoyogi Park I saw a big group of runners warming up near the place where I regularly fall off the slackline. That’s not unusual – packs of them regularly lope through Tokyo, getting their exercise on. What was different about this group is that half of them couldn’t see, and some couldn’t hear. […]

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