Sugamo

After you have checked that Ginza, Omotesando and the likes have the same boutiques as elsehwere, it may be time to go back to Japan. Ueno is an endless area to discover. Sugamo, on the Yamanote line, is another, more compact, popular place with elderly people.

No Tokyo

Far away from Tokyo, we headed last month close to the tip of this archipelago, to Taketomi Island in Okinawa. The weather was not tropical except for a single day, but we loved the place anyway. Taketomi is a disappearing opportunity to walk around in a place largely devoid of touristic attractions and the stale architecture that come with these. A 10 minutes boat ride from Ishigaki city port, then a 5 minutes drive ushered us into a lush, calm atmosphere where one of the essential occupation was to listen to the wind. We hired a local guide for a short walk around. She was a local 82 years old lady. She sung songs and showed Ulysse how blow sounds with a local shrub leave. We had not left yet Taketomi that we already wanted to come back.

Zushi

The other day, we went to Zushi for the sole purpose of gulping down a bowl of rice with a generous topping of nama-shirazu, or fresh whitebait, that is, baby sardines. A seasonal total treat. It is no secret that coming from Tokyo to Zushi, an hour train ride, is much like going to Summer vacations for a few hours. Zushi city is surrounded by gentle hills that create a microclimate one can feel just when landing on the station plateform. The Sun was however no matching to the fierce afternoon wind on the Zushi beach. We retreated back to Tokyo after five minutes.

Too much under the Sun

Too much under the Sun to catch up since February. The Sanshin Building of early 1930, located in front of the Hibiya Park, will be brought to the knees soon. A tiny, feeble campaign to protect the rare remnant of Tokyo before WWII had no result, as usual. Building conservation is not part of Tokyo blueprint.
The "Beautiful Japan" conceptual slogan of current PM Abe is all in the mind, not in the landscape. Sad as it is, for some at least, a new comer at a stone throw from there is the soon to be open Peninsula Hotel is a distinctive addition to mushrooming Tokyo landscape. Now that Showa era nostalgia is in full bloom, the best way to ponder and remember is to flip the many picture books on the subject. Head to Maruzen huge bookstore on the corner of Tokyo station in the Oazo building.