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May 04, 2024
 

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BACKSTREET STORIES

Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 27, 2015
The custodians of culture in Koishikawa
Exiting the Nanboku subway's Korakuen Station near Tokyo Dome, I gaze up at clouds resembling bunches of purple hydrangeas. Directly overhead, a roller coaster car swooshes by, its passengers shrieking, which is a good sign, because, despite its aquatic name, the Thunder Dolphin coaster doesn't run in rainy weather. Optimistic, I head west along Metropolitan Road 434, into the Koishikawa neighborhood.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 30, 2015
Flora, fauna and fellows on the river
With summer's heat punching in early this year, I'm already angling for riverside relief. I trundle down to Ota Ward's Rokugodote, the southernmost train station in Tokyo's 23 wards, and a stone's throw from the Tamagawa (Tama River). The 138-km-long Tamagawa, which in this location divides Tokyo from Kawasaki, is bound to have some chill spots, I think.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Mar 28, 2015
Finding your sea legs on Tokyo Bay
It's wretched weather for putting out to sea: gusty winds, cloud banks brooding with rain and water spouts, temperatures a micro-notch above freezing and the waters of Tokyo Bay like wet elephant hide. Nonetheless, at the generous invitation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Port and Harbor, I've come to the Takeshiba Terminal to enjoy a free "minicruise" of the Port of Tokyo on board a 31-meter vessel, the Shin Tokyo Maru. As I slip over the ship's gangplank, I can't help but hum the theme song to "Gilligan's Island," the iconic TV sitcom that all began with the fateful trip of the tiny ship S.S. Minnow.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 21, 2015
Finding thrills on plum blossom hill
February is a tricky month for venturing out in Tokyo. Daylight hours lengthen and the light softens slightly, but the weather itself seems controlled by a sadist at the thermostat.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 24, 2015
Monkeying around in Sarugakucho
Sarugakucho — which loosely translates as "monkey fun town" — is a hot spot near Daikanyama Station in Shibuya, Tokyo. As a place to hang out, this area sets the bar pretty high: Its backstreets are a zoo of uber-cute boutiques offering exclusive jeans, aromatic drip coffee made with gourmet beans, wee French restaurants and a smattering of traditional goods such as indigo-dyed clothing and souvenir tenugui (cotton towels). It's all great fun, but please note: the area has been so over-blogged (without permission, or precision, apparently) that many shop owners have posted "No photos" notices in their windows — so ask before you shoot, and don't make a monkey of yourself.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 29, 2014
Appeasing autumn appetites in Nishi-Azabu
All the walking in the world does not, alas, burn off the binge-fests of food and drink that occur at year-end holidays. Anticipating this, I agree to a free trial lesson at a friend's gym, which she claims offers a workout that's fast, effective and comes served on a plate. How bad can that be? I decide to check it out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 25, 2014
Dead reckoning in the haunts of Honancho
Halloween in Tokyo rarely gets scarier than the price of imported pumpkins, but I've heard that Honancho — a terminal station on the Marunouchi subway line — hosts an uber-spooky obakeyashiki (ghost house). Navigating the station's dank, barely-lit stairwell at Exit 2, I'm already apprehensive.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 27, 2014
Yumenoshima: Tokyo's past trash packed into pleasure
Yumenoshima (literally, "Dream Island") in Tokyo's Koto Ward is aptly named because as in real dreams, the island's narrative encompasses both bucolic and nightmarish elements.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 26, 2014
Much about nothing in Akabane Iwabuchi
The nexus between Tokyo's rainy season and the heat of summer brings beastly humidity. I choose to explore Akabane Iwabuchi, an area in Tokyo's Kita Ward, for the possibility of cool breezes coming off the nearby Arakawa River. But that idea is toast the second I exit the subway; sunlight pulses off the concrete intersection of Kanpachi and Kita Hon Avenues, and leaden air churns in the wake of rattling trucks and cars. Effluent from a corner ramen shop turns gamey before it reaches the sewer and boxy utilitarian low-rise buildings, in every nuance of beige, work like oven walls. I'm instantly wilted.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 28, 2014
Not ducking tradition in Higashi-Ueno
With its lotus-laden Shinobazu pond, park grounds, and national museums, the Ueno area in Tokyo draws millions of visitors a year. Nearby Higashi-Ueno (Eastern Ueno), however, seems to be another world altogether. When I exit Shin-Okachimachi station, under skies portending summer heat, this low-lying area seems half asleep.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 24, 2014
What's blowing in the wind around Ushigome-yanagicho
Wind gusts airborne detritus down toward Ichigaya-yanagicho, an intersection in central Tokyo infamous for having the highest density of carbon monoxide in Tokyo during the 1970s. Researchers at the time linked this poisonous gas to the area's high incidence of lung cancer, and the outcry from citizens helped stimulate stricter automobile emission standards in Japan. Today, thanks to wind, as well as the winds of change, the air seems pretty clear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 26, 2014
Spring greening in Koganei
It’s time to bask in sunshine, birdsong, and blossom-filled breezes. Koganei Park, situated at the center of the Tokyo metropolis, looks like the ideal spot for such a “spring-gasm.” The JR Chuo express train whisks me from Yotsuya to Musashi-Koganei in less than 30 minutes, and I alight with glee.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 22, 2014
Arisugawa-no-Miya's no mere people's park
Tokyo's weather in February is unpredictable, so when the day I have set aside for exploring features a record-breaking blizzard, I'm not surprised. So, bundled up like Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary, I exit Hiroo Station in Minato Ward to find the air feathered with swirling flakes and the streets already hushed by drifts. I might as well be on the moon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 25, 2014
History and humor lap Hamamatsucho's shores
Tokyo hosts plenty of pint-size public sculptures, but none so "wee" as the brazen boy standing on the platform between lines 3 and 4 at Hamamatsucho Station in Minato Ward. Just back from a trip to Brussels, I am stunned to glimpse there a bronze replica of the Belgian capital's most cheeky landmark, the Mannekin Pis (Peeing Boy). I hop off the Yamanote Line train to investigate.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 23, 2013
Season's greetings garnered in Tokyo's Yanaka Ginza
On only a budget of u00a520,000, you can generate a lot of warmth with gifts from Ginza — Yanaka Ginza, that is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 26, 2013
Strolling old Fukagawa, where gardens and true glitterati mingle
I may be jumping the gun a bit on fall colors, but early October's glorious weather has got me craving some autumnal arboreality.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 28, 2013
Solitude is where you find it
Under cartoon-blue skies washed by early-autumn typhoons, I stand at Sendaizaka-ue (summit of Sendaizaka Slope) in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Sendaizaka was named for daimyo lords from Edo Period (1603-1867) Sendai, now in Miyagi Prefecture, who maintained a yashiki (suburban home) on the slope that today hosts the newly rebuilt Embassy of South Korea.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 27, 2013
Log-jamming in Shin Kiba
Last month, readers of this column found me frolicking in the sawdust and lumberyards of Shin Kiba — meaning "New Wood Place" — which arose on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay in the 1970s when the city's timber businesses were moved there from their traditional home in nearby Kiba to make way for rapid urbanization.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2013
Blazing a woodland trail through Shin Kiba
Even if you can't read the kanji for Shin Kiba, you'll sniff out its meaning of "new wood place" the moment you arrive. The Yurakucho subway line's terminus there in eastern Tokyo smells like a cedar closet. Inside the station, a display of Japanese carpentry — including beams featuring dovetail, mitered and tenon joints — plus the giant stone sumitsubo (carpenter's inkpot) outside drive home the local livelihood.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 26, 2013
Wisteria wanderings in Kameido
Each year, I tell myself I have to make time to enjoy the famed trellises of wisteria blossoms at Kameido Tenjin in Tokyo's eastern Koto Ward. Then, I blow it. This year, I enlist my mother-in-law, who's savvy about such things, to get the timing just right. "It'll be really crowded," she warns.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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