Neil Duckett

This weeks theme in The Photo Hunt is Narrow or Semai (せまい) in Japanese

Starved for space in Japan using the word narrow for descriptive purposes is appropriate on many occasions.

The housing, streets, footpaths when existant, shops, restaurants and most other day to day activities, involve navigating your way through an all round narrow society ….. there’s certainly a fair share of narrow-minded people here too.

As for the photo, this was taken at Tokyo Dome City, where an amusement park wraps around the shopping complex from top to bottom and in many instances, narrow openings.

There was no chance of getting me on this, not just be cause i’m not a big fan of heights bit we’d literally just walked out of a restaurant for lunch with a few beers, not a good combination for me.

Tokyo Dome City (formerly known as Big Egg City prior to January 1, 2000) is an entertainment complex in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It includes the world’s largest roofed baseball stadium known as Tokyo Dome (nicknamed “Big Egg”), an amusement park known as Tokyo Dome City Attractions (formerly Kōrakuen Yūenchi), and Korakuen Hall.

In May 2003, a spa resort known as LaQua opened for business near Tokyo Dome City Attractions. The Tokyo Dome City contains the Tokyo Dome Hotel, a 43-story hotel that is easily visible from the street and from the Tokyo Subway Suidobashi Station, which is only two blocks away.

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This weeks theme in The Photo Hunt is Old Fashioned or Jidai Okure (じだいおくれ) in Japanese although i’m told this is not very polite and have been given some other version to use if the opportunity arises but we’ll stick with this for now.

Living in Japan we’re presented with Old Fashion things every day, for such a modern place with regards to technology, the place feels very old when you’re going about your day to day business.

I didn’t have a whole lot spring to mind as a good photo to depict this weeks theme until Thursday night when i went to dinner at my local sushi bar, then there it was staring me in the face.

I didn’t want to have the picture staring at me for the next week either so i’ve decided to put it on the read more page, here’s a lead in instructional image to my photo for this week.

There are two styles of toilets commonly found in Japan. The oldest type is a simple squat toilet, which is still common in public conveniences. After World War II, modern Western-type flush toilets and urinals became common. The current state of the art for Western-style toilets is the bidet toilet, which, as of 2004, are installed in more than half of Japanese households. In Japan, these bidets are commonly called Washlets (ウォシュレット, Woshuretto), a brand name of TOTO Ltd., and include many advanced features rarely seen outside of Asia. Depending on the exact model, these bidets are designed to open the lid when they sense a user nearby, wash the anus or vulva of the user (including a number of pulsating and massaging functions), dry afterwards with warm air, flush automatically and close the lid after use.

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This weeks theme in The Photo Hunt is Important or Taisetsu (たいせつ) in Japanese.

I thought long and hard about this weeks theme and recent events led me to choose religion as being a good way to describe “Important” while keeping a Japanese flavour to my photos.

Coming from a country where religion is mainly observed by other ethnic groups, being an Australian of English decent it’s something that’s never featured prominantly in my life.

Although i spent New Years Eve in Australia this year, last year i spent it in Japan and was amazed at how many young folk visit Temples and Shrines on or shortly after New Years Eve, New Years Day and other significant holidays in Japan.

This weeks photo was taken in Kyoto, about 2 hrs south of Japan on the Shinkansen.

I also took a few photos from one of the most well known Shrines in Tokyo, Meiji Jingu which i visited on New Years day 2007. The first few days of the year are exceptionally busy at Meiji Jingu and at many Shrines in Japan.

Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū^?), located near Harajuku Station in Tokyo, Japan, is the Shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and Empress Shoken in 1914. After the demise of the Emperor and Empress, this shrine was constructed to venerate them.

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On the back of last weeks Photo Hunt i had a few emails and a request for more info from Tokyo Expat on where exactly the Temple was i had taken the photo and if i had any others of the surrounding area.

The temple was the Tenryu-ji Temple 天竜寺, nestled on a slope of the Arashiyama district of Kyoto, Tenryu-ji (”heavenly dragon temple”) is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is the head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.

Unfortunately the day i visited Kyoto the weather turned bad shortly after lunch so i literally had 3 or 4 hrs in the morning to take in some sights. After a walk through the temple grounds there was a nature walk through the bamboo and into the foot hills.

Like other Rinzai Zen temples in Kyoto (Nanzenji, Tofukuji, Ryoanji…) it is noted for its Zen gardens and extensive white buildings.

The temple was founded in 1339 by Shogun Ashikaga Takauji in memory of emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339), with whom he sided during the civil war which brought to an end the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333).

Tenryu-ji was actually a former villa of emperor Go-Daigo himself. The site had earlier been occupied by the Danrin-ji temple since the 9th century, the first Zen temple in Japan. Emperor Kameyama (1249-1305) built a villa on the propoerty, where his grandson Go-Daigo was raised and educated.

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This weeks theme in The Photo Hunt is Skinny or Usui (うすい) in Japanese as a loose translation. Usui actually translates to thin and this was as close as i could get.

Edit: It turns out the Japanese word for Skinny is Yaseta (やせた) thanks Paul

On a trip to Osaka last year i was lucky enough to stop by Kyoto on the way home where i visited several historical sights.

What was meant to be a day full of sights before catching the late train home turned sour due to bad weather. The first site to be seen was the “Tenryu-ji Temple” which is a world cultural heritage site and is the head temple of the Tehryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. Now facts like that don’t mean much to me but to simplify it, it was built in 1339 and heaps of Samurai movies get shot in and around this area.

On the suggested walking tour through the temple we ended up on a long track headed towards the hills where i came across some Skinny bamboo. I think there’s a special name for this bamboo and it often features in flower arrangements as gifts and other special occasion ornaments.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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