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December 22, 2024
 

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Sumiko Enbutsu
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Dec 2, 2005
History rises up in Shibuya
The accompanying wood-block print is a panoramic view of Shibuya about 180 years ago, seen from the top of Dogenzaka hill.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Nov 11, 2005
Investigating the history of Hiroo
The Shibuya River starts at Shinjuku Gyoen. Running southward, it makes a big horseshoe curve near Ebisu and heads north to Roppongi. At Ichi-no-hashi, it abruptly bends east to eventually pour into Tokyo Bay. The river's upper reaches are now culverts, but water emerges just south of Shibuya Station...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Oct 7, 2005
Battle losses to fashion victims
Shibuya has many faces: a glitzy youth-oriented fashion center as represented by the 109 Building, a mass transit terminal handling 1.77 million passengers a day, a fast growing village of IT niche market players, and so on. With a complex network of large and small streets, the versatile town offers...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Sep 2, 2005
Wander where the wise ones wink
Buddhist statues we usually see at temples and museums represent enlightened beings that have transcended their worldly existence and entered the Buddhist pantheon. They stand or are seated on pedestals of lotus flowers symbolic of the Buddhist paradise, and are depicted in poses particular to their...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Aug 5, 2005
Ready for a party?
The city of Edo -- first designed by Shogun Ieyasu -- was limited to the east by the Sumida River. No bridge was allowed to span the river except Senju Ohashi at the river's head in the far north. (See this column, June 3, 2005)
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jul 1, 2005
Walking the path of a legendary poet
The accompanying 1830s woodcut print is the image of the great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), rendered by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843). Depicting a legendary scene in which the poet was inspired to pen one of his masterpieces, Basho is seated at his writing desk in a humble cottage thatched with...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jun 3, 2005
A bridge through time
The arched bridge highlighted in the accompanying wood-cut print is Senju Ohashi on the northern perimeter of Edo City. Built in 1594 at the head of the Sumida River, close to its junction with the Ara River, Senju Ohashi was the only bridge Shogun Ieyasu allowed to be built across a major river around...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Apr 1, 2005
Pining for things past
The accompanying 1830s woodcut print depicts Shirahige-jinja Shrine nestling in a pine grove beside the upper reaches of the Sumida River. In the center of the print is an embankment where pilgrims would descend the stone stairway on the left to a torii gate and then pray at the modest shrine to the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Mar 4, 2005
Happy in the haze of a hanami hour
The 1830s wood-block print below depicts hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) on the banks of the Sumida River. A group of young women and girls are on an excursion, and, with their elaborate hairstyles and fancy, uniform kimono, it appears they are apprentice geisha from licensed quarters nearby. Like teenage...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Feb 4, 2005
Ancient Asakusa still central to community
The day in Asakusa begins with the tolling of the Senso-ji bell at 6 a.m. The temple bell, located behind two bronze bodhisattva statues dating back to 1678, is one of the nine official Time Bells of Edo, established in 1692.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jan 7, 2005
Old Asakusa lives on
Asakusa is a magnet for those who love old-time Tokyo. Like a theater full of excitement and festivity in praise of old Edo, Asakusa Kannon Temple and the surrounding business district are vibrant year-round, attracting on average 35 million people a year. This two-part article will take an in-depth...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Dec 3, 2004
It's a stroll in a park to find the old Yoyogi
The town of Shinjuku dates from the late 17th century, when a post-station was set up there on the Koshu-kaido on the northwestern edge of Edo (present-day Tokyo). To the south, Yoyogi was then mainly sparsely populated hills that rolled on as far as the eye could see.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Nov 12, 2004
Shinjuku blossoms in many ways
Modern Shinjuku claims to be the new heart of Tokyo. With futuristic skyscrapers emerging as early as the 1970s, the town has been at the vanguard of Tokyo's urban renewal. City Hall has moved in and new hotels and new office buildings have mushroomed to accommodate the needs of businessmen from all...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Oct 1, 2004
Up and down the byways of Yotsuya
Koshu Kaido, one of the five official highways laid by Shogun Ieyasu in Edo (present-day Tokyo), which is now known as Route 20 or Shinjuku-dori, runs west from Hanzomon, the rear gate of the Imperial Palace, formerly Edo Castle, heading straight toward the Province of Koshu (now Yamanashi Prefecture)....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Sep 3, 2004
Enshrined in the modern world
The accompanying woodblock print depicts Hiyoshi Sanno Shrine, better known today as Hie-jinja in Chiyoda-ku. A stairway on the left ascends through a thick pinery, leading the viewer into the spacious precincts of the shrine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Aug 6, 2004
A feel of the real Edo
The Marunouchi business district, the national government center of Kasumigaseki, and the Diet building in Nagatacho all stand on land that in the Edo Period (1603-1868) was reserved exclusively for daimyo lords.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jul 9, 2004
Dancing in the streets
South of the Chinzanso/Four Seasons Hotel on the Kandagawa -- where our walk finished last month -- Kagurazaka is a vibrant town named after its sloped main street, The Kagurazaka. This hilly area has a maze of lanes and short but steep hills, making it a thrilling adventure for urban walkers. In pockets...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jun 4, 2004
Down by Edo's lost canal
The landscape in the accompanying 1830s woodblock print depicts the valley of the Kandagawa River.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
May 7, 2004
Celebrating the spirit of mystical Edo
When Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to make Edo his new political capital in the early years of the 17th century, he had the city laid out according to mystical beliefs about auspicious locations and lucky or unlucky directions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Apr 2, 2004
Echoes of Edo's entertaining past
The 1830s woodblock print by Hasegawa Settan (right) might at first look like an abstract picture jammed with squares and diamond forms. In fact, it shows the bustling kabuki theater district in the Sakaicho and Fukiyacho districts of Edo.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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