2025 Tokyo Highlights: Camellias and More

There were signs of spring beyond the cherry blossoms!  Great camellias abounded.  Plus whatever this gorgeous white flowering shrub is (spotted in the Imperial Palace East Gardens).
 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Hie Shrine

This was my first visit to the Hie Shrine.  I had already bought all the charms that exist (at Meiji Jingu), so I didn't shop here, but enjoyed this shrine complex atop a hill, surrounded by highrises.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Food

I lost my appetite during this trip, and came back with looser jeans, so that's something.  Eating in Tokyo is hard for me as a vegetarian with gluten intolerance: most Tokyo restaurants are filled with deep fried meats and breaded everything.  But I did well for myself on the one meal out I enjoyed daily.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: MOT

The sound show at MOT was sold out, but I enjoyed this contemporary MOT Annual 2024 "on the imagined terrain" show very much.  Artists include Yuki Shimizu, Satoshi Kawata, Ryohei Usui, and Asami Shoji.  

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Senso-ji

 I spent much of my time at quiet shrines and temples with relatively few people at them.  Visiting Senso-ji was... not like that.  MOB SCENE more than anything.  But I can see why it is popular - look at the size of those lanterns!

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Hilma af Klimt (!)

Hilma af Klimt was an amazing, ahead-of-her-time painter from Sweden, and the touring show happened to be at the National Museum of Modern Art!  I enjoyed it (and the gift shop - too much). 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Meiji Jingu

This was my first visit to Meiji Jingu, and the park and grounds are lovely. 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Sakura

This was my fourth visit to Japan, but my first time during cherry blossom season.  The famous viewing spots weren't yet in bloom when I visited, but I found flowering trees in my long walks around town.  The trees that attracted me drew CROWDS. 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Bold Architecture

Tokyo has wild combinations of old, new, charming, and anti-charming.  I enjoyed bold buildings during this trip, and three are included here: a Palantir/WeWork building with an elaborate glass facade; a government building; and a ventilation structure for the underground trains.   All interesting in different ways!

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Nezu Shrine

I was out sick, and then it was time for my vacation... and the long flight to Tokyo made me MUCH SICKER.  I recovered (mostly), and went out to see Tokyo a little every day, so I'll post my greatest hits here.

These are scenes from the Nezu Shrine, which has many Important Cultural Properties within the complex.  The Inari Shrine on the hill beside, plus its koi pond (lower right) are also charming.  I'd love to visit during the Azealea festival, to see the large azalea garden in bloom.

 

Fun in Japan 2024 - Vegan and Vegetarian Food

I have dietary constraints, but I was able to eat very well, thanks to temple-style vegan restaurants, a rare Thai restaurant that served the same kind of Thai food we have in California (very vegetarian friendly!), and South Indian foods.  I'm not showing ALL of the meals (I'm omitting hotel breakfasts, snacks, and an AMAZING daal), but despite all the planning and patience required, I did eat well.

This concludes my 'top ten' themes, for the folks who want a peek but not to soak in my travel photos from this trip.

Fun in Kobe 2024 - Sorakuen Garden

I waded through nostalgia as I returned to this garden after a multi-decade gap.

It remains lovely, and well maintained.  Plus: it has autumn color!  And koi.

I sat in a little pavilion on top of a small hill, listening to the sound of a waterfall, and enjoying the views.  It was a satisfying, cooling, aesthetically pleasing visit.  I'm so glad I returned!  (I'm eager to see how my infrared images of this garden turn out...)

Fun in Kobe 2024 - Waterfalls and Emerald Streams

Nunobiki Falls called to me, so I took a cable car up to a local decorative garden, and then hiked to it.  This was a long hike with few other people around, and signage only in Japanese for most of the route.  I was concerned I was lost, but it turns out there is an all-uphill route that visitors favor, while I had chosen the long downhill route.

It is LOVELY.  And the color of the water that goes to Kobe for drinking is GORGEOUS. 

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Matcha and Wagashi

I was able to enjoy hot matcha with wagashi, a traditional rice-based sweet, in a building on a decorative pond.  It was tasty! It was seasonally decorated! It was... really pleasant.

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Tokyo Ramen Street

As a religious vegetarian with gluten intolerance, I felt very left-out about the stretch of Tokyo Station dedicated to ramen, that special noodle dish written in foreign characters (but which we think of as exclusively Japanese).  However, vegans recommended a place that wasn't on the Tokyo Station Navi app called Soranoiro Nippon, and I eventually found it!  It has gluten-free brown rice noodles, which can be added to their vegan tan-tan noodle soup.  The soup itself isn't entirely gluten-free, but my condition allows for some minor, incidental gluten, so I went for it.  It was superb - I have no regrets!

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Lotus Ponds and Temples

There is a famous pond filled with giant lotus plants, and...  I have finally visited it!  And had a chance to see the cool temple that sits within it.

Shinobazuno pond was all I'd hoped for.  And the temple is grand, as well!

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Art Supply Heavens

Pigment Tokyo is a temple to color, and I was able to visit this famous shop, purchase pigments I want to turn into paints, and wallow in the joy that comes from having countless choices that run the full length of the store.

P.S.  I should show that, shouldn't I?  I'll add one more photo here:

(See what I mean?  And yes, I lost my mind in the best sense.)

I also made a special trip out to Kawachi Art Supplies, where I met the owner in her home studio (downstairs in the building at center bottom), got to see where she makes oil pastels by hand, and purchase a set of them.

  The colors are gorgeous! And the texture is so buttery...  I'm giddy to use these.

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Dining in a Traditional Building

The Tokyo National Museum has a historic building in its garden, which happens to serve food and contain beautiful ink paintings.  So... I went!  My iced almond milk matcha latte was superb, and my fruit plate contained unusually flavorful fruit.  It was a lovely experience.

Having a chance to dine in a room with tatami mats is special.  This felt special.

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Immersive Contemporary Art

I was able to go to teamLabs Planets installation.  It was fun to frolic, barefoot, through a warehouse full of art!  Everyone participating appeared to be having such a good time - there was tangible glee in the air (and in the brightly lit water).

Fun in Tokyo 2024 - Shrines

Hello!  [wave] I have returned from a deeply enjoyable trip to Japan, and am still adjusting to our local time zone.

As an overzealous semi-professional photographer, I know that the photo collections I make for myself are packed, perhaps with more enthusiasm for niche topics than people who are more broadly curious can manage.  So, I've made a set of little collages to hit some of the themes.

This is the Kanda Myoujin Shrine, and it is really gorgeous!