Tokyo–March 23, 2016

On the way to the metro station I passed this store that specializes in hanko, the Japanese name stamps that people use for official business, as well as a store that had what looked like hand-drawn manga ads in the window.

hanko storefront hand drawn infomanga

I took the subway to Omote-Sandō, which is known for its architecture. The first picture is from a shrine that I passed on the way. I’m not sure if it is a dog, a wolf, a fox, or what.

dog wolf or fox statue at shrine pink building omotesando modern architecture omotesando glass diamond panes prada building omotesando building sloped hill building curvy building conical glass attachment to building mosaic side of building

My first stop was the Nezu Museum, which was showing a display of Buddhist history on one floor and their permanent gallery on another. The permanent collection is just wonderful; again, I was amazed at how old some of the artifacts are—11th and 12th century BCE. That’s old. No photographs were allowed in the galleries, but the museum has a nice wooded area in back, and here are some pictures from there.

orange koi orange koi woods behind nezu museum nezu museum statuary nezu museum woods

I took a break for lunch, passing this restaurant on the way to a place called Gyōza-rō. Their fried dumplings with garlic and chives were excellent. Thanks, Jeffery, for the recommendation! (Sorry, no pictures from there.)

restaurant exterior

Meiji-jingū (Meiji Shrine) / Yoyogi Park

By this point I was very near the end of Omote-Sandō and the shrine and park area.

entrance meiji shrine straw wrapped sake barrels yoyogi park sidewalk paintings yoyogi park sidewalk decoration yoyogi park sidewalk decoration

Takeshita-dori

Near this area (Harajuku) is the street where all the trendy kids hang out: Takeshita-dori. Lots of trendy shops, places to buy crepes, and odd shops where you can get all your mask needs taken care of.

archway entrance to takeshita street horse tiger rabbit head masks

I stopped at a place that sells döner (sort of like gyros), and they had a “sushi kebab,” which is gyros meat and rice and sauce wrapped in seaweed. It was really quite good.

sushi kebab

One of the utility boxes had an interesting array of stickers on it.

owl sticker on utility box manga style man on sticker dck fuhgit stickers

I also saw this sign for some sort of new video about an anime/manga character named Detective Conan (the series is called Case Closed in the US due to legal issues with Robert E. Howard’s estate). I’ve seen some of the animes, and they are fairly entertaining, which is why I had to take the picture and include it here.

signage detective conan

That was about it for the day for me, so I returned to Ueno station, where I saw this display at an exit that I had not used previously. Apparently it has something to do with the history of the metro system.

ueno station display sample rail

Miscellanea/Signage

This is a clothing store. Go figure.

signage clothing store eat me

Here’s a bus with a cute dog face on the front. The bus goes to Shibuya station, which is where the faithful dog Hachikō would go to wait for the arrival of his master long after his death (the master’s, not the dog’s). It’s a big thing in Japan.

bus with dog face painted on front

Here’s a rather confusing statement about hats:

Hats on display with sign reading “It is not fun, it's not a hat.”

I took this picture because brouhaha is one of my favorite words.

signage bistrot brouhaha

This one is for my brother, who will get the joke immediately (it’s an inside joke between us, so don’t feel bad if you don’t see any humor in it).

signage forbidden activities in park

Ah, yes, I miss Chicago’s palm trees and ocean views.

signage harajuku chicago

And finally, this one, a display in front of a pachinko/slot parlor near Ueno...

uncle sam as clown

I tell you, it’s so bad, people overseas portray Uncle Sam as a clown. A clown. They see us as weak and stupid. It’s disgusting. We have stupid leaders. We don’t know how to make deals; they beat us at everything. That’s going to change. We’re going to start winning. Nobody is going to compare us to a clown again. Ever. Oh, sorry. I was channeling a political candidate there for a moment. Never mind.