Hi everyone,
To all our friends in the US, I hope the experience these past few months has been nothing but positive. The rapid vaccination effort followed by recovery has been astonishing to see, especially from a country such as Japan, where vaccinations of the general public are far from being a reality.
Off the bat I'd like to note that our family did return to the US, albeit for a brief period, and were able to get vaccinated during that time. We have since returned to Tokyo, but during our time in LA, we were able to experience firsthand how intense quarantine must have been and how far things have come towards a recovery. While this time around the outstanding circumstances prevented us from seeing you all, Nagao hopes to come home again soon when covid finally subsides to say hi to you all again.
I do apologize for the infrequent updates on this platform. As lockdowns continue to trap Tokyo and much of Japan, life (at least for Nagao) has become quite monotonous, and thus there isn't much to report. Regardless, here is the obligatory photo of Nagao on another of his infamously lengthy walks:
And a photo from a walk near where we live. The river you see on the left is the Sumida-river, well-documented in history and a source of inspiration for the artist Hokusai (you may know him from his famous woodblock print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".
That being said, spring in Japan is definitely something worth reporting about. Even in the midst of covid many groups ventured out to participate in viewing the cherry blossoms. The blooming period itself is very short, thus we usually see some of the largest gatherings in the whole year, and unfortunately, this year was no exception (though crowds were smaller). Despite this, I was able to grab a few photos in areas near where we live (notable places below include Ueno and Asakusa):
For those who have read previous posts on this blog, you may have noticed that I have an interest in history. An interesting place to share is the Fukagawa Edo Museum; located in a relatively low-key area known for Fukagawa-meshi, a simple dish of rice with clams from the Edo period sourced and sold locally at the time (one shown below).
The museum, surrounded by temples and a park, houses an indoor replica of what life was like in Fukagawa during the late Edo-period (during the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate, prior to Japan's industrial period in the late 19th century). It offers a rare, tangible look into what Tokyo was before it attained its "industrialised", techno cityscape. The tour guides are incredibly passionate about the history of Fukagawa, its relationship with the wider history and practical city-planning of Edo, then still a new and growing city adjusting to its new status as the de-facto capital of Japan.
What immediately stood out to me was the practicality and resourcefulness of the residents at the time; the lack of space in relation to the population was already apparent then:
It is hard to grasp how in the matter of 100~200 years technologies, economies and societies change. What was once Edo above has irreversibly changed to the Tokyo we all know now (below is Shinjuku)
Once travel is more accessible I do recommend you give the Fukagawa museum and other Edo-period museums a visit! I'm sure Nagao would be happy to give you a tour.
- akira
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