Agon Shu's Hoshi Matsuri webpage - link below

The Hoshi Matsuri is a festival that looks to the ‘the star of destiny’, the star that is said to determine a persons happiness and misfortunes. Fortune telling by the Agon Buddhist astrology gos back a long way and is called ‘Mikkyo Senseijyutsu’.

As well as reading into a persons fortune, the Hoshi Matsuri Goma-kuyo festival (fire rites ceremony) is supposed to help in changing a persons luck and bringing good fortune. This is the part which is widely shown on television with huge fires burning in the center in to which are thrown the gomagi.

More details on the gomagi for bringing good luck (from the official site)

The timing for this festival is setsubun for the New Year.

I may try and attend next year and take some photos.

Official home page for the Hoshi Matsuri

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Momiji

The trees line the path nicely

Autumn colors

What are your plans for Spring?

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Shinjuku Station

The amazing part about the number of people who use public transport in Japan is not the staggering numbers themselves, but the ability for the system to continue working with so many users, and for it to have procedures in place that actually work smoothly for when things go wrong.

The Yamanote Line

During the time of the Tohoku earthquake last year, JR and some other railway companies were criticized for their handling of matters. I am sure there were manuals being checked for what to do at that time, however, just thinking about trying to manage 4 million people or more at that time must have been very difficult.

Next time you are riding the trains consider yourself a part of the many millions in the system and enjoy.

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Keeping warm inside with my Fukujuen green tea and a dorayaki

The month of February used to be called Kisaragi in Japan. February was the second month of winter under the lunar calendar, which Japan used before the Heian Period. Under this calendar, Winter was the period from January to end of March, and Spring covered the three months starting from April.

The kanji for Kisaragi is written either 如月 or 衣更着, the latter meaning, literally, to wear more clothes. February is a cold month in Japan, where you can expect the wind to whip your face and make your cheeks red. The sky can be blue and the sun shining, but it still be cold outside.

It looks warm enough, but that wind is cold

The old classification of winter being January to March seems more natural when living in Japan. It certainly does not feel like Spring is here whilst the cold weather is just settling in.

February 3 marks the setsubun, changing of the season, moving on to Spring. This change was said to bring out the devils and so festivals and practices for driving out the devil forces came to be popular. The throwing of beans, mamemaki (まめまき) to ward off the devil is one of the popular customs still in practice at this time of the year.

At the nursery schools, teachers dress up as devils (鬼)　and visit the kids every year. The 鬼 say to the children, ‘if you are bad, we will take you to the mountains and eat you!”, at which the kids become worried and throw out the beans to fight the devils off.

The red devil dorayaki

Will you be throwing the beans out and chasing the devils away this year?

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It is very cold in Japan at the moment with snow falling heavily in many parts of the country. Back in summer when I visited Arashiyama, it was all blue skies and warm weather.

Visiting the gardens and Temples of Japan, the strong colors seem to be blue for the sky, green for the trees, some white/gray balance for the stone and the red used for many wooden building structures. The mix of this red,green and blue always make for a nice contrast.

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Ryomaden

I watched the NHK drama series, Ryomaden 龍馬伝, in 2010 and also the Jin drama on TBS last year, which both focused on the story of Sakamoto Ryoma, 坂本龍馬. I bought the DVD set for the first series of Ryomaden to watch it again. It is a great story and well told with Fukuyama Masaharu playing the part of Ryoma. It provides much to think about, not just in history, but in modern day life.

Ryoma was born in Kochi from the Tosa-han, which is now Kochi-ken, Shikoku. He traveled to Edo (Tokyo) and saw first hand the Black Ships (kuro-fune) arrive from America with Commodore Perry. These “visits” by Perry led to the opening up of Japan to the West, pulling them out of their national isolation policy.

Ryoma became involved with the various factions for and against this change in Japan and became a leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. He greatly assisted with bringing about the Meiji Restoration.

Ryoma was a true visionary, seeing a world of the future where others were arguing over the past. He looked overseas, particularly the US, for inspiration on breaking down class barriers and united the country as one. Although a Samurai, he was eager to see Japan modernize to compete on the world stage.

Statute of Sakamoto Ryoma looking out over ocean at Katsurahama Beach, Kochi

Sakamoto Ryoma is often depicted in a light-hearted manner, and his character appears to be more of a peacemaker than a fighter. He was well known for retaining Samurai clothing, yet wearing western footwear, in his own version of modernizing without comprising on history and culture.

His legacy is one that is much more important than this possibly romanticized character, a unified Japan that accepted the need to modernize to meet the challenges of the global world, whilst at the same time retaining the important cultural values of Japan. A nation that could rise and stand with other nations rather than just accept domination from a superior force.

Katsuurahama beach, Kochi

If you could look back and see Japan now, Ryoma, what would you be thinking? We have made some good progress since the Meiji Restoration and the opening of the country, but have we lost our way? Japan has been struggling with its economy for many years now. Leadership of the country appears to change from one person to another without any real purpose of direction. Infighting between parties is as strong as ever.

What would Ryoma think? What would Ryoma’s course of action be?

This is the opening sound track from Ryomaden. I couldn’t find a version with the actual opening scenes. My guess is NHK is guarding the copyright tightly.

Thank you, Ryoma

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Hotel inside Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki

At the end of last year I went on a trip to Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki. It is a theme park built towards the end of the economic bubble years in Japan, and struggled for a long time to attract enough visitors to make a profit. Recently, it was bought out by HIS and has begun to show a profit for the first time.

Economics aside, it is in a beautiful setting and the buildings inside the theme park are all built with character. They are not just wooden facades, but actually real buildings that you can shop, eat and stay in.

This picture above shows the scenic canals and one of the hotels.

During the winter season the park is not full, but during the warmer months you can expect to see many people. I have more photos from Huis Ten Bosch and will add them to a longer post shortly.

I made a book with some of the photos from my first visit to Huis Ten Bosch, which you can view here,

Streets of Huis Ten Bosch

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Trying to find the way home through Center-gai in Shibuya during snow

We had snow in Tokyo tonight. Normally we get a bit of snow between January and March, but it doesn’t normally settle so easily. I expect by the morning this snow will also have melted away and things should be back to normal. It was not so cold out, so I took a quick walk out to see what everyone was up to.

Clean white snow

Checking the train times or just checking in?

Carefully treading down this road trying not to slip

Shibuya traffic

The crossing looks almost empty compared to normal

Waiting at the crossing in Shibuya

Hachiko looks cold standing out here in the snow

QFront lit up against the snow

Keeping the trains running

Most train lines were able to keep running smoothly

Ebisu Station

Taxi?

Waiting in the cold for the lights to cross

Catching a taxi sounds like a good option

The snow is starting to settle quite a bit now

I would not look forward to riding this bike home in the snow

On the way home

Not that cold outside, but the snow has been confirmed ^^

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Ebisu Garden Place

Nice day out with lots of people shopping. A bit warmer than yesterday and clear blue skies. The rest of the country seems to be experiencing the cold with some parts snowing. Time to get down to Uniqlo and buy up some HeatTech.

Can you guess which pieces of HeatTech I currently have?

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Shibuya 109

It is always quiet in Tokyo on New Year Day. Here is a scene in Shibuya with a lot less people than normal. It’s really nice on the streets with so few people. Like a scene from a movie.

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The views are wonderful in Arashiyama, from the mountains to the clear waterways

A beautiful sunny day in Arashiyama by the water. Arashiyama is a great place to take a day trip from central Kyoto and enjoy the mountains and Temples in the area. On the weekend many families are out walking along the river.

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Margarita pizza with fireplace in the background

Went out to dinner in Ebisu with a friend this evening and enjoyed pizza and pasta at Mercer Cafe. Very nice restaurant with a real fireplace in the center of the room. The pizza was particularly delicious, thin and crispy.

Food in Japan is great.

Ebi pasta

Deserts were from another place in Ebisu, also very nice.

Mango crepe

Chocolate dessert

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