Ttrip 15: POST 4a: OUR HOLIDAY IN JAPAN …. Yanaka City in the City of TOKYO …. Day 4 of 16: 7th April, 2017

Note: I would like to share with you through these few words, photographs and hyperlinked websites, a 3 Dimensional experience as though you were actually there with us. Click on any photograph and it should enlarge to different size ….. at least half screen or full screen size. It will be clearer in detail than the photo on the post. It will be as if you were really there looking at the actual scene. You are an arm chair traveller with us.

If you would also like to see the post in a larger or smaller size, I suggest you follow this procedure: If you right-handed, with your left hand, press down continuously on the Control Function Key with your left hand and with your right hand, move the little cursor wheel either forwards or backwards to make the text in the post larger or smaller.

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…. Photos by Ken in Walking Around Yanaka City ….

Yanaka City ….. a very old part of Tokyo. Tokyo has a reputation as a city that’s all about speed and newness. Everyone’s in a hurry, buildings are constantly being torn down and rebuilt, and in most of the city, nothing’s older than the last World War. But there’s a part of the old shitamachi downtown area that escaped destruction by earthquake and war in the twentieth century, where you can experience what’s left of an older version of the city. It’s called Yanesen, from the initials of the three neighborhoods Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi. It’s the place to go if you love winding alleys, small shops, and appreciate the appeal of a place that’s a bit shabby and worn around the edges.

See the website on Yanaka City.

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Ken and Harriet (his wife) and Matina and Manuel (Matina’s husband) spent the morning wandering along winding streets of very interesting shops, Japanese houses, cherry blossom trees, boxes and tubs of beautiful flowers and whatever we came across. You would never know what you may find. It was real introduction to Japanese Culture on fourth day of 16 days of our Japanese tour.

Ken is shown here wearing his stand-out orange cap. Harriet could easily pick me out in a crowd of people.

Ken and Harriet both love history and art and it is very profound to us. People express their ideas on life in the way they build and arrange their living spaces. This not studying things out of books that other people written for you to read and understand but it is really about actually walking through, photographing, sensing and reflecting on what you actually see in unique three dimensional ancient buildings and the art that is part of the building. Then you can then discuss with other tour members of with friends when you get home. With me, I can add posts to our personal experiences website, insert selected photos and write appropriate text as now, then send to hundreds friends and associates around the world. I frequently send out our personal experiences photos and then links to the website posts.

We love the real sense of personality in these old buildings and their hand-madeness. This is in contrast to the way buildings are built today with their machine-like qualities: Office buildings are built out of concrete, metal and glass. Houses are built out of bricks shot out of a machine, timber of different sizes and shapes are shot out of a machine as well and houses are built by efficient machine – like methods to make them as cheap as possible.

Harriet and I go on these trips to see things but to especially meet other people from different cultural backgrounds. One of the special things about going on a trip, is not the places you go to but the people you meet. If you did a psychological personality test like a Myers Briggs test, you would fit into one of four categories: Relating, Socialising, Rational and Managerial. We all have a primary personality style but with various combinations of all these styles. We primarily fit into the first two categories in a primary sense as these focus on people. We meet people, sometimes in unusual circumstances. Have we met them before? We get on so well ….. we have that special spark of ongoing relationships. You meals with them or coffee in the coffee area. You want to connect with them long-term by e-mail.

We love people overall and these people build houses, churches, temples and administrative centres to express their way of seeing life.

We love then to:

To talk about the trip with other like-minded people on the trip with you
To talk about the trip with friends when you get home

See Ken and Harriet’s Travel post from 2003 to 2017 on this website.

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…. A very interesting shop ….

I asked if I could take this lady’s photograph and take it back to Australia ….. she understood my English. She stood very carefully for me. A Japanese lady in Yanaka city in Tokyo. It was wonderful in having some human contact amidst all the winding streets of very interesting shops, Japanese houses, cherry blossom trees, boxes and tubs of beautiful flowers and whatever we came across.

Ken and Harriet and their friends Matina and Manuel who they were with together having a quiet coffee break. We were reflecting on what we had seen. Manuel (Matina’s husband) is taking the photograph. See him in a blue coat in the photo below. We were reflecting

…. An apartment block in Yanaka City ….

You are walking down a winding street and suddenly there would be this beautiful flash of colour. Japanese people love gardens but it is a bit hard having a garden on streets where there many fixed shapes in concrete and bitumen. When you come upon a simple garden box or tub, it was wonderfully welcoming.

The one thing I did find difficult to relate to on our sixteen day trip to Japan, there was no English writing anywhere (or only in selected places). There was only Japanese writing everywhere. I wonder why?

Another Japanese lady in Yanaka city in Tokyo. As I said above, it was wonderful in having some human contact amidst all the winding streets of very interesting shops, Japanese houses, cherry blossom trees, boxes and tubs of beautiful flowers and whatever we came across.

Tulips in flower …. the red colour is very striking against the constructed wall and bitumen of the road. I find tulips very fascinating in the striking nature of their growth.

In Subtropical Queensland, Australia were I come from, you do not grow tulips as it is too warm. They like colder climates as down in Southern Australia or overseas. What we do is to trick the tulip bulbs in getting them to think they have gone through winter overseas. We put them in the fridge crisper in April / May, then we take them out and plant them in late May. They grow and flower late August. See one section of our garden (we have them connected to ten garden rooms our large garden around our house built from recycled materials.