Tokyo Car Culture for Albert

My California Cousin Albert has a far reaching interest in and a deep fascination for mechanical engineering, for example, at 15 he bought a 1968 Camero, pulled the engine and two days later it was back together.  So I know one day... he’ll find himself exploring Japan’s Car Culture.

Japan’s Car Culture CLICK HERE

Nijon Nights Click HERE

Lewis just installed running lights on his truck... so this one is for you.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Woodblock print by the ukiyo-e artist Hokusai from the late Edo Period circa 1830.

Hokusai: 36 Views of Mt. Fuji    Click HERE

Patricia found beautiful Hokusai thank you notes at her favorite stationary store in Shinjuku... Every detail from the wedding invitations to the thank you notes has behind it ... a story like the one above...

And the one below...

 ... 

Or the fascinating story below of how Ukiyo-e Woodblock prints were made during the Edo Period, click on the video below...

Ukiyo-e Woodblock Printmaking ... click HERE

The Wave Off Kanagawa influenced the French composer Claude Debussy

in his composition of La mer (The Sea) Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra.

Matthew’s is the most resonant story:  that The Wave Off Kanagawa is a representation of a snapshot of Japanese History when the Mongol invading army was destroyed on August 15, 1281 by a giant typhoon. In the wake of the Mongol disaster, there came in Japan a feeling that they were protected by the god (kami) of the wind (kazi).

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World Heritage Sites

Another Patricia Find....

CLICK HERE for UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN JAPAN

5 Unforgettable Trains Trips

Patricia’s Latest Find...

CLICK HERE: Unforgetable Train Trips Into Japan

Most people believe that a guided tour is the best way to travel to a new country. Epiphany, I just realized that using the following article, one can explore Japan without a guided tour or any prior experience.

“This is the land of your ancestors...”

“This is the land of your ancestors. Your family lived here.”  Yuji Ishihara

Growing up in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, I walked the land of my Manzanares ancestors, cast my eyes up to see the same migrating Canadian Geese flying in long breath taking V-formations.

Yet long had I the dream of walking in the footsteps of my Ishihara/Kobayakawa ancestors, until in the year 2015, I boarded a flight to Niimi, Okayama, Japan, where I met Sohji and his father Yuji Ishihara.  To make short the story of a long adventure with Yuji, the genius of Niimi, we skip forward to the place where Yuji tells me of a very old Buddhist monk who carried in his memory the long history of the families of what was once the tiny village of Niimi.

After meeting the old Buddhist priest who knew of my family, Yuji took me to the Nichinan Shiaksho (city hall) near Niimi to research the Kobayakawa family records and examine the books of maps. In those historical records we found “the land of my ancestors.”

Yuji then drove to the map location, parked and walked to the edge of a rice field. With a different set of ears I heard Yuji say: “Your family lived here.”  I could see them, Jotaro and Taka Kobayakawa, and their ancestors quietly walking along the mountain margin of the cedar forest above rippling fields of rice.

Click HERE to see the Documentary Short: My Friend Yuji

We Were Married In Japan!

The document below, our wedding promises, was given us  by our Shinto Priest four days prior to memorize for the wedding ceremony. Promises was the perfect word because I felt the emotion of our engagement rather than the legalistic sense coming from the term wedding vows.

Why get married in Japan? #6  This is what Matthew was wanting to read: our Japanese wedding vows, which are wedding promises to the Japanese.


Another unexpected and wonderful consequence of a Japanese wedding is saying your wedding vows in Japanese! Hearing our wedding promises in Japanese was wonderful.  The term "vows" feels ... legalistic while in Japan the concept is one of promises, which reflects how we feel, not because the law says we have to but because our love inspires promises of the heart.

We're Getting Married In Japan !!!

Why get married in Japan #5.  Unexpected and joyful the rain of happy energy as we boarded Singapore Airlines for our wedding flight to Narita Airport. Effervescence spilling into each step. Once we landed, I continued saying to anyone who would listen: "We're getting married in Japan!" Common was a questioning look: "Why?" Looking into their eyes I'd wonder: do they want the short answer or the long answer? Almost always I chose the short option, and wait a millisecond or two for an example to come to mind.

Why indeed. Our destination wedding in Japan incurred a level of complexity not for the faint of heart. Why complicate things when you can go to Las Vegas? Slam bam, it's over and done with! 

Example #5, so subtle it didn't surface for a month and a week after our wedding. Our friend Matthew Ma explained it this way when he said the phoenixes (symbols lost in the mists of antiquity) on the top of your wedding certificate "symbolize that birds gather when something good is about to unfold." This often echoed on our wedding journey, the many good things that unexpectedly unfolded along our way, like the pleasure of signing our names in Japanese for the first time on our Shinjuku City Hall wedding documents.  Think about it... When has it ever happened, joy, from singing your name.

Xie xie.     Domo arigato gozaimashita.    どうもありがとうございました      

Thank you Matthew.

At our reception, Jim Reed said: "I've been to all of Toby's weddings!" When we stopped laughing I realized, he wasn't kidding. True it was. He was speaking of my third (and last) wedding. But this one was designed on a remarkably divergent and most dependable foundation. I've come to learn that the more I put into the wedding, the greater and more profound would be it's impact on my mindscape. Thinking of all the weddings I've ever attended, including all of my own, I see now that the groom was basically along for the ride, with the bride, her mother and her friends planning and executing 99.9% of the details. Recently, I've been hearing the word: bridezilla, which I assume is a reflection of the accumulated over-the-top stress stuffed into the journey.
Now, I was in a foreign and unfamiliar territory. I'd never planned a wedding, and this made for me, all the difference.   More to come.