Fireflies Live a Fulfilling Life, Even in Tokyo

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Friday was the first day of a five-day firefly extravaganza at the Botanical Garden Fureai in Shibuya. When I say extravaganza I am being extremely generous. What it is, is a small botanical garden about a 15-minute walk from the Shibuya train station that no one would ever visit without this much-touted event. It runs from June 17-21, 5:30-9:00 pm, and is free.

We got there around opening and waited in a short line for about ten minutes or so. Once inside, we followed everyone up the stairs to a film-viewing area and sat down. For the next 20 minutes or so we watched the film detailing the life cycle of the Japanese firefly. I’m sure it was very educational, but since it was in Japanese, I split my time of watching the film with watching all the people jumping up and down out of their seats. 

Thinking we needed to kill time until it got darker, we sat there longer than we wanted, but finally, the film—shown on a loop—came round to the beginning of its riveting beginning. Glancing outside at the still rather light sky, we reluctantly got up to follow the others down the stairs. As it turned out, we could have cut out way before the bug’s life story ended, because the garden is shrouded in a black-out drape and it is really dark inside.

The garden area is very small and broken into two draped off areas. And from the dark depths one sees the bright glow of the little buggers as they try to make a date with the other fireflies.

These Japanese fireflies have much longer-lasting lights than the ones in NYC. It was pretty cool. We walked through and a few moments later, we exited the building to find quite a crowd waiting in line to enter.

Glad we went and glad it was free. No photos were allowed inside the room so picture above is for mood only!

We then took off for the crowded firefly-free Shibuya area in search of an izakaya for food and booze.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

This past weekend was the two-day Shibuya-Kagoshima Ohara Festival with the highlight on Sunday: the parade of dancers. It is touted as one of the biggest festivals of this type…or something that made it a don’t-miss. I honestly couldn’t remember what its claim to fame was, but since I had added it to our calendar, I knew we had to make the trek.

Exiting the Shibuya station at the Hachiko Square side is the important first step, because as anyone who has been to Shibuya knows, the place is huge. We have exited on the wrong side many times, and it will instantly put you in a foul mood. Trust me.

Once we exited, we headed for the giant 109 sign that is across, and to the left, at the infamous Shibuya Crossing. For this event, they also had added a giant blow-up arch at the entrance to the parade area, so it really is hard to miss.

According to the program we picked up: the event is a traditional festival that Shibuya City and Kagoshima City have been jointly hosting for, I’m assuming, 19 years (since this is referred to as the 19th Festival).  It consists of 65 groups representing the different areas around Japan all dancing in the parade to—according to the program—the ‘rhythm of the Ohara-bushi and the Shibuya ondo dance songs.’

The program also depicts the eleven steps to the dance if one wants to join in.

The parade is held on the Dogenzaka and Bunkarmura-dori streets that run along either side of the 109 building.

The parade started sometime after 12 with the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency Band marching past, playing a song, and carrying a banner showing some big object falling on a guy (nice). Their mascot was a big alien with a helmet for a head and weird antennae, who marched along in front of them waving, and was accompanied by a guy with strange mutton-chop sideburns who looked to be an escapee from the 1800s (not sure who he was).

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Then Taiko drummers started drumming as the sixty-five groups gathered on the streets, preparing to dance, and posed for pictures. All the groups eventually lined up in two lines on both sides of the 109 building.

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Once the singing began, one of the lines danced clockwise while the other one danced in a counter-clockwise direction. It was an ingenious way to keep the parade footprint small and to maximize the exposure for all sixty-five groups.

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Here is a very short video of part of a song. I thought these older ladies in their kimonos were adorable—so petite and so elegant: https://youtu.be/eEHi2NJS3kY

There were little kids, old people, and every age in between participating. They all danced the same dance moves (more or less) over and over again, accompanied by either a man, or a trio of women singing the traditional songs. Sometimes to speed it up, a recorded fast song was played and then everybody hightailed it quickly along. 

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All the colorful costumes were beautiful, and it was so enjoyable watching all the ages participating and sharing their passion. The music was interesting and inspiring, and the recorded dance song was snappy, too.

The parade went until about 3-ish with a thirty-minute break and a few little breaks along the way. I think there will be lots of tired dancers this morning.

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It’s June, So It’s Iris Time in Tokyo

June 9, 2016

June is the month for Iris in Japan. According to all the sites, these beautiful flowers only last about a month. Though not nearly as spectacular as Cherry Blossoms and not nearly as abundant, I love Iris and wanted to see a few before they disappear.

Monday we headed off to the Koishikawa Korakuen garden, and got out at the subway stop Korakuen, crossed the street, and followed along the wall of the garden for a good ten minutes until we came to the now familiar entrance.

The Professor and I concurred that these Japanese gardens have it figured out. We have been to this particular garden multiple times: in the fall for the colors, in the spring for the plum blossoms followed by the cherry blossoms a month later, then again in May for the wisteria, and now in June for the Iris. Can you say: ka-ching? Each time we go, it’s another entrance fee. Though the fee is only around $3, it adds up when you go five times and bring a friend. It’s a good racket because otherwise, we’d only visit once and call it good.

The garden is not that large, but the area where the irises are—though not that large—did not disappoint. 

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Monday was a beautiful sunny day, great for Iris viewing. Tuesday it rained, so we stayed home. But Wednesday promised to be rain free so we headed out to the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden within the Meiji Shrine area to see more irises.

Again, we have been to the Meiji Shrine area multiple times now and each time we have passed the entrance to this little park within a park—the Inner Garden. There are actually two entrances to this park—one right past the main Tori gate and another after the second Tori gate. Without the Iris posters to point this out, we had never even noticed the first entrance.

Thanks to the posters, this time we saw it, paid the 500 yen entrance fee and walked inside.

First stop was a beautiful pond filled with huge carp and lots of beautiful lily pads, some in bloom.

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At the top of the hill and overlooking the pond is a teahouse that we walked up to see. This is apparently a favorite place for the Empress to hang out, according to the brochure.  There was definitely a serene view from here—though sadly I don’t have a photo.

We followed the crowd along the path to the iris area. It was pretty. Not large and overly impressive, but still a nice pretty dose of color to brighten the day and our mood.

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We then followed the crowd along the path some more, past the iris area, to the well where the water springs forth and is used to water the iris.

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It had its own guard to make sure everyone formed a line and didn’t push as everyone walked up to the well. Not wanting to be the odd person out, we followed suite and stuck our hands in, too. The water was so clear and cold.

I told the Professor I was tempted to take a sip, but decided against it. No need to bring home any unwanted parasites—plus I’m horrible with pets. So much responsibility. I fought the feeling.

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We then followed the crowd back out into the cacophony of Harajuku.