That´s the way the cookie crumbles

Coming from a politically prominent background with maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi as Prime Minister (1957-60), his (Kishi´s) biological younger brother, Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister (1964-72), paternal grandfather Kan Abe a politician in the House of Representatives (1937-46) and brother Shintaro Abe, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1982-86), general secretary of the party (1987-88), (son-in-law of Nobusuke Kishi, his second son is Shinzo Abe, current Prime Minister), Shinzo Abe is the current Prime Minister of Japan, (2006-7, resigned for health reasons, reelected 2012-) and also the President of the Liberal Democratic Party, LDP. Undoubtedly, this idea of a career path resembles those of other political clans such as the families Kennedy and Bush and probably a number of names from all around the world.
The longest ever running sentence and unnecessary complicated? I agree, so to make a long (and probably complicated with a good dose of drama) story short, the current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has now ended up as superman on cookies. I spotted these outside the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, a shrine he has visited on several occasions to other countries dismay, of course…

Zojoji Temple

Days in Tokyo have been sizzling hot but the trees in the temple garden might provide a bit of necessary shade. Not on any note as controversial as Yasukuni Jinja, Zojoji Temple is the main temple of the Jodo Buddhist sect. You´ll find it in the vicinity of Shiba-koen and Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is spotted in the background. It was built in 1958 and was of course modelled after the Eiffel Tower (1092 feet high, Tokyo Tower measures 30 feet higher, hatssuuuuuu!).


The Sanmon is the main gate (seen from behind) to the temple. It was built in 1605 and is constructed in the Chinese Tang style, popular in the early Edo period (1603-1868). All other buildings in the temple compound were destroyed during the air raids in 1945.

In the surrounding garden, there are rows of statues dressed in red little bonnets and bibs often with colourful windmills. This baby-like statue is Jizo, the guardian of children and the children who died young. He is also the guardian of the souls of miscarried,stillborn and aborted fetuses. He also protects travellers as well as firefighters.

Take care in the heat and have a great weekend!

Yasukuni Jinja

This torii gate of steel (25 m tall, 34 m wide) marks the main entrance to Yasukuni Jinja.

The controversial Shinto shrine Yasukuni commemorates those who died in service of the Empire of Japan as well as wars involving Japan. Approximately 2.5 million people (men, women, children, war criminals of whom 14 are classified as class A) are listed by names, origins, birth dates and places of death. This is the Haiden hall of worship.

Historically, the knot was respected as an object of faith as the will of God was believed to reside in it. It symbolizes bringing people together and good luck. Supposedly, it bridges the past, the present and the future.

Hope you have all had a relaxing summer so far. Here in Tokyo it has been way too hot and humid.

Stay safe and hydrated!

Sunday Afternoon

Thunder in the background and heavy clouds rolling in over Tokyo (Sunday 17.30 pm), the ultimate backdrop for a cup of tea and a visit to youtube and a couple of episodes of Grand Designs.

Hope you´ve had a relaxing  weekend!

Rainy Season Ikebana

During the rainy season (and then typhoon season) the rainfall varies between intensive downpours to sprinkles. When less intense, the rain reminds me of veils dancing in circles, which inspired this arrangement
Hope you´re all enjoying a lazy Sunday.

Kappabashi

Kappabashi dori (dori= street, avenue or road), also referred to as kitchen town, is a street between Ueno and Asakusa. Most of the shops cater to the kitchen and restaurant trade and sell everything you might need or didn´t even know you needed if you´d ever come up with the idea of setting up your own restaurant. The small shops along the street sell all you could possibly think of and more in terms of furniture, ovens, pots and pans, decorations, chopsticks, kitchen utensils, china or crockery, Japanese knives and plastic food to be displayed in your restaurant window to tempt potential dinner guests. I was looking for some extra plates and ended up buying these in blue and funky blue and white. The deep plate is a typical Japanese soup bowl, which I intend to use for pasta.

Unless you´re a devoted fan of crowds, avoid weekends.

Buckets of Rain

11.48 am Tuesday

30 minutes later, sunshine:  Suspiciously lavender coloured skies, more rain? 
Voilà, this is Tokyo rainy season. Take care in the heat and hope you´re all staying dry!

Off with their heads!

You might recognize the quote uttered by the Queen of Hearts throughout Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland. According to The Guardian (June 12, 2014), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has slammed the weather service for inaccurate forecasts. “There are many incorrect forecasts as the meteorological observation has not been put on a modern and scientific basis,” Kim said, urging the agency to fundamentally improve its work and equipment”, according to the Guardian.
For today, the Tokyo weather forecast was predicted as sunny and 30 degrees, which was later changed to cloudy. However, as weather is slightly unpredictable during the rainy season this is how it turned out: early morning – sunshine and fairly blue skies, closer to midday – thunder and heavy rainfall, afternoon – back to some sunshine, at least this very moment.

Hope you´ll all have a great weekend!

Inspirational Tuesday

This is a lovely season. RHS Chelsea Flower Show has come to an end and we might feel inspired. Don´t forget to enjoy the abundance of  fresh flowers, play around with the material and remember, if design A doesn´t work out, the alphabet has 25 more letters!
がんばって!

Kitty-san

On the theme of kawaii, I mustn’t miss mentioning Japan´s Kitty-san or Kitty White キティ・ホワイト Kiti Howaito, who is a white Japanese bobtail cat, a fictional character produced by Sanrio. She was first designed by cartoonist Yuko Shimizu. Kitty-san is found on everything from school supplies, stamps and flower arrangements to consumer goods such as Swarovski´s high end Hello Kitty range. She also has her own theme parks. To make Kitty, who was named after a cat in Lewis Carroll´s Through the Looking Glass, more interesting, her background story is that she was born in the suburbs of London as England was trending in Japan at the time. Have a great weekend everyone!