by joostay
Two days of blissfully doing nothing in Bali’s cultural capital
Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bali, boutique, CREATIVE, design, holiday, hotel, ikimasho, inaka, indonesia, interior design, japan, luxury, nature, photography, review, rice fields, se asia, tokyo, travel, ubud, video, wildlife
by joostay
The bus is quiet tonight. A few Chinese workers from the Panasonic plant and a family of three wearing identical scarves and hats. The little girl draws a few random squiggles on the foggy window with her finger and then erases her artwork with the cuff of her sleeve. Rinse. Repeat. Wax on. Wax off. Every time a new passenger climbs on board, he or she goes through the same ritual: shaking their umbrella and making a loud brrrr noise just to make sure everyone on the bus knows […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: atsugi, blog, CREATIVE, food, hon-atsugi, ikimasho, inaka, japan, japanese, rain, ramen, tokyo
by joostay
Yes, this is Tokyo. But not as you know it. Ikimasho! Okutama is a mountain district in the west of Tokyo. To get to Okutama Station take the Chuo Line from Shinjuku and switch at Tachikawa on to the Ome Line. Depending on connections the journey takes anything between 90 minutes and 2 hours (for a very reasonable 1,080 yen). Buses are irregular to Lake Okutama, one or two an hour – and if you decide to walk between […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, culture, dam, hatonosu, hiking, ikimasho, inaka, japan, lake, nature, okutama, ome, shiromaru, south east asia, tokyo, wildlife
by joostay
Visiting Tokyo? The smaller suburbs are where it’s at… Despite being only four minutes by train from my neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa, I had never been to Gotokuji before. I hadn’t even heard of it – as many stations going away from Shinjuku simply aren’t on my radar. I am, however, so glad I found it. I ventured out there with my camera and was rewarded with quaint shopfronts, as well as peace, quiet – and hundreds of cats wishing me luck. […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, cats, charms, gotokuji, gotokuji temple, ikimasho, inaka, japan, lucky, odakyu, old, photography, quaint, suburbia, suburbs, tokyo, trains, urban, Zen
by joostay
A stroll around one of Tokyo’s oldest neighbourhoods. Ikimasho! From Nippori, Yanaka Ginza is a 5-10 minute walk west of the station. Alternatively you can take the chiyoda line to Sendagi and walk east for about the same amount of time. You can also walk from Ueno Park in about 30 minutes – although it may be quicker if you are in a pram like this guy.
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, edo, history, inaka, japan, old tokyo, spinning tops japanese, tokyo, travelling, ueno, yanaka
by joostay
I got back from Indonesia a few weeks ago, but despite my feet being firmly in Japan, my mind is still wandering around somewhere in SE Asia. I went out for a walk with my camera today to remind myself where I live. Yes, I’m definitely back in Tokyo.
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: art, coming of age day, culture, inaka, japan, koto ward, moma, museum of modern art, tokujin yoshioka, tokyo, tokyo metro
by joostay
Nature entangled in concrete. Opaque skies. Silence. Every Thursday I make the trip to Saitama to hang out with the crows and the lonely vending machine who hasn’t been touched in years. He’s OK though. Content in stillness. The clouds above are grey, the roads below the same. A rusty beer tin hides in the verge, watching the people who pass him by day, after day, after day. No one notices him. The train station is unmanned, the bus stop […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, brian eno, crows, dull, grim, happy, inaka, japan, music, saitama, tokyo
by joostay
Takoyaki, trees and silence: a plum pilgrimage to the hills of western Tokyo. Nobuo Umeatsu is a genius. Composer of the Final Fantasy soundtracks, he somehow manages to create atmospheric pieces of music that lie dormant in your brain only to burst to life once again at the most random moments. The reason I mention him is because the other day I visited a place called Plum Village. Nestled somewhere between the Tama River and the Yoshino mountains in the […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: culture, guidebook, hinatawada, inaka, japan, mountains, ome, plum, tokyo, ume, yoshino baigo
IKIMASHO!