Fantastical Discoveries

Today, walking home from the train station, I came across the answer to a puzzle that had been on my mind for the past week. Hundreds of pigeons (hato) would circle around a particular building in our neighbourhood. I wondered what was going on that they would circle in that way and why around that place?

Well, today I discovered the 'Ghost Dog' of Tokyo.....It was amazing to behold. I tried to capture the circular movement of the various groups of pigeons as they moved around their 'master?' You can slightly see the cages in which the pigeons are kept and the pole with flags that he uses to signal them. Great movie, great moment to witness someone here doing similar things....

Ker and I explored Roppongi today and were thoroughly delighted with everything we came across. Phenomenal architecture, a wonderful shrine (wherein a traditional wedding was taking place--beautiful, although the bride must have been sweltering in her dress), and a 24 hr. grocery store that has the best ingredients.....


We also stumbled across Tokyo Fashion Week, of course! There is just so much going on in this city--even random trips end up with the most amazing encounters:)

http://www.jfw.jp/en/about/index.html

Other Discoveries:



Tasty, tasty, tasty. Limited brew--'nuff said.






Where I will be working....6th floor, right across the street from the train station. A fantastic neighbourhood with a nice balance of craftsmanship, shopping, and live latin music/dancing--yippee!!



Language Celebration: Kerwood and I ventured to Monzen-Nakacho the other day--in search of my favourite Shinto Shrine (Fukagawa Jinja)....We were able to find it fairly easily, arrived just in time for a ceremony (the combined visceral experience of drumming and chanting stirs things deep within), and then went for lunch. We decided to try a place with a mural of pigs riding a bike above the doorway (don't ask me why that drew us in;)....We were able to read and understand one item on the menu: ebi soba. So, there was only one thing to do--order it. It was tasty, however we were both sweating like crazy by the end--why were we eating steaming soup on a +30 degree day? When we went to pay for the bill, the fellow said to Kerwood, in English, "You can read Japanese." Kerwood indicated that he could read a very small amount of Japanese. The fellow then said, "That's very good. Please come again." Wasn't that nice of him?