Reaching For The Sky

Sitting here at Haneda Airport business lounge one can truly appreciate how tall Tokyo Sky Tree really is. It literally towers over the already tall skyscrapers of Tokyo.

Climbing To The Top

A giant beetle clambers up a building in Kappabashi ( 合羽橋 ) which is a well known district consisting of shops supplying every conceivable hardware that the food and beverage trade requires. At the back between two buildings, Tokyo Sky Tree ( 東京スカイツリー ) looms. At 634 metres it is the tallest tower in the world. So it will be sometime before this bloke reaches the top of Tokyo Sky Tree.

At the ground level I could not believe that normal fairly good quality ceramic tea pots (probably made in China) were cheaper than the much inferior quality ceramic tea pots (also probably made in China) available here in Nepal. Not everything in Japan is expensive!

Men In White (MIW)

In Asian countries rice is the most important food. For example in Japan the noun for each meal is suffixed by rice. So breakfast, "asa gohan" ( 朝ごはん ), is morning rice and dinner is evening rice and so on. Rice in some form is actually eaten during these meals be it sushi ( 寿司) , onigiri (おにぎり ) or okayu ( お粥 ).

Rice is similarly respected in Nepal. For example when I was young I remember all the adults of the family eating rice only after dressing in "rice eating clothes". Without dressing into special clothes they were not allowed to eat rice! Sadly this tradition has died out during my lifetime but on special occasions we still dress into these clothes just to eat rice. And I must say it is such a beautiful feeling to eat rice this way.

Image: Men In White waiting for rice. November 2011.

Undressed in Shibuya

I love tofu not only because it is healthy but because of its pure, ascetical taste and soft texture. When something so spartan and elementary is presented so simply yet exquisitely and invitingly, as in these photographs, it arouses the taste buds and heightens expectation. Undressing this tofu in izakaya Nana, Shibuya revealed a delectable, creamy white tofu that soon melted in one's oral cavity ensuing in a climax of Epicurean delight.

Image: Tofu at Nana (菜な ?), Shibuya.

Zebra on Aoyama Dori 青山通り

I have walked past this building often. On this occasion it was quite early in the morning before the crowds arrived. As the sun struck the glass, prism effect created a nice zebra on the pavement and I was able to capture it with my camera. I guess it is the early bird that catches the worm. Or maybe it should be, "Early bird catches the zebra".

Image: Along Aoyama Dori 青山通り.

あの頃へ To That Time

雪が降る 遠いふるさと
なつかしい 涙になれ
Home so far away where the snow falls
Becomes the tears of memory
春を待つ 想いは誰を
幸せに できるだろう
The waiting for spring
Would make anyone happy
あの空は あの風は
いまも胸に 限りなく
That sky, that wind
Everlasting in my heart
あたたかい あの頃へ
君をいつか つれて行けたら
That warm feeling back then
How I wish I could take you there some day

Anzen Chitai 安全地帯 / Koji Tamaki 玉置 浩二 "Ano Koro-e" ca. 1985

This beautiful song has that special and deep sensitivity that is the essence of Japanese culture. "Mono no aware" 物の哀れ is the awareness of impermanence of love, life things and time; and the gentle sadness at their passing. It is this awareness of transience that makes something more beautiful.

Image: Dawn and 2012 breaks over the Himalaya in east Nepal evoking wonderful memories of the life, love and times gone by. How I wish I could take you there some day. あたたかい あの頃へ君をいつか つれて行けたら。

街の灯が 瞳に灯る
神様の 願いを見た
Town light lit in your eyes
I saw the wish of God
夢だけで 終わらないこと
あといくつ あるのだろう
How many things are left
That doesn't end in just a dream
あの星は あの雲は
いつも愛を 見つめてた
That star, that cloud
Always gazing at love
美しい あの頃へ
君をいつか つれて行けたら
あの頃へ
Beautiful days back then
How I wish I could take you there some day
To that time....

やさしさも さみしさも
いつも愛を 知っていた
As for tenderness and as for loneliness
I always knew love
あたたかい あの頃へ
君をいつか つれて行きたい
あの頃へ
When there was warmth
I want to take you there some day
To that time .....