japan

Postcards from Japan

The New Otani 10-acre Classical Japanese Garden
Tokyo, Japan

The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo

The Imperial Hotel, built by Frank Loyd Wright, opened in 1923. It was demolished in 1968 and replaced by a high rise structure. My family stayed there in 1959, when we were on our way from Burma to the United States.

This postcard was written to my grandmother from some friends of hers traveling in Asia in August, 1961. I think the stamp is pretty cool.

I arrived here in this fabulous city of Tokyo after very pleasant jet air rides (without incident). Bob and I are enjoying our visit here very much and we’ll fly on to Taiwan a couple of days. The Japanese people are busy, clean and well dressed in American styles mostly. The children are adorable. The traffic is terrific and fast! We walked along the Ginza last night – it is hot but everyone fans – and doesn’t seem to mind it. Even the men use fans. We have rooms in the new part of this hotel.
Best wishes, Cornelia




Kyoto, Japan

Enjoying a Cool at the Ryogoku-bashi Bridge by Utamaro Kitagawa (1753-1806), Ukiyoe A Series of Six Pictures

The Buddha of Kamakura

1971

We have been in Nara for a week in a stunning Japanese style room. Asian Education Conference. Am deep in the writings of the Buddha.

The Buddha of Kamakura – built in 1252, is the largest Buddha next to the Buddha in Nara. IT is well known as a “handsome” Buddha.

A thousand and one images of Buddha at Sanjusangendo Hall, Kyoto. (Actually this is the temple of Rengeō-in.
This main hall dates back to 1266 and these figures are standing Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy (Avalokiteshvara).)

1984

You should come to visit Japan as holiday with your wife. My family can speak English. You are welcome.

Best wishes, Yoshi

1992

Greetings

We are knee deep in pink and white cherry blossoms speeding on to Kyoto to see the last of them as well as the countryside – Erik and Kilena have an enormous modern apt., an all white kitchen I would kill for. Have done lots of sightseeing – no end to Tokyo so no rest for the weary but we are having a marvelous time. Weather is sunny in 70’s perfect. We both send love, 

Gunta

The world fastest “bullet train” on the New Tokaido Line Shizuoka.

Toshogu Shrine, Nikko

September 1978

Enroute Tokyo. I just lost a day in crossing the Intl. Date Line. Maybe someday I can make it up. I doubt that I will get to Nikko to see this shrine on the trip but we have a picture of you there. Hope you got your auto insurance ok.

Love, Bill

Aerial View of Tokyo

February 1970

Singapore

We got this card on the airplane yesterday – we are Not in Tokyo. Singapore is a lovely city – we toured it today and will take a tour of the harbor in the morning. It is one of the largest shipping harbors in the world. Off to Indonesia tomorrow aft – again on JAL. Bill had a nice Bday yesterday – dinner and dancing in the eve!

Love, Mom

Tokyo – the beauty of Japan caresses you… as gently as Empress service takes you there.
@1960’s

Kunimatsu Dressmaking School, 1952
Yoshio Hayakawa, Japanese, born 1917

Blue Sky

Such blue sky and leaves aglow, swaying to an fro…

Walked around the lakes yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and clear sky.

I watched a 2023 film by Wim Wenders the other day – Perfect Days. It is set in Tokyo and about a Japanese man who cleans public toilets for a living. It follows him around day to day as he interacts with colleagues, members of the public, his family, but mostly with nature. He loves to take pictures of trees. There is very little dialogue so not a lot of subtitle reading. All in all, a very nice film. I recommend.

Random Friday Thoughts

Above are three vintage postcards from Watkins Glen, NY that appeared on my Postcardbuzz blog this week. I am quite fond of them. You can read a bit more about them on the blog.

The State Fair started yesterday. I love going to see the animals and the seed art. And of course a big attraction is all the weird food. A couple of new ones this year are Soulsicle: Fried chicken on-a-stick topped with candied yam sauce, cornbread crumble, mac-and-cheese seasoned cheddar cheese, hot sauce and green onions. This year’s twist on the pronto pup or corn dog: Tot Dog: all-beef hot dog dipped in corn dog batter, rolled in a mixture of minced tater tots, cheddar cheese and onions, then deep-fried. Plus there is deep fried ice cream on a stick, and pickle pizza. My go-tos at the fair are cheese curds, Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar, Tom Thumb mini donuts, and a chocolate malt from the Dairy Barn. Although those Tot Dogs sound pretty good….

Haha, Japan again…There was an article in the New York Times this week about the efforts of Japan to market and implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as laid out by the United Nations in 2015, to “provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”.

The logo is a colorful rainbow wheel with 17 colors to represent the 17 goals. The logo and theme have been used in Japan on lapel pins, board games and comic books, playgrounds, and a music video with over 940,000 views on YouTube. The pins cost $7.99 and can be found here.  They also have lanyards, postcards, and other things.

Japan made the goals part of National Policy and have set up an aggressive marketing campaign to raise awareness. Where three years ago nobody knew what it was, today it has become common knowledge. In 2015, Japan ranked number 13, on the annual Sustainable Development Solutions Network report, a nonprofit under the United Nations. It then dropped to 19th. One area it needs to work on is gender equality. Even though they aren’t achieving all the goals, the first step is awareness and they are doing a pretty good job of that.

On the other hand, the USA placed 41st in 2022. And most people are not aware of it. Finland came in at number one. South Sudan comes in at number 163. There are 30 countries not accounted for (most of them very small).

The 17 goals are:

  1. No Poverty
  2. Zero Hunger
  3. Good Health and Well-Being
  4. Quality Education
  5. Gender Equality
  6. Clean Water and Sanitation
  7. Affordable and Clean Energy
  8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
  9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  10. Reduced Inequalities
  11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
  12. Responsible Consumption and Production
  13. Climate Action
  14. Life Below Water
  15. Life on Land       
  16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  17. Partnerships for the Goals

The goal is to achieve this dream by 2030. Sounds like a pipe dream, doesn’t it? Even though Finland comes in at number one, it’s score is not 100%. It has a score of 86.51%. The USA comes in at 74.55%. The disturbing thing is that there are no achievements for the USA, only yellow and red with some positive achievement in Clean Water and Sanitation and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Anyway, not good. You can take a look for yourself.

To more cheerful moments… My bathroom re-do is done, except I’m still waiting for the rug but never mind. Have a look.

Before:

After:

Have a great weekend!

Random Friday Thoughts

It’s Friday. Another week slipped by. I found a website that is unfortunately no longer active but it is still accessible. It is called TCK Town Magazine. It has five years’ worth of TCK stories. They are well written and engaging.  And if you are a TCK you will definitely relate. 

It is hard for me to think about being in the middle of a draught when I am surrounded by 10,000 plus lakes but there you have it. We have been in a draught. And now it has rained twice this week. Everybody is very happy. I’m happy because it has cooled down a lot. 

I came across a book called The New Russian Poets 1953-68. My house is full of such things. I usually ignore them but I saw this one and I didn’t ever remember seeing it before so I picked it up just to take a look. I actually found a poem I liked by Yevgeny Vinokurov: 

And In A World 

And in a world, where all is frontier, 
All merely boundary and barrier, 
You are, fathomless infinity, 
At least a consolation. 
…There’s a gleam of blue that shines 
Through a crack in the barn wall – 
Here already is your witness: that 
Not everything is so plain and flat. 

Sitting next to it on the shelf was The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I had never seen it before either. It looks like something I would enjoy. I’m going to put it aside for a read later. 

Shifting gears… I recently came across a postcard of a tour my family took in Tokyo. My brother told me we were in Tokyo twice and took tours each time. I dug around and found some more Tokyo photos. It is clear we were different ages. He also gave me a pin he had that the tour group gave out. I looked up the JTB company and it is still going strong.

This first group must have been from 1959.

These two photos are from 1962. You can see that it says “Pigeon Bus Tours”. Hato is “pigeon” in Japanese and stands for peace. These bus tours started in 1949, and have been very successful showing close to a million tourists around each year.

Happy Friday.

Enger Tower, Duluth

Norwegian businessman Bert Enger (1864-1931) left his estate to the city of Duluth, MN and to some charitable organizations. One third of the money was used to build a memorial tower and 330 acre park on Skyline Drive. The tower was dedicated by Olav, Crown Prince of Norway in 1939.

Enger Tower is five stories up with nice wide steps and railings so not a difficult climb. It is 80 feet tall and has an amazing panoramic view from the top. Today the park has a Japanese garden with a Peace Bell you can ring. It was a gift of Duluth’s sister city, Ohara-Isumi.

The Tower

The View

The Japanese Garden

Interesting note on the bell. The original Peace Bell which was in the former Cho-ei Temple, is the oldest remaining bell in Ohara, Japan. Ohara donated the bell to a wartime scrap drive but for some reason it was never destroyed. After WWI, in 1946, sailors on the USS Duluth found the bell and took it to the US giving it to the city of Duluth where it was displayed in City Hall. In 1951, the Dean of Chiba University School of Horticulture was pursuing academic travel in the US. He learned of the bell’s existence, met with the Mayor if Duluth, and asked for its return. Mayor George Johnson along with Professor Peterson of the University of Minnesota and the US Air Force and Navy, returned the bell to Ohara on May 2, 1954.

This bell is a close replica of the original bell and presented to Duluth as the Japan-US Friendship Peace Bell, dedicated on June 5, 1994.