The Sumida River taken from Kachidoki Bridge

This is a stitch of five separate shots, which the app processes pretty quickly. If you have not held the phone in exactly the same position, you can then crop off any excess space around the image that did not align.

The actual output is a large image, which you can see here (but it’s 3228 x 1372, so there’s scrolling involved). I cropped it down to 1800 x 765 for on-screen viewing, which is here (or, again, you can click the image above).

In the photo, Tsukiji market is on the right (where the yellow boat is) and, behind Tsukiji, that clump of buildings is the Shiodome area. So that you can visualize the location in the context of central Tokyo, this Google map shows where the shot was taken from (the little “A” marker):

Click on map for the actual Google version

I live about a 5-minute walk from the Sumida river and I love being so close to what is, in many ways, a vital element in the history of Tokyo. The whole city was originally built up around the Sumida and, if you’ve never walked along its banks from Chuo-ku to up to Taito-ku, you are missing a big chunk of what has shaped this city since two brothers dragged a statue of the Kannon out of the river 1,380 years ago:

On 18 March 628, two fishermen hauling their catch from the Sumida river found a golden image trapped in the nets. The Hinokuma brothers, credited with finding the statue of Kannon, goddess of mercy, are remembered in Asakusa Shrine, next to the present Asakusa Kannon temple, also known as Senso-ji. Built to house the statue and dedicated in 635, it is the oldest temple in Japan.
(excerpt from Tokyo: A Cultural History, by Stephen Mansfield – a great read on Tokyo)

At the very least, if you don’t want to walk the banks of the Sumida, you should definitely hop on the Suijo-Bus and cruise up the river from Hinode Pier to Asakusa (despite the name, it is not a “bus”, but, instead, a river boat that cruises up to Asakusa at least once an hour).

the canal looking a very muddy brown this morning - iPhone + TiltShift + Instagram Hefe filter

When looking out the window this morning, the colour of the canal below was reminiscent of the Mekong River: a muddy brown that had me remembering various moments on the Mekong. One very funny one was years ago in Vietnam, where the boatman insisted on taking us to a bee farm despite our desperate mime act in an attempt to convey the following: severe allergy to bee stings resulting in anaphylactic shock and certain death on a tiny island in the Mekong Delta.

Well, obviously I survived, but we laugh about it to this day as we recall the boatman eating his free lunch (a freshly caught chicken whipped up into some tasty-looking dish), which was clearly his reward for bringing tourists to the island with the bee farm/honey store/restaurant, while we sucked on lychee nuts because there was nothing else for two non-meat eaters to eat. I do have photos of that boat ride, but they are all on film, so I’d have to dig them out and scan them.

Another favourite was stepping out from the Pak Ou caves in Laos (the famous “Buddha Caves” about 25km north of Luang Prabang by boat) and seeing this lovely scene:

looking down at the parked boats in Laos

And still another favourite moment was a late afternoon spent perched on a stool in front of a large open window watching the sun set a beautiful pink and gold on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. I read a book and drank a cold beer and watched a man and his family push off in their small boat:

a fisherman and his family push off in their small boat

So, now, after writing this, I feel the urge to travel…

By the way, this is the usual colour of the canal in front of us:

In 2009, I shot this and you can see that there is a construction crane on the left side of the frame. At the time, I was curious to know what, if any, of our view of the Sumida-gawa fireworks would remain when the crane had done its work and the new residential building was in place:

2009 shot of the fireworks over the Sumida River

To be honest, I’m not overly interested in the Sumida fireworks display – they’re just slightly too far away to be exciting, but it is nice to see the night sky aglow on a summer’s eve.

This year, as a result of the triple disaster on March 11, the Sumida fireworks date was pushed to the end of August (it’s usually in late July) and the Tokyo Bay fireworks were not held at all.

Historically, the Sumida display is quite interesting: apparently, 1732 was a bad year in Edo (the old name for Tokyo) with famine and disease wiping out a good chunk of the population. The following year, the shogunate held a ceremony on the Sumida dedicated to the water god and to pray for better fortune and for the souls of all those who’d died the previous year. Restaurants near the Ryogoku Bridge asked for consent to shoot off some fireworks during this ceremony and the tradition began.

As you can see from the photo above, there are actually two stages on the river, so there’s double your viewing pleasure if you’re in the area or have an unobstructed view.

Well, as you can see, that’s no longer the case from our balcony: the apartment building’s complete and we’re left with one tiny corner on the left, where the unobstructed view used to be, and the other partially obstructed display in the middle.

That’s one thing about Tokyo: you can never get attached to your view because the landscape never stays the same for long in this city!

I actually started writing this post in the first week of March and then put it in my drafts folder and left it sitting there as we all became consumed with earthquake, tsunami aftermath, and nuclear plant news.

As anyone who looks at this blog regularly knows, I’ve done a few entries on the construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree. My balcony faces it directly, so I’d been watching the tower climb over the months.

I haven’t taken any new photos of the Sky Tree since then, but it is not vastly different in appearance because these photos were taken just after it passed the 600 meter mark and about 2 weeks later it reached its final height of 634 meters.

Looking at it from the balcony, it’s hard to get a sense of how tall it really is, so, to mark the occasion of passing the 600 meter milestone, I took a quick trip over to the area and took a few photos. It was quite crowded and there was quite a buzz all around  and, I have to say, from the ground, looking up, it really is impressive.

Getting some close-ups of the Tokyo Sky Tree

Almost everyone was doing the same thing - just staring up to the sky

a close-up of the Tokyo Sky Tree observation deck construction

a height marker at the base of the tower

a man had a mirror set up so people could take pictures of themselves with the tower in the background

another angle

I love this picture!

old and new as I walked towards Asakusa

I’ve been remiss of late, but this is my return to the fabulous weekly Show Me Japan blog/photo extravaganza – click on the image below for more Japan blogging goodness:

The Tokyo Jidai Matsuri is an annual parade that depicts key events in Tokyo history through the ages (jidai means “era” or “period”). It’s one of those festivals that you might think has been around for a loooong time, but, actually, it started in 1999 as part of an event called “Tokyo Renaissance”, an attempt to promote the Asakusa area and its historical significance in the history of Edo. Just so there’s no confusion, Kyoto has a more famous Jidai Matsuri that’s been running since the late 1800s and is held on October 22nd every year.

Anyway, last November, I knew the Jidai Matsuri was on, but I didn’t have any particular plan to go and watch it. However, as I was very near Asakusa by chance (I went there to buy a ticket for the Tobu line to Nikko), I strolled over and spent an hour or so watching “The Ages” pass by. I was pleasantly surprised on many fronts: the streets were nowhere near as crowded as I had anticipated (which was my original reason for not really wanting to go), everyone in the parade seemed to really be enjoying themselves, and the costumes were fantastic.

Fortunately, I had my 135L with me and it was easy to get right up to the front, so, this is what it’s all about (if you’re interested in details about the costumes in terms of period or meaning, this website has detailed descriptions). I’ll start with my own personal favourite from the whole parade:

Okay, not everyone looked happy to be there…

This guy reminds me of Cyrano de Bergerac for some reason…

Okay, this guy wasn’t actually in the parade but he was pretty cute in his absolute refusal to walk one inch further…

By the way, if you are running a WordPress.org blog and you ever want to insert more than two or three images in one post, do yourself a favour and get the Faster Image Insert plugin – it’s a brilliant solution to the very irritating built-in method of inserting images one-by-one.

I haven’t been participating in Show Me Japan for the past few weeks (hectic weekends, it seems), but this is my entry for Show Me Japan Vol. I issue XV

You can read more about Show Me Japan by clicking the image below: