Rows and rows of bright red spider lilies found in Saitama prefecture’s Kinchakuda (巾着田). Kinchaku means a drawstring pouch. The lilies grow along a river which is shaped like a drawstring pouch. Viewable until early October.
Once past the bustling commercial complex that is Tokyo Midtown and the imposing National Art Center on a side street to the left, there is little to entice pedestrian traffic down Gaien Higashi-dori, the street that connects Roppongi to Aoyama. Gallery Ma in the Toto building, which holds interesting exhibits strictly for the initiated – such as a show that was on this summer of architect Kenzo Tange’s photographs of his work in progress – and the bookstore just below… Read more »
Katsuyama (勝山) is a sleepy little town in Okayama prefecture, which has preserved old buildings, including kura warehouses and minka, or traditional country homes. Many shops and houses in the historic district put out distinctive noren (shop curtains) to inform passers-by of their line of business or merely as a decorative touch.
