Japan Photo Blog, Vol. 29: Love Hotels, Buddha, and Nighttime Sakura. (photos and video talk from a late-night walk home)
夜桜 🌙 🌸
Yozakura (cherry blossoms viewed at night)
It's pretty surreal being alone in a tunnel under the longest river in Japan listening to classical music at 3 in the morning.
After getting off of work at my friend's bar the other night, I decided I wanted to save my money so I forewent the taxi ride home. My house is about 7 kilometers away from where I work on Saturdays, so it was quite a hike.
It's a journey I have made about five times now, and my legs always hurt and ache like hell the next day, but it is always worth it, in its own way, every time. This time I came across a new Buddhist temple by the sea, and some lovely yozakura--cherry blossoms lit up at night.
The halfway point on this journey is a long tunnel that traverses the width of the longest river in Japan, the Shinanogawa, underground. This tunnel shows you your progress as you go, and the place is lit up, with classical music piped in 24/7. It's pretty surreal being alone in a tunnel under the longest river in Japan listening to classical music at 3 in the morning. This kind of thing is just one of the reasons why I love it here.
I hope you enjoy taking the journey with me. Let's go!
Love hotel at night. (see video below for explanation of "love hotel")
New temple.
This phone only rings Haruki Murakami.
Nighttime cherry blossoms and stars.
In a tunnel underneath the river, at the mouth of the sea.
Out on the other side. I'm tired...
Video talk on walk home: Love Hotels, Trump, and the Futility of Government by Force.
(Thanks, as always, for stopping by. If you missed the last Japan Photo Blog, Finding God in the Park Amongst Sakura Trees, you can find it here.)
Peace!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
Cool pictures, thanks for sharing your nighttime journey with us! Everything is transformed at night, lending a sense of adventure and mystique to what might otherwise be a more ordinary trip. Kind of reminds me of the time I walked 25 km home from work when the trains were out after the big 3/11 earthquake. That took all night and showed me a side of Tokyo I hadn't yet experienced. You never know what you might come across along the way!
Wow, that's amazing! 25k! You nailed it. The mystique. I'm sure you saw quite a lot on that journey. Your legs must have been killing you!
Yeah, it was really something. I could barely walk at the end of it. And keep in mind this was in my good business shoes. Not an experience I'd care to repeat.
What left the biggest impression on me was the crowd of thousands of people camped outside Shinjuku Station, and bus lines with hundreds waiting. The busiest train station in the world, completely halted and turned into a de facto refugee camp. That was quite a humbling thing to experience.
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