Back to Kita Where I Find More Lucky Gods

I had not planned much for this trip, since I knew it would be hot and muggy and I only had a few days in Japan. But there was one place I wanted to visit, a place I went to my last trip. So I made it to Ikebukuro Station. You would think skies like this meant it would rain. But it didn't. And it was still very hot. 

I made my way to Kami-Nakazato Station. Last time I came here it was from a different station. But Kami-Nakazato was closer. And making walks shorter was a good thing. So I found myself walking down this steep curved road.

Where I was distracted by this short flight of stairs. A shrine maybe? Of course I wanted to check it out. The stairs lead to Kuro Nakazato Shrine.

This one was a rather simple place. Fairly new statues of the Seven Lucky Gods. 

And slightly older ones of two of the gods, Daikokuten and Ebisu. Daikokuten is the god of commerce and prosperity and Ebisu is the god of prosperity and wealth in business and abundance of food. So they do get paired together for worship. 

There were also a few markers, including a road construction monument dated Showa 15. It's because this shrine had been moved when they improved the winding difficult curved road that runs besides this shrine and when they worked on the train station.

Older stone lantern, a toro. The shape is some what simple but the openings alternate squares with circles. 

Towards the back of this little shrine were two more deities next to a large sculptural pile of rocks. 

The kami on the left is Marishi-ten, the three headed deity that samurai would worship. It is the same one as found at Gotokuji. This version of Marishi-ten is on top of a boar. I wrote a little more about Marishi-ten in my post about Gotokuji, here http://blukats.blogspot.com/2018/08/its-walk-to-gotokuji-temple.html.

The other figure is Fudo Myo-o, Buddhist god, "The immovable wisdom king". He usually looks very fierce, for his job is to scare people into accepting salvation. He has a devil subduing sword in one hand, called a kurikara. His other hand holds a rope to tie up demons. Behind him are flames, which in this case are a little unusual for the inverted heart shapes. The information I found online mentions a date on the pedestal that relates to 1735. Fudo Myo-is a kami of protection. These two together would be kami that samurai worshiped. I mention this here because this relates to the next place I found on this journey. A place that once was a castle.

Ikebukuro Night

I was determined to see more of Ikebukuro this trip. I headed out even though it was still hot and humid at night. I didn't want to sit in the hotel room. There was more bad news in that a 6.7 earthquake happened in Hokkaido. Very sad and it made me want to be out seeing people living their lives. 

I headed over to Sunshine 60 Street. A very popular shopping area on a street that is mostly closed off to traffic. And there were a lot of people out enjoying the night. This definitely is an area focused on youth culture with various types of amusements.

One place I noticed was Milky Way. 

Not because of the Rabbit but because of these star filled parfaits. 

And lemon drinks. Lemons were definitely happening almost everywhere I went this trip. I will have more about that later. 

I wish I had checked the place out. Something to add to the list for a future trip. 

I ended up at Tokyu Hands. It's a place I've wanted to go to for years but knew I would be tempted by many things there. I was but limited myself to a Rement to add to my miniature collection. And I bought a silk rose. Strangely, most of the roses in their craft section were blue. I figures why not, it would make an appropriate souvenir for this trip.

Near Sunshine 60 Street were these alleyways filled with restaurants. I just had to take a look. 

If my photos look a little fuzzy, it's because of the humidity. 

I headed back to Ikebukuro Station to walk through it to the street my hotel was on. 

And on my way I discovered the Ikebukuro stone owls. The original big owl was placed there in 1987 and the smaller ones in 2006. The statue is called Ike-fukuro, fukuro being the word for owl. 

On to Tokyo

So the very full plane I was on landed at Narita Airport and we all headed to Immigration. And I do mean all. Because of all the people who changed from Kansai Airport to Narita, Immigration was packed with people. And at one point, the line did not move for about 20 minutes. I have no idea what the problem was, but 2020 Olympics aren't that far away. Fixes are still needed.

So I was late getting out of Narita and had to wait for the last N'EX train. I finally arrived in Ikebukuro around 11:30 pm, that's 23:30 for those going by Japan time. I was exhausted since I did not get much sleep on the plane. Problem child that cried and yelled every time his mother would not hold him. Which happened a number of times. Kid was at least three years old so yeah, it was a problem. To the point that a Japanese guy yelled at him because he was going non-stop the whole time we were descending to land. Because his mother had to put in in the seat next to her. So when I did fall asleep, I was woken by this kid. A number of times.

I get to my hotel in Ikebukuro and up to my room. Only to find they gave me a smoking room even though I put on my reservation for a non-smoking room. Since there were no other vacancies, I did not have a choice. I asked for a clean pillow and if they could give me a non-smoking room the next day. Thankfully they did. Sadly I was not able to sleep much that night. What helped is I brought with me a bottle of BPAL's Victorian Goth scented oil. I put a little on the bed. It saved me.

Ikebukuro. This was my second time staying here. Where my hotel was, the area is nondescript. Cute kittens and puppies in the pet store across the way. At least the konbini in the area have decent food. 

These signs light up in different colors at night. And night time is a little interesting around here. The area seems to be a place where people go out on dates or hook up. Interesting side of Japanese behavior happened now and again. 

As to the weather, the sky was beautiful after Jebi blew through. The temperatures were in the 90°f and humidity was super high. Summer in Japan. But I was going to brave it because there were places I wanted to go.

Like Shinjuku. I did have a list of places I thought I might go to, but in the weeks before I left, different events were presented. So my list changed. It was all good. 

Shinjuku, showing off the ikemen.  

And ladies. The area seemed a bit less crowded than usual. It was the heat and humidity. 

Thankfully the place I was going was cool. Very cool. Ah, the old Moi-même-Moitié gates. It means only one thing, KERA Shop. And seeing all the new items they have. I was tempted to buy a number of things and I was happy to see them in person. I now have my want list. In time, it will happen.

The other reason for going was this display. Because of the MALICE MIZER 25th Anniversary concerts, KERA Shop and Moi-même-Moitié set up this photo area. Photo areas are very popular in Japan, especially those using anime, manga and game characters. This one was a little different because it was for fans of Mana, founder of MALICE MIZER and the creator of Moi-même-Moitié, and for people who love the fashion. 

It was a great idea because besides fans in Japan, people from all over the world were coming to Tokyo to go to the concerts. So having this event was a nice way to draw customers in. Besides the blue roses and posters were a few things that have not been shown to the public in a while. 

These cross tombstones are from the original Aoyama Moi-même-Moitié store. 

Just part of the decoration of that store, it was nice to see them as part of this display. 

A bit of Moi-même-Moitié history. 

A few posters from different times in Mana's career. A couple of his looks as leader of his band, Moi dix Mois. 

And modeling photos of Moi-même-Moitié outfits. 

There were props for those who wanted to take selfies.

Since I have posted photos of items from the old Moi-même-Moitié stores a couple of times, I thought I would share a few photos of those stores that I found on the internet. Here is how the gates were used originally.

Along with the cross tombstones.

Like I said, there were a number of things I wanted to buy. I knew I was going to get something, but I was surprised at what I was able to get. Because only a day or two before, it was announced that they would be selling the jewel cross pendants again. This is a classic piece with colored crystals, which were only offered in certain colors at certain times. I had wanted a blue one, but it was sold some time ago, and never seemed to come up for resale. So I was very happy for the return of the blue crosses. There are also red and black versions. I may get a black one, it has a cool gothic look.

After this I headed back to my hotel where I was able to change rooms. What a relief. And later, I did explore Ikebukuro a little. Which will be my next post.

I Finally Make it to Hawaii

When I searched for air fare for my trip, the price was high because it was the end of summer. But one airline had discounted a couple of days. It meant that my trip would be shorter than usual, but the bonus besides the price was getting to go somewhere I had wanted to visit all my life. Hawaii. 

Flying into Oahu, I was not disappointed. The color of the water below, very intense and beautiful. Even when looking through an airplane window. 

As for the airport in Honolulu, it wasn't bad. Even though it is older, the people working there were helpful and nice. And the grounds had interesting things to see.

As to the weather, it was warm and humid but a beautiful day. 

I couldn't resist taking this photo. 

I had four hours between flights on Hawaiian Airlines, so I stopped at Makai Plantation for lunch. Breakfast in Portland, lunch in Honolulu, dinner in Tokyo. That was my plan.  

And I knew what I wanted. Since it was my first time in Hawaii, even if only for a couple of hours, I wanted to be a tourist. So I order a Blue Hawaiian. I use to enjoy these long ago. And the one here was very good. Even better was that piece of pineapple. It really was the best pineapple I have ever eaten. Soft, no fibers, and so sweet. I wish I had asked for more. Definitely will next time. 

Being a tourist, lunch had to be ahi poke. This was also very good. Served with a bit of wasabi, it was a great lunch.

I should mention that I had been worried that my flight to Tokyo might be cancelled because of Typhoon Jebi. My timing was good in that after crossing Honshu Island at Osaka, Jebi had moved along the western side of the island and was now north of it. My flight was still happening. However, there were many people who were not so lucky since their flights were to the Kansai Airport. Because the runways were flooded from the storm, and a bridge to the airport damaged, their flights were cancelled. Which meant many of them were moved to flights to Tokyo. Including on my flight.

Finally it was time to fly. I did get to see downtown Honolulu with Diamond Head in the distance. We flew over it but it was difficult to get decent photos. Very cool to see from the air. 

The U.S. Air Force uses the airport for their planes. Interesting to see these take off and land on the same runways. Along with jet fighters and stealth bombers. 

We taxed out to a runway built further away along the ocean. It really was a beautiful day! 

And the ocean, gorgeous. 

Aloha Hawaii, I hope I may see you again. 

Next stop, Tokyo. Across blue water, under blue sky. It was lovely to see the clouds from above.