Enoshima Island

One day, we traveled to Enoshima Island. The legend surrounding Enoshima can be found here (along with some really fantastic photos), the short version is that they're big on dragons.


On the way, we saw this:




On the wee ferry to the island from the mainland (we walked the bridge on the way back, so it's not a very long ferry ride)


There are several caves on the island. The iPhone doesn't take good low-light photos, so bear with me.



In one section, we were given candles for navigation.


Watch for low ceilings.

Some of the deity-related statues (example above) were neat, some were serene, most peaceful. The Dragon Cave statue, however, (below) was pretty darn spooky.


Even after I adjusted the levels in Photoshop, it's still pretty creepy.


Outside a temple on top of a hill:


The dessert we had with our dinner: sno-cones topped with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. An unexpected combination, but not at all unwelcome in the heat.


In front of another temple, some peaceful-looking statues...


Right next to two of these. Eight-foot-tall scary statues. I'm assuming they're scary to ward off evil spirits.


Up more stairs and around the corner, we stopped to watch a street magician. Not a top-notch performer, but it was entertaining. We couldn't understand his jokes, but he did some juggling, some mime, some audience participation, and some sleight of hand.

Gift Shop Alley. I picked up some souvenirs here.



After working our way down to the water from the gift shop alley, the sun started to set and we realized we had a really clear view of Mount Fuji from where we were. Some of the following photos will look alike, but I was so taken with the beauty of it all that I had to take another photo every few minutes. These photos don't really capture the brilliance of the colors, but it's the best I could do with what I had.








People were lined up along the bridge and pulled their cars over to the side of the road to take pictures, it was so stunning.






When we got back to our home train station, we found a firefighter festival of some sort in progress. The side of a building was covered with rows upon rows of red lanterns, all illuminated as a backdrop to this guy on taiko drums. It was pretty awesome.

Nekobukuro

I'm baffled by what I perceive as the cultural attitude toward cats in Japan. They seem to be lucky and/or cute and cuddly, but they don't seem to be popular pets and it's difficult to find a place to rent if you already have one (let alone two!). If someone can tell me otherwise or offer some insight, please do.

In Ikebukuro, an area of Tokyo, there is a store called Nekobukuro. In this store, a pet store, there is a pay-to-enter area where you can pet real live kitties!

We had to try it. I don't fully understand why cats in a room are an attraction, but this is a pretty sweet place to be a cat. And the environment is delightful.

Disclaimer: I did not have my camera, so all photos were taken by the iPhone, which is not as talented at taking photos as it is of being a personal computer and messaging system. Sorry for the blurriness.


Some cat kennels:


(Note the cat sleeping in the litter box behind the fiberglass conductor)


Each train car is its own little room.


One of the three rooms.


A lot of the cats seemed to be pretty disinterested and were sleeping or staring just beyond arm's length.


I did like the artful camouflage of the litter boxes.


I believe this is a wall of photos and bios of the cats in residence.


I don't know why these dioramas were up on the wall, but I like 'em. There were a handful, and they were all aerial views of city buildings.



More kennel areas; this one was themed like the kitchen of a restaurant. Note the tiny sink!

This TV showed cartoons and cat-related programming. And was a lovely place for a nap.


Next to the TV is a vending machine that offers buttons of cats wearing hats. The one we got was Mookie the Ragdoll impersonating a cow.


Another random wall full of shelves and dioramas.





Very important! How to (and how not to) pet a cat:



This is the painting over the fake fireplace:

Maybe we should start charging admission to our house. Take a piece of wildlife home with you, free cat hair with every visit!

Speaking of our cats, my sister sent me a super effective comb and some claw caps for my birthday; maybe now we can control the cat hair cloud (they shed more when it's hot, and it's been 80-100°F for weeks) AND open the doors to the tatami room (the floors are made of woven straw mats and we don't want the cats to discover how pick-pick-pickable they are until their claws won't scratch anything).

The Age of Aquarium

We recently took a trip to the Sunshine City Aquarium in Tokyo. This is out in front of the shopping center.
Ultraman is very popular here, I've noticed.


Also common are stickers warning you to be careful around closing doors, mostly elevators and trains. Even if you can't read the text, the message is crystal clear.

The banner across the top says something like, "It's tall! It's talllll!" The bar on the left says Sunshine, I assume the one on the right says Aquarium...why my cartoon person is wearing an anteater and has recently kicked a penguin off the roof, I'm not sure.


I'm not entirely sure what these are, but I can see their eyes. It's a little surreal. Click the picture to see the larger version and be creeped out for yourself.


The whole aquarium is beautifully designed, and I love all the small tropical tanks. They're so colorful!


This is a cuttlefish.


Here's lookin' at you, kid.


I wish I knew what this was. It looks like something that might have been holding potion ingredients for Ursula in The Little Mermaid. Is it plant or animal?


I think this is another kind of cuttlefish, but I've never seen anything like it before.


At every aquarium I've ever been to, there is one large fish that does nothing but stares at the visitors all day. Here, it's a giant catfish. It's head is wider than mine.


This display was showcasing bright orange anemones, and I thought the tank design was pretty neat.



Jellyfish go around and around...actually a pretty good way to keep them active in a small space. Reminds me of a screen saver.


Axolotls! I've read that they're native to one single lake in Mexico, but that lake has been drained, so they pretty much only exist in significant numbers in captivity. Part of me wants to get one or two as a pet, just because they're so cute and bizarre looking. I've seen them in at least two pet stores.


I've never seen a turtle with a snout, either. I think it's a kind of softshell turtle.


Blue fish!


Rockfish? Frogfish? I can't remember, but boy, are these guys ugly.


The pink thing in the middle is a complete mystery to me. Something else unlike any sea creature I've ever seen. I made a lot of new discoveries that day.


The groundhog of the coral reef.





This is in the deep-sea section. The photos didn't come out very well because the lighting was so low, but there's some crazy stuff here. Above: I have NO idea what they are, but I might have nightmares. Below: we saw a giant isopod! It was hiding its face in the corner, though, so the picture I took wasn't all that remarkable.

Is it just me, or do these look vaguely obscene?



Ultraman again.


This aquarium also had a neat little area to walk through where you can see animals in habitats but not in cages. Some areas are roped off, but the critters could wander about at any time they saw fit.

A lot of them were asleep.


Back outside, penguins!



And we caught a sea lion show, which was just delightful. The younger of the two sea lions just couldn't sit still, it was so excited to be part of the show.




And a bonus random sign that caught my eye.
Book-Off is part of a series of related stores: Book Off, Off House, Mode Off, Mode Off, Garage Off, Hobby Off, and Hard-Off (which makes my inner adolescent giggle every time), but I'd never heard of P-Port Prego, and it struck me as highly amusing.