Im on summer vacation!!! Its so awesome to have summer vacation again!! So having August off has given me ime to continue my exploration of tokyo and the suronding areas.
Yesterdasy I went into the city to do some exploring which is something I truly love to do. I just love cities I guess. I used to do the same thing when i lived in London. I would go in on a Sunday and wonder around for hours and hours, never buying anything or doing anything in particular, not going anywhere, just seeking to discover secret places.
Tokyo is so vast and divers, I find I am constantly stumbling accidentally into these new and beautiful areas of the city. I keep having these amazing walks were I find a hidden shrine or a lantern lined night market. Today I explored Jimbocho, an area known for its abundance of used book shops. They have truly ancient books for sale here, costing hundreds of dollars. Aswell as newer used books and a strange number of highly specialized stores only selling things like, play books from musicals, or antique sheet music, or pornographic books from the 50s and 60s. I found one tiny store tucked down an ally, it was so full of old moldy books that the stacks where literally to the celling. I am certain that the shop keeper was actually a toad who had magically dissguised himself as an old grumpy man. This shop specialized in old and beautifully illustrated antique books. Most of the stories seemed to be Japanese folktales, many of the pages covered in ornately and likely hand painted, color illustrations. Some of the books were not books at all, but actual scrolls!!! The books impressed me so much that I have decided to treat myself and purchase one. I had my eye on a small one costing $50 or so. I will probably go back with my mom to pick one out. There where soooo many beautiful ones I could not decide just then. Anyway, the sun was shining and I spent my day leisurely walking down the crocked alleyways of Tokyo's book filled lanes. I sat for a while on a bench on the tree lined bank of a river corsing threw the city. I watched the people bussling past on their way to work on one side of me and one the other side, people in paddleing boats floated along. I have spent many, many days just like this one, and I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to be here.
Tokyo is so vast and divers, I find I am constantly stumbling accidentally into these new and beautiful areas of the city. I keep having these amazing walks were I find a hidden shrine or a lantern lined night market. Today I explored Jimbocho, an area known for its abundance of used book shops. They have truly ancient books for sale here, costing hundreds of dollars. Aswell as newer used books and a strange number of highly specialized stores only selling things like, play books from musicals, or antique sheet music, or pornographic books from the 50s and 60s. I found one tiny store tucked down an ally, it was so full of old moldy books that the stacks where literally to the celling. I am certain that the shop keeper was actually a toad who had magically dissguised himself as an old grumpy man. This shop specialized in old and beautifully illustrated antique books. Most of the stories seemed to be Japanese folktales, many of the pages covered in ornately and likely hand painted, color illustrations. Some of the books were not books at all, but actual scrolls!!! The books impressed me so much that I have decided to treat myself and purchase one. I had my eye on a small one costing $50 or so. I will probably go back with my mom to pick one out. There where soooo many beautiful ones I could not decide just then. Anyway, the sun was shining and I spent my day leisurely walking down the crocked alleyways of Tokyo's book filled lanes. I sat for a while on a bench on the tree lined bank of a river corsing threw the city. I watched the people bussling past on their way to work on one side of me and one the other side, people in paddleing boats floated along. I have spent many, many days just like this one, and I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to be here.
2 comments:
That sounds wonderful. Such a better way of spending a day than stuck in this office freezing mu tush off because the thermostat is broken! I want to walk down the streets of Japan!
Miss you.
xoxo
marj i miss u , havent spoken to u i agees. the pics look lovely
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