Walking Around Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan

(April, 2019).  Meiji Shrine is always a good idea.  The first time I visited was back in 2015 with my brother and sister-in-law, and for this trip with my Mom and a couple of other brothers I knew they would love to see this tranquil place.

Meiji Shrine and its surrounding park is beautiful.  It's a nice break from the city.  Quiet.  Peaceful.  A true escape.  Perhaps if I ever got to visit Tokyo again it would be good to visit other parks to compare, just to simply see more of the city, but Meiji shrine, which is close to Harajuku, is worth the visit.  Both times I loved it.  Both visits I enjoyed seeing the trees.

Weathering With You, movie review

Rating: C+

Hodaka is a boy on the run, escaping life on a small island for the large city of Tokyo, and since he's a minor there's only so many places he can hide without attracting notice from the police.  It also doesn't help that he finds a gun right outside a club.  Meanwhile Hina is a girl with her own set of troubles, and it is while her Mom is in the hospital that she runs outside, following a ray of light, and stops the rain.  It's been raining in Tokyo.  Nonstop.  All everyone wants is a little sunshine.  Hina discovers she's the sunshine girl, able to bring light to a drenched world.

Weathering With You is the latest movie by writer and director Makoto Shinkai.  He became well known a few years ago with Your Name, though other beautiful works of his precede this anime.  Shinkai has a unique style.  He's able to captor nature elements in such an elegant way that no other animation holds a candle.  His ability to animate and stylize water alone is iconic and extraordinary.  It's one of his artistic signatures.

Shinkai's latest movie is a visual work of art.  Seeing different sides and landmarks of Tokyo was a joy, giving me heart-pangs for another visit.  Someday.  And it's so nice seeing two-dimensional hand drawn animation thriving, though Weathering With You has 3D animation here and there, but there's a life and emotion that can be better shown with drawing verses computers.  Just think of the two versions of Lion King.  Realism is nice, but there's so much more heart in a 2D character plane.  In Weathering With You nature becomes its own character.

Where Weathering With You lacks, and where Your Name was capital, is with the story itself.  The pacing is slow at times.  The plot loose.  It's good when movies breathe, but there was a little too much breath.  Though there are aspects of this movie I did like, and some of the messaging interesting, ultimately I found it rather sad.  There's a spot towards the end where I think it's supposed to be tragic, but members of the audience laughed, and I said with an undertone, "Are you kidding me?"  And then I felt removed, questioning characters, questioning mythos, and wondering what ever happened, long term, to the other maidens.

Weathering With You is a nice movie, and it is worth a watch for anime fans.  Would I recommend this for everyone?  Maybe.  All forms of animation needs to be supported, especially the dying art of hand-drawn.  But if I was to recommend Your Name or Weathering With You, I'd recommend Your Name.

Rated PG-13 for suggestive material, some violence and language.

The Reality of Stars, an original poem

Dark nights have long since passed,

Their tales of woe forgot. 

Do wolves still howl at beaming moons?

Do stars still spell of stories warn?

Legends lost as light spreads over

Rivers, trees, and moors.

No darkness creeps,

Nor nothing weeps over silvery ghostly yarns. 

Nearby villagers often ask,

Wondering of the start,

When did Nighttime lose his might?

Truth is long forgot. 

Village elders tell their tales,

Remembering twilight's past.

They tell when Night would fill the sky,

Before it came to naught.

Earth would cool,

Stars would beam,

Shadows of time still had a seam.

Now everyone dreams in light,

There seems to be no nighttime fright

Still, when did nighttime lose his might?

When children ask about the dark,
Tales of woe fancy their souls.
They wonder if there was a night,
Questions they'll always mourn.

~ Sarah Stufflebeam

(I haven't written a poem since that haiku back in September, 2018.  Thought it would be good to maybe start writing poems again.  It's a good practice. :0)

Walking the Streets of Ginza, Tokyo Japan

(April, 2019).  One of the main places I wanted to visit with my Mom and brothers was Itoya in Ginza.  What's that?  Well, it's a Japanese stationary store split between two buildings, about 10 levels between the two, or so.  It's a nerds dream, and I wanted to experience this dream.  Itoya is about a 9 minutes walk from Tokyo Station, if you don't get distracted, at about 700 meters. 

There are many things in this area I wanted to see.  There's a Kabuki theater.  The Imperial Palace is about a mile walk from Itoya, which was our plan.  Visit Itoya, maybe visit other stores, and then walk to the Imperial Palace.  We got distracted.  Didn't follow the plan.  We went on a Sunday, and on Sunday's the major shopping street in Ginza is closed to vehicles and completely opened for pedestrians.  It was so much fun that we ended up spending our whole time here.  And I loved geeking over Japanese stationary, and later music stuff at the Yamaha store.

 

Pictures by Sarah, Robin, Steven, and Ty