Category: In my neighborhood (Page 5 of 8)

It must be in my genes. Every Tuesday for a long time my sister and I spent the night at my grandmother’s house. Our mother worked nights and our dad spent Tuesday night working on his dragster. Every weekend we were back at at grandma’s because our parents were bowling, partying or somewhere racing the dragster.

After we moved from an apartment to a small house, the dragster was parked in our garage. It was fun to let kids from school in to see it. Drag racing was not a popular hobby for parents in my neighborhood. My sister and I were never allowed to watch my dad race. I guess I can give my mother credit for not wanting to traumatize us if witnessed him crashing.

I have always loved going fast. I loved the roller coasters at the amusement park near my grandparent”s house. I loved seeing how fast I could throw myself down the slide into the huge pool at that same amusement park. I loved zipping around my hometown on my friend, Cindie’s snowmobiles. I have always like going fast.

I love the logo for the Idemitsu gas stations here in Tokyo.

I love the hair blowing in the wind image. I love the wind blowing through my hair. That’s why I have always chosen the exercise that let’s the wind blow through my hair. In the past it was inline skating.  Here in Tokyo it’s riding my bike. I still need speed.

All over Tokyo, in little nooks in every neighborhood, there are small shrines set up. Often they are in the wall outside of a temple to allow people to worship when the temple is closed.

One of the worst things about riding my bike early in the morning during the summer is this….

The garbage is really bad since it has been so hot and humid.

When I saw this ivy covered wall, my first reaction was that fall is coming. Then I remembered that most of the leaves around Tokyo don’t really change until November. The leaves must have died from the heat. I have felt like I was going to die from the heat all week.

The neighborhood I live in is home to many embassies. The ones I can think of right away are Qatar, Madagascar, China, Germany, France, Pakistan, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Romania and the newest is Algeria. Last month I posted about the scaffolding and netting that completely cover new buildings from view while they are under construction. I was quite surprised when the new Algerian Embassy was unveiled. The details are Islamic which is not something I’ve seen in Tokyo. It is really a beautiful building in a neighborhood where most of the buildings are boring and very much the same.

Algerian Embassy Tokyo

The long narrow entry to an apartment building displays the works of an artist. The entry is open 24 hours a day. This morning, after passing by frequently, I decided to have a look around.

Each of the stone figures in the photo above has a face and looks like the images in the paintings.

Then there was a box of the stone images. I think everything is for sale but since I can’t read Kanji I am not sure what the prices are or how to go about purchasing anything. I guess I would have to go back later in the day than 6am.