roy in tokyo
continued from http://blog.q-taro.com
From Canada, been in Tokyo since 1987.
Currently working at Thomson Reuters in Japan creating Internet based solutions for retail investors. The rest of the time I'm actively swing trading the Japanese Equity Market.
My old blog is still alive at http://blog.q-taro.com
Sakura at Tokyo Midtown
A bit too windy for hanami tonight. Some people's blue ground sheets were blown all over the place.
The Local Tax Office
This is what happens when you leave your taxes until the very last day. I suppose it isn't much different in other countries. In Japan, you can do your taxes online but some people still like to lineup and do it the hard way.
Japanese Ground Blessing Ceremony
Before you do any construction in Japan, it's customary for a Shinto priest to come and bless the ground to exorcise any evil spirits and pray for the safety of the constuction workers. It's called Jichinsai 地鎮祭（じちんさい）.The photo is of the guys setting up the altar for the ceremony. I didn't stick around to watch it. Before they cleared this land there was a very old & creepy abandoned house that I never looked at when I walked past at night. I was sure if I did I'd see some ghost looking back at me from the window. Below is an educational video about the ceremony. It's over 8 minutes long and really boring so watch only if you're interested in this kind of thing.
Bless your new car at Kawasaki Daishi
Kawasaki Daishi is a temple just south of Tokyo where you can take your car to be blessed and protected from accidents. Temples in Japan can seem like a supermarket for various religious rituals because usually there's a menu with a price list. e.g. pass an exam blessing=5,000yen, get married blessing=8,000yen and so on. Getting a car blessed cost me 7,000yen. Kawasaki Daishi was not as famous as Narita-san for blessing cars but recently they built a gigantic space for blessing up to 110 cars at once.
Take a look at the google map above. The grid in yellow is where they bless your car, to the left is the waiting area for the next batch. The original spot where they used to bless cars was closer to the actual temple about a 15 minute walk away but could only accomodate a dozen vehicles at a time.
The temple building is a sharp contrast to the new mansion they built just behind it. My Roadster is waiting for the first batch of cars to be finished getting blessed. Not a busy day apparently.
After experiencing a series of mishaps with my car right after delivery (speeding ticket, bicycle collision, bird poop, parking ticket etc) I felt it was necessary to get some peace of mind and have it blessed. Since then, all has been good.
