and mascot memorabilia. In these ways, the mind escapes from the stresses of modern life, particularly by those who lack social skills or are seemingly socially unfit. All this is supported by conventions, summits and festivals held worldwide.
Many popular characters are drawn from Japan’s rich stock of figures from history and religion, who in this modern way are educating and passing on their wisdom about life.
One of the important creators is thought of as “the god of manga.” Hundreds of museums, galleries and theme parks have arisen nationwide, triggering melancholic and nostalgic history through anime tourism guides and “pilgrimage” maps to the actual sites portrayed in the stories, known as “sacred places” or spiritual “power spots.”
A child entertains himself in a room of the Toei Animation Gallery in Tokyo.
Maids (meido) practice serving in a “maid cafe” in Ikebukuro.
Character dolls of all sizes, and posters are popular goods in shops all around Akihabara.
Stacks of newly released manga comics await buyers in Ikebukuro’s Animate store.
A huge Gundam figure is displayed at the Anime Gallery.
A boy chooses a toy from a vending machine in an Akihabara shop.
Kyoto’s Manga Museum has a research library of publications organized by year.
A woman studies a museum poster advertising a major exhibition about Buddha, with antiquities, which includes a popular manga about Buddha’s life.
Animate is a famous anime store in Higashi Ikebukuro.
mount fuji
Majestic Mount Fuji, a dormant volcano for three centuries, stands at 3,776 meters and is visible from hundreds of kilometers away. Its name translates as ”unique mountain,”“an authority” or “immortality.”
Popularly called Fujiyama by foreigners but by the Japanese always a respectful Fuji-san, “the most venerable of all,” Mount Fuji is a symbol of the nation. With its ideal cone shape and the inner forces of a volcano, it creates magical looking clouds and diamond-like sun shapes around its crater. Long beloved by artists, its ever-changing daily appearances also make it a magnet for passionate photographers.
The pilgrimage to worship the mountain goddess or, nowadays, secular climbing, attracts some 200,000 climbers in the short climbing season each summer.
Expansive tea fields against their impressive backdrop in Shizuoka.
The iconic mountain seen from the shore near Kamakura.
Carp streamers (koi nobori) decorate the landscape for Boy’s Day.
An illustration in an anime museum pavilion at Fujikyu Highlands.
A painting on the façade of a hot spring in Yamagata’s Gin-zan Gorge.
An aerial view of Mount Fuji dappled with summer clouds.
A summer view of the Fujikyu Highlands area.
Barrels of saké donated to Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine feature the iconic mountain.
sushi
Sushi consists of a lightly vinegared ball of rice seasoned with wasabi horseradish and topped with raw seafood or, occasionally, a vegetable such as onion sprouts (me-negi) or the recently trendy pickle sushi or even some California avocado.
The classic hand-formed shape originated in the Edo era (1603– 1868) and is now called Edo-maezushi (“In-front-of-Edo sushi”) after the sea waters at the edge of the city. Making this sushi requires a great deal of training and skill. It is therefore usually not prepared at home where other variations might be made, such as rolled sushi (maki-zushi) or cones of seaweed wrapped around selected filling ingredients (temaki-zushi) by family members at the table.
Going to a sushi bar is a large part of the pleasure of this food. It is marvelous to watch the skilled sushiya-san wield his knives and shape the sushi, as he (and it usually is a he) banters with his customers. For classic sushi, home delivery is very practical. Almost every family keeps a phone number for their favorite sushi bar handy for such occasions when they feel like eating sushi or when they need to feed visitors.
Kaiten-zushi, literally “ conveyor belt sushi,” has become very popular because it is a fun way to eat and is very reasonably priced. There is even one place where the conveyor belt sushi is made by a robot!
An assortment of seafood sushi served on a bamboo board.
An advertisement for kaiten-zushi or conveyor belt sushi, on what is claimed to be the longest belt (26 meters) in the world, in a Nara sushi bar.
Plates of sushi are placed on the longest sushi bar conveyor belt in the world.
Sushi rolls with assorted fillings.
Hotate; ebi; maguro; ikura, kani, uni.
tattoos
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