Dog Eaters

Christmas Eve in Osaka, Christmas in Kyoto

Posted on 12.28.22 under Uncategorized

Heading towards Junie Moon Osaka in Minami Horie

This is the third Junie Moon store. The other two are in Shinjuku and Daikanyama, Tokyo.

Junie Moon Minami Horie window
Neo Blythe Cinnamoroll and Neo Blythe Sweet Bubbly Bear

These two limited edition Blythes are highly sought after and re-sell for about twice the original retail price.

Wong Family with the Junie Moon Horie staff
View from the Zentis Hotel

View from the Zentis hotel. Ground level street, highway, and the floor levels of other hotels in the Osaka Kita Ward.

The next morning, Christmas Day, off to Kyoto.

In front of Kyoto Station
Kyoto Station with the reflection of the tower
Yudofu restaurant in Kyoto

Lovely grounds of multiple buildings for any occasion! The street is lined with restaurants like this.

Otani Mausoleum

Junko’s mother is interred at Otani Mausoleum.

Shinran’s Cave

Shinran was a Japanese Buddhist monk in the early Kamakura period. He lived in this cave. In the winter, it is very dank, damp, and cold! Shinran founded Jodo Shinshu Buddhism which is unusual in that monks had no commandments and were allowed to eat meat and to get married — at the time a bit sacrilegious. Since it values rationality and has simple manners and teachings, it was widely accepted among the public in early modern ages, but on the other hand, it provoked antipathy from other sects and often got ridicule such as “Monto (Shinshu followers) know nothing”.

Tree at the entrance of Otani Mausoleum

We have only seen this tree wrapped up for the winter as we only come at the end of December.

Ryoanji Temple (龍安寺, Ryōanji) is the site of Japan’s most famous rock garden.

Not crowded, we were able to sit and contemplate. And try to find the 15 stones…

Behind the rock garden
Ichikawa Coffee
Bacon and their famous fruit sandwich
The sigil for Tempura Yoshikawa

From the outside, you don’t realize the depths that this restaurant and ryokan offers.

Malcolm with Geisha and Maiko

This tempura restaurant and ryokan is deceptively rustic. It’s expensive! We had the full course and as a bonus, a geisha (on the left) and a maiko (a geisha in training) were entertaining in an adjacent room. We heard them playing a game which was accompanied by a shamisen and the verbal prompts: “One, two!”

When they came out, the Yoshikawa staff asked if we would like to take photos with them. Of course!

Fuji-san from the Shinkansen

An hour from Tokyo, we speed by and get a brief glimpse of Fuji-san.


FEAR CITY – THUMPER

Posted on 12.10.22 under Uncategorized

Written by Malcolm Wong; story by Malcolm Wong & Stephen Bliss

Watch the animation of Watching the news…

Koganecho, Yokohama

Posted on 10.28.22 under Uncategorized

Note the Chinese characters:　黄金町. Gold Town, but also the old names for Osaka and Osaka Bay. And the first character is the Chinese for my last name, Wong.

At Jack and Betty theater, we went to see “Okagesamade,” a documentary about the lives of 2nd generation Japanese women in Hawaii. Hard lives and sacrifice for their children!

Jack and Betty used to be a porn theater. The “Jack” side maintains that tradition while the “Betty” side shows documentaries and independent films.

Napualikolokelani danced before the showing! Every screening features a dance performance by a Japanese hula halau.

“Koganecho and Hinodecho stations, and you’ll find around 80 bijou artists’ studios interspersed with a handful of hip galleries, bars and eateries. The shops lining these streets were, for decades, part of an illicit red light district, which gave the area a bad name. After the last of the brothels was shut down by police in 2005, art-loving citizens formed a not-for-profit group called Koganecho Area Management Center and proposed to fill the now-deserted buildings with studios and galleries.” (Darren Gore)

We made a day of it in Yokohama and went to Chinatown to eat dinner. Not sure of the occasion but, there was loads of Cosplay in Chinatown. they were posing and shooting in the streets for hours.

Thumper, the Origin Story

Posted on 10.13.22 under Uncategorized

A Fear City nft project by the former senior artist of Rockstar Games/Grand Theft Auto, Stephen Bliss.

Debuted at New York Comic-Con 2022

Cover art: Stephen Bliss
Comic art: Alessia De Sio
Written by: Malcolm Wong and Stephen Bliss

Hanno & Hidada, Saitama

Posted on 10.11.22 under Uncategorized

After a night at Taishoukaku onsen, we went to look for Koma Shrine and stumbled across Shoden-in Temple. We came across Konishiki, the Samoan Ozeki sumo wrestler at the onsen at breakfast. He is good friends with Pastor Talo of New Hope Church as are we. That was an unexpected treat.

The mighty Konishiki. I will never forget his bout with Yokozuna Chiyonofuji when he threw him off the dohyo and landed on him. To Chiyonofuji’s credit, he was able to get to his feet and climb back onto the dohyo to bow. Not many would have survived being landed on like that.
TaishyoukakuOnsen
A chestnut!
The Men’s rotemburo

We then drove 30 minutes to Hidaka, looking for Koma Shrine. We found Shodenin, first. A really beautiful temple with ponds, exquisitely manicured bonsai, well-kept architecture — lots of nice stone and wood. There were only 3 people at Shodenin — tourists like us — none of them affiliated with the temple. It was a bit strange…

Some of the sponsors that funded the building and renovation of the temple
Wash your hands!
For the children…
Nio guardians

We found Koma Shrine just a little further down the road. There were lots of tourists and lots of ways to spend your money — religious merch!

Komo in Japanese as “Koryō” is the ancient Japanese name for Korea. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most of the Korean peninsula, large parts of Manchuria and parts of eastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Along with Baekje and Silla, Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

In the late 6th and early 7th centuries, Goguryeo was often in military conflict with the Sui and Tang dynasties of China. Its relations with Baekje and Silla were complex and alternated between alliances and enmity.

In the summer of 666, King Yeon Gaesomun died and Goguryeo was thrown into chaos and weakened by a succession struggle among his sons and younger brother. Emperor Gaozong saw this as an opportunity and invaded, conquering the kingdom with the help of Silla by 668 AD.

However, there was much resistance to Tang rule. Prince Go Yak-gwang (高若光), son of the last king of Goguryeo, Bojang, sent to Japan in 666 AD to seek military assistance from the Asuka period Emperor Tenji.

After the fall of the kingdom, he remained in exile in Japan. In 716 AD he was granted Koma County in Musashi Province, and settled in this location with 1799 Goguryeo refugees, mostly from Suruga Province.[8] This territory included all of present-day Hidaka and Tsurugashima, as well as parts of Hannō, Kawagoe, Iruma and Sayama. The area continued to be ruled by the Koma clan until the end of the Kamakura period.

Following the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1905, the Koma Shrine was used as a symbol by Japanese government officials, including Governor-General of Korea Jirō Minami, for the assimilation and unification of the Korean and Japanese people.

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