Toranomon Tokyo

This is the flag in front of the American Embassy in Tokyo. I took this picture as we passed by in the car. The flag looked like it was waving at us.

Another scene from the car. More gingko trees.

A delivery motorcycle. And even more gingko trees.

There is a little wooden cart on the street. It looks like a food vendor. The vendor probably opens in the evening when there is a rush of people.

Before, During and After Crossing the Street

At the end of the street we ate yaki imo, roasted potatoes.


The man was also selling imo (potato) ice cream, but no one was buying it. It was getting colder as the sun was going down.



When we were eating our yaki imo, I noticed this man. He had climbed this embankment to take a picture.



I also noticed this bird sitting on top of one of the trees.


As people crossed the street, they stopped and took pictures of the building at the other end of the street.


I stopped, too. Here is the picture I took as I crossed the street. See the man way down there almost in the middle of the street? Dangerous!



Unfortunately on the other side of the street, most of the trees were female. Lots of stinky fruit were under foot. No one lingered very long.


Leaves had blown into the middle of the road. This picture was taken in front of the government building.

Ichou Festival Vendors

Besides beautiful gingko trees, there were many food vendors at the festival.


This is yaki soba, grilled noodles.


Another vendor.


More food. I am shocked that the chopsticks were stuck in the food like that. At a wake, chopsticks are placed upright in a bowl of rice that is set out for the person who died. My Japanese students were shocked when I did it years ago at a restaurant in Texas. I had rested them there to take a sip of tea. It was a big no-no.



And speaking of chopsticks. This little guy had cotton candy on a wooden chopstick. He was moving pretty fast so the picture was blurry.

Yakitori Man

This yakitori man pushes his cart out of this parking lot and rolls it down the street and around the corner several blocks. He parks on this side street next to this store parking lot. It is near a train station. He sets up to start grilling chicken on skewers. Yakitori means "grilled chicken". Some men sell yakitori and yakiniku or "grilled meats". It smells so good and it tastes good, too.

At the end of the night commute when the trains stop at 11:00, he rolls his cart back around the corner and down the street to the other parking lot. He does this every afternoon and night in every season. Do you see him behind the blue curtain? He's not ready to open yet. He will open the curtain more when he's ready to start selling. The white lettering on the curtain says "yakitori" in hiragana.