Remembering Japan Winter Trip 2007: My Hometown Atsugi & Woodblock Print Exibit in Takasaki

Atsugi City.



Walking through "Ichiban Gai (street)," still quiet in the morning light.







The same old Cafe Chat Noir, which I frequented with my sister, Taeko, and other friends. My favorite was their coffee jelly with syrup and whipped cream. Mr. Donut, another favorite of ours, is just a few shops off to the left.





I must have walked through this station thousands of times for school, shopping, and dance lessons.



A sushi shop Taeko and I dropped by.



Sagami River. I remember the fireworks.



Taeko's faithful dog "Pepper" awaits his master and her guest.



Warm welcome by Pepper and Momo-chan.



Pepper, soon to be 15 years old, always sleeps with me when I stay over. Hang in there.



"Osuwari (Sit)" for a biscuit.



Romeo, you and I should get to know each other better. You don't seem to trust me completely. Nor do I trust you.



"I am kept in this crate while my master works during the day because I have destroyed the lawn in her yard. I am a Saluki from Egypt and love to run like a horse."



My friend of 40+ years.






Now I am in Takasaki to see "Joshuu (old name for Gunma) Ukiyoe (woodblock print) Ten (exhibit)" at Gunma Prefecture Museum of History.





Nikko Kegon no Taki (Kegon Waterfalls), which I visited during my Summer 2010 trip.



View of Shinmachi from the series "The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō" by Ando Hiroshige.



View of Takasaki from the same series.


View of Lake Haruna at the foot of Mt. Haruna (one of three mountains in Gunma and famous for Ikaho hot spring) by Hiroshige.


I believe this figure was of the Joshuu hero Nitta Yoshisada (1301-1338), "Japanese warrior whose support of the imperial restoration of the emperor Go-Daigo was crucial in destroying the Kamakura shogunate, the military dictatorship that governed Japan from 1192 until 1333. The ultimate defeat of Nitta resulted in the end of the imperial restoration and the rise to power of the Ashikaga family, which dominated Japan from 1338 to 1573" (from the Encyclopædia Britannica).