Gallery - Images of Japan: May 2023

A selection of images of life in Japan during May 2023. All of the photos were taken by the City-Cost editorial team. [Above] Golden Week 2023 laid on some gorgeous weather in which to enjoy Japan’s outdoors. The Yoro Keikoku Valley (pictured), in the heart of Chiba Prefecture’s Boso Peninsula near Tokyo, offers relaxed riverside hiking between waterfalls and through sleepy rural communities. The distinctive structure, and vermillion color, of the Kannon Bridge stands out in the valley. The bridge leads to the quiet Shusse Kannon Rikkokuji Temple. [Above] Back-to-work mood on the streets of Chiba near Tokyo on Monday after the Golden Week holiday period. A Chiba Urban Monorail trains transports people back to work in the city of Chiba on May 8 after the Golden Week holiday period. The city’s monorail holds a Guinness World Record as longest suspended monorail train system in the world at 15.2 km in length. Japan returned to work after Golden Week on the same day that the government downgraded the novel coronavirus to the same level as seasonal flu and lifted its remaining virus-related restrictions. [Above] Lanterns light the way to an evening eatery in Tokyo’s Shimbashi district, an area popular with the office workers of Shiodome, Toranomon, and Ginza looking to socialize and relax after work. [Above] We reached the temple Kasamori Kannon in Chiba’s Chonan region by car, within an hour of leaving behind the yawning commuter suburbs east of Tokyo. Out in the country, the largely traffic-free roads wander at an easy pace past rice fields and around the small, forested hills in the center of Chiba’s Boso Peninsula. Kasamori Kannon might be an unexpected treat, from the dark stone steps that climb through the trees on the approach to the temple precincts, to the soaring views over the Boso seen from outside the temple’s main hall. The construction style used for the main hall is known as “shiho-kakezukuri,” which to these eyes looked like wooden scaffolding built around the entirety of the large rock or hill upon which the hall appears to sit. It is the only structure of its kind in Japan. Down at ground level, on the approach to the temple’s Niten-Mon gate, is the curious Kosazuke Kusumoki, an ancient looking camphor tree with a large hole in the base of its trunk. You might be able to crawl through it (breathe in). If so, something good awaits, apparently. [Above] Umbrellas were the order of this particular evening in Tokyo in mid-May. On route to the station and home, Shimbashi. [Above] The mercury topped 35 degrees C in central Japan on May 17 making it the first "extremely hot day" of the year, according to reports. It felt pretty sticky in central Tokyo, too. These photos were taken at midday Wednesday, around the capital's Nihombashi district. [Above] The Sanja Matsuri appeared to be back in full swing in 2023. These photos were taken on Saturday May 20, which saw the parading of around 100 neighborhood association mikoshi shrines in front of Tokyo’s Asakusa Shrine and Sensoji Temple for the first time in 4 years. [Above] Yakatubune pleasure boats moored on the Kanda River between Asakusabashi and Yanagibashi bridges in Tokyo’s Taito Ward on May 25. [Above] A Kominato Line train departs Takataki station in rural Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture on Sunday May 28. We had parked up at the nearby dam and walked to the sleepy station, across the tracks and up the hill to Takataki Shrine (below) before descending to the shores of the lake with the same name. More images from life in Japan: April March