Shibuya Scramble Crossing

On March 1, 2025 2 Comments - Japan 2025, Travel

There are thousands of great pictures of Shibuya Scramble Crossing from above so I wanted to do something a little different. I set up my camera so that it would focus on anything 2 to 5 meters in front of me. Walking through the crowd with my camera against my body, I shot many frames without looking through the camera. The result is a random assortment of crooked and out of focus photos but also a few fun candid shots. They look cinematic to me, almost like movie stills. I like black and white for people photos.

Here is a video I made of Shibuya Crossing with my iPhone today…it is not even that busy, it gets much thicker than this.

These are the best of the pictures:

Candid photo of girl at Shibuya Crossing — Even though some photos are out of focus, they still capture the emotion and energy of the scene.

Candid photo of young men at Shibuya Crossing — Young guys looking cool

Candid photo of girls in tiaras and school uniforms at Shibuya Crossing — One of the best shots: three high school girls in their uniforms, wearing tiaras. I love this one.

Lots of tourists like me taking lots of pictures of everyone scrambling through Shibuya Crossing.

Candid photo of smiling young couple at Shibuya Crossing — Cute smiling couple

This girl looks so cool, like she has somewhere important to be.

These two girls in their contrasting outfits with the two younger ones concentrating on their drinks in front.

Candid photo of cool looking woman in sunglasses at Shibuya Crossing — Sunglasses and wooly cardigan..so cool!

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Meguro Parasitological Museum

On February 28, 2025 0 Comments - Japan 2025, Travel

The Meguro Parasitological Museum is a private research facility that was established in 1953. The free admission museum exhibits about 300 parasite specimens and related material. On display are a number of animal parasites and also human parasites. These are real parasites removed from hosts and preserved. There are so many and they are so BIG! There were also several gruesome photos of humans and their parasites but I won’t put them up here. Go see for yourself 😮.

Worm specimens at Meguro Parasitological Museum. — Mostly different worms..round worms, tape worms.

8.8 meter long tapeworm specimen at Meguro Parasitological Museum — An 8.8 meter long tapeworm passed by a 40 year old man who ate infected raw salmon.

This is not a model, it is the actual worm that he passed.

I have eaten so much sashimi over the years and everyday on this trip. I wondered if I had any parasites.

Human round worms. They are big and thick, almost like earthworm size. Roundworm eggs can be in contaminated food, water or soil.

Some horsehair worms..on the left, bursting out of a praying mantis.

This one…In the blue vial, the bottom is an empty tick and the top is the same species of tick full of blood.

Demonstrating the differences between parasitic and free-living species.

How can you eat udon right after seeing that museum?

How did we even know there was a Meguro Parasitological Museum? My daughter is a fan of Nekojiru manga. The Nekojiru pieces below are about her visit to the parasite museum in the late 90’s. Credit for translations to Read Nekojiru.

This was a fascinating museum. It was cool (and a little scary) to see actual specimens of parasites extracted from human subjects. Highly recommended.

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Ueno Zoo

On February 27, 2025 0 Comments - Japan 2025, Travel

I went to Ueno Park to look for cherry blossoms but I was too early. There were only one or two plum trees with flowers so far. So instead I walked through the Ueno Zoo and, as usual in the afternoon, most of the animals were hiding or asleep. It was still fun to watch all the little kids running around in their cute uniforms. They were just happy to be outside in the sun. And so was I.