TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
One of the 331 Surviving “Blue-Eyed Dolls” (Aoi me no ningyo, 青い眼の人形) on Display at Tsuchiura`s History Museum
28 February, 2021
One of the 12,739 “Friendship Dolls” sent to Japan by Americans in the year 1927 – most of them were destroyed during the war (as “Symbols of the Enemy”), but as of this year (2021) 331 of the “Blue-eyed Dolls”, as they were called – a moniker immortalized in a song by lyricist Noguchi Ujo, have been accounted for. This doll had been buried on the grounds of the Tsuchiura Kindergarten.
By Avi Landau
Relations between Japan and the United States during the 1920s, were not moving in a very good direction. On the diplomatic front, the U.S. continuously opposed Japan`s widening encroachment (and influence) on the Asian Continent, and at home there was growing resistance to Japanese (and Chinese) immigration. This wave of xenophobia culminated in the pa
TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
On Feb.11 Every Year- A Shower of Snacks at Tsukuba`s Venerable Izumi Kosodate Kannon Temple ( Keiryu-Ji) - 泉子育観音 慶龍寺 の 年越大祭 ( 豆まき) -CANCELLED in 2021
10 February, 2021
Last year on the day of the MAME MAKI Festival at the KOSODATE KANNON ( KEIRYU-JI). The silver sheet on the left was put up for protection from the frosty winds blowing on that day.
By Avi Landau
For centuries, when parents and grandparents in the villages and towns of southern Ibaraki Prefecture have wanted to pray for their children`s growth, health, safety, and future success, they have come to a temple associated with the Shingon Sect of Buddhism, located near the banks of the Sakura River, in the neighborhood of Izumi, near the foot of Mt Tsukuba. Though officially bearing the name KEIRYU-JI (慶龍寺) – as it was founded by a priest called KEIRYU-SHONIN back in the year 1618, it is much