Welcome to my Utsunomiya page.  Here you will find pictures from my travels to Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.  Please enjoy. Utsunomiya is about 2 hours north of Tokyo.  It is the capital city of Tochigi Prefecture and has a population of approximately 450,000.

Utsunomiya is directly north of Tokyo about an hour and a half to two hours by car and about 30 minutes by shinkansen.

A branch of the path.  Japanese fire trucks are small, but I'm not sure if they can fit here.

A new developement in Utsunomiya shows hope for small businesses picking up the slack in the economy. Utsunomiya, Japan has suffered in the lengthy recession.  At least half of the department stores have gone under.  However, this seems to have left the door open for small businesses, which were stomped on by the department stores in the 90s.  This is the entrance to Utsunomiya's new Yatai-yokochou located in the old city center.

This was built on a former parking lot.  Everyone thought the developer was crazy to try and put so many businesses into such a small place.  There are 24 restaurants on this narrow lot that spans an entire block.

An interior of the yokochou.

Exterior of an izakaya.  That box is the entirety of the restaurant.  There are about 10 stools along a U-shaped bar and the kitchen is in the back.  That's it.  Delicious.

A shop owner walking his dog?  Notice the yellow lines and dots on the sidewalk?  These are to assist the blind.

This old storage building looks like it is about to come down.  Amazing that the owner is parking their car in it.  Hope they have insurance.

A florist livens up the streetscape in front of their store. I believe the red lane is for buses.

A shorter path between streets, tastefully decorated by a building owner. His bonsai trees are on display nearby.

A Japanese garden in Utsunomiya.

A Historic looking house in Utsunomiya.

A more modern house.  Notice the balcony above the garage.  Balcony's are common in Japanese houses.  One of the reasons is they provide a place to dry some laundry.  Drying  laundry outside is fairly common in Japan.  However, the balcony must also be a nice place to sit.  American architects could learn from this.

This pedestrian path in Utsunomiya, Japan is the only way to get to a number of houses.  You can still find residential areas like this in towns all across Japan.

Here is a park in Utsunomiya with cherry blossoms blooming.

Another park.

Here is a crazy man at a park in Utsunomiya.

Here's crazy Utsunomiya man enjoying some fine Utsunomiya water.

Here is crazy Utsunomiya man fishing at a local park.  I wonder if he caught anything?

Here is crazy man's house.  I wonder if he rides that scooter.  If he does and you are ever in Utsunomiya, better watch out when you are on the street.

Here is crazy man's house in the summer-time.

Here is his house in winter-time.

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