Today I went to an area called Odaiba – a futuristic shopping and entertainment district. Some amazing buildings, lots of shopping centers, and many very interesting museums.
I took some pictures and videos of:
– The ride on the unmanned rubber tired tram (Yuirkamone) and the interesting buildings along the way.
– Fuji Television building with a sphere inside its structure.
– National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) where kids learn about everything from superconductors, nano-technology, advanced medicine, space exploration, robots and much more – amazingly interactive and informative museum.
– Panasonic building with an amazing display of the electronics of the Matsushita group including a Wii event (yes, I played with the Wii – very entertaining!)
– Toyota showroom with their latest cars, a track with a self driving car and some concept cars
– The giant ferris wheel
– Tokyo Big Sight – a HUGE building for fairs and expos where I ate some lunch…
I still had to go the Museum of Maritime Science but I ran out of cash and honestly I was too tired from walking for almost 5 hours around this mega complex.
Good day 🙂
Very interesting blog about Tokyo/Japan
Came across this blog http://www.wordpress.tokyotimes.org/ and found it quite interesting.
Was talking about all the small differences in culture, signs, behaviors and so on that a Japanese would probably not be able to point out to us Westerners simply because it is so normal for them. This blog though seems to be able to show all of the little quirks that makes this country so interesting.
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Today I went with Max and Anais to an incredible museum – the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I have never seen a museum with so much information in my life. It was actually exhausting to see and read everything but extremely interesting. A complete history of how Edo (Tokyo’s old name) became Tokyo… the typical houses, customs, trading, evolution and a series o reconstructions. Fires, earthquakes and floods constantly devastated the city throughout history.
One interesting fact was that Osaka was the production city and Tokyo was the consumption city…
This museum is a definite spot that every tourist should go to when in Tokyo!
Here are the videos:
Forgot to post this video
This video is on the Kiyomizudera Temple – the one with the dark passage way… on the way down I went through a beautiful cemetery.
Kyoto pictures
So on my last day in Kyoto I went to the Sanjusangendo Temple – one of the largest wooden structures of Japan – over 100 meters long. The name actually means something like 33 spacers in between each column. It holds 1000 wooden statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, one big statue in the middle and another 50 of traditional gods. Many of these gods are “believed” to have represented this or that since there does not seem to be many known history about their exact meaning. Also interesting to see that they are all related to ancient Indian gods. I took some pictures of the courtyard but unfortunately you cannot take pictures inside…
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| Kyoto Last Day |
I found this site with some nice pictures – click here.
The second temple I visited was the Kiyomizudera (“Pure Water Temple). I was too tired to go all the way inside the whole thing but went into a very interesting section of it. You take your shoes off (obviously) and walk down these narrow sets of stairs. Mind you, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to see… I was just following the crowd. What I saw was absolutely NOTHING… it was completely dark and silent. I placed my hand in front of my eyes and could not see them. The path twisted and turned until suddenly there is a large round rock at the level of the eye, illuminated by a single light. On the rock one letter/word/symbol. Beautiful for its simplicity and for the experience of being deprived of your senses for a while and then see only this one rock… the path continued for a little bit and then you go back up the stairs and out into the world again.
After that I walked around Gion for a little bit but the rain was just not pleasant. Took some videos of some interesting buildings and went back to the hotel to get my bags and jump on the train back to Tokyo.
Back in Tokyo
The rain did not relent in Kyoto – the Typhoon has Japan under water – so I decided to go back to Tokyo to hang with Max and Anais.
Went to some temples in the morning, had some lunch and then got the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) back to Tokyo.
Will post the pictures/videos tomorrow… exhausted right now 🙂
This is the kind of day I was looking for
Despite the rain, this was the kind of day I was hoping for by traveling alone.
It did not start well because the Katsura Imperial Villa I first went to see was closed… plenty of other options, I consoled myself.
On the bus to the Kinkakuji Temple this very cute Asian girl stood next to me… we exchanged some glances and then I realized that she was also a tourist when I saw her with an English map.
Turns out she is also traveling alone and she is from the Netherlands. She became my tourism buddy for the day.
The Kinkakuji temple is covered in gold. We had some seaweed tea – very interesting and tasty and also had some tea inside a traditional tea ceremony house.
From there we went to see a Zen rock garden – Ryoanji Temple. Pity it was raining… the pictures would’ve been much colorful.
All of these temple are surrounded by beautiful vegetation and carefully tended gardens.
We then went all the way across town to the Kyoto Station to eat some lunch and get the bus to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Amazing place… My friend left because she had a previous appointment and I went ahead and did the entire trail.
I wish I had a guide to tell me all the meaning behind of these temples. The travel web sites give you only a very superficial explanation of each of these temples.
As I left the trail through an “alternative” route through the woods this lady stopped her car next to me and offered me a ride! She spoke enough English so that we could say what we did and so on. Turned out she was going to Kyoto Station to pick up her daughter who works exactly in front of my hotel! After she dropped me off, I was waiting to cross the street and she comes running towards me with an umbrella and gives it to me as a present!!
So… the kind of day I was looking for… meeting interesting people, interacting with the local people, and having some random things happen out of the blue 🙂
Going to push my luck tonight and see if I fair a little bit better at night – want to see what the local hang out scene is like 🙂 Last night I went to Gion and wondered around aimlessly extremely confused as to what door was what. Many Geishas walking around, many small restaurants, and many “strip” joints… but I could not tell what was what – nothing written in English – very frustrating. Came back home with dinner in my belly and not much else 🙂
Ok… one more bathroom post
OK… one more… very appropriate video being in Japan, seeing all of the “cuteness” that permeates their culture and all of the bathroom posts, here comes a poop training video for Japanese kids… couldn’t stop laughing!
Kyoto – first impressions
Got a hotel close to the train station as it is close to all the buses that go around town. The train station is unbelievable… it’s massive!
Walked around to see the temples close to the hotel (Toji and Nishi-Honganji Temples) but the rain was in the way and it was already late so they were closed. Managed to take some pictures and a some videos.
Hopefully tomorrow it will be sunny… there is a lot to see – there are over 1600 temples and 17 World Heritage sites! Uff!
Some more interesting things – the parking lot locks your car from underneath so that you can pay. Everything is automated – you can practically live off of vending machines – even inside restaurants you chose by the vending machine then pick up your order from the counter. I also loved the truck that opens up on the side. Here are the pics:
Quick Morning Entry
Went to breakfast this morning here at the hotel in Hiroshima and all that was being played was Brazilian music… MPB… versions I had never heard before – all excellent renditions of the classics – So Danco Samba, Desafinado, Garota de Ipanema and so on.
Off to Kyoto 🙂