Quick Notes:
Weather: Cloudy, cool, and some rain.
Zojo-Ji Temple
Tokyo Tower
Senso-Ji Temple
Ginza
All Photos

Well, Seth and I had to go to the immigration office again to drop off applications for our wives’ certificate of eligibility. So like the other times we made a whole day out of it. This time around we decided to try the highway bus out instead of the train. The bus takes a little longer but at least you are guaranteed a seat.

Some sleep before the long day.

After going to the immigration office for an hour or so we headed back to Shinagawa to have lunch. Found some restaurant down a small street that was a soba place (Soba are Japanese noodles). We then departed for the Tokyo Tower which is similar to the Eiffel Tower but taller. It is actually 333 m and since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 m high. As we were walking to the tower we kind of ran into the Zojo-Ji Temple. The Zojo-Ji Temple is the main temple of Jodo shu of Buddhism, don’t ask me what that means. For more on the temple click here. Below is a picture of the Tokyo Tower. See the person on the left bottom with an umbrella (it’s raining) then note the person on the top right washing the windows, doesn’t make sense to me.

The Tokyo Tower. (See the guy washing windows, it is currently raining)


Zojo-ji Temple. I’m at the top of the steps.


The tree was planted by President George H. W. Bush in 1982 when he was vice president.


This bell was casted in 1673 and weighs 15 tons.

We finally made our way to the Tokyo Tower but couldn’t really see the top of it because of the clouds. Hopefully the next time we go it will be clear and we can go to the top. Next on the agenda was to see the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa. It is the oldest temple in Tokyo and one of the most significant (wikipedia). The temple itself is being remodeled, or something, so it was completely covered up. It seemed very large and I’m sure it is beautiful. Below is a picture of the gate to the temple.


Gate to the Senso-Ji Temple

Once done at the temple we saw a strange building in the distance and decided to go check it out. This large black building with only a few portal windows had now markings or signs. We didn’t find out what it was until the next day at work when they told us that it is the Asahi (beer co.) building. Besides who owned the building they didn’t know if there were offices or what exactly was inside.


Walking to the mysterious black building.

Well, now it’s close to dinner time and we need to find a place to eat. But first, I had read in the Tokyo book about Ginza which is a district famous for the clothing shops and the electronics, so of course I wanted to go there. We took a train to the subway then took the Ginza subway to the Ginza station. First stop was the Sony store, a six story building of toys. I’m not sure how large the Ginza station is but it is underground and at least spans 4 blocks in all directions. We just followed the signs underground to the Sony store and was directed right to the door. Problem was that it was 7:15pm and they closed at 7:00pm, so I guess next time. With the store closed it was finally time to eat. So where to eat in Ginza? I found this in the book:

“Lion Beer Hall. Sapporo’s Lion, Ginza’s biggest beer hall, is a good place to slosh into Japanese beer-hall culture. The restaurant upstairs serves German comfort food such as sausage and fried onions. But you can also just park yourself in front of the 1930s mural downstairs and enjoy a beer with the convivial atmosphere”

Sold! We descended back underground and found our way to the Lion Beer Hall. I had something like a flat-iron steak with garlic rice, and it was wonderful. After eating and relaxing we hit the streets of Ginza to see what we could find. As we walked out and looked right I saw this, a five story Mac store. Well, you know what happened next.


Five story Mac store.


Seth updating Facebook at the Mac store.

After the Mac store we went wondering around to find some where to get a drink and with no luck we decided we better go find the station where our bus home would pick us. After finding a map and realizing that we were completely turned around, the station ended up being just one block away. Once we discovered the station we still had another hour and a half before our bus so again we set out to find a place to get an end-of-the-day-drink. With success we found an English pub and had a couple of drinks before heading home. It was a great close to our fun/long day in Tokyo.



Seth thought it was funny to take pictures of me reading the guide book, someone needs to have a plan.

Quick Notes:
Wather: 9C raining, all day
Immigration office
Electricity museum in Shibuya
Yebisu Beer museum in Ebisu
Photography museum in Ebisu
English Pub in Ebisu

This trip to Tokyo was again primarily to go the immigration office. The first trip was to apply for the change and this time was to get the new VISA stamp. Being that last time it took us 4.5 hours we wanted to get there right as it opened so hopefully we wouldn’t waste the whole day. We left the house at 7:00am but still actually missed the train that we were wanting to take. It wasn’t a big deal because there was another train just 20 minutes later. Plus we were the first ones in line to board the train and we were able to get a seat for the 45 minute ride. On the train ride I slept a little but about have way to Tokyo the train became very full. There was a couple times that the doors had trouble closing because there was some many people. At this point people trying to get on would just put their back to them and push their way on the train. I guess it is kind of just understood that this is acceptable because no one ever said anything or acted agitated. Maybe one good thing is that I haven’t had to share my personal bubble with some sketching smelly person. Everyone on the train is dressed up going to work. Once to Akihabara we boarded another train to Shinagawa then took a bus to the immigration office.

Once there we went to the designated window and pretty much walked right up. She took our papers and said have a seat and wait for your number. We had about 50 people in front of us which was not bad at all because last time we had like 250 in front of us. Only about 20 minutes later we were called back up and she returned our passport with our new VISA. All of this only took about an hour which was amazing. Took the bus back the Shinagawa station to get some breakfast and figure out what we wanted to do for the rest of the day.

Breakfast, check. Jams (Jay-Z), check. Playbook, check. (More photos here)

Reading through some of the highlights we decided to go to Shibuya first. Shibuya is home of the busiest intersection in the world. When it is time for the pedestrians to cross all traffic stops and the intersection fills with people. Since all traffic stops you are even able to cross diagonally. I guess this is what they do in big cities. The guide book also noted that there was one of the better science museums in the area. The museum was dedicated to the production of electricity, so we put it on the agenda. But first we went to the Starkbucks overlooking the intersection so we could watch the sea of people.

Taken from the Starbucks overlooking the Shibuya intersection.


Tranquility in Chaos.

After the museum we started our way back to the station but we first stopped for lunch. It was just a random place that pictured some good looking food with a decent price. They had three specials and I ordered the chicken special. It was a fried chicken breast with a sauce that was a little spicy. I think it might have been a Korean style dish. In the middle bowl of pickle vegetables and some potato salad-ish stuff. The cucumbers were good, there was also I think eggplant which was ok, and the third one I did not care for (no idea what it was). They love pickled things here. Of course I also had rice and miso soup.

Lunch in Shibuya

Next we decided to go to the Ebisu area since there was a beer museum there, a rational decision. On our way back to the station we came across Condommania, truly on accident. It was listed in the guide book as one of the quarks of Japan and has hundreds of different condoms. So of course we had to check it out, though it was very brief. The little store was no large than 50sq feet and did indeed have hundreds of different condoms. On our way out we were approached by a gentleman and asked if we want to go upstairs. With different things running through my mind of what could be above a condom shop I quick said no. Again he asked if we wanted to take a look, he kept saying it was really nice. Again we said no. Then the third time I asked what was up there he said clothes, shirts, and pants. So being nice we then followed him upstairs, and yes he was selling clothes. After a couple of minutes of acting like we were interested in clothes that T-Pain (the rapper) wears we finally got back downstairs. Now back to the train station, but first we had a short discussion of where it actually was. Seems like we are constantly correcting each other, because we really only pay attention for about half the time. It is just a good thing that we alternate when our brains shut down.

Out of the Ebisu station we took the Skywalk, a series of moving walkways at least .5 mile long, to the Ebisu Garden Palace. The Garden Palace had numerous shops and restaurants, but we were making our way to the Yebisu Beer Museum. In 1876 the company started and they used the talents of a German brewmaster, for more details click here. It was a beautiful inside, extremely simple and elegant. It was very informative since they had english translations throughout the exhibits describing their history. After the self-guided tour we went to the tasting salon to see what they had to offer. Seth got the Black beer and I had the Cream Top Stout. It was tasty, complex and creamy.

Entrance to the Yebisu museum.

Next we made our way the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography which was located the Garden Palace. I thought it was going to be a collection of different artist but there was only two exhibits displaying the works of two artists. One was a Frenchman and we all know what they are interested in (naked women), so we went to see the Japanese artist’s works. He took famous photos in history and recreated the scene with himself in it. Some were interesting but mostly I didn’t see how recreating a photo was really art but whatever. Below is the best one that he did, in my opinion because he was creative. It might be hard to see but there are three dates on the right: Dec 8, 1941, Aug 6, 1945, Aug 9, 1945. If you don’t know your world/U.S. history Goggle them and see what is significant about them. The last date is on the ground on the left and it is Sept 11, 2001.

Artwork by Morimura Yasumasa

After the museums we were ready for dinner. Referring to the playbook there was a reputable English pub/grill in the area called What the Dickens. Trying to follow the basic directions and the simple detail-lacking map we wondered around for at least hour. Made our way back to the station to start over and hopefully get a better idea of where we were on the map. We found a bigger map and discovered we/I was way off. So we set out again with a much better idea of where to go. At the corner that we thought the pub was going to be it was no where to be found. Walked another block and still nothing. While stopping to take another look at the map Seth saw E=mc^2 on a building and said take a look at that. Then by chance he noticed the building directory and it said What the Dickens 4F. Finally we found it and there wasn’t even an advertisement out side of the building for the place. Went upstairs to a two level dimly-lit wood-accented pub/grill. Ordered a Guinness and finally sat down after wondering for an hour and a half. Thinking that we would get to relax for a while was shot down when I looked at the train schedule. The last train for Tsukuba was at 10:00pm so we only had about an hour at the pub. I had a small pizza and another drink then hurried back to the station. Took a train back to Akihabara then caught the second to last train to Tsukuba. Then got on our bikes, rode home, and crashed till 1:00pm the next day. Also, did I mention it had been all day? Well, it was but it wasn’t as bad as you would think. Thanks Mom for the umbrella.

Me at Yebisu

Quick Notes:
Weather: Beautiful 23C sunny day
Went out to see the Sakuras

Today Seth and I went out to gaze up the beautiful Sakuras aka Cherry Blossoms. They are now in bloom with little white-pinkish flowers and are only like this for about a week. Sakuras seemed to be everywhere from lining the sidewalks, to parks, and in peoples yards. With them being everywhere you would think the locals wouldn’t pay much attention to them, but it is the exact opposite. They have picnics under them, they have parties to celebrate the blooming, and they still even take pictures of them. For example three of the people that work in the office took a short walk after lunch to go take some pictures of the Sakuras, also we are having a small bbq with coworkers on Sunday. With all of this going on I don’t feel out of place at all taking hundreds of pictures and being awed by the trees’ beauty. The picture below was taken from the pedestrian bridge crossing East Street. I ride under the trees then cross the street to go to work.

Sakuras on East Street


Sakuras off of a walkway through a park.

We decided to go the research park at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The park has about 500 Sakuras and it also has fields of flowers. Being a Saturday the traffic through the park was pretty bad but since we were on bikes it was pretty simple to make our way through. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, just perfect considering it had been cloudy all week. Below is part of the 2kM road through the park lined with Sakuras.

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF)

I had read that they had fields of flowers but I was not expecting this. Not sure what the flower is but there was a lot of them. The had a nice smell and were about 2.5ft tall. The interesting thing was that I had no urge to sneeze and had no allergic reaction to them i.e. running nose, itchy eyes.

Field of yellow flowers at the MAFF


Seth and I at the MAFF


Laying down in the field

The trees and flowers were beautiful and I wish Chelsae was here to see them. The pictures would have been magnificent with her beauty in them. The good thing is even though these will change, there will be new and just as beautiful trees and flowers throughout the summer.

After going through the park we started our way back to the house. Since we were in a new area we continued to explore and took awhile to get back. We found a few new stores and a couple of big arcades. Seth wrote a great post called “The Hunt for the Red Popctober” and it is about one of the stores found. Please read because it is really funny. Also if you wan to see more pictures from the day click here.

Well, till next time.

Not sure what any these are, just thought they were pretty. Plus I like using my camera.






Sakura (Cherry Blossom)

Quick Notes:
Weather: 13C cloudy 6C on the summit
Found a used rice cooker
Shinto shrine
Mt. Tsukuba

It has taken me over a week to get this post up, I’m not sure why cause I haven’t had anything else to do. Well here it is and sorry it took me so long. Of course like always, this adventure started with some delays and sidetracks. First Seth and I rode through a park because there was some event going on, then we rode by the pond in the park, then that lead to riding around the museum. While going around the museum we found a second-hand shop. There they had two rice cookers and some pans. We had been looking for a rice cooker so we bought them, but now we had to take them back to the apartment before heading out to Mt. Tsukuba. So an hour later we were finally ready to go to the bus station to find the bus to Mt. Tsukuba. At the bus station there wasn’t really a sign for the particular bus to Tsukuba much less what time it left at. We finally saw one bus that seemed to have the characters of Mt. Tsukuba so we asked the bus driver, and yes it turned out to be the right bus. Problem was that we didn’t know how to pay for the bus ticket and finally a young lady came to our rescue. She translated and told us to pay 700Y when we get off the bus. After a 30 minute bus ride up a narrow windy road we arrived to the little town where the Shinto shrine and the trail head for Mt. Tsukuba was. Below is the entrance to the shrine with two guard statues. If you want more details about Mt. Tsukuba refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tsukuba. Now I will let the pictures tell most of the story.

Me in front of the entrance.


Seth in front of the entrance.


The large Shinto shrine.


A cemetery at the shrine.


Seth walking up to a small shrine.


We felt lazy so we rode the cable car to the top instead of hiking it.


He is our view headed up the mountain. We climbed about 2400ft.

The train took us to the saddle point between the two peaks. We then hiked about 10 minuets to the closer summit since it was getting colder and colder. I wasn’t able to take any decent pictures of Tsukuba because it was so cloudy and foggy. Maybe next time.


Shrine at the summit. 870m 2800ft.

After sight seeing for a while we started hiking down. Yes we weren’t completely lazy, we did hike a little. After seeing some people struggling at the top I was really glad we rode the train up.


Seth going down the countless number of stairs.



Here is a little picture-video that we made of me going down.

It only took us about 50 minutes to hike down, but we were both pretty tired. Maybe next time we will have clear weather and we will do the hike both up and down.

A video depicted my broken spirit.

Quick Notes:
Weather Sunny but still a little cool
Had amazing curry
Bike tire blew up
Explored on foot
Found NM

Woke up about 9:00 and just relaxed for a while. I met Seth at 12:00 and we went to have lunch at Talcali. Talcali is in front of the Ninomiya house and actually has english on the building. Though there was english out front there was none inside. This restaurant is the same size of the “Red” one but with “regular” tables. We sat at the bar and the waitress tried to tell us the specials. She spoke enough english that we knew it was curry, small and large, with rice or naan. Seth order the special and order a tomato based curry that was pictured on the menu. Since we were sitting at the bar we could see the kitchen and watched the two guys cook. There was a large iron cylinder that was three feet tall and two feet across that they cooked the naan in over wood. The curry was amazing. My curry was a little sweet and really creamy. I’ve never had anything like that and the naan was great too. I’m glad that restaurant is just right there.


                 Seth’s Curry                                                         My Curry

The Awesome Naan

After lunch we planned to go to Tsukuba Station then explore and see if we could find the movie theater. Before we left I needed to put some more air in my bike tire since I guess my patch didn’t seal perfectly. As I started to roll it out this extremely loud gunshot sounded. But then I looked down and my tube had exploded. Well great, now I just need a whole new tube. Now being after lunch I figured the bike shop would be open, so we started walking down to the shop. I walked into the shop and I was turned away because apparently they only work on Specialized bikes and not “regular” bikes. So they guy point us in the direction of the “regular” bike shop and we head that way. The new bike shop guy said it would be ready in an hour, so Seth and I headed out on foot. We just headed out west since we hadn’t been over there at all. Walked around for a while and found a Wild West shop, I guess since we went west. Out front, there was a New Mexico sign and it turned out they pretty much only have New Mexico stuff. Mostly Native American influenced items like turquoise jewelry, and paintings. We fly thousands of miles away from NM but still cant get away from it (not that it is bad).


Wild West Shop (see the New Mexico sign)

After the shop we continued our adventure and ended up walking through some farm fields, parks, and neighborhoods. It was amazing how quite and peaceful the neighborhoods were. We also saw a lot of small personal gardens that people had. (Sorry for all the pictures, just thought they were needed)


Farmland


1 of the 20 parks within a 2 mile radius


Neighborhood


Flower of a tree, not sure what it is called

Made it back to the bike shop to pick up my bike and I was unpleasantly surprised that it cost me 2500Y(~$28) to get a new tube installed. So I need to find some tools so I can do my own tire changes next time, or maybe just not try and jump gaps on my “regular” bike.

By now it was 4:00 and we didn’t want to go find movie theater, so we went to the Tsukuba Station. Around the station there is a large 5 story shopping center and we just explored it. We found some really expensive store in there and probably won’t be back there to buy anything. Well, now back to the house to start dinner and probably head to Mt. Tsukuba in the morning.

P.S. we have a smugmug account now from our friends Jason and Tracey White. Go to http://hainesfamily.smugmug.com if you want to see more pictures.

Quick Notes:
Weather: Very windy and cloudy (20-30mph), and mid morning rains
Read about the plasma actuator
Cleaned up about 30GB off my mac
First sushi restaurant
Went to the “Red” restaurant by the house

The ride to work today (my patch is still holding) was much more difficult to due to the 20-30mph head wind, but at least it is dirt free. About an hour after being at work it started raining, but it “only” rained for an hour or so. Here at work there isn’t much to do yet. Mostly because the others are really busy with finishing the fiscal year and starting a new one. Once things get settled I’m sure I’ll be assigned some tasks. Today Seth and I had lunch in the cafeteria and we ordered what looked like chicken, and it turned out pretty good. For the rest of the day I read about the plasma actuator that I will be working with and also cleaned up about 30 GB off of my computer.

For dinner we decided that we needed to have some sushi. We have been riding by a sushi restaurant on our way to work so we figured that we could just try that place. It is called Otaru Zushi and has the carrousel system where you just pick up what you want. All the items are priced between 100Y-200Y, so it is real cheap (this should be an indicator).

Otaru Zushi Restaurant

We picked up a few items and also order a couple of items off of the menu. Of the things that we ordered none were very good. They seemed a little old, but Seth and I both agreed that you get what you pay for. We also said maybe we should just stick with shashimi (piece of fish on rice). I took a picture of the two roles (the two on the right) that we ordered and asked Segawa-san at work what they were. He said they are not the best things to order. The light colored one is a bitter slimy bean called Natto, and the other one is like a dried cucumber called Campio. They were eatable but I wouldn’t order again. Hopefully our next sushi will be better.

Menu at Otaru

After that we wanted to go get a drink so we went to one of the places out front of our house. It was a tradition place where you take your shoes off at the door and you sit on a cushion on the floor. It was really small with four six-top tables and some seating around the food prep area. We thought it was more of a bar but it was a restaurant so we felt that we needed to order some food. They had menus in english so we could at least read a small description of what they had. Since we just ate we order fried tofu and a couple of beers. Seth saw a picture of a beer called Hoppy so he ordered it and I just got the house beer. When the Hoppy beer came the waiter also brought a large mug half full of “water” with a lemon in it. But by smelling it we knew it was sake not water. Wondering if he was supposed to pour the beer in it we called the waiter over. By gesturing we asked what to do and he motioned to pout the beer in the sake. So Seth did and it tasted really good.

In the restaurant there where two Japanese girls (20ish) sitting by themselves and also two gentlemen sitting at another table. One was at least 50 and the other late 20s and they started talking with the ladies. Actually the old guy was doing the talking and I don’t think the young guy had any game. After 15 minutes of talking back and forth and a guy came into the restaurant and gave the old guy a box. In the box was a bottle of whiskey or something, so I’m not sure how he ordered it or what happened. Anyways they then asked the ladies to join them for a drink. Of course they did because I’m sure the whiskey was expensive. So again the young guy was barely talking while the old guy was trying to pick them up. After a drink or two the two ladies just got up and bounced. When this happened Seth turned to me and said, “Well I guess the women act the same here, just use a guy to buy them a drink and bounce.”

During this our tofu came out and it was a large block of tofu fried with onions and chives on top. We both took a cube of it and took a bite. Being tofu, there wasn’t much flavor so we put some of this chili sauce on it. The chef saw us do this and quickly walked over and said “Japanese style,” and motioned to pour soy sauce on it. So we did but the chili sauce was better. We finished the tofu and another beer and then headed home for the night. It was an interesting night and I’m not sure what we are going to do tomorrow.

So my bike tube that I thought I had patched the night before was flat this morning. I knew there was a bike shop just down the street so I inflated my tube and rode down to it. WhenI got to the bike shop I learned that they didn’t open till later. So already a little late for work I just headed to AIST and would deal with it later. I made it to the office no problem and no one even cared that I was late, mainly because their work schedule is really flexible.

When I went to get my bike to leave work the tire was still inflated, so I guess my patch held after all. Seth I rode to the house dropped some stuff off then went to the 100 Yen store called Seria. It is the Family Dollar store of Japan. They had a lot of useful things for 100Y and I got a basket full items for the house.

Tonight Seth and I are cooking noodles and some chicken for dinner. Hopefully the noodles aren’t complicated since the instructions are in Japanese.

Quick Notes:
Weather: Sunny and warm
First day of work
McDonald’s for lunch
International (US) food store
Checked out new stores and parks
First flat tire

Well, today was my first day of work at AIST. This morning Chihiro met Seth and I at the Ninomiya house to make sure we could find our way to the office. The ride to work is really nice and only about 15 minuets. First we ride down a small street for about a mile then another mile along/through a park to the entrance of AIST East.


Bridge Crossing East Street


Map of My Bike Ride to Work.


The morning was pretty relaxing we just sat and talked with Sagawa-san and Iki-san. Iki-san is the group leader, and Sagawa-san is kind of a project leader. Also a side note the “san” on their names is like saying “Mr.” For lunch Sagawa-san took us to McDonald’s so we good get an “American” hamburger. Like everything so far in Japan the McDonald’s was really clean and all of the employees are working extremely fast to get the food out. I tried to order a quarter pounder but got a double instead (lost in translation) but no big deal. I also order the large meal because I have heard before that their proportions are much smaller, and it was true. My large drink (the biggest they sell) was the size of the small in the US, 16/20oz. The large fries were about the size of the medium in the US, but the hamburger seemed to be the same size. It was really good and I don’t remember it being that good back home, or just maybe I haven’t been there in a while. The price of the meal was 700Y so a little more expensive but not too bad.

After lunch Sagawa-san took us to an international food store that sold a number of American items. They had some salsas, tortilla chips, Dr. Peppers, canned beans/chili, Campbell’s soup, and a number of other things. I’ll be going back soon. He then took us to a couple more shops in the area that will be helpful, another market and a drug store. The drug stores here are like a small Target or something. They have all the bath, kitchen and home supplies you need.

Once done shopping we headed back to the office. Seth and I just hung out for a little while until 3:00pm which is Tea Time in the office. At that time the people in the office (usually about six people) break and sit at the large table and drink tea and converse. It was a nice break and fun to talk with the other people in the office. Most of them can speak english but you really have to listen closely.

We left work about 4:00 and on our ride home we stopped at a few stores to check them out. We found a couple of clothing stores, restaurants, a coffee shop and even a small car dealer with a new bright green Lamborghini in the show room. On our ride bike we also found a couple of more parks in the area, and there is actually one right behind our house. The Ninomiya house is in the background and Seth is on top of the climbing pole. Not sure how this pole is safe for kids to climb on, I guess it is for Ninja training. I also got my first flat tire on my bike today after jumping this gap in the road that Seth said I couldn’t. It’s pretty much Seth’s fault cause he said “I bet you can’t jump that gap,” so of course I had to. I fixed it that night and it was good to go for the next day.


Imamiya Park