View From a Hotel Room Window - Denver, CO - June 2008

This completes your semi-regularly scheduled Japan photos

My trip to Japan is just about over. My feet hurt now after walking, and walking, and walking some more. And I'm going to enjoy my strawberry shortcake and wrap up a few things and pack.



In the meantime, it was a busy day here in Tokyo with a stabbing in Akihabara this afternoon. I was never near Akihabara, but it is the electronics area, with a very high concentration of electronics shops in a single area. I think it is rather refreshing to find a place where there is a high shock value for a crime like this. In my local news, it seems like there's a shooting or a stabbing on a daily basis, and no one appears to be shocked any more.

Happy Octopus

This is the standard "happy octopus" sign I've seen around. It was also on a tako-yaki stand at Yoyogi-koen. (Tako = octopus). This particular restaurant is called Tapas & Tapas.

Graffiti, it isn't just in America

Maps like this, though without the graffiti, are common throughout urban areas of Japan. The address system in Japan is not like that of the US, where if you have a street address, you know that #3 will probably be between #1 and #5. That isn't the case here. So these maps show you the area, and the various divisions and their names so you can find your way.

Tamagawa-dori and Metropolitan Expressway 3

The view of the Metropolitan Expressway 3 (center) and Tamagawa-Dori (to the right and left sides) from a pedestrian overpass.

Another random building

I liked this shiny building, located along Tamagawa-Dori near Shibuya Station.

Yoyogi-koen

Walking back to my hotel on a rather round-about route, I ended up going through Yoyogi-koen, which is in Harajuku, near the Meiji-jingu Shrine. Harajuku is where a lot of younger folks with non-standard dress styles hang out. Near the park, there were groups of people singing, dancing, and playing instruments. There was one group of people dressed in Grease style clothes, singing and dancing.

Japanese Diet Building

I went on a double-decker bus tour of Tokyo that went around the Imperial Palace, and into Maranouchi and Ginza. This is the Diet Building.

A random building in Shibuya

This is a building along the route between Shibuya Station and Omotesando Station.

Fugu Restaurants

These are all signs for fugu restaurants in the Shibuya area. No, I have not eaten fugu.

Urban life in Tokyo

I took this picture because I wanted to show the barrier between the expressway and the buildings. In many places along the expressway, there are apartments that are just feet away. Talk about a view! Along parts of the expressways, they have built these barriers to keep noise away from the buildings. In some places, the barrier is a clear plastic, and in others it's this more solid structure.

A store I saw on the way back from Keio University to Shibuya. It isn't often I come across shops with signs in languages other than Japanese or English here in Japan. I particularly like the armadillo sign.

A tree grows in Tokyo...

I took this picture from a bus on our way to Keio University. This is still in Tokyo, but I don't know what area.

United Nations University

This is the front of the United Nations University, where the meeting I attended was held.

Aoyama Kennels

This is the front of Aoyama Kennels, one of those rent-a-pet centers. In the window are pictures of all the cute little doggies you can rent for the afternoon and take for a walk.

Hachiko

This is the famous Hachiko Statue, an extremely popular meeting place at Shibuya Station. In the evening, there are throngs of people surrounding the statue, so it is difficult to see it. But on Saturday morning, it is a lot easier to get to it and take a picture and not have people in it.

The corner 7-11

The corner 7-11 with a Gusto Cafe above.

Dogenzaka Street

A view of Shibuya along Dogenzaka Street. If I were to continue walking straight ahead on this street, I would end up at Shibuya Station at the Hachiko Statue.

Fugu restaurant

This is the sign above a fugu restaurant in Shibuya.

Sweet and Sour Pork

Several of us ate at a Chinese restaurant called Sai Kon Tan in Akasaka last night. Shown above is the main course, sweet and sour pork.

The appetizers included raw sea bream in a garlic sauce, eggplant in a peanut sauce, shark in a gelatin like base, chicken in a black bean sauce, and grated daikon radish. Then there was a salad with cilantro, green onions, and thin glass noodles. It was a bit spicy. Followed by potatoes very, very thinly sliced they were almost grated. Then the sweet and sour pork. The pork was in large chunks that had to be broken up before they could be eaten. The pork was cooked just right, and there was definitely much more pork than breading. Then there was tofu in a spicy red chili sauce served over rice. And for dessert there was an almond jelly, which is sort of like a white, opaque gelatin.

The food was excellent. I meant to get more photos of the food, but it was attacked pretty much as soon as it was set on the table.

Movies

Indiana Jones is coming to theaters June 21st! Gigantic ad outside one of the many entrances to Shibuya Station.

3 levels of traffic...

Please note the street, with the pedestrian walkways overhead, and the expressway above it all. This intersection is just outside of Shibuya Station, and is typical of this area. Many of the intersections have pedestrian walkways crossing over the busier streets.

View From a Hotel Room Window - Tokyo, Japan - June 2008