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.