Robot Claw – Page 293 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

Tokyo Four

January 17, 2019

Today we visited ‘the happiest place on Earth’:

When I was planning this trip I’d wondered if Disney was even open in winter and not only is it very much open it’s also very, very popular! The lines to get in were much longer than I remember from previous Disney trips and the park was every bit as active and busy as a summers day!

Our first ride was Star Tours (the Star Wars ride) which had been updated to contain material from the current trilogy which was a pleasant surprise. We followed with Space Mountain which was significantly faster, darker and more thrilling than I recalled and sent Bernard into a spin! No more thrill rides for him!

No worries, there were still many more rides than we’d have time for: Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, Small World, Tiki Birds, Jungle Cruise and Pooh. As always happens at Disney the hours flew by and 7 hours after arriving with the sun setting and a great chill descending it was time to leave.

Bernard’s favorite was Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, and his least favorite was Space Mountain. For me today I loved Jungle Cruise since the captain of our boat was a young lady that loved to perform (in Japanese of course) and really hammed it up 🙂

And speaking of getting into the spirit…

Disney here is a bit different from in the USA in that there are very few kids. Most of the guests are young women who are more often than not decked out in Disney clothes with Disney accessories and wearing some type of Disney hat. There’s loads of different ones, and we couldn’t help but try some on:

Should we have bought them??

Anyway I’ll put a bonus photo in today’s only-five-photos-a-day Japanese blog series, and of course it’s the one you’re waiting for…

You’re welcome 🙂

Tokyo Three

January 16, 2019

Today we headed across town to the korean part of Tokyo where Bernard was near-overwhelmed by the multitude of K-Pop shops:

And left his mark on the local economy in a frenzied ninety minutes of shopping:

As if that weren’t enough we then – after a brief stop at the hotel to store the loot – headed over to Akihabara where I found out Gundam kits have become so big they now include handles:

That a Virtual Boy game is pushing a grand:

And that the ‘electric city’ still dazzles at night:

Bernard needed a rest so didn’t stay in Akiba too long, and I ran myself ragged looking for games and books and didn’t even enter an arcade!

No worries: we’ll return on Sunday 🙂

Tokyo Two

January 15, 2019

Today was Operation Two Towers, where we visited not one but two observation towers in the same day!

We started with the old one:

Built way back in ’58, this now-iconic structure is the second tallest in Japan. It wasn’t busy and half the viewing platform was closed (for 2+ years so far!) but nonetheless we enjoyed the view from the main deck which is ~150 m from the ground. We sent postcards from a postbox that has a custom postmark, but later found out we hadn’t put enough postage on so who can say if they will arrive :<

We then crossed the city – pausing briefly in Asakusa for a little tourist gawking in light rain – and then head to the now famous – and much newer – Skytree:

This is by far the highest structure in japan and the second highest on earth. It towers over the surrounding area and as we approached from the street we were dazzled by the height.

We ascended to the principle observatory at 350 m, then further still to the higher (and more expensive) one at a staggering 450 m. We were very literally above the clouds, as we were looking at the rain on parts of Tokyo from above.

And then… this happened:

It didn’t take long for word to spread and very quickly the entire gallery was on the same side snapping photos of the rainbow 🙂

Skytree is great. It’s almost certainly the premiere observation tower in the world and the views are extraordinary. If you visit Tokyo, be sure to go up and see for yourself!

Tomorrow it’s time to descend into mania once again and visit Akihabara…