Robot Claw

I noticed the above magnet on the inside of my room door:

I recall the first earthquake I ever felt in Japan was when I was staying in this very hotel about six years ago. Afterwards I went down and asked at the front desk what happened and they just smiled at me 🙂

Today I shopped in Ikebukuro, which has become a traditional ‘first day’ experience these past four or five Japan trips. It started raining and I bought an umbrella, but by lunch the rain had become torrential and shopping became a bit of a challenge!

I bought many things, but they can wait for future posts. I also put a bunch of money into crane games and gacha machines, and the above was my first win (it only cost ¥100). I think it’s a stuffed oyster and I hate it, but if anyone wants it let me know.

And if you’re wondering why I even won it, as I walked past the machine I saw one of them was within an atom or two of falling and knew I could easily win it… so I did!

I had dinner at Sushiro. Once again I had ‘hamburger steak sushi’ which KLS thinks is an abomination but I think is delicious! By this point I was extremely tired, sore from carrying heavy shopping bags, and my shoes were saturated. It was time for a bath, to do the laundry, and for an early bed to catch up on the sleep lost last night!

The flight was tiring and uncomfortable, but the most notable was that ANA now uses Pokémon for their safety videos 🙂

The fruit meals were up to their usual standards, especially the super fresh watermelon and strawberries. I was given two on the flight, each more or less the same.

And then I was in Japan! The above is my hotel room view of Ueno station. I’ve stayed in this hotel before, albeit not since Covid. The entire room is smaller than my bathroom at the Sheraton but I’ll be comfortable here.

I went and ate my favourite meal at an ungodly hour, then spent a bit of time unpacking. I didn’t get to sleep until after 1 am.

But now I’m up heading out to see what’s going on in Tokyo (I’m sitting on a Yamanote line train as I write this). I look tired don’t I? Maybe that’s because I am 🙂

In a few minutes I’ll board that plane and fly to Japan. I’m very exhausted after this past fortnight but I’ve got 10 flying hours to relax and that should be enough to raise my stamina to 200%!

What will I see and do in Japan? Watch this space to find out…

I walked down to Circular Quay and arrived about 15 minutes before the lights went on. Finally I could see some stars! The above shows the bridge before the lights…

And there it is after they flipped the switch. The lights were very bright and vibrant this year, and the bridge looked magnificent.

The crowds were thick and very excited, but my limiters are half-removed and I weaved through the throng effortlessly. I quickly ducked around the quay to see the Opera House from the other side:

You can see the projector beam, which seemed to originate from next to the bridge. The spotlights are cool as they scan the sky and I overheard a woman saying when she flew into Sydney a few days ago they could see them from above the clouds.

The rest of this post will just be a gallery of various installations, at Martin Place and Darling Harbour. This isn’t all I saw, and most of these are animated or interactive as well. There was a lot to see, and I believe this may be the biggest Vivid I’ve seen yet.

On this last pic, fire was clearly a theme this year. I saw several fire installations, and places where you could cook over open fires. I believe there was a fire juggler as well in Darling Harbour, but the crowds were very dense and I was tired so I went back to the hotel.

All told I spent about three hours running around and estimate I only saw half the installations. It’s a great Vivid, much better than last year and possibly the best I’ve seen. I’m glad I was here to experience it.

Sue and I walked Stockton breakwater yesterday, on the north side of Newcastle harbour. This is the longer of the two by about 250 m, although some may suggest otherwise!

That’s the view across the harbour to Nobby’s. The brown water is runoff from the floods of last week, and debris is still washing down the Hunter. We’d been inland earlier in the day to visit an antique store and evidence on the floods was still very apparent, with fields resembling lakes near Morpeth!

I’ve walked Nobby’s breakwater countless times but the Stockton one much less and not for several years. It was very popular yesterday since the weather was nice and many fisherman lined the northern side casting into the ocean.

Many rocks bear memorials, some simple and some elaborate like this one which is engraved onto metal. I remember seeing them in the past, but there’s many more now. I suppose this is a Novocastrian tradition?

Mum and I said our goodbyes (for the 21st time I believe) and I’m now in Sydney preparing for a longish flight tomorrow. Vivid is on, and you can bet I’ll go take a gander after dark. If it’s good, I’ll blog it later tonight!