Rainy Season

So; June is the rainy season in Japan. Which just means I have to take what nice nights I can, and dart out to explore as I can. Last weekend, I decided to check out Roppongi on Friday night. The tricky part is; Roppongi doesn't really start to get going until after 11pm; so I would be there till the trains started up again at 5am on Saturday.

Worth it!

I started out in Shibuya. There is a street crossing there that is absolutely hypnotic. It crosses in a bunch of different ways, and all the street crossings go green at the same time.

This means that the streets just flood with people; all of whom are able to get where they are going, and not run into each other. I liken it to when you see a massive flock of birds in the air that can bank and turn without colliding. And then the light goes red... and the streets are empty. It's magic.

I got dinner at a TGIF's, because I had heard that they were something else. This happened, spontaneously...

The rain came sooner then I expected, so I ducked into a bar once I got to Roppongi. It was absolutely the right one; I ended up meeting some fantastic people, and spending the night talking and drinking. You would never believe it; but the girl in the below picture is a scotch fan.

When 5am rolled around, I deposited myself on a train, and got myself home. I even somehow tapped into the ancient art of sleeping on the train, and waking up right before your stop comes! I proceeded to sleep a bunch more Saturday; and the did productive things around the hotel on Sunday.

Then on this last Thursday, the weather got awesome out again - so I ran back to Tokyo. I do really love Tokyo. I had mapped out a route between Shinbashi and Akihabara to walk, that went through Ginza (Ginza being the super high class shopping area of Tokyo).

 This is Ginza

It was good stuff. I ate at a cafe/panini place somewhere along the route... and got to Akihabara with just enough time to play a game of DDR that almost made me miss the last train back.

All the Pictures

Hakone

Last weekend, I went to Hakone. It was amazing. Let me explain...

The tour bus left at ungodly o'clock in the morning. Good: It left from right outside a Starbucks! Bad: The Starbucks was closed. Yeah... that was salt in my very sleep wounds. I fell asleep on the bus. BUT - when I awoke, to what did my wonder eyes did appear? A Japanese highway stop... that had a bakery in it! It was what I imagine a Sheetz/Wawa is in Japan, but a billion times nicer. I got milk tea, a donut-thing, an a baseball sized onigiri for the road.

Our first destination - the Hakone open-air museum! I had not known what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not necessarily an art buff, but when you combine that with woods, and winding paths, and hills... yes please!

 This may be the best picture I've ever taken

There are a ton more pictures in the link at the bottom; check them out!

Anyway; back on the bus, and to the volcano! Hakone has an active volcano that pumps out sulfur and natural hot springs. We made our approach via hanging cart things.

Our card looked like that, but with a dozen tourists pressed against the side.

Magma dome. Made of once molten hot mag-ma. You are reading this in Doctor Evil's voice.

We stopped here for lunch. The local specialty are eggs which are hard boiled in the boiling springs (see above). The eggs end up black on the outside, on account of the sulfur in the water. They looked awesome, tasted normal, and supposedly add seven years to your life. Here's to an underutilized life insurance policy...

 There was a boat ride on a pirate looking ship. We couldn't see much out of it on account of the fog.

Shrine! We ended up at an amazing waterside shrine. The Torii was gorgeous. I could honestly just spend hours at places like this, soaking in the quiet majesty.

Afterwards; we headed back. I was exhausted. My camera was dead. My kindle even bit it on the ride back. I slept well that night.

All the pictures!

Yokohama

Back on the 31st, I headed in to Yokohama - a relativly large city right to the north of Yokosuka. I had browsed some maps, but didn't have a real plan.

(Spoiler: this is going to be a short post, in anticipation of the next *huge* post where I write about my *awesome* trip to Hakone).

Nissan has a huge building, which includes a public walkway. I was heading from the train station / mall towards the pier, and it took me smack dab through their corporate headquarters, which includes live presentations on their new developments. When I got there, there was a woman talking about their new taxi.

Two pictures of amazing architecture. The first one is Landmark Tower.

I knew I was doing a good job exploring, when I found the world's only museum dedicated to Cupnoodles. Sadly, it was closed (or at least not admitting new visitors) - so I would have to return later. I don't think I'm that hardcore a Cupnoodles fan, though...

The Redbrick Warehouse was amazing looking from the outside... but lacking inside. Shops with stuff, and food. It all kinda reeked of location-based price inflation... so I didn't stay near as long as I thought.

Without planning it, I hit nearly every major sight in Yokohama, I believe. There was a massive Ferris wheel at an amusement park... and a ship... and then I hit China town. At that point, I'd walked five miles... and was tired. So I jumped a subway back to the train... and the train to work... and then walked back to the hotel.