:: My Urban Eyes ::
All that I see, and then some.
:: Monday, February 20, 2006 ::
At Long Last, Pictures!
The adventures of Karla and Mark continue, in Tokyo! We were there for two days, here is the first.
We took an overnight bus to get to Tokyo, arriving before six am. We figured we'd take advantage of our head start on the day and take the train to an island just off the main land with all sorts of goodies. We arrived there at seven thirty or eight... and nothing opened until ten. >_< So we spent lots of time walking around ^_^ Here's Mark with the Rainbow Bridge in the background.
Fuji Terebi, one of the big tv networks in Japan, has some of its studios here, along with a whole tourist-trap area. We headed up to the observation deck, and were greeted by the station mascot. The guy in the suit was really hamming it up for everyone, and had a human assistant that helped take pictures. One example of the cuteness all over Japanese culture.
Great views from the Fuji Terebi observation deck. Narita airport is nearby, hence the airplane.
There were also mini sets where you could get your picture taken. This is from a very popular show here called SMAP X SMAP, featuring a band named, you guessed it, SMAP.
The mall had a store named Coca-Cola world--it was kind of surreal inside. I connect the vintage "coke" look with Americana... and here were the same symbols with Japanese written on them, and 50's-esque adverts playing in Japanese all over.
The monorail around the island is completely computer controlled, no human drivers or anything. So, there's no one to reopen the doors if you get stuck in them. Apparently foul are the best way to get this message across.
After that we went to Ohedo Onsen! An onsen is a hot spring, with lots of different baths you can go in. I wasn't able to take many pictures inside, as there are people in various states of undress. I was able to get this though. The river like thing has natural spring water, and it's a foot bath. The bottom has stones of different degrees of, well, painfulness, designed to massage your feet as you walk.
Even though it's an onsen, the modern refuses to hide.
Mark in his yukata, or summer weight kimono. When you go to an onsen or ryokan or hotel here, one is provided for you. They had to yank out a special "foreigner sized" one for Mark, as at six feet he is taller than most Japanese.
More to come later, yea! Take care everyone, I miss you guys!!!
:: Kazen @ Always Doing 5:48 PM [+] ::
:: ... 1 comments
Comments:
so... ::ahem:: did y'all get nekkid? ;-) joking, joking. (sorry for scaring you, karla's mom!). I was glad to see the post. It had been a few weeks since I had contact from you, and I wanted to make sure that you hadn't like... gotten lost or exploded from studying.
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