Towering iron

I happened by both the 東京タワー (Tokyo Tower) and the 東京ドーム (Tokyo Dome) today.

I didn’t have my camera with me…so I took a few photos with my 携帯電話のカメラ (cell-phone camera):

Ferris wheel at Tokyo Dome City

秋分の日

Yesterday was a Japanese holiday, 秋分の日 (Autumn Equinox)…so we all had the day off.

Both the 秋分の日 (Autumn Equinox) and 春分の日 (Spring Equinox) are holidays in Japan. Japanese people pay a visit to their family grave on these holidays.
(See my FAQ here to read about Japan’s holidays).

After we went to our family grave site, we decided to go to the Tokyo Dome City amusement park because we still had ride tickets from our last visit there.

I agreed to ride on the big, wild roller-coaster with my kids.

I’ll never do that again! I used to really like roller-coasters when I was my kids’ ages…but I’ve decided that I don’t like them anymore!

I thought I’d be able to take a video of the ride…but the amusement park staff wouldn’t let me bring my camera on the ride. It’s just as well…I couldn’t have been able to use my camera since both of my hands were holding the handrail on the roller-coaster with a deathgrip for the entire ride!

(But last month I took a video of this roller-coaster while I was standing safely on the ground. It’s on this post).

After the amusement park, we walked to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine).

This is a video of the shrine’s entrance:

Nezu Shrine has a row of over 150 Torii Gates.

Here’s a video I took while walking under all of the 鳥居 (Torii Gates):

Here’s the rest of them:

A few more videos of the shrine:

From there we walked to 上野 (Ueno) and went to some temples, the park, and a few stores around there.

We found this small 蝉 (cicada):

We had dinner in an 居酒屋 (Japanese izakaya restaurant).

We went home from 上野駅 (Ueno Train Station)…and walked past the Hard Rock Cafe, Uyeno-eki Tokyo.

Here’s a video I took walking to the entrance of 上野駅 (Ueno train station):

コンクール

My oldest daughter plays the trumpet in her Jr. High brass band.

Today her school’s brass band participated in the annual 東京都中学校吹奏楽コンクール (Metropolitan Tokyo Junior High School Brass Band Competition).

She did excellent!

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After that, we went to 東京ドームシティ (Tokyo Dome City).

It’s an amusement park and shopping center next to the Tokyo Dome (which is the home to the Tokyo Giants baseball team. And many concerts and events are held here, too) and the very tall “Tokyo Dome Hotel“.

Here’s a short video of the area behind the Tokyo Dome:

And here’s another short video I took while looking out a window in the shopping center:

When I walked past the Kentucky Fried Chicken there, I noticed the Col. Sanders statue out front.

“KFC” (or 「ケンタッキー」 (“Kentucky”) as it’s known here) in Japan usually have a near life-size statue of Col. Sanders out front. He is often dressed to fit the current season.

Here’s a picture of him from last X-mas:

And here he is today (he’s wearing a Japanese 半被 (Happi coat)…which is a common sight at Japanese summer festivals):

Tokyo Dome City has a few food courts. At lunchtime, we went to the smallest one and ate at an excellent bread shop.

Here’s a short view of that food court:

The “McDonalds” that you can see in that video gets pretty crowded. So they have something I’ve never seen before…for customers who want their food for “Take out” can go through the “Walk Thru Gate” (as opposed to a “Drive Thru”). I was also surprised that the sign for it was written in English:

There’s a wild roller-coaster ride at the Tokyo Dome City that goes through a building.

Here’s a video of it:

In alot of restaurants in Japan, there’s a display out from that shows realistic, plastic models of the menu items.

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Yesterday it stormed real hard and there was flash flooding.

Parts of the Tokyo sewage system became flooding and six workers were sent to repair it.

The current was so strong that they got washed away. One man escaped to safety, but two men have been confirmed dead.

The other three are missing, as of today, and feared dead.

When we left Tokyo Dome City today, we walked past 神田川 (Kanda River) on the way to the train station. As we did, we saw the Tokyo Fire Department and Police divers searching the river for the three missing men.

It’d be a miracle…but I hope they find them alive.

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Japan has vending machines that sell nearly anything!

From vending machines here, you can get rice, beer, cigarettes, flowers, eggs, candy, cola, tea, coffee (hot or cold), magazines, newspapers, stamps, condoms, underwear, telephone cards, train tickets, bread, etc, etc…

Here’s an 傘の自動販売機 (umbrella vending machine):

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Today my 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass) expired, so I had to get a new one.

When I first came to Japan, the train lines sold 磁気定期券 (Magnetic monthly train passes).

(This photo is from “JR East”‘s website. It’s not a photo of an actual pass…the name on it is “Tarou Higashinihon (East-Japan)”).

This pass would be inserted into the ticket gate like a regular ticket (and it would come out the other side). The customer would pay for either a one-month, three-month, or a six-month pass between any two stations. Then it could be used between those stations as many times as the owner of the pass wished…until the expiration date (at which it had to be renewed). The three and six month passes offered a greater discount.

If the pass owner went past either of the two stations on the pass, he would pay the fare difference in cash.

But a few years ago, Japan introduced a new Intregrated Circuit (I.C.) card (some countries call it a “smart card”).

The one’s issued by the main train line are green and called “SUICA“. Other train lines, subway lines, and bus companies all use the pink “PASMO” card.

The two are interchangeable…meaning either card can be used to pay for JR train lines, other train lines, subways, buses, as well as some vending machines and shops and restaurants near train and subway stations.

The SUICA card:

This card can be charged at station machines and used by swiping it at the train or store or vending machine sensors.

It doesn’t even need to be removed from your wallet.

But it can also be used, as I do, as a 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass). In the same way as the magnetic train pass that I mentioned above, this card can have a 1, 3 or 6 month pass between two stations.

What makes it better is that it can be quickly swiped as you enter the station and if you go past either of the two stations…it takes the fare balance from the funds that the card owner charged it with.

The 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass):

(Once again, this pic is from J.R.’s website)

It’s called “Suica” for a few reasons…スイ (“Sui”) is kinda like “swish” in English. A swiping sound. And カ (ka (or “ca”)) can be easily seen by Japanese as an obvious abbreviation for カード (card). Also, スイカ (Suika) means “watermelon” in Japanese…and the design on the card is train tracks in a circular pattern on a green background. It looks like a watermelon logo.

On the card, the name “Suica” is written with the “ic” a different color…because it’s an “IC” card.

Get it?

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At the subway station, I saw this advertisement for the 「東京マラソン２００９」 (Tokyo Marathon 2009):

It reminded me of “SF Runner“, so I took a picture of it so he could see it.