Ride ride ride your bike, gently up the stream...

On a beautiful summer day earlier this month I decided to go exploring by following the river upstream. One of the first things I came across was this national highway project that has run out of money. It seems like the bamboo is already growing up around it... I think the people living directly underneath it must be relieved that the project has been halted indefinitely.

All the way upriver two things were constant - fishermen, and powerlines.

As I got further up-river there wasn't much flat land around. Houses in Japan never seem to be built on slopes, I guess because of earthquakes, but there were a few farms perched on the mountainsides.

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

I've been too lazy/busy, and have got some catching up to do. A montha ago, when my friend Paul was visiting, we spent some time in Tokyo with him before seeing him off. Of course one of the places we had to show him was Harajuku, the mecca for all things strangely attired. We came across Gothic-lolitas, Goth-punks, Punk-Nurses, and Goth-Nurses, all of them too fast for my camera. And then I saw this advert with the ultimate goth of them all - Lord Vader. It was also interesting to see smoker's corners set away from the crowds.

Apart from all the costumed people walking around (some of them seemingly walking in cirlces around the central area just to get noticed), there was a place on a bridge where a few people had set up camp, posing for photographers. There was actually a line of people waiting to take photos of the first two, but I couldn't be bothered waiting and just snapped a photo from the side. There were even some Europeans, but they looked a little fierce rather than cute, and didn't have anyone lining up to photograph them. We did some shopping and I picked up some new glasses (spectacles) for $60. They did the eye-test on the spot with a machine that somehow automatically detected my prescription. Then the sales lady then got me to try a few different lense variations, and said I could pick up my glasses in half an hour. Pretty incredible compared to the $400 I pay for glasses in Australia.

Right next to the busy main street in Harajuku is a very large forested park with an impressive gateway leading to an even more impressive temple hidden in the middle.

The next stop was Shinjuku - city of concrete and glass. The Tokyo City Offices are massive, consisting of a large courtyard complex with forbidding towers rising from the corners of the building. We could go up a glass elevator of a nearby building, and could look out over the endless sea of humanity that is Tokyo. The greenery in the photo is the park with the temple that we had visited. We then went to Ueno Park, which was also big, but the lack of grass was surprising. We had to take a rest on some rocks instead, but I guess with so many people in Tokyo visiting the park any grass would soon disappear anyway. Another surprise was how well encamped the homeless people were. There were several parts of the park that looked like camping grounds with semi-permanent structures nestled in under the trees.

Kendo Armour!

Due to popular demand, here are some photos of my new, fully-personalised Kendo armour. Now the real fun begins!

Plastic Food

No, I'm not talking about food that's been processed a few too many times. I'm talking about the prominent displays outside most Japanese restaurants. Menu items are exquisitely modelled in resin to show the culinary delights available inside. At first it seemed strange to me that they bother with these models when a photo would be a lot easier. But the good thing about the models is that you can see the exact size of the meal you'll be getting, and there's something reassuring about the physicality of them. I also find them useful because I can't read much of the menu!

Hanabi Festival

Summer is the festive season in Japan, and so I decided to buy a pair of traditional "Jinbe" so I can escort Chihiro in style! It really suits the sweltering weather, and is extremely comfortable. The wooden thongs were surprisingly comfortable too.

Recently we went to a hanabi (fireworks) festival that just blew me away. Japan is big on fireworks (you can buy them at convenience stores everywhere) and festivals are no exception. For this one, they set off 15000 fireworks over a preiod of about 90 minutes! The sheer number of fireworks was impressive, but the artisty and variety were also amazing. There were many types I'd never seen before, including some that exploded into special shapes, like hearts, smiley faces, and hourglasses! This fireworks video was taken from my mobile phone which I was testing out.