JAPAN 

FEBRUARY 2005

Feb 5th - Tokyo Tower.  Fancy train station on the way to Odaiba, manmade island in Tokyo harbour with fancy shopping malls and other attractions that we lucked upon, including what was the world's largest ferris wheel in 1999

OK, how high did you say this goes?

hmmm...maybe a little too high

Kids play area in one of the stores.

Mall called Venus Fort that is an exact replica inside of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  We have photos of that somewhere too from a few years ago.  The ceiling is made to look like you are outside and it is like you are walking through a small village.

Next to the mall is the Toyota Megaweb.  What a find this was.  It is a huge showroom type place with all of the current Toyota cars, racing cars, including Formula 1, a history garage, memorabilia etc.

Went on a computer driven little 2 seat car ride around the complex.

My daddy could drive one of them...

See.......

I had a turn too!

Riding the big ferris wheel.

This amazing looking building I think is Fuji TV.  The building that looks like a cruise ship is the Maritime Museum.

Went to dinner at what turned out to be a very expensive Thai place, food was good though.  That's a whole chicken!

Feb 11th - Public holiday and so we decided to spend the day at Yokohama, about 40 minutes by train from Tokyo.  There is no break between the cities, just a river separating them.  Yokohama is Japan's second largest city, with about 4 million.

Yokohama Science Centre - had a planetarium and a number of experiments for the kids.  Aidan and I doing the virtual reality dodge the asteroids game.  You can see Aidan going down the inside of the Robots arm on the slide.

Mirati Minnai 21 - a new development in Yokohama.  Landmark Tower, tallest building in Japan.  There is an amusement park right on the water with lots of touristy things around.  We're a bit tired after walking to Chinatown, Mark carrying Aidan for about 30 minutes.

Yokohama Chinatown.  During the week was the Chinese New Year, so may have been a bit busier than normal?  Aidan and Nic eating a chocolate dough ball thingy, everyone was eating these on the street, bought at stalls, most had Pork or some sort of meat in them, but of course that didn't suit Nic!

Feb 12th - Bullet train heading out of Tokyo.  Some tennis practice in the alley out the front of the apartment building.  Will have to upload some after damage photos of the Merc....

Feb 14th - Valentine's Day

Feb 19th - Went to the Edo-Tokyo museum.  Edo is what Tokyo was called before it became the capital in the late 1800's.  Tokyo means Capital of the East. 

Freezing day and the wind was howling through under the building.  The museum is above our heads!  Next door is the main Sumo wrestling stadium.

Spinning thing is what the firefighters had has their symbol hundreds of years ago. 

Model of the old Edo Castle, the current Imperial Palace is pretty much in the same location now.  Nihombashi bridge, over the moat into the castle.  Walking over glass for a display.

Aidan not too sure about the methods for getting water, riding a bike, getting around or making a long-distance reverse charge phone call!!

Not too sure about the neighbours!

This is the doll that Asahi Homes gave us to celebrate Dolls day.

Feb 26th - Cold day again after Wednesday was 18 degrees!  Back down to about 8.  Went to Asakusa which is famous for its Sensoji temple originally created around 800 AD, but rebuilt a few times.

Gate leading to shops and then the temple.  Pagoda off to the left hand side.  Waving the smoke into your face is said to ward off bad spirits.  She must have been 75 at least and still working hard...

Clock at the tourist office puts on a display and we are accepting entries to tell us what the heck this thing is...

Went to the Adidas employee store and bought plenty of sports clothes, then a big feed at Hard Rock Cafe.

Feb 27th - After Aidan's dancing went with a German family from his dancing to a nearby park where they have pony rides and a petting zoo.  The funniest part was watching the baseball umpires all train in unison, all 50 of them.  No photo's of them unfortunately.