Japan - Apartment View

Japan - Apartment

Last year when I was staying in Japan I rented a furnished monthly apartment near Tokyo Station that was really nice and convenient. But it was also a little strange because it was in an area that was almost all business offices. So all I saw when I went out around my apartment were people in suits. For this trip I decided to try staying in a different part of Tokyo and rented an apartment near Shinjuku.

I'm staying a the Hundred Stay Serviced Apartments and have rented one of their premier apartment. The apartment is really nice with a cool modern design. The apartment is on the 21st floor with floor to ceiling windows that give an amazing view of Shinjuku.

One thing different with this apartment compared to the apartment I stayed in last year, is this apartment does not have a kitchen, just a refrigerator and microwave.

Japan - Lunch

Here's a lunch I had at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. It was really good, but the one thing that's a bit strange is the food in the lower left corner, it's raw chicken.

Japan - Disney Hidden Mickeys

I went to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea several times while I was in Japan. While there I was able to a couple Hidden Mickeys.

Tokyo Disneyland

Like in California Disneyland, there's a Mickey Head in one of the planets during the que for the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Outside of Buzz Lightyear there's a sculpture of the little green alien guys, on the back of the sculpture there's a Hidden Mickey.

Haunted Mansion

Tokyo DisneySea

In the Mermaid Lagoon area there are several Hidden Mickeys in the wall surrounding the King Triton statue.

Someone had made a Hidden Mickey in the dirt.

Hidden Poo Head

Hidden North America. I think the couple sitting on the bench was wondering why I was taking a photo of them.

Someone had formed a Hidden Mickey out of rope on one of the gondolas.

Japan - Tokyo Disneyland Food

Crab Meat Pizza at Tokyo Disneyland. Pretty good!

Japan - Tokyo Game Show

Recently I went to the Tokyo Game Show, a huge video game expo at the Makuhari Messe convention center. The major video game companies were there to show off their latest videos games.

Entering the Tokyo Game Show

The XBox Booth

Booth Babes

Like at many conventions and expos, most of the companies at the Tokyo Game Show believed that Sex Sells (especially to video game nerds) and most of the booths were staffed with lots of pretty booth babes.

Strange combination of a Star Wars Princess Leia outfit and a Gladiator Helmet. I'm not sure what game she was promoting, but she always had a huge crowd whenever she came out.

Photographer feeding frenzy over some cute booth babes.

CosPlay

One of the other interesting things was all of the cosplay going on. Lots of people in some pretty interesting and elaborate costumes.

Japan - Coolest Van Ever!!

I had seen a web site about these crazy customized vans before going to Japan, but this was the first time I actually saw one in real life. All of those fins have to make the van do some crazy stuff if they get driving very fast.

Japan - Vending Machine

I was walking through Tokyo Station on my way home and I spotted really cool vending machine. It's a vending machine for making your own business cards. There's a touch screen where you can select a design and enter all of your information, then your cards are printed out. All for only 400 yen ($4.00).

Japan - Bike

I've seen this strange bike a couple of times in Akihabara. The owner is always careful to make sure the back tire is rotated so that the graphics is straight.

Japan - Tokyo Statue of Liberty?

I must have taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque. Actually Tokyo has it's very own Statue of Liberty on Odaiba.

Japan - Stair Safety

Japan seems to go overkill on safety sometimes. Here's some stairs that anybody can see has half of the stairs blocked at the top by some construction. Just in case anybody going up the stairs and has not noticed that one side is blocked, there's a little barricade of stanchions and a sign directing people to us the other side of the stairs. And in case someone has not noticed the construction, the stanchions, and the signs, there's a security guard standing there to help direct confused people to use the unblocked side of the stairs.

Japan - Fireworks

Japan - Crime

One of the things that I like about Japan is the incredibly low crime rate. I don't have to worry around get mugged while wandering around late at night taking photos. Or if I was to lose something, I would more then likely get it back.

This photo shows what I'm talking about. I was having lunch at a fast food restaurant. Like many fast food places in Tokyo this one was multi-story. You ordered and picked up your food on the first floor and then went up to the second or third floor to eat. I was setting on the second floor eating my lunch when a group of ladies walked in, went to a table, put their bags down and then went back downstairs to order their food. Not worrying that anyone would steal their stuff.



One extra note, I have two iPods, a Sony music player, and three Japanese cell phones that I'm trying to sell (cheap) if anyone is interested.

Japan - Strange Store Display

I was walking through Ginza and spotted this strange display in one of the store windows. A giant 6 foot tall stuffed dude with a penis.

Japan - Gundam

A couple of months ago I did a post about the giant Gundam being build on Odiba. Here's a few photos of the finished Gundam.

The number of people going to see Gundam is pretty amazing.

Japan - White President Obama?

At the United States of Odaiba event there was a Obama booth, I think for the town of Obama, Japan. People were posing to have their photos taken with a President Obama cut out, but somehow Obama has turned white in Japan.

Japan - United States of Odaiba

I was wandering around Odaiba last week when I came across some kind of big event. So I decided to check it out. Once I got closer I saw the event was called the "United States of Odaiba" and I thought cool, some kind of United States of America event. But once I looked around a bit, I realized that the event had absolutely nothing to do with America. It was a bit hard to tell what the even was for because other then the "United States of Odaiba" signs absolutely nothing was in English. Which was a little strange because usually there's at least some English signs around.

The one English sign I found. "You knock on a jumping door!"
The Japanese sure know how to have fun.

Japan - Baseball in the Tokyo Dome

On Sunday I went to watch a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. It wasn't the Japanese professional teams playing, but part of a playoff of Japanese company teams. The game I saw was between NTT Docomo and Hitachi. What made things more interesting then a normal baseball game was how each of the companies was trying to show company spirit and having the crowd cheer for their team. The stadium was divided in half with NTT on one side and Hitachi on the other, with a little section of normal fans inbetween. Everyone in the Hatachi side was wearing orange t-shirts and baseball caps and the NTT side was dressed in blue. Each side had cheerleaders, bands, and people going through the crowds encouraging their side to cheer for their team. Overall it was a pretty fun experience.

Inside Tokyo Dome.

The Hitachi side of the stadium, everyone wearing orange.