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Tokyo/Yokohama 2007 Photo Album
We traveled to Yokohama for Mike's work and visited the Tokyo area.
The Tokyo marathon was underway on the rainy Sunday that we went out sightseeing. Here are some runners up at the
Asukasa loop. About 15 minutes later, there were Japanese "cheerleaders" between the green barriers on the left side
of the screen. The marathon course kind of looped back onto itself at Asukasa. The organizers were worried about
crowd troubles but the rains kept the crowd down and everything worked out fine.
BTW, All of the pictures on this page should be clickable for a larger image.
Here is Mike in front of the Five-story Pagoda at Senso-ji. The picture was taken from the steps at the main hall.
This is the Marunouchi side of Tokyo station. Mike was very impressed with the red-brick facade (can you tell he
grew up in Virginia). The station itself is awesome with the JR lines, the subway, and the Daimaru department store
among the many items housed inside of it.
Yes that is a water spot on the lens. This was the point on Sunday where it was extremely rainy so we went inside
and had a steak lunch.
This is the Ginza Wako Clock Tower in the Ginza district. We walked much of the Ginza area and did a little shopping
(some cherry blossom fragrance at L'occitane... not sure if this was a new release or Japan only). We never did see
the splendor of Ginza at night but the sun did come out and give us a clear shot of the clock tower on the Wako department
store building.
Here we are in front of the Godzilla statue near the Toho Pictures Building. Getting here was quite an adventure.
We must have asked a half dozen people and police officers who had no idea (our lack of Japanese was probably a big hinderance
as well). Finally one of the information guys at the Subway directed us to the Sony building. That was the wrong
building but the lady in the cosmetics section of the Sony Store pulled out a map of the area and gave us flawless directions.
So everything worked out in the end (aside from the large time investment). Erika, from Mike's work, took this picture
and was a willing participant in wandering the streets of Ginza for a while.
Mike by a clock in the Ginza district. He, being a video game nerd, seems to think that this clock was in the old
Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio.
A view of Yokohama harbor and the Bay Bridge from our hotel room at the Intercontinental.
Here is a picture of the Meiji shrine in the Harajuku area.
Cathy is a huge Snoopy fan so she was definitely loving the Snoopy Town stores that they have in Japan (and do not have
in the States). Here is a picture of Snoopy Town Harajuku.
What is orange and white and gets routinely drestroyed by Godzilla? Its the Tokyo Tower.
According to our Fodor's guide, the Tower really is scheduled to be destroyed. It was actually built to serve as
a tall analog broadcast center to television. With Japan in the middle of the digital TV transition, the tower will
no longer be needed after 2010 and may be demolished for real.
Cathy up in the Tokyo Tower.
An ubiquitous Noveans-at-the-Hard-Rock vacation travel photo. This time it is Cathy at the Yokohama Hard Rock.
Here we are on the giant Ferris Wheel at the Cosmo World. You can see our hotel, the Intercontinental, in the background.
You might even be able to see our room if you can figure out which room is number 2005.
Another picture from the Cosmo Wheel. Here is the Landmark Tower, Queen's Tower (A), and a bit of the roller coaster
as well. The Cosmo Wheel is something like 3rd in the world in size with the London Eye being number 1 (we think).
So many gigantic Ferris wheels with all of their claims of being the biggest...
Mike in front of the entrance to the Wonder Amuse Zone at Cosmo World. Sometimes the literal translation is probably
not the best choice.
A picture of the Cosmo Wheel (and the World Porters shopping center) from the footbridge between the Queen's Tower and
the Intercontinental Hotel/Convention Center area.
Dali's "Fantastic Landscape" at the Yokohama Museum of Art.
Mike and Cathy at the top of the Landmark Tower. You can see our hotel in the background. It was too smoggy
this day to see Mt Fuji in the distance. And that is even after it had rained the day before.
Mike on a curvy escalator. This thing is extremely cool looking. It just seems like it would be much more
prone to bind up onto itself than a standard escalator. Plus taking the longer, more circuitous route down to the floor
probably isn't your fastest option. But it was cool and I don't recall riding on a curved escalator anywhere else.
I wish I understood more on how exactly it worked. It imagine it is some sort of cross between a standard escalator
and the luggage belts at the airport. But it didn't really appear to visibly fold onto itself like the luggage belts
do.
Giant bamboo at the Sankei-en Gardens outside of Yokohama.
Mike in front of some of the plum blossoms at Sankei-en Gardens. They were blooming nicely but probably still a
week away from their full glory. The plum blossoms sure smelled good.
Here we are with some plum blossoms to our left, the sun setting to our right, and the 3-Story Pagoda of Old Tomyoji
behind us.
Cathy at the Gardens. This looks like a Thomas Kinkade moment, huh? Either that or one of those
corny Olin Mills backgrounds from when you'd get the family portrait done in 1979.
You've got to respect truth in advertising. This store really was protected by Dalmation. We didn't see the
Labrador. Maybe he was guarding the inside or maybe he was off-shift.
Facing west at Yamashita Park with the MM21 hotels in the background.
A picture of the Yohohama Marine Tower from Yamashita Park. The tower is said to be the tallest lighthouse in the
world.
Yokohama's Chinatown at night. We missed the Chinatown celebrations by one night (we landed in Japan on the day
of Chinese New Year).
The dragon and other decorations for Chinese New Year. There was a shopfront displaying a bunch of the outfits
and decorations.
Cathy in front of the Giant Buddha Daibutsu in Hase. The Buddha is 37-feet tall and for 20 yen (~17 cents) you
can walk inside of it and check out his stomach area.
Here are the Gardens at the Hase-dera temple.
Here is another entry for the Duh files. Please, no bonfires at the Tsuruoka Hachiman-gu. Seriously, has
anyone ever decided to sit down and start roast some marshmellows on the temple grounds?
I liked the look of the smoke rising up in the background, especially with it being a damp rainy day to begin with.
The bronze bell in the foreground is part of the Kenchoji Temple and was cast in 1255. The temple itself was founded
in 1250 and is the oldest Zen temple in Japan. The temple is still active and the monks were meditating and/or conducting
their service while we were there (the doors were closed so I can't really say what they were doing besides chanting
and beating drums).
We spotted this tinted Toyota on our walk between the various Kamakura temples. It is good to know that people
appreciate good tint jobs on both sides of the Pacific.
Mike in front of some cherry blossoms just outside of the Kita-Kamakura JR station.
Here is the Yokohama station from our hotel room at the Sheraton. The most amazing thing is the way all of the
taxi cabs lined up out front of the station. At one point, we counted over 70 cabs (yes, we are a boring married couple).
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