{"id":241,"date":"2009-04-15T16:38:48","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T07:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/?p=241"},"modified":"2009-04-16T10:28:16","modified_gmt":"2009-04-16T01:28:16","slug":"tokyo-randomness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/2009\/04\/15\/tokyo-randomness\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo randomness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the weekend, I went up to Tokyo to hang out with Ben and Carrie, and also with Tomo when he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t working.  It was sort of a random weekend with no real initial plans.  Ben and Carrie wanted to check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japan-guide.com\/e\/e3004.html\">Asakusa<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japan-guide.com\/e\/e3020.html\">Kappabashidori<\/a>.  Asakusa is famous for the sensoji temple, and Kappabashidori is famous for excellent cooking supplies including famous knife shops.  It had been a while since I had been to Asakusa, but it never fails to interest me.  It is the most \u00e2\u20ac\u0153touristy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d place in Tokyo that I know.  The approach to the temple is lined with souvenir shops with some rather interesting things available.  The temple was under renovation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is this THE year for temple renovation?  I have never seen so many temples under renovation.  Kappabashidori was interesting as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c lots of cookware shops, knives, and plastic food shops.  I find the plastic food fascinating.  We had a delicious lunch at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freshnessburger.co.jp\/\">Freshness Burger<\/a>, and then went to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japan-guide.com\/e\/e3003.html\">Akihabara<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never really understood Akihabara \u00e2\u20ac\u201c perhaps I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to the correct place.  We checked out a manga shop featuring dojin comics. Carrie felt a little out of place as we looked at book covers with a wide assortment of big-breasted semi naked cat-eared girls.  There were only 7 floors of books, but the building was skinny.  We also hit a few electronics shops as well, which can be almost as visually shocking as the manga shop.<\/p>\n<p>For dinner, we met Jin and had a good visit.<\/p>\n<p>Souvenir shops in Asakusa<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_akasuka1.jpg\" alt=\"Souvenir shops in Aksakusa\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yes we can!  Obama-mania has not sold out yet in Japan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_obama.jpg\" alt=\"Yes we still can\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The area around senjo temple<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_akasuka2.jpg\" alt=\"Sensoji\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ben and Carrie look like they are having fun.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_bc.jpg\" alt=\"Ben and Carrie in Asakusa\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We noticed some funny things around Akasuka and Kappabashidori.  I am extremely curious what the heart farting character represents.  Oh, such pretty farts.  It is noce that I can maintain my juvenile humor after all these years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_heartfart.jpg\" alt=\"What is this about?\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also, I think this gas cassette is definitely not a good idea to try to carry on to a plane.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_bombe.jpg\" alt=\"Not for carry-on luggage\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And where exactly does cowgel come from?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_cowgel.jpg\" alt=\"Does cowgel get the blues?\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The symbol for kappabashidori is a frogman.  I thought it was strange.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_frogman.jpg\" alt=\"Frogman\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I was fascinated by the plastic food.  There were several cases of plastic beer.  Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the ice covered cans look great?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_pbeer1.jpg\" alt=\"Frosty beer\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_pbeer2.jpg\" alt=\"Loads and loads of beer\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There was case after case of sample food.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_pfood.jpg\" alt=\"Fake plastic food\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sunday we had no real plan either.  We waked from Shidome to Tokyo Station to meet Kevin for lunch.  We hit Ginza and the Sony showroom.  The Sony showroom is not the technological showplace it once was.  I think Sony has not found the next new thing and is suffering.  After lunch, I remembered the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jaxa.jp\/index_e.html\">JAXA<\/a> (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) showroom was nearby, so what better place to take two space geeks?  Carrie bought an H2A rocket pen and some spacefood!<\/p>\n<p>Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you see them as astronauts?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_bastro.jpg\" alt=\"Astronaut Ben\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_castro.jpg\" alt=\"Astronaut Carrie\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We also visited a display celebrating Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s World Baseball Classic championship win.  I had to photograph Ichiro and Matsuzaka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actual jerseys.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_ichiro.jpg\" alt=\"Ichiro's jersey\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/bc_dicek.jpg\" alt=\"Matsusaka's jersey\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the weekend, I went up to Tokyo to hang out with Ben and Carrie, and also with Tomo when he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t working. It was sort of a random weekend with no real initial plans. Ben and Carrie wanted to check out Asakusa and Kappabashidori. Asakusa is famous for the sensoji temple, and Kappabashidori is &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/2009\/04\/15\/tokyo-randomness\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tokyo randomness&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo-content","category-uncategorized","category-vacations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}