Japan Day 3 (san)

WEDNESDAY

Today we ventured out to go see Tokyo Tower. It's not that far from our apartment, but its uphill, so we worked up a good sweat getting there.


It's like any major touristy place, lots of tour buses parked outside, and flocks of kids from school groups swarming about in a cacophany of unintelligble noise. On the first floor of the tower is an aquarium, so we decided to check it out. The aquarium was a bit unusual in that the tanks weren't particularly clean, and they tended to be filled to capacity with fish. No trying to make fish feel comfortable in a natural environment here. It's more like, "Can this fish physically fit in this tank? Yes? Good, let's put 5 of them in there then!"


Smile Mr Pirahna!

That's what a vicious fish should look like; black scales, big white teeth, and devilish red eyes:

Don't put your fingers in the tank!


If you have ever had a fish tank with clown loaches, you'll appreciate these. They were by far the biggest I'd ever seen, at about a foot in length.


Don't try any funny business when buying tickets for the tower, because they are on The Special Alert!


We had a nice panoramic view of the city from the observation level. In this picture looking to the north-west you can see Mori Tower on the left, and the little brown building near the swimming pool in the middle on the left hand side is our Azabu Towers apartment complex. The skyscrapers off in the distance are the Shinjuku area. I think the pyramid shaped building is a new temple, there's a nice old shrine in a wooded area behind it.


They had nice viewports in the floor that you could stand on looking down to the ground. I guess the net is in case the glass isn't quite strong enough to hold you. No worries, its tied with string to those ancient looking pieces of wood :)


Here's Charlie, Jerri & Lucy



Debbie and I had to take a picture with this giant peni....er....tower mascot:


When your dog dies in Tokyo, you cover it in epoxy resin and mount it in front of tourist attractions


After the tower, we started to to head on down to the Zojo-ji temple. There was a nice greenbelt along the road where we could really hear the ubiquitous cicadas. They seem to be in every tree in Japan. I had to take a movie so you can hear what they sound like. Turn up your speakers a bit. That undulating electric sounding noise is them. Notice how they overwhelm the traffic sounds from the street. They are loud.


Zojoji has had many trials and tribulations over the years. It was built in the year 1393, and was moved to its present location in 1598. The Sanmon, the main gate to the Zojoji Temple, was built in 1605. It's the only original building left after air raids in 1945 destroyed every other building on the grounds.




These little guys line one side of the temple grounds. Apparently, when a mother loses a baby, she can adopt one of these little statues and dress it, and give it a little windmill. They're sort of like little Buddhist angels.


This tree was planted by President George H.W. Bush in memory of his visit to Zojoji in 1982. Apparently there is also one planted by Ulysses S. Grant but I missed that one.


This is a neat bell on the grounds. I offered Debbie 1 yen if she'd go up and ring it, but she wouldn't do it.


Debbie is so overcome by the temple grounds she breaks out in a rousing rendition of YMCA.


And here's the Temple itself. I wanted to grab some shots of the interior, but there was a service(?) going on inside, and I didn't know about the propriety of "getting my tourist on" inside. Suffice it to say, there were monks, incense, chanting, and a big golden altar looking thingy.


Behind the temple was the Tokugawa cemetery. These two graves were set aside from the others and under watch by a security camera. Is it Tokugawa himself?


I'll finish up today with a nice sunset view of Mori Tower from our apartment window.


Mo Pics