More giant robots!

Just a small update today, but at least you didn't have to wait three months for it! As promised in my previous post, here it is! (Sorry, no photos of the Imperial Palace today, but I only said I'd try to post them; no promises were made there!)

This past weekend I visited Kyoto and saw another giant robot. Because Japan has a ton of them, apparently.











Anyway, this is Tetsujin-28, or Gigantor, as he's known in the US. He's actually located near Kobe, which is about an hour and a half away from Kyoto. Although giant robots are always awesome, I have to say the Gundam was a bit cooler. And this is coming from someone who watched Gigantor as a kid, but never bothered to watch any Gundam series besides Wing. I guess the people that were building Gigantor didn't think that having him be surrounded by a shopping mall and apartment buildings would detract from the coolness factor a bit...although it *is* pretty awesome that he's also next to a school. I mean when you're bored in class and staring out the window, it must be nice to be like 'Oh look a giant robot.'
I think there were two big differences between Gigantor and Gundam. First, the Gundam was located in the middle of a field, so it was the only thing around, and it loomed over everything else, making it pretty impressive to look at. Gigantor on the other hand is surrounded by buildings, most of which are as tall or taller than he is, so he's a bit underwhelming.
The second difference is that while Gigantor looks like a cartoon (gee, I wonder why), the Gundam actually looked, well, real. Or as real as a gigantic space-warrior robot can look anyway. In other words, Gigantor is obviously just a statue, while the Gundam is actually a secret Japanese military project, developed under the guise of being 'just a statue.' Sure it is, whatever you say Japan. I know the truth!

Anyway, here is one more picture:











After checking out the robot, we wandered around the area a bit more, and found 'Shoes Plaza' which I guess is famous to Japanese girls or something. Girls sure love their shoes...











The girl in the picture is Hitomi, and she was studying abroad and didn't get to see the Gundam, so we decided to go see Gigantor instead. In Japan, even the girls like giant robots!

After wandering around Robot-land, we went to Kobe and did some shopping, and also happened to stumble upon a really big Christmas tree:











The next day, I kind of forgot that I had a camera, so although we went hiking through a mountain path behind a temple, this was the only picture I took:











Water from a nearby stream is run through bamboo pipes to continuously flow into the bucket. I thought it was a pretty interesting way to keep the fruits and vegetables cool until customers came to buy them. This temple had rest stops and places to eat every five minutes or so - so much for the hard life of a 'pilgrim.'

Finally, one more Christmas tree, this time in Kyoto Station:











Now, I don't know if you've ever heard of an Electone before, but it's similar to a piano, except I'm pretty sure they only exist in Japan. Also, they're apparently really good for playing video game music. There happened to be an Electone concert going on, and though you probably can't tell in the picture, all of the performers were Elementary school students - one girl was so tiny her feet didn't even reach the pedals! Obviously, since this is Japan, they were all super-awesome.

Anyway, that concludes this blog update. I actually had a really, really awesome weekend, but I didn't take many pictures, so there wasn't much to write about.

Until next time!

A Sisyphean Ordeal

Feast your eyes on this:











Now, if you know me, you know that I have a bad habit of chasing after futile things. Well, behold my newest challenge: The Windows 7 Whopper. 800 ounces of pure, greasy, fast food cholesterol death. Obviously there was no way I was going to complete this task, but I set out for Ikebukuro no less determined to take my shot at fame.

I guess Japan figured that, since it commemorates Windows 7 and has 7 meat patties, they might as well make it available for only 7 days, thus the urgency that I go today to try it (I only learned of its existence yesterday).










The Windows 7 Whopper does not look particularly large or imposing in this picture, but that paper wrap is powered by horizontal stripe technology - it is deceptively slimming.












Once unwrapped, you can see it in all of its disgusting glory. My first thought was that the one napkin and two ketchup packets that I had been kindly supplied with by the Chinese girl at the counter, who tried and failed to speak English to me, were not nearly adequate if I was to actually complete this endeavor. As such, I actually sat and stared at at this monstrosity for about two whole minutes, trying to determine my angle of attack. I don't know how well the picture conveys the fact that this hamburger was the size of MY WHOLE FACE. Where do you even begin? You pick it up, and there is literally a wall of burger staring back at you, immovable and unmoving, save for the slow trickle of special sauce that runs through your fingers.










Obviously, you begin with the first bite.

Apologies for the finger in the upper left, but it was a bit difficult to wield a camera while also attempting to balance this behemoth in one hand. Not to mention, you know, the grease that was everywhere. Initially, I tried to eat the bottom half first, but once I'd gotten about half-way through, the uneaten top half started hitting my forehead, so I had to flip it over and even things out.










Progress is being made.

One thing that struck me - aside from the burger itself, when I wasn't paying close enough attention - was that the top half tasted a lot better than the bottom half, mostly because of the fact that the top half had, well, lettuce, and tomatoes, and ketchup. The bottom was pure meat, and on its own, fast food 'meat' is about as flavorful as cardboard. Cardboard coated in grease. Which brings us back to my dilemma of having only two ketchup packets. I was pretty sure that this thing, and myself now, were so disgusting and messy looking, that I didn't want to ask any of the store attendants for additional napkins or ketchup packets. Burger King exclusively hires cute girls for this express purpose - it prevents people from taking extra ketchup packets and stealing them for home use at a later date. You know that you look like a disgusting slobbering monster, so you're too embarrassed to ask for help.

After completing the first half, I was still good to keep going, though I was definitely slowing down. About 2/3 of the way through though, I had a crisis of faith, and removed the burger from its paper wrapping to get a good idea of just how much was left, and it was there that my resolve failed. You see, the grease had been pooling inside of the paper wrapper, which in turn made the bun and patties on that side look as though the digestive process had already been begun. If you cannot imagine what soggy, orange bread that is beginning to dissolve and fall off in strands of ropey wheat-product looks like, let me just say that it is not particularly appetizing. Additionally, lukewarm McDonalds (or in this case, Burger King) is just about the most foul substance known to man, and as I had been working on this thing for quite a while now, it had begun to cool. I managed another bite or two before finally dropping the ruined carcass to the tray, nearing defeat. When I tried poking one of the patties with a fork, to at least finish those off and leave just the bun, and the fork was unable to pierce the leathery hide of the burger, my defeat was total.










The taste of failure.

The rest of the Whopper 7 was given as an offering to the Sewage God. At the time, I actually was not overly full, and could have eaten more, but the half-digested remains of what had once been a mighty wall of beef had destroyed my resolve. I also just really wanted to have a picture of unfinished burger along with the caption 'The taste of failure' as that struck me as better than just a grease-stained napkin and the caption 'Savoring the taste of victory.' I mean, I'm pretty sure you can't eat fast food and ever feel like a winner.










Unless you're taken to Beef Heaven by the Mega Mac that is!

I actually got home and had to make dinner about two hours later because I got hungry again. Epic fail.

The Windows 7 Whopper cost me 1450 yen, or a bit more than $15, so if you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment and let me know that you want to read more about my adventures in Japan!

Hopefully I'll have a tale of success for you all in a few weeks! I also have some photos of the Imperial Palace that I'll try to upload during the intervening period. Stay tuned!

The Giant Robo Life

If you ask someone what first thing that comes to mind is when you say "Japan," they will probably respond with one of the following: Samurai, Sushi, or Giant Robots. In the past, people would probably say "Godzilla" in place of "Sushi," but the great atomic lizard has had his place of honor edged out in recent years by delicious slices of raw fish. Well I covered samurai in the last entry, and sushi is more fun when enjoyed with others, which leaves giant robots. Which giant robot in particular? Why, this one:

















To celebrate Gundam's 30th anniversary, a life-size (and fully operational no doubt, despite reports to the contrary) RX-58 Mobile Suit was put on display in Tokyo's Shiokaze Park, on the artificial island of Odaiba. It stands a full 18 meters (59 feet) tall, and at night it lights up, issues steam from various air vents, and moves its head. This is their way of keeping it from rusting in place, while not giving away the secret that the entire robot can move, as opposed to just its head.

Since the main point of my trip out to Odaiba was to see this guy, here are a few more pictures:
From the back:

















Profile view:

















Taking his first steps... And man, those humans by his foot are tiny!

















A close-up:

















One more shot of that beautiful face:













Unfortunately, when we ("we" being me, Ashley, Drew, Koji, and Akiko) finally found the Gundam, it was both raining and getting dark, so unfortunately I don't have the best pictures in the world. I might go back in a few weeks though, so maybe I can get some daylight photos then. However, I do have some nighttime photos of other, non-giant robot landmarks (I know, I know, not nearly as cool) that turned out fairly decent, and so here they are:













First, Tokyo Bay, with Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge in the background (at least, I think it's the Rainbow Bridge...) Tokyo Tower is basically Japan's version of the Eiffel Tower, and the Rainbow Bridge is their version of the Brooklyn Bridge, only larger. Odaiba Island is like Manhattan, except not at all. It's a man-made island, and its only purpose as far as I can surmise is to be a tourist spot, since it has a Gundam, a lovely view of the bay, a huge shopping center, the Fuji TV building, and an indoor amusement park known as "Joypolis." It also has a lot of really nice, expensive looking hotels. You know, the kind that you'd never be able to afford to spend a night in, even if you won the lottery. As far as I was concerned, since it took me a half an hour (by train no less!) to get here, this place was on the fringes of Tokyo civilization, though I had to admit that *maybe* they had some modern utilities when I saw the Gundam. Anyway, getting back to how Odaiba wishes that it was Manhattan, does this particular landmark look familiar to any of you?

















Once more, just in case that wasn't close enough for you to get a good look:













Okay, okay, last one, I promise:













It was really hard getting those pictures to turn out halfway decent, so I'm going to post them whether you like it or not!

As proof that I have friends, and that "Ashley, Drew, Koji, and Akiko" are not all just figments of my imagination, here are two pictures of Akiko (I just kind of forgot about everyone else I guess), since I promised I'd post them for her so that she can use them for facebook...despite the fact that she is completely and utterly computer-illiterate.

Before anyone asks, since I'm sure someone will, she's not my type. And my "not my type" I mean "it was fun joking around and talking with her, but she's not my type." I just posted these pictures here, and not on facebook, because I'm still in the middle of uploading my China photos there, and then I need my first set of Japan photos, and I want my albums to go in chronological order because I'm OCD like that, so there was no way these were going on facebook before I was completely caught up. Which would take, like, another ten years, considering China was three years ago already. Stacy, I'm so jealous of you! I wanna go back to Nanjing!

Moving along, here was a giant globe in the Fuji TV building...I have no idea what purpose it serves, but I want one of these in my future home:













Now, the 6th floor of the shopping center had a "Muscle Zone," which was basically a bunch of games you could play, one of which was the following:













Here you attempt to guide a basketball through the maze. The bars are magnetized, and the poles that you use to hold the ball are metal, so it's harder than it looks. Needless to say, the poor little girl on the left could barely even manage to hold the bar, let alone keep the ball from dropping, even without the magnets pulling the bar in every direction. Not pictured: An indoor miniature version of the "Sasuke" obstacle course - also known as "Ninja Warrior" on G4. Yes, you too can try your hand at being a ninja. I totally wanted to do it, but it wasn't worth the 1 hour+ wait just to make a complete fool of myself. It should be noted that people came completely pimped out in athletic gear for their shot at this, so I was pretty sure that I would not be faring too well with my white dress shirt, tight jeans, and 1920's depression-era hat.
Moving along, we have this:













Now, I don't even KNOW what this elephant is, but supposedly it's a 'monster burger.' All I know is that God intended hamburgers to be round, not square, and clearly consuming something that is in direct conflict with the natural order of the world cannot be good for one's digestion.

And here, we see some wonderful art from some elementary school children...













Oh wait...


















You mean to say that...













Modern art is ridiculous.













This is a tag for the painting on the left in the photograph above. It is titled "Cell phone" and costs somewhere in the area of $250. I will spare you all my rant on modern art, but let it be known that I fail to see the hidden artistic beauty when a thirty year old adult duplicates the work of a three year old child.

And finally, to mark the return of Evangelion to the silver screen:

















Actually, the Evangelion statues were in Ikebukuro, and these pictures are a few weeks old, but I figured now was a good time to post them, since now we've come full circle:

















In other words, back to the giant robots!
To conclude things, I'll just thank Kotaku for the Gundam information, and also point you to this blog for some absolutely awesome pictures of the Gundam at night.

And now, onward to Kobe, and more giant robots! Robots in Japan are like an arms race, once one city has its giant robot, EVERY city needs a giant robot, or it just feels inadequate. It also feels a lot safer knowing that it can call upon its giant robot when atomic lizards come crawling out of the ocean, and not have to always rely on those silly Power Rangers.

This article brought to you by:
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Hello again!, and Hanami

Why hello again, faithful readers! I'm sorry I deserted you for the past... almost two months. Although I actually had several ideas for post topics, and even went out and took pictures for one...well, life towards the end of February and then especially during March was kind of up and down and not exactly wonderful - homesickness, being lonely, trouble at work, other fun things - and I just kind of found myself doing other things (like sleeping a lot) to pass the time. Fortunately, things have gotten a bit better lately, particularly with all the sunshine and the weather turning nice out, and people have been bothering me about my blog, and I was really bored so I figured I'd at least try and write a post. If you're reading this, then it means that I succeeded! (As a slight aside, I actually began writing this in April, so I guess I didn't succeed after all. But, someone asked for a blog post, and so here it is!)

Today's topic is hanami, which is basically "flower viewing." I realize that's an incredibly lame name, but that seems to be the popular translation, and also what the kanji mean, so you work with what you've got. I mentioned this in an earlier blog, but Japanese people love their cherry blossoms - sakura - and make a whole event out of it. Think of it like the Japanese version of July 4th, except instead of getting together in someone's backyard in the hot summer, you get together in the middle of the spring in the park. Tokyo doesn't have many large parks - although more than New York City, or so it seems - and the sakura only blossom for a very short period of time, which means that the entire population of the city (and a good portion of people who took the train in) gathers together inside Ueno Park - since it is the most famous park in Tokyo, though from what I understand not actually the place with the best sakura - within the span of one or two weekends. I unfortunately did not get a picture of this spectacle, because I ended up being fairly busy both weekends during the day. I did, however, manage to make my way there twice, once shortly before prime flower-viewing season, and actually once on the proper weekend, but not until late at night, so unfortunately the only pictures you get are from before the flowers were in full bloom.

















To start things off, here's a picture of the entrance to Ueno Park. As you can see, the sakura tree is looking a bit shabby. Sorry about that!


















Here's a close-up of the same tree. Unfortunately, most of the close-up pictures I took turned out blurry. Usually my camera behaves itself and takes some pretty nice shots, but I guess I got unlucky this time around.

This is a statue of Saigo Takamori, and is a very short walk inside the park. If you've seen the movie "The Last Samurai," Ken Watanabe's character 'Katsumoto' was loosely based off of Saigo. Things went down pretty similar to the movie, only without, you know, Tom Cruise. Saigo supported the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Restoration of the Meiji Emperor to power, but afterwards things didn't really fall into place the way he expected - for one thing, he felt that his home province of Satsuma had been cheated out of some of the spoils of victory. More importantly though, were the changes that the new Meiji government started to institute. Japan had been opened to the West, and the only way they would be able to avoid being ripped apart and semi-colonized the way China had been was to adapt. Actually, Saigo was a pretty liberal guy and supported almost all of the changes - except one. The abolishion of the samurai class didn't sit well with him, though it does seem that he became something of a rallying point for other samurai who also didn't like this idea and, having been essentially appointed the leader of the movement, he couldn't turn his back on them. Although in the movie, Katsumoto and his men are mowed down by the machine guns of the Imperial army as they charge in with swords, Saigo and his men were quite properly armed with modern weapons themselves, and put up a good fight. In the end, Saigo got shot in the thigh and couldn't move much anymore, so he and most of his officers committed ritual suicide, and that was the end of that. Pretty much right after his death, people decided Saigo was a cool guy, and so he got this statue here in Ueno Park. And that brings an end to today's history lesson. My memory's a bit foggy on a lot of the facts, since it's been a few years since I read up on him, so that's why there's quite a few generalizations in here, but if anyone's interested then I'd encourage you to read his story. Though I don't have much of a reason for it, I like to pay him a visit whenever I visit Japan if I have the chance, so if I remember, I'll post the picture I took the first time I met him. The years have been kind to Saigo, he hasn't changed at all.


















Next up is a shot of the temple (or shrine, I can never tell the difference) inside of Ueno. It's taken at a "dramatic angle" because a normal shot looked kind of boring, and I'm doing this to cover up the fact that I don't actually have any photography skills.














In a bit of a departure from the usual street musician action, this fine chap has a puppet playing the violin instead. It was quite entertaining to watch, and he had a pretty large crowd gathered around him. I've actually seen him a few times around Tokyo; I feel like I should say "Hi" to him the next time I see him...


















Another shot of the temple, the next stop on our tour.














You can get your fortune (o-mikuji) told when you visit, and if you don't like how it turned out (bad luck) you can tie it off to get rid of the bad luck. There are quite a few levels of luck, ranging from Super-cool-awesome Luck to being Cursed. From what I understand, getting normal old "Luck" is the best, and getting Super-cool-awesome Luck is kind of "Well I just used all my luck up right there..." but I think plain old "Well you have normal luck, so just try hard and maybe things will work out for you" is pretty boring. I'd rather be cursed, because at least it's interesting, but that's just me. And bad luck is better than NO luck, right? I got an o-mikuji about a month ago, and, surprise surprise, ended up with normal old luck. Yay. Well, hopefully if I keep ganbaru-ing I'll get my wish, right? I'll post a picture of it when we get to that part of the adventure, so judging by the recent state of my blog progress, you can look forward to that sometime in early 2010.














Moving along, we have a shot of the other side of the temple, which I think looks quite nice and peaceful. I quite like the bridge going from one building to the next, I want one of those in my house.














Next up we have the gong. Typically, you make a small offering and then make a wish and ring the bell or gong, and since Japanese people do this every time they visit a temple, you'd think they'd be good at it, but you'd be surprised at the number of people that epically fail at properly ringing the bell or clanging the gong. I don't know, maybe it's harder than it looks. I'd like to give it a try one day, but I'm a bit embarassed, and I don't really know the proper procedure of things...one of these days I'll have to ask a Japanese friend to explain how all of this works.














Next up are the famous torii gates. If you've ever seen pictures of "traditional" Japan, you've probably seen these before. They're quite impressive to see, and can go on for quite a while sometimes (another thing I'll need to get a Japanese friend to fill me in on) although if I'm fair, there are more beautiful and peaceful torii than the ones in Ueno Park.














One more picture of the torii for you all...














And now some more pictures of sakura for you. This picture didn't turn out so great, so be warned in advance if you decide to click on it for the large version...














Another one plagued by the semi-blurriness of the closest flowers...














And one last (blurry) photo of the day's hanami-ing.














Down by the lake of Ueno Park, it certainly seems somewhat out of place in Tokyo. This whole area was filled with matsuri-type food vendors when I went at night, which I unfortunately do not have any pictures of for you. I'll try harder next time.


















One last picture that I took on my way back home. I'm not sure why, but I quite like stopping on this bridge and enjoying the view. Although I don't have much love for crowded cities and skyscrapers, they do have their points of peace and beauty. If I was a better photographer, I could convey this feeling for you, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

As a final word on hanami, I'll briefly detail what happened when I *did* go during prime-time hanami viewing season. As I said, it was night, but there were still an incredible number of people, which makes me wonder just how crowded the park must have been during the daytime. One thing I wish I'd taken pictures of, aside from the flowers, and the crowds, was the sheer amount of garbage everywhere. There were garbage bins every twenty feet or so, and when I say "garbage bins" I mean "landfills in miniature." It was quite impressive, in a garbage kind of way. There were also obscene numbers of completely drunk-off-their-faces Japanese people. I can understand wanting to sit under the flowers, and even having a few drinks with some friends, but some of these people took it a little too far. If nothing else though, I suppose it was an interesting spectacle, though personally I'd want to enjoy the sakura in a bit more peace and quiet. Continuing past all the drunk party I got to the food vendor section, which was quite awesome. Pretty much any kind of Japanese or Korean junk food you can imagine was available for the buying, though these places can be a bit expensive if you actually stop to consider the price...but where's the fun in that? I'll try to take some pictures the next time I go to a matsuri, since they're quite interesting if you've never seen one. I suppose the best thing I could compare it to would be a community fair or series booths at a carnival, but do we even have carnivals in the US anymore? I remember going to them as a child, but haven't been to one in a long time, and I'm pretty sure my sisters have never gone.

Well, that should wrap things up for today I think. Hopefully this blog post will appease my demanding friend (you know I'm just kidding ;) ) and entertained the rest of you faithful readers as well. Once again, you have my apologies for not being a faithful author, but, if it is some small consolation, I did take quite a few pictures for this blog, so hopefully there will be another update relatively soon. Thank you again for reading, and welcome back!