Japan - Obaiba
Japan is home to more artificial islands than any other country (including one made entirely of trash.) We visited one of the islands: Odaiba, in Tokyo Bay.
Constructed in 1853 to protect Tokyo from attacks by sea, Odaiba is now primarily a center for commerce and entertainment, providing Tokyo with an area of liveable seaside. We spent most of our time on the island hanging out in a few of the malls (of where there are many), Palette Town ("the name comes from the idea that, like the range of colors on a painter's palette, there is something here for everyone"), and on foot seeing as much of Odaiba as possible.
The train ride from Tokyo to Odaiba was a lot of fun; onboard the relatively expensive, fully-automated Yurikamome, we cut a fairly erractic path through a cluster of high-rise residential and office buildings before zipping along the underside of the Rainbow Bridge which connects Odaiba to Tokyo. To go from sea-level to the Rainbow Bridge requires the Yurikamome to make a 270-degree loop that you can feel. The experience was more like an amusement park ride than a ride on mass transit.
I should warn you that the first and last of these photos are quite heavy on the Photoshop. Obviously, as you can tell from previous posts, I post-process most of my images until they look the way I would like them to, but the two photos I'm talking about here are pretty much Photoshopped to death, lol. These aren't serious photos and I'm not sure I like the results, but I'm just having fun, so...
whew, Photoshop! The Palette Town Ferris Wheel, one of the tallest in the world (top 10, anyway). It was fun. And high. And did I mention we got in one of the TRANSPARENT cars? Yah...it was like riding in a soap bubble. Tristan got a little...nervous. I can't really say much about that, though, because it wasn't too long ago that I freaked out on that tiny little boat on the Adriatic... ;) I just realized you can't see any of the transparent cars in this photo...
One of the malls we visited. This place was really, really cute, with about a million very swanky restaurants, all of which (as per usual) had glass display cases of incredibly realistic plastic food at their entrances. Since we were hungry, we decided to eat at a restaurant whose plastic food looked like...pancake sandwiches stuffed with seafood and veggies? So, we enter the small, well-lit and sensibly appointed restaurant and were seated by the owner at a large common table directly across from (as in facing) a painfully attractive Japanese guy...just hot hot hot. Oh...and his wife and kid were cute, too! ;) Anyway, we order our "pancakes", which came in large and medium sizes...we both ordered a large and within seconds realized (because we'd been momentarily distracted from our swooning) that other folks seemed to be sharing a large pancake with their party. We're such gluttonous foreigners!! hehe. Blah blah blah, food comes, it's totally delicious, hot guy + family finish and leave (we see them again later, though), I obsess over the tasty meal a bit (what WAS it?!), and we leave to see more of Odaiba. It wasn't until we got to Nagoya that I found out (from Jerome and Lea's friend, Tomak...but I'm getting ahead of myself) we'd chowed on okonomiyaki, the Kansai/Osaka style. Naturally, okonomiyaki is very common in Japan. Sometimes I feel so green, lol. It was like I'd just had a cheese omelette for the first time and had gone on raving about it...
One of the restaurants (color.)
A waiting area in the mall...
I snapped this on our way to the ferris wheel queue. I thought it was pretty funny...these guys are working on a Toyota car exhibit, but it looks (to me) like the guys on the right side of the wall are trying to talk the race car driver down (it's actually just a dummy)...or keep him distracted enough so the guy on the left side of the wall can rush him (thereby saving the guy from a chosen fate of plunging several feet to his mild discomfort.) Trouble is the would-be rescuer's ladder is too short!! Ha. Actually, I guess that isn't so funny given the high rate of suicide in Japan. Anyhoo...
A giant, hungry cat provides the entrance to a pet store.
Is it hungry...or crying over its broken whisker??
Taken by Tristan from inside the ferris wheel car. I hate the angle at which my head is cocked, not to mention the sun is in my eyes, but since there are practically no photos of me from the trip, this one's getting posted. :P
And, finally:
The Rainbow Bridge. I don't really like this photo, so I sacrificed it before the alter of He Who Applies Cheesy Photoshop Affects. I'd love to go back and photograph it in more interesting light...
Constructed in 1853 to protect Tokyo from attacks by sea, Odaiba is now primarily a center for commerce and entertainment, providing Tokyo with an area of liveable seaside. We spent most of our time on the island hanging out in a few of the malls (of where there are many), Palette Town ("the name comes from the idea that, like the range of colors on a painter's palette, there is something here for everyone"), and on foot seeing as much of Odaiba as possible.
The train ride from Tokyo to Odaiba was a lot of fun; onboard the relatively expensive, fully-automated Yurikamome, we cut a fairly erractic path through a cluster of high-rise residential and office buildings before zipping along the underside of the Rainbow Bridge which connects Odaiba to Tokyo. To go from sea-level to the Rainbow Bridge requires the Yurikamome to make a 270-degree loop that you can feel. The experience was more like an amusement park ride than a ride on mass transit.
I should warn you that the first and last of these photos are quite heavy on the Photoshop. Obviously, as you can tell from previous posts, I post-process most of my images until they look the way I would like them to, but the two photos I'm talking about here are pretty much Photoshopped to death, lol. These aren't serious photos and I'm not sure I like the results, but I'm just having fun, so...
whew, Photoshop! The Palette Town Ferris Wheel, one of the tallest in the world (top 10, anyway). It was fun. And high. And did I mention we got in one of the TRANSPARENT cars? Yah...it was like riding in a soap bubble. Tristan got a little...nervous. I can't really say much about that, though, because it wasn't too long ago that I freaked out on that tiny little boat on the Adriatic... ;) I just realized you can't see any of the transparent cars in this photo...
One of the malls we visited. This place was really, really cute, with about a million very swanky restaurants, all of which (as per usual) had glass display cases of incredibly realistic plastic food at their entrances. Since we were hungry, we decided to eat at a restaurant whose plastic food looked like...pancake sandwiches stuffed with seafood and veggies? So, we enter the small, well-lit and sensibly appointed restaurant and were seated by the owner at a large common table directly across from (as in facing) a painfully attractive Japanese guy...just hot hot hot. Oh...and his wife and kid were cute, too! ;) Anyway, we order our "pancakes", which came in large and medium sizes...we both ordered a large and within seconds realized (because we'd been momentarily distracted from our swooning) that other folks seemed to be sharing a large pancake with their party. We're such gluttonous foreigners!! hehe. Blah blah blah, food comes, it's totally delicious, hot guy + family finish and leave (we see them again later, though), I obsess over the tasty meal a bit (what WAS it?!), and we leave to see more of Odaiba. It wasn't until we got to Nagoya that I found out (from Jerome and Lea's friend, Tomak...but I'm getting ahead of myself) we'd chowed on okonomiyaki, the Kansai/Osaka style. Naturally, okonomiyaki is very common in Japan. Sometimes I feel so green, lol. It was like I'd just had a cheese omelette for the first time and had gone on raving about it...
One of the restaurants (color.)
A waiting area in the mall...
I snapped this on our way to the ferris wheel queue. I thought it was pretty funny...these guys are working on a Toyota car exhibit, but it looks (to me) like the guys on the right side of the wall are trying to talk the race car driver down (it's actually just a dummy)...or keep him distracted enough so the guy on the left side of the wall can rush him (thereby saving the guy from a chosen fate of plunging several feet to his mild discomfort.) Trouble is the would-be rescuer's ladder is too short!! Ha. Actually, I guess that isn't so funny given the high rate of suicide in Japan. Anyhoo...
A giant, hungry cat provides the entrance to a pet store.
Is it hungry...or crying over its broken whisker??
Taken by Tristan from inside the ferris wheel car. I hate the angle at which my head is cocked, not to mention the sun is in my eyes, but since there are practically no photos of me from the trip, this one's getting posted. :P
And, finally:
The Rainbow Bridge. I don't really like this photo, so I sacrificed it before the alter of He Who Applies Cheesy Photoshop Affects. I'd love to go back and photograph it in more interesting light...