Autumn has arrived.
After the hottest summer on record the heat has broken and it is finally bearable to head outside. We went down to the “beach” again and for the first time ever there was a sunbaker. If anyone can remember that old lady from the movie Something about Mary then they will have an appreciation of what this guy actually looked like.

The picture contains the old fort (over 200 years old), the newish Rainbow bridge and the guy who’s age fell in between the two.

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Is this Nirvana?
At the end of another hot week in Tokyo what better way to deal with the heat than to head to the “Ebisu garden place” where the headquarters of Sapporo breweries are located along with the Yebisu beer museum. Entrance to the museum is free but they charge for beer tasting.




This area of Tokyo, and its community, was built around the brewery in the early 1900’s. Prior to being redeveloped a brewery stood on this site and the station was built for the sole purpose of distributing beer. Can there be any better reason for a community to exist?

When the site was redeveloped Sapporo beer built a “beer hall” (remember nama biiru onegai shimasu – draught beer please) and the Japanese interpretation of German beer hall food (think sauerkraut, bratwurst and frankfurters and you would have described the main stays of the menu). What better way to spend an afternoon when the temperatures are high than to sit in the shade and drink beer?


There is also a large department store and a huge roof covering an outdoor courtyard which, on this day, had floating flower arrangements on the waterfalls.


One of the stranger sites was this reproduction of a European manor house.

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Thin building
How do you get rooms big enough to live in when the building is this wide?



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Imperial fish
I was walking around the Imperial Palace grounds and looked down a steep grass slope and see these fish. I have this funny feeling that I would be arrested if I went anywhere near them.

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Tokyo Dome amusement park
After a short 20 minute subway ride from our house you emerge from the subway and, while still in the middle of the Tokyo, are right in the middle of the Tokyo Dome amusement park. Just across the road from the amusement park is the Tokyo dome which is home of one of the Tokyo baseball teams.


The attraction that draws your attention straight away is the roller coaster called the “Thunder dolphin” which has the added feature of the track going through part of a building and the middle of a ferris wheel.



The ferris wheel is known as the Big O and is hubless (allowing the roller coaster to go through the middle of it). A 20 minute ride on the ferris wheel gives you a great view of the area surrounding the dome.
 
There are also the normal attractions like merry-go-rounds and a special log ride.

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Escaping the heat (well almost).
On the weekend we decided to drive to the mountains to try and escape the summer heat for at least a day. It has now officially been declared the hottest summer ever in Tokyo (and Japan) with the temperature in the last 16 days never falling below 27 degrees Celsius (even at night). It turned out that everyone had the same idea and the expressway out of town was bumper to bumper. Over the day we drove for seven hours and covered less than 150 kilometres. Unfortunately the cunning plan also failed. When we hopped out of the car there was a strategically placed temperature gauge that said it was 34 degrees. No escape from the heat at all.


The place that we chose was the Okutama dam to the west of Tokyo.  


The dam is located in the steep, cedar wooded hills, but the water (when you consider your within 80 kilometres of Tokyo), is the most amazing glacial colour. There were also large black bass and some trout cruising around in the no fishing section near the dam wall.  


The park near the dam was beautifully maintained with gravel walkways and shaped pine trees.



The car park took advantage of the weather with solar panels making up the roof.


Though there appeared to be some steps from the carpark to nowhere.


But, even with all of the heat, it was great just to get out of Tokyo and have an uninterrupted view of green.

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Its, a new car...
After a year in Japan it was time to get a car, especially a car with an English navigation system. Having now seen a lot of the things in Tokyo that are of interest the car allows for more exploration of the Japanese country side.



One of the interesting things I was reading while trying to get up to speed on driving in Japan was contained in the 2010 "Living in Japan" book that provided the advice that "When you see senior citizens driving pay attention. They are known to cause many trafic accidents due to their advanced age." I best watch out.

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I asked for one with the lot...
maybe something was lost in translation...

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Azabu Juban festival 2010
It’s come around again, time to go and take in the sights and sounds of the annual Azabu Juban festival. When we arrived last year this was my first exposure to Tokyo festivals and I remember it as if it was yesterday. It would appear that nothing about the festival has changed. The thing I remembered the most was the size of the crowd and they came back this year. Once you managed to fight your way onto the actual street where the main festival was taking place you couldn’t move anywhere else.


It is coming towards the end of summer time and the end of festival season. Following last year I tried to find out the reason why this festival was held. Most festivals in Japan started as a means of ensuring something, better harvest, better weather, etc. This festival seems only to be an excuse to drink, eat and be merry (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

From watching the crowd there seemed to be two main drinks of choice. Something like a whiskey based squishy and beer.


 
 
 
 
 
The food stalls carried a wide range of different food from pancakes, crepes on a stick, barbequed meat and sausages on a stick, candy apples (on a stick) just to name a few. In fact most of the food available had the end of a stick poking out of it.

There were a couple of standout dishes like the squid balls made to order and the stand proudly displaying the ingredients.



 Or the guy selling his barbequed fish on a stick (again with the stick). Thirty five degrees and standing over a raging fire cooking fish – now that dedication to his work. To top it all off he was yelling at the top of his lungs to attract customers.


And for desert? Well a chocolate covered banana would be just what you needed, on a stick of course.



Being a festival there were the usual associated issues like the queue for the toilet that stretched back hundreds of metres or maybe the drunk mascot. In this case a Panda - that was my favourite.




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1st Anniversary
It’s hard to believe but it has been one year since we moved to Tokyo. The time has really flown by and it feels like yesterday that we arrived. We have experienced some truly amazing things and seen some wonderful sights but have only just scratched the surface of this city and country. Everything you read and see adds more “must do’s” to the list. I am really looking forward to the adventures over the next couple of years.
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Trying to beat the summer heat
As I have learnt summer time in Tokyo is something to behold. Locals have kept on telling me that this summer has been particularly bad. A huge city, so much concrete and so many roads, and temperatures in the mid to high 30’s and 90% plus humidity make’s Tokyo not a nice place to be over summer time. At least there is no hole in the ozone layer here which means that you don’t burn nearly as quickly.

That makes the discovery of the Oji park, and its water park, even more special. On days when the temperatures are high this little oasis provides wonderful relief.


The designers of the park have gone to great lengths to try and replicate a natural stream including waterfalls and boulders in the stream bed.


If that’s not enough for you there's also a fountain that allows for more water play, and the best thing? There is the comforting smell of chlorine in the air providing a level of assurance that the water is at least treated to some level.


If water play is not your thing there are some street vendors that provide more traditional methods to keep cool.

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Just missed it
Scanning through one of the English language magazines I came across a paragraph that claimed that August 2 was "Panties Day". Apparently an underwear maker in Japan started this day in 1984 to help promote their range of underwear. On this day, again apparently, girls are encouraged to show their underwear to a "lucky guy". The article does not go so far as to say who does the encouraging.
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