There was a little excitement on the way to Haruko's parents' house from the airport.
On the way home we drove across the bridge/tunnel called Aqualine. It stretches all the way across Tokyo Bay - the first half is a bridge that sits right on the water...
On the way home we drove across the bridge/tunnel called Aqualine. It stretches all the way across Tokyo Bay - the first half is a bridge that sits right on the water...
This is the view east - the bridge section:
Then suddenly, the freeway dives down underwater and continues as an undersea tunnel to reach the west side of Tokyo Bay.
Then suddenly, the freeway dives down underwater and continues as an undersea tunnel to reach the west side of Tokyo Bay.
This is where the freeway goes underwater:
In the middle of Tokyo Bay, where the freeway changes from a bridge to a tunnel there is a large "rest-stop" ("service area" in Japanese) where we stopped to do the tourist thing...
This is the view west, after the freeway dives underwater - in the distance you can see a structure rising out of the water - this is the housing for the control of water and air pressure in the underwater tunnel.
We stopped for dinner on the way home at a local restaurant.
After settling in for a day or two we flew to the northern island of Hokkaido - we stayed at a hotel (Royton) in the city of Sapporo. This picture was taken at a large park in the middle of the city called Oudori Park.
One popular snack here is grilled corn-on-the-cob (grilled with soy sauce - mmm good!)
This tower marks the end of Odouri Park. We went up in the tower to check out the view.
One of the mountains (Mt. Moiwa) that surround Sapporo has a gondola that takes you to the top to an observation area - the view from here was spectacular.
This is a panorama view of a typical underground train-station (you can click to enlarge*).
We also went to a park in Sapporo called Nakashima Park.
We went to the Sapporo Beer Factory... which is actually more like a museum as they brew their beer somewhere else now, but it was fun to see the history (and do some taste-testing of course)!
We took a train one day to go to a nearby town called Otaru, a smaller town with some history of it's own.
We took a taxi back from Sapporo to the airport - by train it only took about 30 minutes, but the taxi ride took over an hour. We chose to go this way to see more of the landscape. The taxi-driver enjoyed explaining all the sites that we drove by. This is a large fresh-water inland lake called Shikotsuko Lake.
Then we flew back to the main island (Honshu) where Haruko's parents live in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki. This is their living room/dining room where we spent most of our time while at home.
Just around the corner is a Toyota dealer - where they are already selling the 2010 Prius. Haruko's dad asked for a test drive.
Haruko's dad (Teruya Wada), goes on a 10 Km walk every day - I tried to keep up with him!
The local train station in Kawasaki has a large underground shopping mall. We spent a lot of time here...
Just outside the Kawasaki train station
One day we drove to an historical area of Tokyo called Kawagoe. Many of the buildings are hundreds of years old.
Pickles-on-a-stick; refreshing snack!
We stopped for lunch in Kawagoe at a restaurant that specializes in tofu dishes...outside it started raining.
In Kawagoe there is a large Shogun house - we went for a tour.
They didn't allow photography inside, but I snapped a couple of pictures of the backyard.
In front of the house there is an area where there are some 500 small statues - each statue is a respresentative of a disciple of Buddha.
Of course we took many more pictures and videos... but I'll save those for next month's blog!
Until then, Saionara!
Videos
Mt. Moiwa - Gondola Ride
After settling in for a day or two we flew to the northern island of Hokkaido - we stayed at a hotel (Royton) in the city of Sapporo. This picture was taken at a large park in the middle of the city called Oudori Park.
One popular snack here is grilled corn-on-the-cob (grilled with soy sauce - mmm good!)
This tower marks the end of Odouri Park. We went up in the tower to check out the view.
One of the mountains (Mt. Moiwa) that surround Sapporo has a gondola that takes you to the top to an observation area - the view from here was spectacular.
This is a panorama view of a typical underground train-station (you can click to enlarge*).
We also went to a park in Sapporo called Nakashima Park.
We went to the Sapporo Beer Factory... which is actually more like a museum as they brew their beer somewhere else now, but it was fun to see the history (and do some taste-testing of course)!
We took a train one day to go to a nearby town called Otaru, a smaller town with some history of it's own.
We took a taxi back from Sapporo to the airport - by train it only took about 30 minutes, but the taxi ride took over an hour. We chose to go this way to see more of the landscape. The taxi-driver enjoyed explaining all the sites that we drove by. This is a large fresh-water inland lake called Shikotsuko Lake.
Then we flew back to the main island (Honshu) where Haruko's parents live in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki. This is their living room/dining room where we spent most of our time while at home.
Just around the corner is a Toyota dealer - where they are already selling the 2010 Prius. Haruko's dad asked for a test drive.
Haruko's dad (Teruya Wada), goes on a 10 Km walk every day - I tried to keep up with him!
The local train station in Kawasaki has a large underground shopping mall. We spent a lot of time here...
Just outside the Kawasaki train station
One day we drove to an historical area of Tokyo called Kawagoe. Many of the buildings are hundreds of years old.
Pickles-on-a-stick; refreshing snack!
We stopped for lunch in Kawagoe at a restaurant that specializes in tofu dishes...outside it started raining.
In Kawagoe there is a large Shogun house - we went for a tour.
They didn't allow photography inside, but I snapped a couple of pictures of the backyard.
In front of the house there is an area where there are some 500 small statues - each statue is a respresentative of a disciple of Buddha.
Of course we took many more pictures and videos... but I'll save those for next month's blog!
Until then, Saionara!
Videos
Mt. Moiwa - Gondola Ride
Otaru
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->you can click on any image to see full-sized photos<-
*I just discovered that my digital cameral can do these 'panorama' photos (I've only had the camera for 2 1/2 years...), the panorama photos seem smaller in the blog, but if you click on the photo you can appreciate the 180 degrees of information :-)
2 comments:
Wow! I love the panoramas, Uncle David! (Now I'm a little jealous. ;) Japan sure looks nice - except for the pickles-on-a-stick! Hopefully I can visit for myself someday. Bye!
Hi Dave. Beautiful pictures, interesting sites. I hope all is well with you and Haruko. We just finished some of our most beautiful late Spring weather ever for three weeks,but now is back to normal (you guessed it - rain!).
Have a great Summer!
Howard
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