Fuji Adventures (Part I - The Planned Part)

Mount Fuji is the highest point in Japan. (Incidentally, I have also been to the lowest 'mountain' in Japan - Tempozan. It's a grand total of 4 meters high, and considered Japan's lowest mountain.) Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano - it last erupted in November 1707. It's 3776 m (12388.45 feet) above sea level. There are many climbs you can do, the longest taking over 20 hours. We decided to do a shorter one (limited time, large group with various fitness levels) - and took a bus to the 5th Station. But I'm getting ahead of myself... let's start from the beginning...

I jumped on the bus at Namba, and dozed until Rumiko got on in Kyoto. We had a lovely trip, with intermittant sleeping and ice cream at 2am. Doesn't get much better than that! We met up with Matt at Shinjuku, when we finally arrived in Tokyo. Getting off the bus I was almost chilly, but it soon warmed up to that nice Japan summer... sticky and sweaty and hot hot hot! The three of us explored Shinjuku and Shibuya. Rumi and I were on a mission - we wanted to bring a cake up Mount Fuji. It was Alex's birthday the week before, and we decided to have a surprise-on-top-of-Mt-Fuji-party for him. We found a nice caramel cake that wouldn't squish too easily in my backpack.

We headed back to Shinjuku for 3pm to meet the rest of the coop students, and caught our bus to Kawaguchiko Station. Even the bus ride up was fun....a little napping, and a little snacking, and some giggles. Alex had brought a big bag of banana chips, nuts, and dried plums. (I've learned that you can always count on Alex to have some kind of awesome food, or find some. I think like hanging around with this guy!) I haven't seen banana chips since I got here, so I was pretty psyched to try some (so was Rumiko) ...."Banana Chips?!?"

At Kawaguchiko Station, we had some lunch (Horse meat, anyone? Actually tasted pretty good!) and caught another bus up to Kawaguchiko 5th Station at 2305 meters. We started climbing by 9:30pm...

The first part of the climb was great - we split up into two groups, one a bit faster, and headed up the mountain. Since it was evening, the hot sun was gone, and we were moving pretty quickly. We stopped to chat and snack and have a break. Partway up, somewhere after the 6th station, we caught upto the people. It was a little crowded, but not too bad - we moved our way through and still kept up a good pace. But after one of the many 7th stations, the people multiplied. By this time, we had split up a bit further; Alex and Keith and I were ahead of our original group of 7 or so. Alex booted it on ahead from there, and Keith and I hiked together for a bit. We took four steps or so, then waited, stuck in the crowd, for a few minutes. 4 more steps. Wait. 5 steps! Wait. 4 steps..... we were able to go around the crowds a bit, and get ahead, but it was still slow going. Alex got bored and waited for us, then the three of us kept moving. Slowly. Keith got lost in the crowd somewhere, and Alex and I finally decided we had had enough. It was after 3:30am, and we wanted to make it to the top for the sunrise. So, we got serious. We dodged and weaved and pushed and shoved (only a little) and fought our way up and around the masses. And we made it!

We got to the top just after 4am, stopped at the bathroom then booked it for a peak on the mountain, to watch the sunrise. Just as it started, a body fell on us from behind, and Keith rolled beside us to watch, too. There are no words to describe how incredible it was to watch the sunrise, so I'll just let it speak for itself.





We waited for the rest of the group to catch up. The top of the mountain was freezing cold, and everyone was pretty exhausted.



Rumi and I quickly organized the impromptu birthday party for Alex, everyone had a bite of cake, and we decided to go down. Everyone was there except 3 students; one was waiting for us partway down, and the other two had been left together, moving at a slower pace.

You know those movies where people are walking through the desert, without food, water, or hope. Their limbs are limp, their feet drag...their faces are dirty and their eyes are glazed over.



That was us. The 'trail' (if you can call it that) down has no vegetation, no shade, no grass, no life. It is endless switchbacks of red dirt and rock, in 40 degree heat. I felt like the living dead, and probably looked it, judging by how some of the other people looked. We were tired, hot, hungry, and the switchbacks just kept on coming....

We finally made it down around 10am, and gained a bit more energy - having completed the climb, and conquered Mount Fuji. It had been about 7 hours up, and 4 hours down. We had met up with the one coop student on the way down, and were just waiting for the other two to make it down. We tried calling them, but cell service was pretty off-and-on...so we sat in some shade (still ridiculously hot, though), rested our legs, and waited. Little did we know, our day was just beginning...

More Pictures...

The Magic of Disney

A friend of mine from my 2nd year of university is also working in Japan - and he's started a blog! Check it out, and maybe leave some encouragement for him to keep it up. Life is busy and sometimes it's hard to blog, but I think (at least for me), that a blog will be a good keeper of memories from all the adventures!

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On Friday night, I climbed aboard the night bus for another adventure in Tokyo - but this time, a magic one - a trip to the wonderful world of Disney Sea!

The park opened at 9am, and you can probably guess that I was planning on being in line before 9. I met up with Matt and we took the Disney train to meet Alex and Robert just outside the gate; we got our tickets, and stood in line waiting. Matt is a coop student who has been working in Kyoto for 9 or 10 months. Alex and Robert just got to Japan a couple weeks ago - Alex was in my second year class. We hung out and chatted about Japan while we waited - and I made a plan, so we would be ready to take DisneySea by storm. There were few opinions as to what to do first, but Alex suggested we head to Mystery Island - so I picked our route.



When they finally opened the gates, we shuffled our way with the crowd into the big open courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a huge spinning globe, surrounded by statues of Disney characters. I was so excited, even just in the courtyard! (I'm sure you were, too, after the sneak peak at the courtyard in the last post!) The street and the buildings already gave the day a magical feel. The sky was threatening to rain, but it was still quite warm out. There were lots of people, but it wasn't overly crowded.


Me, excited to be there?! Naw...

As I tend to do when excited, I was off and running - map in hand, chattering non-stop. I dragged the guys to a ride, which we discovered was closed. Matt had mentioned he might want some breakfast, so I verbally bounced back and forth between rides and food possibilities - all the while speed walking around. If you know me at all, you can probably picture it ... me, in my super excited state, dragging my guy friends back and forth and around in circles. But, I was having tons of fun already, and they didn't seem too tortured by my insanity.

The first magical experience of the day was meeting the characters of Pinocchio! Jimmny Cricket and Geppetto were, of course very popular. So I went for a picture with the Cat. Which turned out to be a good choice! He was a very gentlemanly cat; took my arm in his, and posed for a picture before kissing my hand and giving me a little bow. I like the Cat.



The first ride we did was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Then we visited the Port of Discovery to get a FastPass for the Storm ride. We stopped by the Mermaid Lagoon and visited King Triton's Palace for some lunch. Lunch was very successful. My Sea-themed sandwich was soo delicious! And - I got a birthday present! Hehe...well, sort of. Alex's lunch came with a bright yellow soft Disney lunchbag - which he gave to me! (Again - if you know me, you'll know how thrilled I was about this.) While we waited for Keith, I led the guys into line. They were mostly talking and just following me... I'm not sure how excited they were when they saw we were in line for the Blowfish Balloon Race! But I was. :) Actually, the ride was surprisingly fun.

We also went to a short production by Ariel and her friends. It was very well done! Ariel floated up out of an old treasure chest on the sea, and swam around the auditorium, singing. She was attached at the waist by cables, but they were attached in such a way that she could spin and dip and dive and do circles as she 'swam'. All kinds and sorts of other sea creatures came to dance with her - starfish, jellyfish...all people in beautiful costumes, dancing in the air and around the stage. After some joyful singing, Ariel had an encounter with Ursula - also incredibly displayed! A huge mask of Ursula's face appeared in the air, and the auditorium was surrounded by long waving tentacles. It's impossible to describe! I tried to take pictures...but I got the 'X'.* At first I thought it was because my flash was on...but, alas, I just wasn't supposed to take pictures. So I got the X a second time.

*When Japanese people don't want you to do something, or are cancelling something, or deleting something, saying no, or...anything negative - they'll put their arms up in front of them in a big X. I got the 'X' several times throughout the day, for taking pictures when I wasn't supposed to. At least 6 times. Oops. :)

We wandered around the park, and did several rides including: StormRider, Raging Spirits, Tower of Terror, Sinbad's Adventure, Caravan Carousel.

After Sinbad's Adventure, we also saw some Aladdin characters! The monkey, Aladdin, and Jasmine were surrounded by people, but Jafar had a bit lesser a crowd, so me and Keith attempted a picture with him. Well, I have to say - Jafar moved way up on my list of favorite Disney characters. Not only did he kiss my hand as well, with a little bow, but - he did it again for a picture, and he actually gently pushed Keith to the side and stood in front of him to get a picture with just me! Hehe. He was quite charming (although he was rude to Keith). But charming to me!



We also got to meet Indiana Jones. I love the Indiana Jones movies. I love Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones movies. I did not love the Indiana Jones character. I'll admit I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him - good looking? That's the understatement of the year. So I was excited to get a picture with him. He was running around the bridge, posing with children and shouting in a big, deep, fake voice, "HI! I'M INDIANA JONES!" When I finally got to him for a picture, I said, "Hi, Indiana Jones!" And he said, "HI! I'M INDIANA JONES!". So I said, "Do you speak Japanese, Indy?" (Thinking...you should really speak Japanese. We are in Japan.) He replied, "WELL, YES, ACTUALLY, I SPEAK 25 LANGUAGES!" Me - "Well could I get a picture with your multilingual self?" Between yelling that he was "INDIANA JONES!", the fact that he was too self absorbed to actually notice me, and the super dark fake-looking tan... his 'kekko ii' (hot) status was quickly crushed by other factors. Disappointing, to say the least. Especially since he was so darn good looking!




We got a FastPass for Indiana Jones, but it wasn't valid until later in the evening. So we spent a while waiting in line for other big rides... we waited for just over an hour and a half for the Tower of Terror. Time passed quickly, though. With 6 people, conversation was constant. Alex updated me as to the status of our classmates, and we reminisced about Mech2 and I got some useful info about my third year. We talked about profs, elective courses, and speculated how many people in our class would be married by the end of our degree.

(As a side note, I cannot believe how many people I know are getting married and having babies! Apparently I've hit that magic age where everyone starts getting married. If life had gone as it was planned (planned at the time, that is), I would be engaged now, and probably married within a year and a half. As it stands...I'm perfectly happy (well, most of the time at least) living the single life, and right now have no desire to be in a serious relationship, let alone getting married and having kids! Wow - how times, thoughts, and desires change. Hehe - I'm a 21 year old single woman living and working halfway across the world, learning, growing, meeting new people, and having tons of adventures! Love it.)

The Tower of Terror was fun - I love the adrenaline and the way my stomach crunches up when we dropped from the top of the tower. I love heights for those reasons - the adrenaline and the twisting stomach. Awesome feeling. We stopped for periodic snacks - I had some yummy Sea Salt ice cream, and a greasy, oily chicken leg. Mmm but it was so good! I dripped grease on my shirt which will probably never come out, but it was so worth it.


Mmm...

We also had to wait in line for the Journey To The Center of the Earth...it was near the end of the day, and we were all getting tired, I think. I was. I was still super excited to be in DisneySea, but my feet were telling me that they had had enough walking for a while. We were probably in line for an hour and a half, but it seemed longer. Although - the second half flew by once the conversation picked up. Come to think of it, my energy did too. I'm always amazed at how a good conversation makes the time fly by. The Journey To the Center of the Earth was a fun ride - very well done, but too short as always.



As the day wrapped up, we went to the BraviSEAmo show.It was lightly raining, we picked up some Strawberry Popcorn (yum), and watched the show. Aside from Mickey coming out with Japanese excitement and greetings at the beginning, there were no words; it was just set to music. It was mesmerizing and I found myself completely absorbed by the lights and the sparking water. The show was a depiction of the love story between the "Spirit of Water" and the "Spirit of Fire". The fireworks after the show were cancelled due to the wind, which was disappointing...but I was still too enthralled with BraviSEAmo to mind too much. After hitting up the Indiana Jones ride (which fortunately was much better than it's character), we headed out of the park.



We sat for a bit in the big entrance courtyard while Matt got his stuff from a locker...I didn't want to leave. The air was filled with magic as only Disney air could be...the night was cool and fresh, and as the lit-up globe spun in front of me, I enjoyed the peaceful and magical moment - noting to myself that I was in Japan. Which still amazes me, sometimes.

We took the 45 minute train ride back to Tokyo, and went to Izikaya for some long-awaited dinner and drinks. It was the perfect ending to the day! I may have been a little bit grumpy by that point (okay, I was grumpy), but once we got some food and some kiwi sours, I was good to go! Alex and I led the drinking train, quickly leaving everyone else behind. The food was good, the drinks were good. It was good.



The next morning, we did a little bit of shopping around Shibuya. We had some lunch at an Italian place, and then some delicious gelato! Individual gelatos were ridiculously expensive, so 4 or 5 of us bought a half a liter of it. The packed it all up for us, sealed, dry ice, and all. We promptly walked to the table, undid it all, and ate it. I caught them watching us a bit - I'm sure we provided a source of amusement or at least --. It wasn't really a Japanese thing to do. The Japanese would never A) open a half a liter of gelato in the shop, B) sit down and finish off a whole half a liter in one sitting, from the container, with spoons. But, we're not Japanese. And it was sooo delicious. Due to the downpour of rain, we called it a day after lunch, and went our seperate ways home.




I couldn't have asked for a better weekend... good conversation and friends, delicious food and yummy treats, fast falls and quick drops, and a little bit of Magic.

More Pictures...

Traditional Asakusa

On Sunday morning, I got up early and met Keith at Asakusa Station. I watched volunteers set up for the Toyko Marathon while I waited for him! Asakusa is a more traditional area and is also called 'low town'. Once he came, we walked a ways to the Shopping Streets. They were incredible! It was like a big long market street, with everything! I had to resist buying anything...we decided to do the temples first and come back to the shopping streets. It was neat to see the architecture and think of the history and culture behind the temples.

We visited Sensoji Temple, a temple built in the 7th century! In front of the temple is an incense stand, with several incense sticks burning. You are wave the smoke onto yourself, and you will be lucky wherever the smoke reaches you. I wondered how many people actually believe it, and how many people do it out of tradition. After you make yourself lucky, you go to the fountain and wash your face, then your left hand, then your right hand, before entering the temple. The temple was beautiful with ornate architecture and shrines. There was a large pit covered in grating for prayers. You throw in some coins, clap twice, bow your head and say a prayer to the ancestors, then clap twice again and bow. It was interesting to watch everyone go through the ritual. After Sensoji Temple, we visited some other small shrines and temples in the area, and took a look at the 5 story Pagoda and Dempoin Temple. Dempoin Temple is off-limits to visitors which is unfortunate because it includes a large beautiful garden. We stopped for a snack and had some chocolate bananas, something that is sort of symbolic of Tokyo.

We went back to hit up the shopping streets...wow. It was quite the mix of things! Some stores had little junky toys that were 'Made In China', and others had beautiful silk robes and hair combs and fans. I didn't buy anything because I'm still here for 6 more months and will have lots of chances, but it was difficult not to! We also visited Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate), a large entrance gate leading to Sensoji Temple. There were massive red lanterns and some statues on it, and it's more than 1000 years old! We had a great time perusing the shops and stands, tried some Japanese treats, and visited the drum museum.

We also visited a miniature amusement park! I was impressed by how much they fit into such a small space. It was a lot of fun, and the rides were surprisingly good! We went on the Rollercoaster and Space Shot. We didn't expect much because they were short and small, but they were great and had us laughing and screaming.

After we finished hanging out in most of Asakusa, we threaded our way through the marathon crowds and took the train to meet Thomas in Akihabara - a large electronics district. I was pretty tired, so after a bit of walking and a crepe, I decided to head home. I managed (proud of myself!) to find my Shinkansen train and get on in time, even a few minutes early!!

Overall, it was an awesome weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't wait for the next one...

Roppongi & Tokyo Tower

Once we got back to Hinode on the SeaBus, we subway'd ourselves to Roppongi - a 'nightlife' and shopping area. We were exhausted and starving, so we had a wonderful supper, then took off for the Tokyo Tower. It was dark and chilly but we decided to walk. It took about 20 minutes to get there. We bought our tickets, got a picture with the pink & blue 'Tokyo Tower', and went up to the top! The view was amazing, with all the lights and towers. We walked the entire top to get the panoramic view. The lights went on and on forever, into the distance.







After crusin' the souvenir shop (but deciding nothing was worth buying), making fun of the pink Towers (why pink!? It looks like a stick of bubblegum or a crayon!), we were craving some crepes. We found the crepe shop and indulged in some amazing crepes. Times like this make me wish I had my kitchen so I could make a crepe-meal! Rosa went to hang out with a friend, and Keith and I decided to call it a night. We were exhausted and our feet hurt, and we wanted to be well-rested for the next day of sightseeing!

We split up at the subway station and I got myself back to Oshiage Station, then started walking to Kenga's apartment. I'm generally pretty good with directions and remember details. I don't know if I was tired or just wasn't paying attention the night before, but I couldn't find the door into the apartment! I knew I was in the right area, and I knew it had to be one of a few streets, but I was also completely lost. After berating myself for not paying more attention the night before, wandering around the same couple blocks several times, and considering hanging out in the train station until morning, I finally found it. I went inside and crashed instantly - sleep is good, my friends...sleep is good.

Beautiful Odaiba

I half-awoke to the sound of someone rustling around and moving in and out of and around the room - Kenga had to work on Saturday, so Rosa and I were left to sleep in - which was wonderful. We had to hang around his place for a while anyways - someone was coming to check the gas lines and we were letting him in. We chose not to set an alarm, because we figured that we would be up bright and early - since we are both used to waking up for work. The next time I awoke, however, it was to a 'ding ding'! Rosa and I both bolted out of bed, and I ran to the door - it was 10am!! and the gas man had arrived. Once he did his thing and we showered, etc, we took off for the train station to meet Keith at Shimbashi Station. From Shimbashi, we took the same beautiful train ride I had taken the day before, to the Odaiba area. When we got off, I spotted a fun-looking spiral thing, and had to get a picture - Keith and Rosa thought I was pretty strange, but I thought it was neat! There were also some colored archways that warranted a couple pictures!




From the archways, we wandered down to the waterfront. It was a chilly day and a bit windy, but the sky was clear and it was bright and sunny. I didn't realize how much I missed both the sunshine, the beach, and the water until I was standing on the walkway, feeling completely content and thoroughly happy! We took pictures in front of the Rainbow bridge, and walked along the wooden walkway following the shoreline. It was incredible to have the beautiful ocean on one side, and the tall architecture and buildings of Odaiba on the other. The building with the big round part is the Fuji TV Building...it's the headquarters of Fuji TV, one of Japan's largest nationwide TV stations.





Near the end of the walkway was a Statue of Liberty! I'm not a big history buff, but I did ponder, for a couple minutes, how much history there was behind the Statue, and how deep a meaning it really holds (I know, I know - sappy moment). Keith (brilliant man) carries a Canadian flag around with him - so we had to incorporate that into the photos! My first visit to a Statue of Liberty - in Tokyo!



We left the shoreline (much as I hated to leave it, I was excited to see the rest of Odaiba!), and headed back towards the shopping and tourist areas. We visited a Aquacity (a mall), then made our way to Palatte Town - Palatte town consists of several things. Our first stop (after some pictures of the Teleport bridge) was VenusPort. I knew it was a shopping mall, but I thought that was all it was - I was so wrong! VenusPort is a shopping mall fashioned after Venice - and it was gorgeous! The architecture and decorations were breathtaking.

I could have spent forever in there, wandering around. The ceiling was sky-blue, and you could almost imagine you were actually in Venice. There was a beautiful fountain with angels, lace and flowers, and incredible structures. There was also the Happy Flower Chair, with a sign that promised if you "Sit in this chair and enjoy taking pictures - you will be surrounded by happiness!". After a minute of relaxing and some photos in the Happy Chair, I did indeed feel very happy.



After I purchased an awesome hat, and Rosa bought a jacket, we found ourselves in the History Museum - of cars! There were old cars, neat cars, cars from movies. It was neat to see!
After the History Museum and a little bit more of VenusPort, we went back outside and across the veranda to MegaWeb - a Toyota showroom. We also went on the ride they had, which was a Daytona-style race with moving seats - it was pretty fun for a short (& free!) ride!



After a brief look around MegaWeb, it was getting late and we wanted to take the SeaBus back, instead of the Train. We arrived just in time and bought our tickets and got right on the boat. The sun was going down and it was a beautiful ride back to Hinode. We passed under the Rainbow Bridge and waved goodbye to Odaiba as it faded into the distance.



There are many more pictures from these adventures - you can find them at ...
Shibuya - http://ubc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17072&l=4fbbe&id=514822879
Odaiba - http://ubc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17074&l=a35a5&id=514822879

Friday Night Lights...

On Friday night I spent the evening at Shibuya, one of Tokyo's minor 'downtown' areas.The streets were amazing - a miniature Vegas with flashing lights, large lit up signs, and infinite shops and stores!

When Keith was done work, I met him and Thomas at Shibuya station. I got a picture at Shibuya's famous intersection (a scene from Lost In Translation was filmed here), and we explored the area. We found an 'Outback Steakhouse', and Keith was craving steak, so after some exploring we decided to have dinner there.

I have to admit - I was skeptical. Everything in Japan is so small, especially food portions! I figured that any dish we ordered would be miniature as well! Fortunately, I was wrong! Kenga & Rosabel, two other coop students were going to meet us for dinner, so once we got our seat we ordered a Typhoon Bloom - an onion ring appetizer. It was nice to hang out with some other students from Canada and have some English conversation. We also got to compare notes on what's different here and getting used to the different lifestyle and culture. Our Typhoon Bloom was delicious! It was not Japan-sized, and it was delicious - just like back home! I was starving and throughly enjoyed both it's size and how good it was! Once Kenga and Rosa arrived, we ordered our meals. I got a pasta dish, and again was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't Japan-sized!

After some awesome food and good conversation, we went our seperate ways for the evening. Unfortunately, Kenga and Rosa and I missed the last train to his place (where Rosa and I were staying for the weekend). We got on the subway and thought we could get close enough, then found out we had gotten on the wrong one! We got as close as we could and planned to take a taxi the rest of the way. There was a long lineup at the taxi stand, so I suggested we start walking and at least be on our way. We walked for fifteen minutes or so then jumped in a taxi. It was still quite a long drive, so Rosa and I were glad we hadn't decided to walk the whole way!

Kenga has a small Japanese-style apartment. It has two rooms with a sliding divider between them and a tatami mat floor in his bedroom. There's a small toilet stall and a 'dungeon with a hose' (the shower). Once Rosa and I made up some beds, we crashed - it was late!

The next day was awesome - my favorite day of the weekend! But I'm tired and still have stuff to do tonight, so I'll write about it tomorrow evening! I'll post pictures with these, too, once I get them uploaded and emailed from Keith!

Infinite Innovative Inventions, anyone!?

Friday morning I woke up much too early to be leaving my dorm at 6am. I train'd my way to Shin-Osaka and got onto my Shinkansen train (bullet train). It was a beautiful sunny morning, but still fairly chilly out - I was thrilled to see the sunshine, though - it's been a little dreary around here lately! I slept most of the way to Tokyo, waking up once or twice. I woke up the final time to "This train is out of service", and sat up shocked - my boss was sitting beside me looking at me strangely - I think he was trying to decide how to wake me up! We got off the train and found our way to some more trains - to Tokyo Big Sight! The train ride to the Big Sight was through the Odaiba area, and it was beautiful! It was right on the bay and there were docks and ships everywhere! It was a sunny and clear day, and I couldn't keep a smile off my face, or a little bounce away...

The Tokyo Big Sight was amazing, as well! The first thing that caught my eye was the large saw sticking into the ground, outside. I'm not sure what it was, but it was neat! There were several conferences going on at the same time - HVAC, R, Nanotech, and another one. We spent the day walking around the trade show - it was incredible! My boss spoke to the exhibitors and asked questions - I read what I could, asked a few questions, and studied each display. Most of what we looked at were chemical heat pumps - one of our major current projects. My boss was hiding his name tag for several of the exhibits...some of our competitors were there, and most of the researchers in the business know his name, and he didn't want it to affect their answers to his questions! :) Below was one one of the fun things I saw - silly, but fun! Each little disk pops from one side of the wire to the other. One of the end pads is heated, and each disk is made up of two kinds of metal with different heat expansion coefficients. When it heats up, it pops to the other side, and once it's cooled down, it pops back!

By the end of the day, my feet were sore and I was exhausted, but it was fantastic to attend the trade show and see all the technology. Once it was over, we took another beautiful train ride through Odaiba, and my boss took the Shinkansen back to Osaka. I hung out at Shimbashi station, waiting for Keith (another coop student) to finish work. And Tokyo exploring began...