18 Jun 
This day involved 3 trains, over 4 hours of travel time, to bring us to Aso.  We checked in about 430pm or so, and chilled the rest of the day.

19 Jun
Today we hope to see an active volcano and do some hiking nearby.  In the photo below, we're lodging in the area of the big yellow rectangle, and will take a park bus up to just below the active volcano crater in the little rectangle, and then ride the bus back to the middle-sized rectangle to do a hike.

Before we go, we need to check reporting for today's hazards - possibilities include bad air, to flinging boulders, to relatively all clear - looks like we're good to go, all the way to the top.

From the bus stop, here's the view of the volcano, spewing out the usual vapors and steam.

We left the bus before the top, along with a handful of others, to make the final 1-mile climb to the top on our own.

The scenery is better not looking through a bus window.

The last eruption occurred in Oct 2021, without lava flow, but with boulders being flung out to the surrounding slopes.  One such boulder hit the very hiking path we're taking to the top viewpoint.

We take a short break to check out a volcano shelter nearby - happy to not need it for a break from raining boulders today.

This sign warns of hazardous volcanic gases, but the hole is a rock fall from the October 2021 eruption.

The terrain is constantly changing around the volcano, including earthquakes and rainfall induced landslides.

Almost there now, the bus riders have beat us to the top.

Now we're looking into the gaping mouth of the beast, its "dragon's breath" emitting out.

Gerri is commenting:  "didn't we just watch, this past March, a Netflix documentary of tourists killed in an eruption in New Zealand, too close at the wrong time, ......hmmmmm"

No problem, they have shelters just a short sprint behind us, hmmmmm......hmmmmmmm.

Damaged structures are also nearby from previous eruptions - this one seems abandoned, but others are getting refurbished.

Threat warning system at the top....

Planet Earth looking like another planet...

...a little green, yes, we're on Earth.

A nearby hike takes you to the top of the far ridge, hmmmm, not enough time today, hike up we will not.

Back to the bus we must go...

As with Yellowstone, the broad area of the historical volcanic area is large - the edge of the ancient caldera is the mountainous ridge on the horizon - our lodging town of Aso is inside this caldera.

We begin part of two of today's adventures - hiking to the top of the summit shown below.  The bus had taken us from the welcome center a bit away from the volcano, back down into the green zone.

As we approach the part of the trail zooming steeply upward, the summit beckons us onward...

...now on the ridge-line taking us to the top, we get treated to more views of the active volcano.

The summit is ours!

The little stone says 1336.7 meters (4,385 feet) above sea level at the top.

We started at the white building at the edge of this mini-caldera - this flat meadow area is maintained as rangeland for a group of horses.

We should wrap up our summit visit, the air so thin and so cold, it's taking a toll, not so much...yeah, the climb felt a smidgen like climbing Everest, but not exactly that scale, just 1/6 as high, and only taking 90 minutes vs. weeks.

Now descending an area affected by recent slide activity - it's much steeper than this seems to show.

Above Tim are workers refurbing trail affected by the slide.

Yep, there's our Everest...

The baths usually include a nice selection of lotions and oils to finish up the experience.

Nice and clean till the next summit attempt.

From the last blog entry - "Now in Beppu, there's an odor in the air, and strange steam venting from all over town."  There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and around 3,000 onsen (hot spring fed baths) establishments that use naturally hot water from these geothermally heated springs.  Beppu is a popular destination for onsens.

This particular one below has cool geodesic domes for family lodging.  Our hotel was just below it, with a more modern blocky architecture, but also with onsen facilities.

The "The Seven Hells (地獄 or jigoku) of Beppu" are seven interesting hot springs for viewing rather than bathing, displaying steaming ponds of various colors, bubbling mud pools and other hydrothermal activity.  The hells are presented to visitors in a rather touristy fashion, with little shops and other kitschy sights.  Five of the seven hells are located in the Kannawa district, and two in the more remote Shibaseki district.

Some of the other sights - a small aquatic botanical garden...

And some of the goofy sights - although they are somewhat historical going back maybe 80-100 years when tourism was becoming a thing of modern times.

Steaming food for the adjacent tourist snacko.

Where's Gerri?

Another old jingoku creature...

This particular jingoku had "sight interpreters"  that provided black magic goings on - he'd blow smoke from an incense stick, and make the hot spring boil up more steam.

Hmmm, these two things don't seem to really go together - we didn't even see the train cars...

Not so pokey, but very bitey....if you'd put your hand out there, the crocs would think you were offering up chickens and wouldn't notice the difference.

Meanwhile, Gerri is working on her Seven Hells (Jingoku) Passport, getting more Visa stamps...

More "side" sights right at the hot spring - nothing to do with it, but a neat little aquarium - Asian catfish, a Gar, and Piranha.

Buddhist adornments...

Looks like good work of a team of electricians, but Buddha still prays for the welfare of future work...

And now the finale...we visit the final Hell of Beppu.

It's a full on geyser thats full potential height is terminated by overhanging stone slabs, to keep it "under control".  Yeah, this makes it look like a waterfall in pictures, but is actually shooshing up from the bottom about every 30 minutes or so, and lasting around 10-14 minutes.

Our 7 Hells of Beppu Passport is complete, we've collected all 7 Visa Stamps!  Tim hoped it would get him 7 Cheeseburgers of Burger King Hell, but it did not.

Along with the Five Beppu Brewery Beers of Hell...

Later, on dinner is served near the hotel...after walking through a quiet and dark neighborhood to a very local eatery.

Gerri:    "look at all my bowls!"     Yes, it's definitely a breakfast of champions, or at least of many flavors.

On departing from Nagasaki, headed to Beppu, we had to get that silly photo, when they provided this awesome staging.

We hadn't realized earlier, but we're at the westernmost high speed train station in Japan, here in Nagasaki.

We'll have two transfers today, three trains to ride:     11:45-12:13          12:16-13:14           13:20-15:25

Yeah, that's right, the first transfer will allow us 3-minutes to find the second train, oh boy.

​As it turned out, we simply walked out of the first, across the platform, with the second waiting just a few paces away.  Most of our fellow passengers were doing the same transfer; with the on-time nature of these trains, it's no sweat.

We picked up lunch at the Nagasaki train station.  Tim thought it was easy to just grab McDonalds, our timing was exquisite, they had just switched over from breakfast.  Gerri studied the bento box offerings for what seemed like hours (okay, about 20 minutes).

Upon time for eating it, Gerri removed the packaging and found it tasted as good as it looked (even at room temperature).

Tim's lunch, okay, not so much - the cold burger, wasn't terrible, the fries, barely palatable when cold.  Shoulda got another burger and skipped the fries, or better yet, one of those bento boxes.

USA?  No idea what this is about (as seen along the rails).  But, it's a sign they still like us, even after inflicting upon them the cuisine of fast food America.

Now in Beppu, there's an odor in the air, and strange steam venting from all over town.

Today we have no particular tour, just sorta wandering about Nagasaki, after spending most of the morning in the hotel - it'll be a more relaxing day versus our go-go-go touring.

We walk through a small bit of Chinatown still left in Nagasaki.

A dragon, a bell, and ooh look, an airplane propeller from around 1920 - not a replica.

Not so much the Honda logo is interesting here, but we've noticed that Japanese flags flying are few and far between in the places we've been to so far.

But, we do see a lot of cool motorcycles everywhere.

Now down along the waterfront, a vintage recreational trawler - a nice old boat.

Built in the 1800s by the Dutch for Japan, a paddle-wheeled sailing steamer - when Japan began to modernize and emerge from isolationism.  This is a faithful replica built just a few decades ago.

Time for another conveyor belt sushi restaurant - this one has bullet train trays whisking our selections out to us.

Another sailing steamer playing heavily in the history of Japan's emergence into worldly involvement.

Here's how we get by when English is not provided - Google translate - often not perfect, but we get the ghist.

Old European homes of Western merchants who were involved in Japanese economic expansion in the 1800s.  These survived the atomic bomb with their distance from ground  zero and shielding provided by local terrain.

Here's a whimsical entry curtain from a home.

A nearby Shinto temple at sunset...

Ahhhhhhhhhhg, a dragon on the prowl.......no wait, it's ah, a, Tyrannosaur, that's worse!?

On the electric train tram thingy, the dragon T-rex hunt is over, day is done, ...

... except for the hotel's complimentary ramen evening soup in the complimentary hotel jammies.

​Ahhh, our last breakfast at the hotel in Hiroshima - we head to Nagasaki today.

Our chariot arrives - the bullet train so swift it's almost like flying close to the ground, and through many tunnels.

We arrive with plenty of time before checking into the hotel to start our tour of Nagasaki, starting with the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.  The museum is a remembrance to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 at 11:02:35 am.  This is the counterpart to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, although the Nagasaki version has a much more diverse presentation with exhibits of large artifacts and extensive information about nuclear weapons.  Both locations create an impacting context of the nuclear age, remind visitors of the vast destruction and indiscriminate death caused by nuclear weapons, and encourage a commitment to peace.  The Nagasaki museum was completed in April 1996, replacing a deteriorating International Culture Hall. 

The museum offers a convenient locker storage where we stowed our bags while visiting the site.

We saw this amazing sight at the entrance to the museum. 

A clock from a home destroyed at the instant of the explosion.

These are structures retained from the city's wreckage and now on display.

Some remains of the 1925-built Immaculate Conception Cathedral/St. Mary's Cathedral, also called Urakami Cathedral, are on display and give some impression of the immense destruction to present day viewers.

Here are other artifacts dropped from U.S forces aircraft - leaflets warning of the impending bombing, and data collection devices, sending by radio signals, information about the explosion as it was happening.  Found by Japanese residents after the bombing, they were given to Japanese investigators and eventually to the museum.

Nagasaki is nestled in amongst mountainous terrain (much of Japan is mountainous).

Model of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki - the same design tested in the initial blast test at Trinity Site New Mexico, and differing from the gun-type bomb used in Hiroshima.

This display illustrates the world's nuclear detonations, tests save for WWII Japan.  Within the United States, they were mostly done in Nevada, with the one, the first, in New Mexico, and yes, there were two deep underground in Mississippi, about 100 miles NNE from New Orleans, wow!

Students looking at a display showing nuclear weapons stockpiles around the world.

As viewed from the outside, the top of the memorial consists mainly of a tree-lined basin of water through which the 12 pillars of light continue to rise from below.  At night, 70,000 fiber optic lights are illuminated across the surface of the water, symbolizing the victims.

Ground zero monolith - the bomb detonated 500 meters (about 1500 feet) above this point.

Lines from a poem by Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine at the time of the bombing, are carved on a black stone plaque in front of the fountain.   "I was thirsty beyond endurance. There was something oily on the surface of the water, but I wanted water so badly that I drank it just as it was."

Remnants, the foundation, of a prison on a rise adjacent to ground zero.  Not really a counterpart to Hiroshima's Atomic Dome, but still displaying in-place ruins resulting from the bomb - the only ruins we saw here.

"The 10-meter-tall Peace Statue created by sculptor Seibo Kitamura of Nagasaki Prefecture.  The statue's right hand points to the threat of nuclear weapons while the extended left hand symbolizes eternal peace.  The mild face symbolizes divine grace and the gently closed eyes offer a prayer for the repose of the bomb victims' souls.  The folded right leg and extended left leg signify both meditation and the initiative to stand up and rescue the people of the world.  The statue represents a mixture of western and eastern art, religion, and ideology.  Installed in front of the statue is a black marble vault containing the names of the atomic bomb victims and survivors who died in subsequent years."

Air raid shelters, at the base of the prison hill where a few indeed survived the bomb - following the war US investigators examined them to determine their effectiveness, especially with their close proximity to ground zero.

During fairly recent excavations, rubble was discovered containing articles of everyday life from the period right up to the bomb's detonation.  They created a display port showing it lying where they found it.

Now checking into our hotel - Gerri's takes note of complimentary noodles offered after 930 tonight.

There's other info providing very detailed information about what happens during tomorrow's breakfast buffet.

We then found a very inviting izakaya (tavern) with some very nice tapas-type plates for dinner.

While officially called Itsukushima, it's more commonly referred to as Miyajima (宮島) - "Shrine Island" - a small island less than an hour by ferry outside the city of Hiroshima, most famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water.  The gate's sight is ranked as one of Japan's three best views.  There are also fantastic hikes to peaks in the interior.

​We board the ferry.

Arriving on the island we see lots of deer hanging around town, looking for tourist handouts.

Now heading out to see some shrines.

There it is, one of the three most desirable views in Japan, like the Mona Lisa, it seems so small (hee hee).

No, even at low tide, it is an inspiring sight to behold.

More shrines to be viewed - these are originals and not rebuilt after some fire or what not calamity.

Now it's time for some physical fitness activity to work off some of that rich Japanese cuisine.

We're hiking up the right-most shown trail, eventually thinking we might want to go down the yellow path, which is an aerial tram or ropeway, if we can, to save our knees on the downward part.

Approaching the trail's start, nice, warnings about treacherous snakes, oh boy, Gerri's not interested in anymore of those helicopter rides to the hospital, so we must step carefully (we didn't see any such beasts today).

A mini-shrine tucked away along the trail.

This way, no that way, but definitely not up, that way.  The trail does go by the top of this, but done the longer way around, although one of those maniac skilled climbers could cut off some distance here.

Wind formed hairdo's, and windy trees.

We made it to the first summit - hoorah!

Seeing the goal of our next summit "attempt" - okay, it's very doable, but a bit tiring.

More shrines along the way.

Now on the next summit.

Bit by bit, the materials for this observation deck at the top were brought up by helicopter.

Oy, my knees, if we can't make that tramway ropeway thingie work out, they're doomed.

Yes, after wondering if it would still be going at the end of the day, or if we could scrounge up enough change to buy the one way ticket down for both of us, success!

Even more sights to behold at the bottom.

His and her bridges, okay, it's the same bridge...

And, hazah!, the giant torii gate is now sitting in higher tide, like it's floating they said.

Back in Hiroshima, Gerri finds the best worm platter places, oh, I mean freshly made noodle houses, with some good chicken plates for Tim.

Epilogue

Bonus photos - flowers on the mountain, one more giant torii gate scene - we can't seem to take enough photos of it, and the Japanese Raccoon Dog

We start the day with a hearty hotel breakfast buffet - not too shabby.

​Our main focus today is visiting the ground-zero site of WWII's atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  This blog only intends to cover what we witnessed on this visit without discussion of the event.  The human experience of the event is well portrayed by the site's features, and like much of our travels, being there puts a three-dimensional perspective on it that cannot be had any other way - it was memorable.  The site's presentation seems entirely appropriate, relatively well balanced, with a focus on this being a World monument and not just Japanese.

Here is the location that was the distinctive aim point for the B-29 Superfortress - a T-shaped bridge in the middle of the city.  The Hiroshima Peace Memorial is also seen here, originally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and now called the Genbaku Dome, Atomic Bomb Dome or A-Bomb Dome, and is part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.  The structure is kept in a state of preserved ruin as a reminder of the destructive effects of nuclear warfare.

This cross walk is essentially where ground-zero was intended (an airburst directly above around 2,000 ft up)...

In the next photo, the actual bomb detonated just under 2,000 ft up approximately above the building with light blue panels behind and just to the left of the dome.  The hypocenter, or ground zero, of the bomb was Shima Hospital, approximately 800 ft (240 m) away from the intended aiming point at Aioi Bridge.

Monuments to the young killed in the bombing.

The Dome seen up closer - around less than a 1/4 of the original building is left standing.

We saw end-of-year school field trips with lots of children and teenagers touring the site.

When the bomb exploded, the roof was crushed, the interior destroyed, and everything consumable burned except in the basement. 36 people in the building died; 47-year-old Eizo Nomura survived in the basement where he had headed to retrieve some folders just after the morning meeting, and which essentially served him as concrete-boxed air raid shelter - he survived into his 80s.

Now at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, built to remember and mourn   the atomic bomb victims. It is also an expression of Japan's desire for genuine and lasting peace.  The museum contains a seminar room, library, temporary exhibition area, and victims' information area. The Hall of Remembrance, contains a 360 degree panorama of the destroyed Hiroshima recreated using 140,000 mosaic tiles — the number of people estimated to have died from the bomb by the end of 1945.

Panoramic photo at the entrance to the museum showing Hiroshima prior to war in the area of ground zero.

The area between the rivers shown above is now part of the Peace Park shown below.

The mosaic tiles in the Hall of Remembrance - the sculpture resembles a clock stopped at 8:15.

The Peace Flame is another monument to the victims, but it has an additional symbolic purpose. The flame has burned continuously since 1964, and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs are eliminated and the World is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Trains of paper cranes, many created by school classes of children.

The front side of the resurrected building described previously.

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Finishing the night with dinner and refreshments - okonomiyaki is a Japanese teppanyaki, savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients cooked on a teppan. Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include okonomiyaki sauce, aonori, katsuobushi, Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger.  “Oishii” is a Japanese adjective which means “delicious” or “good-tasting” - "it was oishii!"

​After dinner we happened upon a tiny tavern - seating for 4 outside, or if the weather is a problem, the bar keeper can handle maybe 3 inside, but you'd have to watch out for his elbows as he preps the drinks and snacks. 
​
This might be Japan's tiniest "izakaya" (居酒屋), which are casual drinking establishments, similar to Spanish tapas bars, where customers order a variety of small dishes of food that can be shared at the table. They are one of the most common restaurant types in Japan and a popular spot for friends/coworkers to meet up for a drink or to wind down after work. Tourists find them convenient for drop-in dining without out the restaurant formalities.

We told him we'd just had dinner, but he offered up some fried potatoes to go with our beer and sake.  Oishii!

​On the way home, we stopped into a convenience store and noticed these whiskeys.  That's some good stuff for cheap - from the left about $8.50, $17, $7.70, and $9.10 (about 30-50% less than the USA).  We don't know why Jim Beam is only about half the price of Jack Daniels - supply and demand?  These are around 700mL, just under the 750mL of our "fifths".

Today we leave Tokyo after spending the past 9 days there.  We are really looking forward to heading out and traveling the country by train.  We purchased a 3-week Rail Pass that gives us unlimited access to trains owned by JR (Japanese Raiway Group).  It cost ¥66,200 => $466 USD each.  This may seem like a lot, but the cost for a ticket from Tokyo to Hiroshima alone would have cost us ¥19,560 => $138 alone.  In the next three weeks we plan on traveling all over southern Japan, so I know it will easily pay for itself.

Our first train trip will be Hiroshima.  We arrived at the station and had to figure out how this works.  Each train has a name and a unique number, so if you see 509 on the ticket, just look for 509 on the boards and you should easily navigate the train station.

And here comes our train now...

Isn't this the coolest looking train you have ever seen?  This is the famous Japanese Shinkansen or Bullet Train that can travel up to 199 miles per hour...WOW!  This trip will take us 5 hours to travel 516 miles, and that is with a 30 minute layover in Kobe.

During my research, I learned that we should book a seat on the left side of the train traveling from Tokyo to Hiroshima in order to get a good view of Mount Fuji.  Unfortunately it is a cloudy, rainy day, so this is the only view of Mount Fuji we got to see:

We arrived at our hotel in Hiroshima around 4 PM, dropped our bags in the room, and then headed to Happy Hour in the hotel lobby.  They provided complimentary snacks, wine, and a cocktail of the day.  This is an awesome hotel with a great view of Hiroshima out the window. 

See that couple in the foreground?  When I was returning from getting a refill I said hello to them and then we wound up joining them.  This is Anne Marie and Tony from Australia and they are an awesome couple.  After hanging out with them a bit we decided to get dinner together.  I had already scoped out a brewery and they said they were game...our kind of people!

When we arrived at Kemby's Brewery we weren't expecting what we saw.  This place was crowded and it happened to be open mic night, so it was also a bit loud.  Nobody seemed to mind, so we sat and placed our order.

Check out this crowd. This seems to be the place that expats hang out.

See those guys at the table to the right of me?  They are Australian Naval Officers who's aircraft carrier is docked in Hiroshima.  We had some great conversation with them.

Yum....beer!

And what better food to go with the beer than pizza...Chicago-style pizza at that.  Chicago doesn't have to worry about the competition in Japan...it wasn't the best, but it was good.

Around 10 PM we all decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.  Back in the room the hotel provided leisurewear to wear around the room and to wear to the communal bath.  Don't I look cute in it?

After getting all dressed up I headed down to the bath.  When I was in Japan 28 years ago I used a bathhouse so I am familiar with how to use it.  This one was really nice and the bath was super hot, so I didn't stay long.  When I got back to the room it was pretty much the end for me now that I was warm and relaxed.

Tomorrow we walk around Hiroshima so we are expecting a somewhat somber day.  Until then...

As we headed out for today's touring, we came upon preps for some sort of Shinto Buddhism event spinning up.

A full-service filling station - just like America in the 1950's?

After a short metro ride, we arrive at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district.  The grounds contain several buildings including the Fukiage Palace where the Emperor has his living quarters, the main palace where various ceremonies and receptions take place, some residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums, green open spaces, gardens and administrative offices.

The Imperial Grounds proper are only open to the public twice a year, and today isn't one of those days.  Oh well, all the previous old wooden structures were either wiped out in fire disasters in previous centuries, some inadvertent, some happening in times of violence, including WWII fire bombings.  They have rebuilt some of the original structures.  We looked around the entrance to the Imperial Palace, which isn't much to look at, and the open spaces, and then made our way to a fantastic park/garden area.  The irises below are a preview.

Below, just off the metro, entering the grounds, with old stone walls and foundations, and missing wooden forts and structures that would have been perched atop them.

A well manicured open space with gnarly trees.

A rebuilt fortress building.

Nicely recreated features on rebuilt guard buildings.

Entering the gate to the fantastic garden, once part of the original Imperial gardens, and still benefitting from Royal support, and originally also the grounds for Shogun military units.

The first part is a winding pathway of defensive structures, including a rebuilt guard quarters.  The second photo below shows foundations of what was an elaborate gate house bridging the gap, with the multi-colored stones now showing evidence of the 17th fire that destroyed it.

It's June now, and all the greenery is in full swing.

A grove of many types of bamboo.

A large pagoda once stood here, now nothing but the foundation pedestal remains.

Kimonos and Ninja Turtles...

Irises in the water...

...back to urban modernity.

Although far different that Italy, Japan has its own version of the diversity we saw there a few years back.

Now in Piss Alley, to finish the Shinjuku District tour.  Piss Alley, can't tell you why it's called this.

This is a night-life kind of place, so it's calm quietness at this time, after the sun sets the good times start rolling.

Another alley nearby contained many tiny little taverns featuring good eats, with a lot of yakitori (things cooked on sticks) action.

It's not so much a thing of finding one that looks good to us, but more of finding one with two empty seats.

It's a tapas smorgasbord, Japanese style.

...just because, random sightings of stuff.

The smokers have their own area, away from the rest of us.

Time to head back to the "ranch".

Thank God for Google Maps, it's not particularly hard to navigate the metro with Google's spoon-fed directions.

And there's just enough English words to show us where our platform and metro train awaits us.  

Farewell Tokyo, tomorrow we move onward, heading south before the heat of mid-Summer is here.

Today we are going to explore the electronics and anime section of Tokyo called Akihabara, but first we will go to another conveyor belt sushi restaurant that we saw on YouTube called Kura Sushi.  Unlike the last conveyor belt sushi place we went that was hard to find because it was inside an electronics store, this one has a nice large sign making it obvious.

Kura Sushi is actually a chain that is located all over Japan and actually has 46 locations in the United States with 16 more coming soon.  Do you have one close to you?  CLICK HERE to see.

This location is really nice inside, but we did do damage....I mean we ate a lot.

Kura has a genius way of making you ordering more and more plates of sushi.  For every 5 plates of sushi you consume, you have a chance to win a prize.  You insert the plates one at a time in the slot at your table and when you have inserted 5, the menu screen turns into an anime video that by chance plays a winning, or in our case, a losing screen.  We saw a losing screen 4 times...Yes...we had 20 plates of sushi and we enjoyed every plate of it.  😬

When we went to pay I learned that we actually won 2 hand fans since we ate so many plates.  See....we are winners...very full winners, but winners.

After leaving sushi, I noticed a Don Quioxte store nearby.  The last time we were in one I bought a new watch band for my iWatch.  I love it so much, that I want to find it in other colors.  So, everytime there is a Don Quixote in the area I have to go in and look. 

Tim on the other hand would rather stand outside the store and watch the goings on outside the store.  This is what he saw while waiting for me.

After striking out at Don Quixote we took the train to Akihabara to see the high-tech and anime side of Tokyo.

This is pretty cool.  The stairs that lead up from the subway station to the streets has how many calories you are burning for each step that you climb...that is pretty motivating.  

This is what we found just a couple of blocks from the station.  A lot of neon, electronic signs, anime art, and people.

Tim loves taking photos of the plastic food on display.  This one is particularly great since it is for a German restaurant and even has plastic beer.

Anime isn't just for kids.  These are plastic figurines...I guess for men to collect?  I have no idea.

I don't know if you remember, but a few days ago I had a picture of a store that had capsule toy machines...kind of like those machines in the front of stores in the US that have candy or gum or little rubber balls that you put change in, turn a dial, and it falls to a small door.  Well...we went into a crazy multilevel store that had most of one floor dedicated to all those toys that are inside the capsules.  Instead of taking your chance on what toy will drop, you get to pick them out individually.  There was aisles and aisles that looked like this.

This is a display on one of the many anime floors.  They seem to be buttons you wear on a jacket or something. The funny thing is that there were many people shopping and picking out buttons, but I never saw anyone wearing them in the streets.  I don't know what they do with them.

Next stop is to check out what an arcade is like here.  The first 3 to 4 floors was all crane games where you pay to drop a crane and hope to win a prize.  Then there were a couple of floors with video games that people played using collector cards.  You can see the cards lines up on the table in front of the screen...interesting.

Finally, on the very top floor there was a few racing games that Tim and I tried.  The seat had stereo sound and provided motion feedback as did the steering wheel.

Back downstairs we watch a few people win the crane game, but what caught our eye was this game that had prizes going around in a circle and you push a button when you want an arm to sweep the circle and hopefully drop a prize.  We watched a man win twice in a row, so Tim was ready to try.  He failed, but I won!!  This 30 cent Mitty Bunny cost us $1.40.

The next stop in the neighborhood is another YouTube video that we watched.  This is the "Corner of Strange Vending Machines."  At first look they seem normal until you look closer.

This machine is selling giant bugs and batteries along with soda water, a can of soybean meat sauce on spaghetti, and a container full of bells.

It just so happened that there was a brewery (Hitachino Brewing) across the street from the crazy vending machines....OK...I knew it was there when I planned the day.  We had a flight and couple of pints.  We actually needed a break since we have been walking around Akihabara for 2 hours.

We have 2 more stops in Akihabara before heading back to our neighborhood.  On the way Tim noticed a capsule toy machine with Betty Boop keyrings and just needed one.  The machine showed that you could get one of  seven designs and Tim got one of the tow that he preferred....I will call that a win.  Oh...this cost ¥300 => $2.13 USD.

First of the two stops left is Don Quixote.  This is their penguin mascot that always welcomes you to the store.

Again Tim stayed outside as I shopped and took this interesting photo of anime dressed up girls.

They are actually advertising "Maid Cafés" where you are treated like a master as these girls serve you food and drink.  Interesting.

Our last stop was a supersized electronics store.  Yodobashi-Akiba is 6 huge floors of mobile electronics, computers, cameras, audio & TV, game consoles & toys, and what we came to see, household electronics. 

Check out the long row of tables for consultations to deck out your house in the latest and greatest electronics:

Ah...here is what we came to see.  I want to pick out one of these high tech toilets to bring back home.  I have to tell you....I am digging the heated seats, built-in bidet, water sounds to drown out "other sounds", and auto flush features.  The prices really aren't too bad, with the most expensive one on display costing around $300 USD.

After picking our our toilet seat...I wish...we headed to the train station and arrived to our area just before 7 PM.  We thought we would check to see if we could get into the itzakaya we went to a couple of days ago, but as expected, we couldn't since it was a Friday night and the place was full.  We noticed another place across the street, so we went there to check it out.  They actually had a menu in English, so we stayed.  

We ordered a couple of drinks (Tim: Highball; Me: Shochu Sour)...

...and some food (Tim: Pizza and French Fries; Me: Curry Omelet).

It was all delicious and the bartender was super nice.  We really enjoyed it.

Our rental apartment was only a 7 minute walk, so we headed that way around 8:30 PM.  Of course we had to use the bathroom soon after leaving the izakaya.  Luckily we are in Japan and there seems to be public toilets everywhere.  So far, every public toilet we have been is has been clean and super nice.  There may be exceptions out there, but we haven't found one yet.

We got home soon after and pretty much went to sleep.  Tomorrow is our last day in Tokyo and we do not know what we are going to do yet.  We will decide in the morning.  Until then...