Fire flowers

So, I got to go to my first fireworks display in Japan on Friday. They had them over Tokyo Bay. As you can see from this picture of Rainbow Bridge which spans Tokyo Bay it was grey and cloudy when we arrived. More on that in just a second. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but that is a very big bridge. I'm sure the stats for it are all over the internet so I won't paste them here. Our spot to watch the fireworks was a little further up the road near the base of the bridge.



So, as I said it was threatening rain all afternoon, and shortly after we arrived it delivered. Fortunately we were watching with a big group of people who were incredibly on top of things. The ground we were sitting on was covered in two tarps. When the rain got serious we all ripped the first tarp up and held it above us as you see in the photo here. It was hot and our arms got pretty tired, but we did stay dry. It also helped kill the time leading up to the display. We were worried that the display might get called off for weather, but fortunately about 45 minutes before it was set to start the rain ended. Then we entered the realm of genius.


What came next is probably pretty obvious to all of you sitting at home, but there on the scene it seemed utterly brilliant to me. We walked in the edges of the tarp, flipped the sucker over and taped it back down. Boom, a nice dry place to sit like none of it ever happened. I'd say a word here about the Japanese and team work. I don't know how to explain it but the Japanese are just better at working as a team than Americans. I don't know why that is, but it seems to be so. Even complete strangers seem to be able to work together on a common task with flawless symmetry. I'll keep my eyes open for more examples of this.


At this point everyone broke out the beer and food they had brought, dropped it all on the center of the tarp and everyone commenced to dig in. This is another neat thing about Japan. Food seems to be treated as a communal thing. Everyone brings a bunch of stuff and everyone is free to pick whatever they like. This applies to restaurants as well. I like it, as you get a variety of food and it sparks a lot more conversation. The only thing I don't like about it is the etiquette surrounding the last bite. It always seems to happen that everyone is always reluctant to finish the last little bit of a dish so it ends up sitting around forever until someone gets drunk and hungry enough to go after it. Or sometimes it goes to waste altogether. There's even a word for the last little bit of food, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

Two quick looks at some of the fireworks:






So, as you watch fireworks you drink and eat. As you can see, the real emphasis is on drinking although eating is very important. The fireworks lasted from 7pm until 9pm, and this photo was taken right after they ended. We all hung out and finished off the food until the authorities chased us off. I'd say that was sometime between 9:30 and 10. My first impression of a Japanese fireworks display is strongly colored by the extremely cool people we got to watch it with. So all of them may not be as great as this one was. But this one was, in no uncertain terms, absolutely great. I can't wait to do it again next year or sooner.

Finally, the view of the bridge as we left:

Akihabara: The Promised Land

So, I made it to Akihabara, and in some respects it lives up to its reputation. For five blocks in each direction of the train station there is nothing but electronics. From components for people who want to build their own HAM radio set to the latest in plasma TVs everything you can imagine is there if what you're imagining runs off electricity.


So, I went there in search of PC components. Prices aren't so great. They aren't Best Buy bad, but they aren't newegg.com good either. Selection is excellent though at the main outlets. The best stores I found were Sofmap and Tsukumo both of which are large chain stores. This is really confusing as there are at least five or six versions of each store within four blocks of one another. One will specialize in new and used PC parts, another in media such as DVDs and games and yet another in consumer electronics. As I said, it can be very confusing especially if you're trying to do comparison shopping between a few different stores.






One really neat thing about Akihabara is the alleys. There are a couple of them which are crammed with stalls. One will specialize in cameras, another in phones, yet another in electronic components. Behind and above these stalls are consignment shops. They consist of glass boxes which are rented out by people. The renters place whatever old electronic/mechanical crap they want to sell in these glass boxes with price tags attached. By far the most bizarre stuff I saw had come to rest in these glass houses.





Anime, manga, figurines and other grist for the otakus' mill have begun invading Akihabara. From what I've been told, Akihabara has begun to lose its edge somewhat, especially in the PC market. Since its inception in the 1950s the only nonelectronic goods it has sold have been ramen, kazu, curry and other short order foodstuffs. Within the past few years though this has changed slightly. It seems that this sanctuary of high tech cannot withstand the pressure of its denizens less technical desires. The store photographed here specialized in Gundam kits and various figurines from animations. There were also a few manga shops littered around. I hope the trend doesn't get out of hand.