Today was the last day of summer in Japan, and gosh it turned on the heat to say goodbye.
I don't know if it was actually hotter than any other days, but it felt horrendous!
After my last day of work in Tokyo, I went for a look at Ginza.
It's expensive, exclusive and quite impressive with all the designer brand stores lining the streets in modern, highly electronic buildings.
Oh and at 8pm as I was getting back to my hotel, it was still 32 degrees.
When I came to Tokyo last week, my case was probably only half full, and pretty light.
Now I'm gonna have to fight to get it shut. Considering there is a Grand Piano in there, among MANY other things I guess I shouldn't be too surprised..
I think I overdid it on the shopping!
OK, so there is not actually a mountain in Japan called Sushi Mountain, well not as far as I know, but I did find a mountain of sushi in the window of a restaurant tonight.
Looked delicious, and would surely have been better than the garbage junk food that I did eat for tea.
Tonight I experienced something that I honestly didn't think existed...a completely empty subway in central Tokyo.
This was at Ginza station, which is one of the larger stations, in an expensive, exclusive area, with at least 6 or 7 intersecting subway lines.
Outside, the streets were packed, and I knew the trains would be too, so it was a little eerie to walk down a set of stairs in the middle of a department store complex, to find dead silence, and completely empty halls. I think it's the first actual silence I have had since arriving here!
And of course I was right, after walking a hundred metres or so, from an intersecting corridor hundreds of people appeared.
But it sure was strange for that 30 seconds or so...
First full day of meetings today, and I feel like a real Japanese businessman. Wearing black pants, and a white short sleeved business shirt, I caught the subway to the venue, with the apparent 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 other Japanese businessman in white shirts with black pants that got crammed into the train with me. If I was a foot shorter I could have ALMOST blended in.
Todays photo topic is food, since that's the total of my excitement today. I love how they don't even expect you to try and eat the crusts on sandwiches, they just remove them for you.
Then tonight we had a function hosted by the Japanese government. The food as expected was amazing!
Well there are clearly a LOT more sights than just the few I saw today, but it was still a huge day out.
First I went to the Tokyo Sky Tree, but didn't wait in the hour long queue to go up it. Kind of wish I had now, it is just SO impressive. At 634m high, its the tallest self supported tower in the world. And when you stand right at its base and look up, you can believe it.
On it's 5th floor is an aquarium, so I went in and checked that out too. It was pretty average, but there was one tank full of these cool little fish. I forget what they were called, but they just stood upright out of the sand and swayed. I liked them.
I did have an interesting experience in trading a toy out of a vending machine with a Japanese guy, using nothing but hand gestures and nodding. I got a lobster toy, and wanted a turtle. I was about to try again when he offered a trade. Apparently he really wanted a lobster.
Then after some shopping in the apparently dodgy area of Kinshicho, I took the subway to the opposite side of the city to Omote-Sando Street in Harajuku, which is famous for it's tree lined exclusive avenue of designer stores such as Gucci, Louis Vitton, Dolce and Gabbana, Tag Heuer etc. and admittedly, as soon as I exited the subway to the street, it was clear this WAS exclusive. The cars parked were all German or Italian and cost a lot more than I would pay for a car! And the whole place had an atmosphere of money. Amazing glass buildings, modern, clean and perfectly maintained.
And as you can see from the bottom right picture, this is where EVERYONE was, and this was taken at about 5:30 pm on a Sunday. And clearly I was walking in the WRONG direction!
Two photos today, as they were both things that quite amazed me while I was out and about in Tokyo.
The first one: Love Potato chips, but hate the messy fingers from the flavouring? Never fear, just use a plastic potato chip eating hand. Just be careful not to pull the trigger too tight!
And the second photo: a sign I saw in the subway, clearly warning not to get too close to the yellow line near the tracks, but...just what exactly are you NOT supposed to do?
Obviously:
Guys, don't get bitch slapped by a girl.
Don't let your kids get attacked by a giant teddy
Don't dance and break a heel.especially if you happen to be inflicted with a centre mounted left leg, and an unusually short right one that juts out at an odd angle.
And finally...
Well no, I'm just not sure WHAT this is telling me.
Something about business men and giant hair, but I really can't see that happening in the subway?
Very very odd.
And the worst part is, that's only TWO of the very odd things I saw today. There were plenty more.
Its been a very long day. After arriving at Narita airport at about 6:30am, I caught the Narita Express to Tokyo Station, and then a taxi to the meeting venue, arriving at about 9:30. And I was already hot, sweating and tired.
We finished the meeting setup at about 1:30, so then for me it was back to the subway to Hanzomon to try and find my hotel. Which I did quite easily, and was pleased to find it cool and with quite a decent view. Probably even better at night.
Then after a shower and cool down, I headed out again, to take the subway to Akihabara where all the awesome electronic stores are, and a good supermarket.
But I got sidetracked, and ended up further out, finding a great shopping mall, with a huge kids shop among 10 floors of others such as the Sega world arcade and a great looking burger place (which I resisted).
So today was my 39th birthday. Scary that I only have a year until I'm ancient at 40.
Leah got me some awesome gifts (plus let's not forget that wicked cheesecake yesterday), including the Renovator Dual Saw that I asked for, and a cleaning kit for my car (I think that's a hint).
And then I was off to Tokyo in the evening for work, which was pretty sucky on my birthday.
So its not my birthday yet, but Leah knows me well enough to know if she gave me this awesome cheesecake that she made for me, tomorrow,I would eat it all before 5pm when I leave for the airport, and would be sick!
So I got the awesome cheesecake today instead.
So happy...
This is todays post, written today, unlike yesterdays post that was written today also.
I really have nothing else to say today.
When I got home from work today, Grace came outside in her highly appropriate and warm outfit, to bounce on the trampoline.
Well technically, it is labelled correctly for August 20, but since I didn't do it on time, it means I'm actually writing this tomorrow, which makes this yesterdays post. Got it?
Photo is of the ridiculous bird seed block Leah bought.
A pretty quiet day today, with only a quick trip up to Majura to check out Masters Hardware.
The highlight for the day was Graces unique seating arrangements.
This morning she decided she needed to sit in the plastic bin to watch movies.
And then this afternoon she created a new car seat with a box of potato chips we had just bought, so that she could eat her lollipop and watch the planes.
Huge day today, as we went to the Selwyn snow fields with Cass, Nathan and Maddie for a day in the cold.
It was pretty neat driving in, as for the last 40 minutes or so, we were driving in clear roads with blue skies, but everything else was white. As Grace told us "its pretty".
The snow fields were fun, the girls seemed to enjoy themselves, though Grace was not a fan of walking in the snow.
But by the end of the day,we had managed to build a baby snowman mound, have a few goes in toboggans, generally mess about in the softer snow, and throw snowballs at each other.
The only disappointment was not getting back to Bredbo by 5 to go to the Xmas shed. Though in reality, I think three of us were probably actually quite happy about that, and Cass was the only disappointed one.
Sorry Cass, but my schedule WAS perfect, except for unfortunate unforseen circumstances.
It snowed in Canberra today. And we are heading to the snow fields tomorrow, so we had to prepare for the cold.
This is Grace test driving her slightly modified snow suit, and me modelling my gloves and neck sock.
On the way to work this morning I saw a balloon. I took a photo of the balloon. In fact, I took a few. I thought that the balloon looked nice in the blue sky.
The End.
Leah and Grace met me for lunch today, and a quick search of Google Maps revealed a small park not too far from work.
There wasn't much there, but Grace did like the car thingy, and loved running around the trees and playing with sticks.
While it wasn't the coldest morning we have had recently, for some reason the ice was thick on the Ute this morning, since it was parked in the drive overnight.
Does always give a good use for my CostCo membership card though...
Back to work today. It was tough after a two week break.
Subsequently, my blog will be boring again, since there is nothing to photograph when I'm at work.
So todays photo is not one I took, but one I was sent, of Maddie and Grace having a tea party.
Cute girls.
We spent the day at home today, and managed to get a fair bit done.
In the morning, Grace decided the washing basket looked like a good spot to use the iPad for a while. She stayed in there for nearly an hour.
Then I got the melamine cupboard built for some storage near the front door, followed by a tidy up outside involving moving the decks, moving Graces cubby onto the decks, and permanently locating the clam shells.
Also managed to get a bit of a dent in the pile of pebbles out the front, by using them around the decks.
Finally tonight, after a bath, Grace wanted the usual bounce on the bed, except since she was tired, she decided to climb in and pretend to sleep.
We started using a new group chat application last night, and today realised that it didn't have any built in emoticons: you know, the little yellow smiley faces, of various expressions.
And since I am the bad boy without an iPhone,I also can't see the iPhone Emoji ones that the others use.
So I decided to take matters into my own hands, and create my own emoticons.
What do you think?
We had Claire with Hugh, and Cass with Maddie come over this morning for a play.
Because we haven't seen each other for all the kids birthdays, they all also had gifts to open.
Grace got (among other things) a really cool turtle from Claire and Hugh that she loves, and a puzzle and a littlest pet shop zoo from Cass and Maddie, that she also loves.
She was so impressed with opening them all, and played most of the afternoon with the animals from the zoo!
Back to Kinder Gym today with Grace. It's been a few weeks since Grace got to go, since she or Leah have been unwell for so long, as well as the term break.
Grace loved playing on the equipment as usual, particularly running up and down the padded ramp, or the trampoline.
Another photo of the drummer girl, since that seems to be her favourite playroom activity today.
This time she was watching TV and playing along to the music.
Early morning for us as we flew home on a 6:35 flight from Hobart today.
Grace was awesome on the plane as always, though this was a milestone flight, as now she is two, she gets her own seat.
This afternoon she still had a couple of gifts to open from us, that were too big to take to Hobart for her.
She loved the drumkit, and I was impressed that we didn't have to show her what to do.
She just sat, picked up the drumsticks, and started bashing. Even using the foot pedal for the kick drum.
Of course it wasn't long before the tongue was hanging in typical drummer "I'm trying (but struggling) to count to four, to keep the beat" style!
What more can I say?
Today was Graces second birthday, it's hard to believe it's been two years already.
Had a quiet day until 4 pm when we were ready for her dinner party at 5pm.
Grace had a great time and won a couple of nice toys from the skill testers as well.
Finally left the pub at about 8:30, with an exhausted Grace eventually asleep at about 9:30.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE!!!
We went and saw Martin and Rose today, where Grace enjoyed a picnic with Martin, building towers with Martin, and feeding ducks with Martin.
Big day for us, compared to recently at least.
We went out early to the Salamanca markets, and wharf then a quick look at the city.
Grace was not impressed with the market, but loved the boats. She kept picking out the dodgy looking yachts for Leah though.
I liked the pic of her against the Antarctic 'Aurora Australis' vessel.
Then she had a play in the city, and in the afternoon Grace got a couple of early birthday gifts.
Not a lot to report for today.we managed to go to KMart this afternoon, but didn't do much else.
Graces opinion of Dad look alikes has improved slightly, if only for the age...
This pic was on the wall of the baby change room, and Grace assured me he liked like me.
Better than Dr Harry a short while ago I guess. And it does say his name is Simon so she is getting closer.
Second day in Hobart, and in the morning at least, the weather was much better.
Not that it lasted.
Went and saw my Mum today, and then delicious Praties Taties for lunch.
Just can't believe we don't get Praties on the mainland....
The picture says it all really. Been here less than 24 hours and the weather is as Lovely as Tassie weather is expected to be....
Haven't yet seen Mt Wellington....
Today was Leahs birthday, so I was her slave for a day. Well not really, but Grace and I did try to give her a relaxing day, at least for some of it before we flew to Hobart.
So it was a quiet brekky at coffee club, then a day at home.
As a result I didn't really take any photos, apart from one of an iPhone screen. so this is from the night before when Grace was looking at the photos of Cass, Nathan and Maddie from Fiji.
Very cute that Grace copied the actions in the photo....
