A week with Mumsie Pt. 2
Two days til Christmas and I'm hard at work catching up on the photos and blog activities that have formed something of a backlog over these pas couple days - busy busy! We had a bit of a Christmas Party/Secret Santa within our floor that ended up with us going to Karaoke; I got back at 6am today so needless to say today has been a bit of a slow one! There'll be a blog covering the Christmas stuff coming shortly, but for now I'm going to be hammering out the rest of the blogs covering Mum's time here!
I had been to the Sunshine City Aquarium with some friends a month or so ago, but the nature of going with their three year old meant that we went through reasonably quickly, and so naturally I was looking forward to being able to go through it again with a bit more. Mum and I headed out there on a weekday (much better than going on the weekend), and so we were able to better enjoy the views of all the fish and attractions without being caught up in the hordes of Japanese weekend visitors! As I said in my earlier post about the aquarium, they had experienced a significant die off from some faulty oxygen machines, but you would have no clue of that to look at the tanks, the number and variety of fish being a marvel to behold!
A huge amount of colour and variety there was, and being able to take my time to photograph them, or even to stand in front of the huge tank and feel surrounded by what felt like an entire ocean was amazing. New Zealand has some aquariums, but nothing on this scale - and what makes it even more impressive is the fact that it is on top of a skyscraper; the penguin attraction gives you views out across other tall towers, meaning it seems the penguins are flying high in the sky!
After the aquarium, we went to the Sensoji-Temple in Asakusa. This is a huge Buddhist temple in the middle to Tokyo, famous for the huge gates it has, in which there are some Buddhist guardian statues. It also features a large pagoda and considerable markets, which I remember as being very cool the first time I came to Japan in 2009. This is a popular tourist destination, and so the market was quite crowded, and full of people in rented kimono, but it was still far less busy than I recalled, probably on account of it being a weekday!
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| Old and new, Sensoji Temple gate with Tokyo Skytree in the background |
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| At the front gates to Sensoji with the Buddhist guardian statues inside |
In 2011 I met Varun Khanna, a student from India who has spent the last few years making great headway into the world of academia here in Japan. He has now moved overseas to further his studies in Europe, but was back in Japan for a week long visit, and so I was fortunate enough to be able to catch up with him! Mum and I met him for Chinese street food in Ueno, catching each other up on the last 6 or so years. It was an absolute pleasure to see him again, and I look forward to the next time he comes to the Land of the Rising Sun!
Our next adventure took us to the Museum of Natural History. One of the many museums in Ueno Park, it covers all things to do with the natural world, but significantly to Mum and I, had an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils! Of course the other parts of the museum were impressive too (though the part which catalogued animals of the worlds by showcasing an old Japanese hunter's collection was a bit bizarre!), but the dinosaurs really stole the show for me - I was like a kid in a candy shop!
From Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex, it was an awesome exhibition, made me reminisce for my paleontology days!
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| This Japanese man was an avid hunter, bagging many hundreds of animals across his career - only when species became threatened with extinction did he decide to become a conservationist and donate his trophies to the museum so others may be educated ... what a guy! |
The museum also has the preserved Hachiko, the dog who is famous for waiting for years to his dead master at the entrance to Shibuya Station that now bears his name
Outside of the museum we took a look at the Kiyomizu Kannon temple, which has a famous bonsai tree which has been shaped to look like a full moon - a very good example of Japanese working with and manipulating nature to fulfill a specific aesthetic choice!
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| The Dragon head fountain at the entrance to the temple |
Mum really wanted to visit the Koishikawa Korakuen Park in Tokyo, which is famous for a couple of bridges - one which is made to look like the moon, and the other which is a vivid red orange colour, reminiscent of Kyoto. The park was very peaceful, beautifully manicured like all Japanese parks, with many historic shrines and structures. There was one which a hut for viewing Mt Fuji - in the past one of the Shoguns liked to sit there and look over the city of Edo to see the great mountain.
In addition to the historic structures and gardens, the Koishikawa Korakuen caught my eye with some early blooming flowers - the first sakura cherry blossom of the season I've seen!
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| Koishikawa's moon bridge |
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| One part of the garden is famous for the geometric construction of its pathways |
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| A fox guardian statue at one of the shrines within the garden |
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| Feeding birds is apparently a serious threat to aviation safety! |
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| The famous Red Bridge |
Following on from the tradition and grace of Koishikawa, I took Mum to something that is quite the opposite - Odaiba Island. An artificial island in Tokyo Bay, it has all manner of shopping centres, light attractions, and a theme park. It is the very epitome of modern Japan, being bright, saccharine and full of noise! We got there by taking the driverless train over the 'Rainbow Bridge' - so names because of the way it lights up in the evening. I had timed our arrival so that we could enjoy the sunset over the beach and Tokyo skyline, before exploring the lights and chaos within.
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| The Rainbow Bridge with The Statue of Liberty, of course |
Odaiba also has a huge, 20m tall 'Gundam' statue. For those who don't know, Gundam is a Japanese cartoon show, which features pilots controlling huge robot mechs, battling against other robotic evils. This one recently replaced a smaller one, and includes a light show, with lots of music from the show, being very much an example of how popular Japanese pop culture is!
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| Meeting my good friend Marilyn Monroe |
One thing that was probably the highlight of the Japanese OTT pop culture experience on Odaiba was coming across a recently formed girlband, named 'Shine Fine Movement', who were releasing a new single. These girls who looked about 12 were singing and dancing in bright yellow dresses, with a large crowd of mainly men singing along with them. What was surprising was that the audience knew the lyrics to the song already, despite that the song was only released that day - they had clearly been studying lots that day! It was honestly more interesting watching the audience, as all these men who looked like they'd just come back from work fawned over these singers (who I think sound like every other Japanese girl band...) Here's an idea of their music.
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| Another generic girl band from Japan with a legion of fans who look a little out of place |
All in all, the day was one of contrasts, from the calm, measured and highly reserved Japanese gardens, to the lights, colour and gharish craziness of Odaiba. We left the island to get back into Shibuya, with plenty more adventures to come!
I think I've got one more blog with Mum's adventures coming, and then it'll be onto the Christmas and such like ones - plenty of material to come though!
Til next time :D
Troy
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