Which Country Are We In?

It seems as if I were in Turkey.

But, my wife and I just went to a Mosque located in Yoyogi Uehara, Tokyo the other day.

The Mosque was open to everyone regardless of his or her religion.

The building was very beautiful both inside and outside.

When we went there, about a dozen of people who seemed Islam were gathering to pray.

Two Tokyo Sky Trees, The One is Seen in 2016 and the Other was in 2009

View from the condominium in which my parents-in-law live

I went to the Tokyo Sky Tree with my wife last month.

The weather was not clear and sunny on the day though, we enjoyed seeing the huge tower and shopping at the town near the tower.

The pictures below were taken in autumn, 2009.  The guys in the picture, all loved to take photos.

I walked around Tokyo with them viewing and taking pictures of the partly-built Sky Tree. 

The pictures were my precious memory that the tower was still under construction. 

I Go to JP Tower Museum

JP Tower Museum held exhibitions of
"The University of Tokyo Collection",
"Naval Architecture in Imperial University"
and
"The Count of Clouds: Mount Fuji Through the Eyes of Masanao Abe" when we visited.

Since photo taking was prohibited inside the museum, I took just a snap shot in the empty room viewing Tokyo railway station.

They had amazing collections and show them free of charge.

Definitely, it is worth visiting.

It is said that Tokyo Railway Station opened on December 20, 1914 with only four platforms.

Currently, it is the busiest station in Japan in terms of number of trains per day (over 3,000),

I Go to Tokyo Stock Exchange and Its Museum

My wife and I went to Tokyo Stock Exchange in Kabuto-chyo, Tokyo the other day.

There are two major stock exchange places in Japan: one is in Tokyo and the other is in Osaka.

The place was rather quiet than I previously expected.
The stock trade is executed through computer systems these days of course, no people are shouting, calling and running at the site.

I Take a Ride on a Tramcar in Tokyo

Tokyo is famous for its wide spread subway systems. People are able to go wherever they want  in downtown Tokyo by them.

But, they still have tramcars which run rather slow comparing with cars and underground trains.

My wife and I took a ride on an Arakawa-Line car.

I don't think it is difficult to replace them with high speed trains or subway, though I hope Tokyo keeps those classic cars running which run for more than a century.

It is said that the Arakawa Line started its operation in 1911.

What a history it is!

Yanaka Town in Tokyo

 I went to Yanaka town in Tokyo with my wife a couple weeks ago.

Yanaka is famous for having traditional Japanese streets, shops, temples and buildings.

The brown ball in the picture on the left is called 'sugi dama' or 'Sakabayashi.'

Sugitama is used to inform people that new sake has been made.
A sugitama is made from fresh pine leaves, and as the sugitama dries and changes color, it lets people know how much the sake has been matured.

Daughter Emi Comes Back Home on Summer Vacation

Daughter Emi came back home and stayed for a week on her summer vacation.

She works at sales department of a major telecom company in Japan.

She was so busy on her work that she kept working even at home or at a restaurant.

Anyway, we managed to spare half a day and went to Cafe TOKO for lunch together during her stay.


 

The star shaped sliced cucumber seems to have eyes and a mouth, doesn't it?

3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters

'3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters' was held at Futa-ara-yama Shrine last month.

The games were so exciting that even Gods at the shrine might have been surprised.

TV monitors were set outside the main basketball court and people who could not enter the venue enjoyed watching games through the mointors.

People were dancing at the music festival held one day before the 3x3 World Tour.

I Go to Nissan Tochigi Plant

I went to Nissan Tochigi Plant to join a guided tour of car assembling lines with my wife the other day.

Since photo taking was prohibited in the tour, I cannot upload any pictures of the automated state-of-the-art  factory.

Photos here were taken at the entrance waiting hall. They displayed three cars, toy cars, engines and so forth.

We dropped by a Sushi Restaurant called Hourai-zushi on our way back home.

I Go to Tokyo on Business

I made a business trip to 'Tokyo Institute of Technology' a few weeks ago.

The Institute is the most prestigious engineering college in Japan.
I attended a new generation lithography conference there.

The college is located near the company I once worked for.

I wanted to go to see an old Japanese style public bath near the company to know if it still is running.

Yes, it was. I took some snap shots of it.

I Go to a Cafe, Tomotina

In the middle of rainy season, I paid a visit to a river side cafe 'Tomotina' with my wife.

The cafe is located near Ohya Stone Park and a local quarry.

The walls of the cafe were apparently made from the stone dug out of the quarry.

They served us delicious vegetable dishes and good smell coffee.