Train Museum

Dante and I visited the Railway Museum outside Tokyo. Here are 21 photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/TokyoTrainMuseum?authkey=Gv1sRgCIjt6ouGjYS8mAE&feat=directlink

Tokyo with Dante

Pictures of my trip to Tokyo with Dante. We went to see the Fire Fighters' Museum. We got a green car ticket for the Shonan-Shinjuku line, which whisked us to Shinjuku w/ only 5 intermediate stops. We had to sit in the bottom of the double-decker.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/FireFightersMuseumTokyo?feat=directlink

Yokohama!

Photos of our trip to Yokohama
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/Yokohama?feat=directlink

Japanese Winter

It snowed one night last week. There was a bit of snow on the ground in places - I saw school kids picking up little bits to play with it.
I took this picture on the way from the train station to the office. You can see a little snow on the ground and some snow on the little mountains in the background. Fuji is there somewhere but got washed out in this poor exposure. Of course Fuji-san is snowy all the time, but this is the first time I've seen snow on the little mountains.
The locals tell me we'll likely have a little more snow like this before the end of February, but they don't seem very sure about it.

Special Bike

Vicky and I found this humorous, since culotte in French means underwear. I guess this bike is meant for riding with a short skirt.

Japanese Bikes

Speaking of bikes, here's a typical Japanese model - well used and equipped for a kid and groceries. You often see moms bicycling with kids, sometimes one in front and one behind. People ride on both sides of the street when that's convenient but even more often on the sidewalks. This morning I saw a bicyclist stop at a green light because the Don't Walk sign was illuminated. He was on the left side of the street like vehicle, but I guess he figured he was more like a pedestrian than a car.

Supper

In Japan, there are lots of prepared foods you can buy to eat at home. I often don't know whether you can get take-out at restaurants, but all groceries have take-out choices, and there are hordes of bento box and other take-out food stalls near the station.
I bought this stuff at a store that specializes in rolls (maki, I guess). All I could determine about these two big rolls was that they didn't have anything gross-looking sticking out the ends and one said, "mayonaise". One of them turned out to have fish eggs, so I skipped that one. On the left are rice cakes (nigiri) - these ones weren't particularly good - some of the packaged ones at the combini (convenience store) are better. The box in the middle had three inarizushi-like tofu-scum pockets filled with rice and stuff. One had ground meat, one had eggy bits, and one had tuna.
On the left you can see my sake. Vicky's tipple in the black cup is Australian Syrah.

All Things Must Pass

Lately, Dante has been insisting that we take pictures of ephemeral things before they are lost forever. Here's the Ritz, banana, peanut butter sanwich he made this morning.

It Gets You There

Vicky bought a bike. The dealer used to work for a bike company in California, so he had great English. He called this a Japanese-style bike. Most bikes here are just a mode of transportation. They have sporting bikes, too, but they are far less common. This one cost about $200. It has a stainless basket (to avoid rust here near the sea) and a generator in the front hub. All bikes have a lock on the back wheel that goes through the spokes. They could only stop someone from casually hopping on and riding off - no trouble at all for a bike thief.
It's not exactly a triathlon bike, but Vicky rides it down to Enoshima, has a run on the beach, and rides home.

Real Information

If you read Japanese, you can tell me what this one says.

Hurry Please

Vicky decided this one says, "If a construction worker needs to go to the toilet, please let him use yours."

Warning Signs

The construction crew also put up some signs in the elevator. This one says, "Warning: Exploding Steps".

Blue Goo

Turns out, it's all so they can put this blue goo on the balcony/walkway. I guess they are sealing the concrete. Maybe they'll do more - no way to tell.
That box is the outside part of the heat pump in Dante's room. That's how everything is heated here. Very efficient, since it never gets much below 0C. In Nikko, where it gets colder, our hotel had indoor kerosene heaters. The smell was yucky - I'd hate to live with that all the time.

More

As are the buttons and door frame. It's like the building is wearing a condom.

More

The inside of the elevator is covered.

Foyer

Came Home to Find This

Came home last week to find my apartment had been covered with a layer of plastic. You can see the blue coating on the door handles and plastic on the floor of the foyer.