Post thoughts ....

Being in Japan, I was reminded of the devastation north of Tokyo in the Sendai region.  For a very somber reminder of the destruction take a look at this.

Further, if you zoom into the maps along the coast, Goggle's current images are updated to post tsunami as have the street view images.  You can literally take a self guided tour of the area.  The difference in time between the satellite and the street view images shows you how aggressively they are cleaning the area up.  Even still, there are vast swaths of leveled areas, and boats and debris litter the fields.

Take a look at this.

Chris

Trying to get Home

Arrive at airport to find my flight cancelled.  Medical emergency diverted the flight to Anchorage.  The various job actions in Toronto also have me worried.

Now at a nearby hotel.  Do these really look like a nice way to relax?  They have arm restraints?

Seems more like this:

Requires instructions I guess:

Once again, Japanese marketing is hard to beat.  I have only one thing to say to this .....

YES HE IS ....

Namzak Japan!

Here are the people of Namzak Japan.  It was a long week trying to sort out technical issues, and scheduling and planning.  It was positive and productive.

Electric Town (Akihabara):

This place used to be where you could find any electronic part you could imagine.  Warrens of underground shops, stalls and booths where you could find parts pilfered from everything imaginable.  It seems to be morphing into Anime town.  Full of Sony, Sega, and everyone other gaming companies stores.   It is completely overwhelming.  It is hard to imagine such a concentration of people playing all sort of games.

There are entire floors of  "crane" games.  Varying skill levels required, and really weird prizes.  The Angry Birds prizes are the most normal thing I saw!

Floor and floor of widescreen video games.  Other floors dedicated to retro games of the 80's 90's and beyond.

I Love Japanese Product Marketing:

I really like the satanic looking hot pepper things.  These are for Ben and Andrew.

13 Hours and a new Day

It's a long flight.  Simple as that.  Especially in economy class.  Super especially if you're 6'3".

Fishing in Ichigaya

There is a collection of old canals that are left over from the various waterways that were built around Edo Castle.  The ones immediately near the Castle are still part of the Castle property.  The outer one I can see from my hotel has been cut by bridges, partly filled in in places, and no longer plays the part is used to as a main artery in the old city.  At one of the nearby bridge crossing, they have a fishing area.  Seems a little like shooting (fishing) fish in a barrel, but apparently it's been here for years and is very popular:

Right around the corner from my hotel is a not uncommon sight.  A vertical parking lot wedged in between two buildings, and maybe 10 stories tall.  Notice the rotating platform to spin your car facing out when you leave: