Monkey D’Luffy, dressed as if transported back to the Edo era, points his katana at Japan’s location on a globe.

Not-quite-awake me sits at Delta gate across from the Budweiser Brew House.

A statue of Snoopy, ready to travel, in dedication to St. Paul native Charles Schultz.

An entire shop dedicated to Prince in the Minneapolis airport.

Snacks, art supplies, and my journal for this trip are spread out on a table as I wait for my flight.

Empty seats in the Comfort+ section of my flight to Tokyo.

Airline Kosher meal.

Mt. Fuji, taken from the Shinkansen window.

Another view of Mt. Fuji taken from the Shinkansen window.

A space cat, being glared and aimed at by an armed space rat, hangs down from the ceiling of the hostel’s lounge/cafe.

A panorama of my “room.”

What you dirty people really want to see - Japanese high-tech toilet controls.

To quote the game Undertale, this boat has a lot of determination.

I realized when we reached Miyajima that I should take a picture of the ferry.

A view of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Plant as the ferry travels by it at ocean speed.

The O-torii Gate, which stands in the water in front of Itsukushima Shrine. The present gate was erected in 1875 and is 54.5 ft tall.

Another view if the O-torii Gate, taken from the beach.

A Horse Shrine near the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine.

The entrance to Itsukushima Shrine. There were so many general tour groups and school groups here and on the island in general, that it was hard to navigate. If one understands Japanese, though, you get to eavesdrop on the facts being doled out.

Looking across the way at wish placards hung in the shrine. It’s low tide; imagine water there instead of dirt.

A view of the old steep bridge at the shrine, which is closed off.

When you exit the Itsukushima Shrine, you are greeted by the Daiganji Temple.

The path to Momijidani Park is also the way to the Mt. Misen Ropeway, which I didn’t visit, and I didn’t run.

An amazingly large female joro spider.

A bridge on the forest pathway to Momojidani Park.

A red dragonfly tries to blend into the bridge.

Stairs on the forest trail, which lead up to a small shine.

The forest shrine at the top of the stairs on the path to Momijidani Park.

The deer here retain their spots even as adults.

View from the park, which lies at the base of Mt. Misen; I’m sure the views from the summit are even better.

Going up towards the 5-storied pagoda, I found myself once again surrounded by tour groups.

Looking out over the rooftops of the Omotesando Shopping Arcade and the town of Miyajima.

A better view of the five-storied pagoda, “said to have been built in 1407” - it is about 92 feet high.

A glance down a side street as I make my way back to the ferry from the pagoda.

Vending machines are conveniently everywhere. This one is a ninja-themed Coca-Cola machine.

I bought a tiny Fanta. It tastes a little different from our version; there is a tiny bit of actual grape juice in it. Also, Coca-Cola and Fanta are very pressurized; there is a loud pop! when they are first opened and you can see the vapors rising from the spout as you remove the cap. To dispose of the bottle, you peel off the label by pulling the designated corner and put the label and cap in the combustible garbage. The naked bottle goes in its own bin.

My brother said he heard the deer are assholes. I asked the deer; she was offended by the suggestion that she could possibly be an asshole.

A couple of deer chilling in front of a convenience store.

The A-Bomb Dome as viewed from the Peace Park. This building was once the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and was one of the very few structures that remained partially standing after the nuclear bomb was dropped on the city. It has been preserved in this state since to serve as a reminder of the destruction.

School children looking at the thousands of origami cranes shaped into messages of peace at the Children’s Peace Monument.

In the foreground of this picture is the peace flame which will keep burning until nuclear weapons no longer exist. The curved structure in the background is the Cenotaph, which serves as a tomb for those killed by the detonation of the nuclear bomb and its aftermath.

There are multiple museums in the Hiroshima Peace Park; I visited the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. You travel down this spiral, which has information about the morning of the bombing, until you reach the circular Hall of Remembrance, which has a fountain in the shape of a clock stuck at 8:15, the time of the bombing. There was also a video on the efforts of the staff of the Hiroshima Regional Meteorological Observatory to record survivor testimony in the months after the bombing.

Towards the end of the war, thousands of school children were mobilized to work in munitions factories and to create fire breaks within the city to minimize damage from bombings. A lot of these children died when the nuclear bomb was dropped. This is the Memorial Tower Dedicated to Mobilized Students, which was created by families who lost their children.

Another view of the A-Bomb Dome.

I made my way through shopping arcades to find Yoshinoya, where I had gyūdon (sliced beef and onions over rice) for my main meal.

It’s true; Budweiser is very American.

Street in Hiroshima

An interesting shrine I saw on my way to Hiroshima station.

Hiroshima manhole cover showing chains of origami cranes, like one sees at the Peace Park.

Manhole cover showing Hiroshima Castle.

I have tiny hands. These Pringles are very small.

Cool wooden-backed seats of the non-Shinkansen train I took from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto.

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Tower, which unfairly gets mocked.

Staircase showing an animation of people walking through the station.

And now the stairs are showing Japanese patterns.

It’s hard to capture just how tall the bamboo is.

Part of Nonomiya Shrine, which is along the Bamboo Path

The rest was free of spiders, but there was one stretch of trail that was full of joro spiders. I thought of my sister. I also thought about how Princess Kaguya would have been about the size of one of these when found by the bamboo cutter in the folktale.

An incredibly rare quiet moment, fleeting as moments are. Those bicycles were soon ring-a-ling-linging past.

I tried to avoid crowds by going really early, but it was still very packed. I now have a particular hatred for selfie sticks and couples.

Bamboo cutters cleared out a bit here; who knows if they found a little Princess Kaguya?

There are temples, graveyards, and private residences along the bamboo path.

I don’t know what animal this guy is, but his Smoky the Bear like message is to watch your cigarette butts since mountain forests are prone to fires.

Silhouette of the bridge.

The water was very clear. I saw some ducks. On the road, I saw some rickshaws.

There are a series of small waterfalls as the river goes under the bridge.

These are some of the cooler looking boats. There were also lots of the blue standard-fare pedal boats.

Bridge viewed from the city side.

The bridge viewed from the Arashiyama-side.

Watching people watching people boat.

This way to Monkey Park

You don’t want to be a dead monkey. This vending machine basically only sold water.

The answer to the first question is B -macaque. The answer to the second question is A - cicadas. And the answer to the third question is all of them.

The path to Monkey Park is long and arduous, though there are benches along the way. And, when you are 95% of the way there, there is also a playground in case your kids somehow still have energy.

This one is on his break.

It was worth the ¥600 just for the view alone.

I really like the baby monkeys.

160 meters is a lot of meters. My feet and knees can attest to that.

This one is snacking on some leaves.

They are omnivorous.

She is carefully grooming one of her friends, who is laid out super relaxed-like.

Looking at a monkey looking at people looking at a different monkey.

He’s king of the rooftop. In this building were restrooms and monkey food you could feed to them through the safety of some bars.

This little guy was cute. He did his best climbing and swinging, even though he is still figuring both out.

Again, crazy good view.

If your hips are narrow enough, you can save yourself some steps.

Turtle.

Heading back on the train to go one stop to the theme park.

It’s nice to know that even in a country where trains are ubiquitous that people still excitedly film the trains coming and going.

I got a free tiny photo of myself in front of the true to size top half of the Evangelion mecha. You can climb to the top and sit in the pilot’s seat, which just made me wonder how mecha pilots don’t do more accidental damage - everything is so small when one is so high up.

My pilot synchronization score was “Nope, you are a (likely doomed) civilian.”

“Angels” (giant monsters) from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

It was fun wandering down the streets, peering into the buildings which often had replica furniture and tools in them (along with big “Do Not Touch” signs).

Building containing archives, special exhibits on actress Hibari Misora, Kamen Rider, and Toei animation, as well as the gift shop.

Home of the fictional Edo policeman Zenigata Heiji, who would throw zeni (pennies) at criminals. Lupin the Third’s Zenigata is supposed to be a descendant of him.

Getting ready for the ninja show.

The comic relief characters break the fourth wall to tell the audience that photos - specifically photos of them, why aren’t you taking photos of them!? - are ok.

The actors in the live ninja show I watched.

Souvenir photo of myself if I were historical figure Sakamoto Ryouma. They have a menu of costumes to choose from, and they fit everything over your clothes and literally have costume and wig on, photo taken, costume and wig off, and photo printed in 5 minutes total.

This automated ninja scoots back and forth on the wires.

Many of the structures, like this bridge, are replicas of structures that historically existed in either Kyoto or Edo (present-day Tokyo).

The skies were beautiful, but it was extremely windy.

A model shrine.

Fox masks. So many fox masks.

Kids running by an old style trolly car.

The small section dedicated to Toei Animation had cells and promotional materials for a number of shows. Here, Galaxy Express 999.

GeGeGe no Kitaro

Arale from Dr. Slump (N’cha!) and Sailor Moon

Mazinger Z

Such a clever girl.

The entrance to the shrine’s grounds begin immediately when you exit the train station.

This fox holds a jewel in its mouth.

The key in the fox’s mouth is supposed to be to the rice granary.

Rice, sake, and other goods offered to the Inari.

An offering of tuna.

It started out very crowded (though judging by the train station, I left before it got *really* busy).

Each one of these gates was donated by a business. A message - typically the name of said business- is carved in black on the other side of the torii’s posts.

The further up the mountain (Mt. Inari), the fewer people there were. I didn’t climb up all the way to the top; my feet still ache from visiting the monkeys.

There are lots of these little shrines along the path (and the little red gates count towards the thousand).

Lots of white foxes.

The mountain is a labyrinth of shrines and gates.

Up and up. I don’t think I even got halfway before taking one of the available down routes, but all the way to the top is 233 meters, or 764 feet.

Some of the main buildings with offerings being given and prayer tablets available for sale.

The oldest British-style steam locomotive completely manufactured in Japan, from 1903.

Sort of what my train to the shrine was like this morning, except without being packed full of people.

Though most were closed off for preservation reasons, a few of the cars were opened up to allow visitors to walk through.

The first DC electric train manufactured in Japan in 1928.

“In Japan there is an ancient custom of removing footwear before entering into a house. When the railroads first opened business, it seems that people who were not used to this new vehicle yet would unfortunately leave their footwear on the platform when boarding the train.”

The first steam locomotive imported from Britain, back in 1881.

A 1960 diesel.

“Nostalgia Shop” - what a Showa-era candy stand looked like.

A small vehicle from the Showa era.

A DC electric locomotive from 1968.

They had tunnels under a couple of the engines so you could see them from below; this is under a DC electric locomotive from 1968.

From 1996, the first Shinkansen to hit (a then record) 300 km/hr (186 mph).

Wheels and bogies for various types of trains.

A variety of signals, which you can operate via pedal.

Two EMU trains; the one on the left is from 1968, and featured seats that could transform into beds. The one on the right is from 1971.

They had a room of Japan Rail promotion logos; this one was my favorite.

Train on-board bathrooms have come a long way. The museum had an exhibit for every aspect of the train - handles for standing passengers, seat designs, entrance gates, climate control systems, you name it.

What’s a train museum without Thomas? I definitely saw more than one little kid wearing a Thomas shirt.

More Thomas.

View of the main museum building from the second floor.

There is a wall of train-themed music.

Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion, or Transforming Bullet Train Robot Shinkalion, toys. There is an anime, of course.

The museum’s sky terrace offers a nice view of the trains heading towards and from Kyoto Station.

A steam locomotive built in 1914.

A steam locomotive from 1946.

Left to right: a 1946 steam locomotive, a 1927 steam locomotive with chrysanthemum and phoenix motifs, and a 1928 steam locomotive.

This little steam locomotive was imported into Japan from the United States in 1880.

This roundhouse was initially built in 1914; it has special historical designation.

Walking back from the Railway Museum, I chanced upon the Kyoto Aquarium, saw the giant salamander here, and thought, why not? These giant salamanders apparently live in the river I crossed yesterday.

They have little tanks showing the life cycle of the Japanese Giant Salamander, before it becomes giant. It doesn’t stay axolotl-like for very long at all.

They really like just piling up on one another. Humans for size comparison. There are apparently two species of Chinese salamander that are bigger.

“Compare your height to the biggest Giant Salamander in the aquarium!” The person who was nice enough to take my photo laughed when she saw I was the same. In the past I’ve measured 160 cm; not sure if my shoes and hat make up the extra one. In short, though, I am basically a giant salamander.

Sea lion rolling around.

The large tank was comprised of the fish, rays, and sharks that can be found in Kyoto’s bay along the Japan Sea.

South African penguin.

If you like jellyfish, this aquarium is great. They have lots of tanks showing how much moon jellyfish grow - from barely perceptible little spots in the tank representing the first few days. There are multiple other species of jellyfish on display as well.

These little garden eels are the coolest.

“Hi!”

Do they even know what their tails look like?

There were a few small tanks of fish.

This tank also had blue tang and clownfish, because all aquariums are required to have those thanks to Pixar.

Anemone and anemone-liking fish.

I was getting worried there wouldn’t be a single turtle.

There was no dolphin show today, but I did get to see this one receive a massage.

Walking back to my hostel from the aquarium. My feet are pretty dead.

This is what an empty regular Shinkansen car looks like.

The scenery on the Shinano line from Nagoya towards Nagano is hard to photograph, but beautiful.

Train, car, river, and mountain in parallel.

The skies were grey when I exited the station.

There were lots of wildflowers on the way to the museum.

Fields either held food crops (lots of which had had rice) or wildflowers.

You could experience the making of an Ukiyo-E woodblock print using stamps. There were three different designs of 4 to 5 colors each.

Only a small portion of the ten thousand prints held here are displayed at a time (and in darkened conditions) to help preserve them. The current exhibit was themed around fashion and makeup.

A few classics were also on display. I’m a huge fan of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, so was excited to see some of his. It was really cool getting to see these prints in real life.

Two of my favorite Utagawa Kuniyoshi prints are on the top row.

Field of what was rice, with kids playing baseball behind that.

I think this is my first time seeing eggplant attached to its plant.

Believe it or not, five minutes later I was surrounded by buildings and cars.

Here come the buildings! I think a much higher percentage of people in Matsumoto drive than in the other places I’ve been.

Overpass crossing train tracks. Sign says in big letters “No skateboarding! No dancing!”

Matsumoto Castle was built in 1594 and is one of the few which have survived to now without having to be completely rebuilt (during the Meiji era it was unfortunately believed modernization meant completely abolishing the past).

Its nickname is the Crow Castle, due to its black color, but the most common bird I saw was the pigeon.

Pigeons looking regal.

There are koi fish in the moat happy for snacks (though the pigeons did their best to get the food first).

A gathering of koi.

Red bridge, black castle, and grey pigeons.

The entrance unfortunately is on the opposite side of the castle; the bridge is not open.

Matsumoto City’s mascot Alp-chan.

I then joined the long line to go inside the castle and up all six floors of the tower.

I watched him draw directions for someone in the gravel using the hilt of his short sword, as well as pose for countless photos with visitors.

Still in line, but closer.

There was a lot more decoration than I was expecting for a battle-oriented fortification.

View from the second floor. All visitors have to remove their shoes and place them in a bag while in the castle. I didn’t know about this beforehand, and so sockless I, along with a little girl and one old man, were the only left barefoot.

Armor of a gunman. One of the people who helped finance the modern day castle upkeep also collected historic guns used while the castle was active. Many of these were on display on the second floor.

View of the line outside from the sixth floor. The “stairs” were the most vertical scary stairs I’ve ever been up or down. You are prohibited from photographing around them for completely understandable safety reasons. The red seats in the upper left hand corner were where people in fancy kimono and suits were engaged in traditional tea ceremony.

Another view of the line-side, with a bit of the food tents surrounding the castle. The city is having a soba festival right now.

The bridge from six stories up.

Another version of Matsumoto City’s mascot Alp-chan, outside the castle gate.

A swan nestles against the castle foundations.

A number of street crossing signs have parallel rows of dots that count down to when the light will change.

I hope to sleep this well tonight.

A fun frog statue.

Determined cats on a bridge.

Red flowers on the bridge; mountains in the back. Almost makes me think of Garmisch.

The largest pendulum clock in Japan graces the outside of the Matsumoto Timepiece Museum.

The manhole covers depict temari, a local craft.

A cheeky bar I passed.

A side street in Matsumoto.

Panorama of my room.

Bathroom. The tub is one you sit in. They provide an envelope of bath powder, but I’ll be passing as it unfortunately contains milk ingredients.

The phone looks fun.

Even in the middle of nowhere, manhole cover.

The view from the Fairy Tale Museum.

The Fairy Tale Museum.

The Michael Ende section takes up about a third of the museum. It was clear from letters in there that Ende had a big hand in helping the museum get established.

I could not take photos in most of the exhibit, unfortunately, but it had a ton of his original artwork as well as things from his childhood.

Kurohime is the name of this part of Shinano, and the name of the mountain /dormant volcano the museum sits at the base of. Kurohime was a princess whose father reneged on a promise to marry her to a snake-prince, who then transformed into a dragon and destroyed a lot of the area before the princess decided to ignore her dad and go with the dragon/snake prince. At least that’s the gist of what I got from the video. I bought a book with the story in it to read later.

Turtle outside the café.

This cottage, which belonged to Japanese illustrator Chihiro Iwasaki, is part of the museum grounds.

This is what her work area looked like.

These steep stairs were giving me anxiety flashbacks to the castle yesterday.

There were lots of beautiful flowers.

A cherry blossom tree planted “in memories of Michael Ende and of Kurohime” for the death of Koyasu Michiko, a fellow Steiner-fan who had spent a lot of time in Munich, was a close friend of Ende’s, and had translated some of his later works into Japanese.

Sign pointing the way to “Momo’s Time-flower Garden”

Another view of the Dōwakan, or Fairy Tale Museum.

I never got a glimpse of the top of this mountain thanks to the clouds. Mt. Kurohime is 2,200-something meters tall; the one just north had an extra 200 meters, and, according to the owner of my hotel tonight, the peak has had snow on it since last week.

Part of the Time-flower Garden.

More flowers.

What’s a Time-Flower Garden without a turtle?

A final shot of the landscape as I mentally prepare myself for the walk down.

The manhole covers in all of the Shinano area feature Naumann’s elephant.

The Pied-Piper calls you in.

My haul from the museum gift shop. Two large booklets on Ende, including a detailed list of the 2000 items of his they have in archive. A bilingual picture book in homage to Michael Ende and his surrealist painter father, with illustrations directly inspired by Ende’s “The Mirror in the Mirror.” A book of Japanese folk tales involving ghostly metamorphoses, including the story of Kurohime. A small turtle seated on a block. And a pin with the Kurohime Fairy Tale Museum’s book-turtle logo.

Solar panels.

I think this was a cable car for going up the mountain?

Most of these signs point to various guest houses people stay at during ski season.

Retaining wall with some vine (kudzu?).

Even though it was grey and cloudy, it was still a beautiful walk.

Former ski lift?

Blowing in the wind.

The path goes ever on and on…

The sign warning about the incline fell over. Not sure if that made the incline worse.

Japanese chestnuts - the annoying pokey thing on the left is filled with nuts like on the right. Foot, which got poked a couple of times on my walk, for scale.

The daily dose of train porn.

Couldn’t fine any information on this in my map. Grave? Memorial?

Look at this little lizard! He was doing too good of a job blending into the road - I almost stepped on him!

Overgrown Torii gate on the side of the road.

These beautiful red lilies could be seen at various points during my train ride through Nagano as well.

I stopped at the Lake Nojiri Naumann Elephant Museum.

I’m not sure what he’s doing to that elephant’s rear.

Some blue sky while at the elephant museum.

Naumann’s elephant is closer to our elephants than to mammoths. Not so hairy.

The area I trounced around today.

The museum also talked about the Irish Elk, whose fossils have also been found in the area. It wasn’t only elephants.

Tools for cutting from 30000 years ago until now (with a huge jump between 15000 years ago and now).

Try to touch it! Touch the tooth!

Panels go right-to-left, top-to-bottom.
October 1948
1. Mornings at Lake Nojiri feel great.
2. Whoa, what could this be?
3. Is it a hot water bottle? (The museum had a metal ridged hot water bottle on display so us youngsters wouldn’t think him crazy).
4. Nah, there’s that legend that long ago at Lake Nojiri a dragon and a giant crab fought, so maybe this is a dragon tooth!
5. 1954 - I’ll see if they can find out at Kyoto University.
6. Sensei, what is this thing?
It’s a molar tooth from a Naumann’s elephant.

Even Japan has to deal with invasive species. These Mississippi Red-Eared Turtles were presumably someone’s pets before being released at the lake.

The white building on the left is my hotel; I’m on the second floor.

A small break in the clouds right before the sun sets.

View from my window.

The little enclosed balcony/sitting room has some pretty windows.

Shrine on the island in the middle of Lake Nojiri.

My room tonight. Another no-shoes place. Tatami feels good on bare feet.

My view during breakfast, prepared by the owner of the hotel. I ate apples, eggs, lettuce, and a bit of sausage, while we talked about living in Japan, the US, and Europe, and the medical systems in each.

This is a way of launching and docking a boat I’ve not seen before.

I watched boats and birds this morning.

On my way from Kurohime to Nagano City.

I had the equivalent of a train layover in Nagano.

This is the view from the fourth floor of the Nagano train station.

The Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo spent a lot of time in tunnels; this blue sky was blinding every time we emerged. The group of poles and netting on the right is either a driving range (like Top Golf in the US) or a baseball field. I saw plenty of both.

Why couldn’t I have had skies like this yesterday?

Passing through Saitama, much ridiculed by Tokyo but also home to Crayon Shin-chan.

The building on the right is Ueno Station.

The tall tower there is Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest freestanding broadcast tower (and the third tallest structure) in the world at 2080 feet tall.

I thought the dinosaur was cute.

Entering the area in Asakusa around the extremely famous Sensō-ji Buddhist temple.

The market street leading up to the temple is packed with people.

This is the Hōzōmon, or Treasure-House Gate, which is the inner gate (if I had braved the throng of people down the market street, I would have seen the outer gate).

A five-story pagoda.

The big red lantern weighs approximately 880 lbs.

The main hall. This temple is dedicated to Kannon, she who represents mercy and compassion. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo.

The giant red lantern of the main hall.

According to my map, this is the “Monument of Hato-poppo Lyrics.” This is a nursery song about feeding pigeons, which is kind of funny because the temple absolutely does not want you feeding pigeons. Because poop.

The main hall, with a pigeon trying to sneak by in the shadows.

Looking back towards the gate. Lots of shops in this neighborhood offer kimono rental services for men and women, as well as hair decoration.

The buildings on either side of the gate sold amulets and charms.

The backside of the giant lantern in the Hōzōmon Gate.

On either side of the lanterns is a Niō, or guardian of the Buddha.

Please help stop the feces problem.

Statues of Buddha.

Looking down (but not going down) the market street.

Another view of the market street.

The street parallel was a lot less crowded. “It has been said since ancient times that dragon drool brings good luck.” I don’t really want a dragon slobbering in my noodles.

Some more shopping areas in Asakusa.

This guy is smart, having his umbrella ready. The blue skies were replaced by a thunderstorm about two hours after this.

Heading towards the Skytree, since my hotel is in that direction.

The golden building (supposed to be beer with white head of foam on top) and the golden flame are the Asahi Brewing company offices, restaurant, and craft beer tasting rooms.

The Sumida River.

Another view of Asahi, but now with Pikachu vending machines!

Randy is a talking, rapping backpack encouraging elementary school children to introduce themselves in English.

I finally found some Budweiser! ¥231, or $1.55, for 330 mL.

I’ll have these over the next couple of days. I really like Japanese grape Fanta; have not tried Japanese Dr. Pepper yet. It has “over 20 fruit flavors.”

Right outside my window. The light-up cones are kind of cool though.

The placard says they are putting in / replacing underground cables.

I can’t imagine navigating the subway with a traditional Japanese bow.

I spied Mr. Chaplin on my way to the Toshio Kashio Memorial Museum of Invention.

It was a very nice neighborhood with large houses sitting inside walls, nice cars, and fancy (though cute) “security systems”. Fun aside: every dog I saw being walked in this neighborhood was extremely determined to mark their scent like every foot. It was all their owners could do to keep them walking.

I have arrived at my destination.

The late Toshio Kashio’s house. The museum dedicated to him and his inventions takes up a third. The neighbors agreed to let it be a museum (his wish) on the grounds that it only be open during weekdays and only to small groups at a time, hence the reservation system.

Toshio Kashio liked birds, so there are stained glass windows of birds in the house. The eagle here is supposed to represent him.

The entryway. The walls, which have a bit of a wave to them, were designed to complement the sound of the grand piano that used to be here.

The bird of paradise represents Kashio’s wife.

The two birds in the stained glass are supposed to represent his children.

This is the Casio 14-A, the first compact electric calculator, from 1957. It works using a system of relays, and had four different operating modes. There are four known copies in museums (one in the Smithsonian), but this is the only fully functional copy. The numeric keypad arrangement became what is standard on calculators today.

Casio’s first programmable scientific calculator, which could handle things like square roots. The little light below the number display shows where the decimal point goes.

The first calculator you could actually put in your pocket.

The solar-powered calculator on the left is thinner than a millimeter. They let me touch and calculate on one so I could marvel at its thinness.

Casio’s first attempt at a digital keyboard.

Synth guitar from the 1980s.

Even robot boys can make music.

One of the few Casio instruments that does require professional skill to play. I got to see a video of a pro play this and the other displayed instruments.

The first Casio watch models, from 1974, which were revolutionary for being able to automatically handle dates (the user wouldn’t need to wind things when February 28 moved into March 1, for example).

These watches from 1982 had built-in Japanese-English dictionaries.

The DKW-100 from 1991 had a built-in Kanji character dictionary.

MP3 player watch and a watch that could capture/play video, both from the year 2000. My tour guide, Mr. Kobayashi, showed me some TV commercials for other models from the 1980s and 1990s, which included one that measured and stored blood pressure and one for the Muslim market that would always point you in the direction of Makkah for prayer.

His study, featuring ancient Greek mythology in the glass, encyclopedia in the case, a marble wall opposite this for acoustics, and a large view overlooking a koi pond. He was particular about every detail; an upstairs window was placed so that it would perfectly frame Mt. Fuji (now not visible due to a tree’s growth).

Another thing to visit whenever I come again; I had to change trains at the Noborito station in Kawasaki and this is apparently where one finds the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, hence all of the Doraemon decor in the station.

I walked along the Nakamura river in Yokohama to get to the harbor.

I just happened upon this monument to James Curtis Hepburn, a missionary who developed the romanization system used for Japanese today and created one of the major Japanese-English dictionaries.

Yokohama manhole covers show the Yokohama Bay Bridge.

Gundam! I arrived as it was retreating back into its dock.

This is the NYK Hikawa Maru, an ocean liner that launched in 1929 but is now a permanently docked museum.

Ferris wheel across the bay.

It cost (a whole lot) extra to go up the tower for an eye-to-eye view. I chose to stay on the ground.

It stands over 6 stories tall.

This woman was taking a picture of her Ewok toy with the Gundam in the background.

A close-up of the Gundam’s head.

Perspective on the size.

The crappy thing about its location on the Yokohama harbor is that there is no shade.

The Yokohama Bay Bridge in the back; a man in the front whose two catch phrases were “Come in closer!” and “Don’t touch the white fence!”

The dock opens!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I started tearing up when it started moving.

It crouched down a bit, before rising up with determination.

Proud and tall.

It raised its hand, slowly articulating the fingers.

Final victory pose!

At 59 feet tall, this got two Guinness World Records - one for largest mobile humanoid robot and one for largest mobile Gundam.

This robot has advanced image processing that lets it assemble tiny Gundam models.

It carefully lines the pieces up.

The Kaminarimon, or Thunder Gate.

It’s the only thing I can order, but that’s one more thing than I can order at McDonalds in the US.

I haven’t had McDonald’s fries in over ten years. I wish I could say that they lasted more than ten minutes…

There are go-karts around the corner from my hotel. Tourists put on goofy onesies and drive these through Tokyo, including the busy Shibuya Crossing.

This is the Great Gate of Shiba, which appears in a number of famous Ukiyo-E woodblock prints.

A bust of Commodore Perry, who forced Japan out of isolation. This is an incredibly flattering (if rather gaunt) bust, considering how he looked in photographs and Japanese caricatures at the time.

This is the entry gate to the Zōjō-ji temple, a Pure Land Buddhism temple.

Making my way closer to Tokyo Tower.

Jizō statues at the temple cemetery.

This entire temple compound, except for the large bell, was completely destroyed in the World War 2 air raids on the city. It was rebuilt in 1974.

It’s starting to really make its size known.

Here’s some of those go-karts driving by Tokyo Tower.

They really push the message inside that Tokyo Tower is a super romantic, lovey-dovey place. Though there were also Blackpink and Digimon collaborations happening.

And now for a series of photos showing how enormous Tokyo is, and also how high up I am.

I only paid to go up to the main deck (490 feet up). For a lot more, one could pay for a tour of the Top Deck (819 feet up).

I’m not normally really scared of heights, but my legs were pretty jelly up here. I don’t think I could have handled the Top Deck.

Tokyo itself has 14 million people living in it; the metro area has almost 38 million residents.

Naturally there are the extra scary look-through-the-floor windows.

The buses look so small from up here.

A silhouette of myself as I sit and watch a movie on the history of Tokyo and the Tower.

I took the elevator up (which was fast and made my ears pop); I took the stairs down. There are approximately 600 stairs, and they count them down/up as you move flight by flight.

You get a good view of the construction of the tower via the stairs.

The guy who decided to build the tower really wanted to outdo the Eiffel Tower. The tower color is “international orange” for safety.

The tower opened to the public in 1958.

A view of the Zōjō-ji temple I passed on the way to the tower.

Finally reached the bottom; here’s a view looking straight up.

Tiny waterfall in a park bordering Tokyo Tower.

Shinjuku has a lot of entertainment places, like this castle-topped karaoke place.

Taito Station Game Arcade is a chain with locations throughout Japan, but this one is particularly big.

The real reason I stopped in Shinjuku - Godzilla!

Books Sanseido. Sanseido publishes a lot of dictionaries; this is the main branch of their general bookstore.

Jimbōchō is Tokyo’s book district, “the world’s number one book city,” filled with new and used bookstores. It seems to sit next to a sports equipment district.

Even the subway stations at Jimbōchō are book-themed.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing, “the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing” can have up to 3000 people transversing it at a time.

I guess when Inspector Zenigata isn’t chasing after Lupin (or maybe it’s what enables him to keep chasing), he’s advertising Suntory Draft Beer.

A rare quiet moment at Shibuya, as pedestrian crossing ceases and vehicle traffic is about to resume.

The traffic cops keep everything moving orderly.

Hachikō, the faithful dog that waited nine years for the return of his unbeknownst to him deceased owner.

A wall honoring Hachikō.

“No music, no life.”

Outback Steakhouse! It feels weird for an American “Australian” restaurant to exist in a country just a couple time zones off from the real Australia.

The entrance to Mandrake, full of all kinds of wonderful secondhand anime and manga merchandise, some incredibly old.

An Aliens-themed club in Shibuya.

This-a way to Mario!

It was hard picking something for my kid; I was incredibly overwhelmed with choice.

Another view of the Nintendo store.

MewTwo at the Shibuya Pokémon store.

I thought of my dad - across from the Nintendo store was a Minions-themed café.

There was a Jump store and a Capcom store on the same floor as the Nintendo store. The Capcom store had some really cool Monster Hunter x Pop Team Epic collaboration merchandise, but it was all sealed don’t-know-which-design sorts of things, so I didn’t get any.

A Maneki-neko art piece near my hotel.

At Books Sanseido I bought “The Dictionary of Words that have Disappeared from the Sanseido Dictionary.”

In Jimbōchō I happened on a store displaying this Neverending Story movie promotional booklet.

Behind the scenes photo of the Morla puppet.

At Mandrake I got some anime art / info books for some of my favorite shows.

At the Nintendo store, I got my kiddo a bath bomb with a mystery Kirby figure inside. I got myself a washcloth with my favorite Mario baddie.

This is one of the contenders for “largest bookstore in Tokyo” but I think it pads itself out a bit too much with the cafés and such. Three two-story buildings joined by a walkway.

Art made from trash.

The Kabuki theater in Ginza. I didn’t get to sample any Kabuki or Rakugo on this trip, so that will have to be for next time.

Be careful of the panda.

This is a thing I’ve been doing during my trip. I haven’t been able to find them at all stations (particularly the large ones), but I collected quite a few.

I had many options for getting to the airport: train, bus… I chose monorail.

The monorail gives one a bit of an elevated view.

Tokyo is a city of waterways and bridges.

The cranes sticking up remind me of the little garden eels I saw at the aquarium.

There appears to be an old-time boat behind the highway.

Arrival at the airport.

🎵Monorail!🎵

My flight just got moved up ten minutes!