destinasi : awesome japan 6

okay people.. the sixth edition of journey to japan is now continued with a visit to one of japan’s icon –tokyo tower. standing at 333meters, the tower was highlighted as a xmas tree since christmas was just around the corner.. anyhow, sorry for yet another delay in updates. been busy of late and this set of pics has been in queue for many many while. sorry for that.

taking off from the last entry, we parked our car here and walked up the hills to the beautiful tower. personally, tokyo tower is one of my favorite structure around the world – the iconic red and white tower.

it was nearing closing time and my friends didn’t want to go up seeing the city’s skyline. as for me, being here is more than enough. snapped lots of the tokyo tower’s pictures and i got loads of tokyo tower pics in my computer as well. i may be able to open a gallery soon ^^

on the way back we walked through a small garden just near tokyo tower. the garden is beautiful and there were lots of cats roaming around (but there was no hint of cat poops around the garden. maybe they use the toilet). one more thing to note is that it is hard to see dogs’ poop and cats ‘ poop around tokyo ^^

this vending machine is the victim of some unlawful hands. but the model’s picture was intact from graffiti. lucky ! ^^

driving through roppongi hills. didn’t stop as it was kind of late and we were all busted after a long day. too bad i couldn’t take much pics of roppongi hills. it’s a popular spot to visit. and i did not able to take a stroll at ginza as well. though i was in japan/tokyo for a week, but it seems i couldn’t stick to my original plan. hehe.. i wish i could teleport to be able to reach to my destinations in less than a blink of an eye ^^

the morning came and here’s the bicycle parking at my friend’s apartment. no, i was not about to explore tsuchiura town with bikes.. 

tadaaaa! we rented a car from a local mazda rental shop for two days. last time when we visited mount fuji, it was the courtesy of my friend whom we were staying with. such a cool and kind dude. thanks a million!! the whole two days rent was aboy 12,600 yen. kinda cheap.. it’s a cute car hehehe. the yellow license plate is used for k-car category.

mazda carol at our service!!

entering tokyo and was greeted by gloomy sky and tokyo’s sky tree. the weather sucks.. but we have to continue no matter what ^^

buildings just along the river side. tokyo’s sky tree is so tall that it can be seen from anywhere in tokyo (unless a tall building blocks it from where you stand ^^)

a glimpse of another tokyo’s icon – the rainbow bridge. what’s so rainbow about it? mr. wiki got something for you : The Rainbow Bridge (レインボーブリッジ Reinbō burijji?) is a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Construction started in 1987 and was completed in 1993. The bridge is 798 metres (2,618 ft) long with a main span of 580 metres (1,903 ft).[1] Officially called the “Shuto Expressway No. 11 Daiba Route – Port of Tokyo Connector Bridge,” the name “‘Rainbow Bridge” was decided by the public. The towers supporting the bridge are white in color, designed to harmonize with the skyline of central Tokyo seen from Odaiba. There are lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge, which are illuminated into three different colors, red, white and green every night using solar energy obtained during the day. there you go – the rainbow bridge ^^

the gloomy morning folks crossing the street. it was not early morning by the way. it was around 10 am..

the river banks that you can see in most of anime and j-drama. if only i could hold my camera higher, you might be able to see it clearly. but the k-car is so small and cute, so the bridge side rail blocks the view ><

mr. wiki has something to say about this pic : SoftBank Corp. (ソフトバンク株式会社 Sofutobanku Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese telecommunications and Internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses. SoftBank was established in Tokyo, Japan on September 3, 1981, and had a market capitalization of approximately US$43.52 billion at March 2011.

this is the normal road-side store looks like. vending machine is everywhere and most probably in my 100 taken pictures, they (the vending machines) will appear at least 25 times ^^

and so we have arrived at yokohama. tall modern glass buildings all around.. it sucks the weather was this bad.. *sigh*…

we found a parking spot and this picture is taken on the upper level pedestrian walkways. see that bus? if you watch j-drama kuitan, the bus appears in one of the episodes hehe. anyway, kuitan was filmed mainly in yokohama. so this will look familiar to those who watched that j-drama. 

here’s yokohama according to mr. wiki : Yokohama (横浜市 Yokohama-shi?) is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area. Yokohama’s population of 3.7 million makes it Japan’s largest incorporated city. Yokohama had been the world’s largest suburb until the formation of New Taipei (excluding Mainland China as cities there are nonstandard[citation needed]. Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan’s prominent port city following the end of Japan’s relative isolation in the mid-19th century, and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.

i love ferris wheels. i love the designs and when at night, it would be a spectacle to watch it. this one located in minato mirai area is a famed one. i have always loved this one and will still love it forever more ^^

minato mirai area is full of fun stuff including parks, amusement parks, shopping arcades and not forgetting the beautiful ferris wheel

and we have arrived at the base of yokohama’s landmark tower. this art structure looks like the roller coaster’s track.. haha. wanna know more about this tower? mr. wiki will tell you : The Yokohama Landmark Tower (横浜ランドマークタワー Yokohama Randomāku Tawā?) is the tallest building[1] and 3rd tallest structure in Japan, standing 296.3 m (972 ft) high. It is located in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama city, right next to Yokohama Museum of Art. Work on the building was finished in 1993. When opened, it had the highest observation deck in Japan. The building contains a five-star hotel which occupies floors 49-70, with 603 rooms in total.[1] The lower 48 floors contain shops, restaurants, clinics, and offices. The building contains two tuned mass dampers on the (hidden) 71st floor on opposite corners of the building. On the 69th floor there is an observatory, Sky Garden, from which one can see a 360-degree view of the city, and on clear days Mount Fuji. The tower contains the world’s 2nd fastest elevators, originally world’s fastest, which reach speeds of 12.5 m/s (41 ft/s)[1] (45.0 km/h (28.0 mph)). This speed allows the elevator to reach the 69th floor in approximately 40 seconds. The elevators’s speed record was surpassed by elevators of Taipei 101 (60.6 km/h, 37.7 mi/h) in 2004.

the weather was not fine that day. spending your yen to the observation tower would be a waste. but on a more glorious weather day, you are welcomed to see the beauty of tokyo under the sun and blue sky ^^

the folks zig-zagging making way to their destinations..

ain’t the cascading stairs at each side of this area looks cool? let me tell you something, this is the former dockyard that is now used mainly as a concert venue.

the sidewalk with autumn leaves scattering the grounds.

the yokohama landmark tower seen from the other side.

another lookie of my favorite ferris wheel ^^

this sailing ship is called nippon maru. you can search the details in internet. i didn’t get into the ship by the way ^^

just opposite nippon maru docking area is this place where you can sip hot coffee during the cold near-the-end-of-autumn day…

beautiful yellows… ehmmm.. not so beautiful pair of shoes ^^

taking a walk around the area. there are open fields where families with small child picnicking.. happy times..

at first we wanted to walk exploring the parks but then we cancelled it.. hahaha..

the whole port side yokohama area.

i insisted my friends to walk to the aka renga warehouse.. after being intimidated (haha), they agreed to walk there..

the amusement park.. with the ferris wheel standing majestically..

we can take the inside route but i opted for seaside route. here’s what you’ll see..

minato mirai area also holds fireworks display every year. a shame that i could not see it during my visit to japan..

and.. after a while, we have arrived at the aka rernga warehouse. folks hanging out fishing hoping for a good catch. the rainbow bridge in the distance

aka renga warehouse (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse). two rows of red-brick warehouse that is also a soothing place to have a walk and dates ^^. these two warehouses is no longer serving it’s old purpose as the port’s warehouse but they both serves as main tourist attraction in yokohama.

the warehouses will look nicer when illuminated by lights at night..

the aka renga warehouse couple..

there happened to be a porsche’s owners gathering there. on the end of the building (the red tent) was the place where models posing for pictures. some of them even dance! cute. but i didn’t capture many of the pics since my friends got me covered by taking the models pictures hysterically. and not forgetting a small concert also being held up.. (this one further back there – can’t be seen in this picture)

multi millions gathering. folks taking the opportunity to snap their pics with these expensive road monsters..

any particular porsche model to your liking? the older model looks cool by the way..

this is when my friends left me alone and they all went to the sexy models taking pics hahaha. i looked back and took this picture. the rainbow bridge can still be seen.

oh noessss..!! that guy spotted me taking his picture. well i don’t care since the other hundreds didn’t mind at all ^^

it started raining at this time and we hurried back running a few good kilometers back to the parking lot

while running in the rain i took this picture. you can’t see the rain in this pic because the rain drops were very very small and fine.. nonetheless it got me kinda wet ><

got back into the car and we roared back onto the road in rain. we drove through the same road yesterday and i snapped this picture. hey hey… i get to see you again.. ^^. well, it’s the end of this entry people. until next time. byeeeeee…