Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world and being so big it has a pretty decent transport system. At times like the morning and afternoon rush hours the trains can become overcrowded, sometimes reaching over 200% capacity. Because of this station employees formally known as “passenger arrangement staff” but nick named “Oshiya” (Pusher in English) are stationed on the platform to direct passengers to empty carriages and to help them into crowded carriages. Watch the video above and you will see what we mean. If you also think there may be a chance of getting felt up while in the packed train well the Japanese have a plan for that as well with special carriages for woman only known as Josei Senyo Sharyo. These carriages will have a image of a woman on the door and often feature a pink stripe along side of them and were put in place as many woman felt uncomfortable in the packed carriages due to the amount of groping incidents (known as chikan).
Posts Tagged ‘Tokyo’
Tokyo’s oldest temple
The Senso Ji Temple in Asakusa Tokyo is the city’s oldest temple and is one of Tokyo’s most popular tourist attractions. The Buddhist temple which is also associated with the Tendai sect is a Shinto Shrine and the focus of a huge festival held each spring which sees the surrounding street closed off for the festivities. Huge crowds flock to the temple every day, to burn incense and pay respect or to shop and eat at the dozens of traditional shops which sell just about anything especially catering for the tourist. The legend of the temple dates back to 628 when two fishermen brothers found a statue in the Sumida River, this statue was then enshrined with a temple. The temple was bombed during World War II and rebuilt today the temple stands as a monument symbolizing rebirth and peace. To make a day out of your visit a five minute walk to the west of the temple will get you to Kappabashi, Tokyo’s kitchen town where you can buy just about anything to do with cooking from plates to plastic food models. Read the rest of this entry »
The Eiffel Tower in a shade of red
Japan has a fascination with all things French, you might remember a few weeks ago we did a story on Tokyo’s Statue of Liberty, well they have a Eiffel Tower Too. Built in the late 1950’s at a cost of about 2.8 billion yen the Takenaka Corporation built a tower based on Paris’ much loved landmark. The tower is actually built with over 30% scrap steel recovered from war damage to the city and being made of steel it weighs in about 40% lighter than the Eiffel Tower. It stands 332.6 metres tall and is the tallest man made structure in Japan. The tower is used for communications and also has viewing platforms, plenty of dining options a huge aquarium and a host of shopping and smaller attractions. The tower is painted in a bright orangey red shade and over 28000 litres of paint is required to paint the structure. It was decided to make the tower this colour instead of the grey as used in the Paris tower for air safety. From Dusk the tower is light magnificently with huge floodlights and can be seen from many points in the city.
Tokyo’s Statue of Liberty
Tokyo has a few borrowed land marks, there’s the replica of the Eifel Tower, although in a bright orange paint job, Disneyland and the Statue of Liberty. Sitting proudly overlooking Tokyo Bay and the Golden Gate inspired Rainbow Bridge is a 1/4 scale of New York’s magnificent lady. It was originally only a temporary structure, the French gave it to Tokyo in 1998 to celebrate the French Year in Japan but the Japanese loved it so much a replica of the one the French gave them was commissioned and built on the same site. It is now one of Tokyo’s most photographed monuments. Just like the New York monument the statue is made of iron and green copper bronze, it even has gold leafing encircling the beautiful torch of freedom. There are quiet a few more Statues of Liberty in Japan most are on tacky ‘Love Hotels’ and there is another one in the American Themed city of Amerika-MuraOsaka in the heart of Osaka.
Fuji TV HQ home of the Iron Chef
The futuristic city of Odaiba in Tokyo is know for it’s weird and amazing architecture and the Fuji TV centre is right up there with the best. The centre houses their offices and studios for many of their live shows and dramas. The Iron Chef which has a huge cult following was filmed at the centre between 1993 and 2001. Today huge shows like Ainori a dating program, Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi the Fantastic Deer man and 1 litre of tears are filmed there along with countless game shows, news and sport programs. The studios have a little blue dog you might see on some Japanese programs his name is Laugh, if you are really lucky when you visit you might get to see this fury critter mascot greeting the crowds. You can take a self guided tour of the complex and even visit the huge spherical lookout at the top, and on many weekends there are live shows and events being held in the court yards around the complex so you will have hours of fun. You might even be able to get yourself into the studio audience of one of the zany Japanese game shows.
Where would an Iron Chef shop?
If you were an Iron Chef and wanted to deck out your kitchen stadium the best place to go for kitchen equipment would be Kappabashi in Tokyo. Kappabashi is Kitchen Town and it lies between Ueno and the electronics mecca of Asakusa. Here you can buy anything you would need to start up a kitchen from chopsticks, to uniforms to plates and saucers even those amazing plastic food models you see everywhere in Japan. There are hundreds of shops many specializing in different types of kitchen goods, for example Hashito sells chopsticks, and a shop called Tanaka sells lacquerware, and then there Kamata who sells knives. The plastic food shops are amazing, one good one is Maizuru, you can virtually find any type of food here all in resin, from noodles to steak, from sushi to eggs and even full seafood platters and buffets- the range is amazing- but they don’t come cheap some costing thousands of yen. But for the tourist there are some smaller affordable ones, and they have a good range of novelty fridge magnets and the like. The easiest way to visit Kappabashi is catch the Ginza line train and get off at Tawaramachi Station then its only a few blocks walk from exit 3. Most of the shops are open six days a week being closed on Sundays.
Fishy smells in Tokyo
The Tsujiki Fish market in Tokyo is biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and strangely and is a major attraction for foreign visitors who get up as early as 5:00 AM to come to the market. The highlight of the market is the daily auction which kicks of about 5:20 and runs through to 7:00 here wholesalers who are called nakaoroshi gyousha sell their fish to agents who are acting for restaurants, fish processing companies and retail outlets. Once the auction is finished the fish are either cut up and transported or transported whole to their next destination. It is amazing to see the knife action on the huge frozen tuna and swordfish, some of the blades are over a metre in length. The market closes at 11:00 to give them time to clean the place and get ready for the next shipments. The market is also home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market which sells about everything it is the largest wholesale market in the world. The markets are open six days a week being closed on Sunday and is only a short distance away from Ginza. Read the rest of this entry »
Bloomin Cherries in Japan
The Japanese Cherry festivals are only a month away from reaching Tokyo and if the blossoms in the southern city of Naha are any indication this year is going to be one of the most spectacular for many years. The festivals move from south to north to coincide with the blossoming and attract thousands of tourists from all over the world to see these beautiful pink blooms. Blooms are a little later this year so some of the festivals might be a week or so later than they were last year, the weather plays a big role in the flowering. Ueno Park is one of Tokyo’s best parks for viewing the blossoms and a fantastic place to join in the festival with food, drink and plenty of attractions for all. The park features over 1000 trees and they are an amazing sight when in full bloom with the castle and city backdrops. You need to pick your spot in the park pretty early as thousands flock to the grasslands to sit back have a drink or two and enjoy the cherry blossom celebrations.
DisneySea’s spectacular BraviSEAmo!
After a fun day at Tokyo DisneySea the night finishes with the most spectacular finale on the waters of the Mediterranean Harbor. The water comes alive with watercraft, lights, fountains, fireworks and a monstrous fire breathing mechanical dragon. Called Braviseamo! The 15 minute display is the most amazing of all the Disney shows around the world. Set under the backdrop of the erupting Mount Prometheus Volcano and the beautiful Venetian inspired Mediterranean port the show is stunning, exciting and a technological masterpiece.
Are you up to Hello Kitty Land
Puroland in Tokyo is an indoor theme park dedicated to the Sanrio characters of whom the most famous is everyone’s favorite cat, Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is something of a phenonemum in Japan and elsewhere across the world with fans unable to get enough of Kitty and her merchandise. If you are a Hello Kitty tragic you will enjoy the video above of the park’s boat ride, if you cant make it through the whole 7 mins this park may not be for you. Don’t get us wrong we love Kitty but we still have cute overload flashbacks from Disney’s “it’s a small world” ride. Sanrio Puroland is located in the Tama New Town district of Tokyo approx 40 mins by train from Shinjuku station. Read the rest of this entry »
