Saying goodbye to Summer...

It's officially Autumn here in Tokyo, while the weather is still rather warm (in the high 20's), it's cool and dry enough to actually enjoy a day at the park, something that is close to impossible in hot and humid Singapore.

So, this past weekend we took a drive to the Kasai Rinkai Koen Park, Tokyo's largest, of course it's man-made and built on reclaimed land, but this is Japan.

We left at 1030 in the morning, a 30 minute cruise north on the Shuto up to Edogawa-Ku. It was a lovely day, slightly overcast, breeze blowing, low humidity and the temperature hovering at 27 degrees... perfect picnic weather.

We were lucky enough to find an empty picnic pavilion, providing ample shade and a comfy setting for our picnic...

Nice breezy spot with a great view...

Someone really enjoyed her first picnic in Tokyo...

Thanks to Mei's efforts in the kitchen, we had a lovely lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs all the while enjoying Mother Nature.

It's nice to get out of the city once in a while.

Anpanman Land...

One of the most popular kid's characters in Japan is Anpanman, he's a man, with a head made of bread that is filled with bean paste jam (anpan)... his weakness is water or anything that makes his head dirty.

His support team is made up of Jam Ojisan (his uncle, who bakes another Anpanman head whenever it's damaged), Shokupanman (a slice of white bread, levelheaded but very narcissistic) and Batako (Buttergirl, she assists Jam Ojisan), together they do battle with their nemesis Baikinman... not quite the character development of X-men, but a little bit deeper then Sponge Bob.

The Japanese have a museum dedicated to Anpanman.

Welcome to Anpanman Land & Museum!

Anpanman himself...

In a rather macabre twist, you can eat Anpanman's head... for only ¥500.

I can't believe I paid for us to go to Anpanman Land & Museum.

Silver Week

This past Monday to Wednesday was a holiday here in Japan, part of a new government policy of providing more holidays for the overworked populace... I'm liking it.

It's really two holidays, Respect for the Aged day and the Autumn Equinox day, with an extra holiday sandwiched in between. Along with a flat ¥1000 charge on the tollways, it's a pretty smart move to boost domestic holiday spending. Judging by the 30-40 km long jams on the various arteries leading out of the city, fully booked Shinkansens and packed railway stations it seems to be working.

While everyone rushed out of the city on Friday evening, we prudently, waited till the next day and took a leisurely, non-congested drive down to our favorite city in Japan... Yokohama.

This time we went on board the Yokohama Nippon Maru, a floating museum built in 1930, retired in 1984 and now berthed at Minato Mirai in the shadow of Yokohama's Landmark Tower.

'Ahoy me hearties!'

A rather fine example of an old clipper ship, built for training Naval recruits, it's been estimated that the Nippon Maru has sailed close to 2 million miles in it's lifetime.

And no trip to Minato Mirai would be complete without a quick spin on one of the many kid's rides...

Whiskey Luvin' country

They sure love their whiskey here in Japan. Make sure you pick up the jumbo, 4 litre, plastic, value bottle at your local supermarket...



Lots of different brands, plenty to choose from...