^all had elaborate octopi awnings.
Armani bag
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Osaka Streets
Outside of Namba Station, was Dōtonbori. One street was lined with takoyaki shops.
^all had elaborate octopi awnings.
Armani bag
^all had elaborate octopi awnings.
Armani bag
Kyoto
I am absolutely awful with jet lag. The lack of daylight this time of year doesn't help either... In the one-week since I've returned, my sleep schedule has been:
Thursday: 2-6PM, 1-5AM
Friday: 6-830PM, 3-11AM
Saturday: 4-7PM, 3-8AM
Sunday: 1-5AM
Monday: 11PM-6AM (anomaly)
Tuesday: 6-830PM, 1-6AM
Wednesday: 9PM-3AM
Thanksgiving goal: Make sure not to face plant in a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Anywho, on this last trip, I took a week of vacation to relax and see the sights of Japan. The main focus was a weekend in Kyoto with a friend from college (Joe) and a former coworker (Tyler).
Joe and I met in Yokohama, but I was running late, so we missed our 8AM Shinkansen train (it was departing as we got to the platform). Luckily, we found out that the train ran every SEVEN-freaking-minutes. Sooo, we just caught the next one (although we had to board the non-reserved car).
In 2-hours, we had traveled 277-miles, arrived in Kyoto, got some snacks, and dropped our bags off at a Ryokan by the station.
We met up with Tyler and had sushi for breakfast #2 at a fine sushi establishment at Kyoto Station. Actually, it was a conveyor belt joint, but the sushi was fresh, and each plate was only $1.58...
There was copious tuna, salmon, and eel consumption.
Tyler (living one hour away in Osaka) had created a wonderful itinerary, so the first order of business was to visit the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery.
In Yamazaki, fire hydrants didn't exist, so these transformed into fire trucks in the event of an emergency.
^The yellow square is the stay-out zone. The resulting truck is tiny, adorable, and incredibly efficient. Actually, the hose hook-ups are via manholes, not hydrants.
Yamazaki
Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey Library
^they had whiskeys from around the world, bottled up, and labeled.
Suntory Yamazaki Distillery
I was told by many colleagues in Japan, that visiting Kyoto this time of year was desirable; as the foliage would be changing. As you can see, the tree at the distillery was presumable young, and very rebellious. However, we had better luck at our next stop.
Meet Kiyomizu-dera. Perched at the top of a hill in eastern Kyoto, this Buddhist temple was built in 1633, using zero nails. At the time, the theory was that the underlying structure would be able to deflect more in the event of an earthquake, protecting the temple.
Many were dressed in 着物, although this seemed to be more or less a fashion statement.
Momiji trees were abundant.
Along the route to the temple were wonderful preserved and restored shopping streets... a major tourist trap. After our temple run, dinner was had a local ramen shop, and we closed the night at a craft beer pub (which served Rogue!!!).
One thing the ryokan had, was a traditional Japanese bath. Unlike my previous experience in a Japanese bath, I did not have the privilege of bathing with a Japanese rugby team this time around.
Day Two:
The next morning started off with a traditional breakfast with everyone staying at the ryokan, meeting up with Tyler and his friend, and then a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine was originally for Inari, the goddess of rice and agriculture, however now, it has expanded to all types of business. Every Torii is paid for by a business donation.
Inari is ministered to by white foxes
Lush
Portrait.
After we were completely soaked from the rains, we caught dried off during lunch at Mos Burger and went to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, which had a nice exhibit on the process of producing a manga.
In the evening, everyone parted ways, and I continued to Osaka.
Thursday: 2-6PM, 1-5AM
Friday: 6-830PM, 3-11AM
Saturday: 4-7PM, 3-8AM
Sunday: 1-5AM
Monday: 11PM-6AM (anomaly)
Tuesday: 6-830PM, 1-6AM
Wednesday: 9PM-3AM
Thanksgiving goal: Make sure not to face plant in a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Anywho, on this last trip, I took a week of vacation to relax and see the sights of Japan. The main focus was a weekend in Kyoto with a friend from college (Joe) and a former coworker (Tyler).
Joe and I met in Yokohama, but I was running late, so we missed our 8AM Shinkansen train (it was departing as we got to the platform). Luckily, we found out that the train ran every SEVEN-freaking-minutes. Sooo, we just caught the next one (although we had to board the non-reserved car).
In 2-hours, we had traveled 277-miles, arrived in Kyoto, got some snacks, and dropped our bags off at a Ryokan by the station.
We met up with Tyler and had sushi for breakfast #2 at a fine sushi establishment at Kyoto Station. Actually, it was a conveyor belt joint, but the sushi was fresh, and each plate was only $1.58...
There was copious tuna, salmon, and eel consumption.
Tyler (living one hour away in Osaka) had created a wonderful itinerary, so the first order of business was to visit the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery.
In Yamazaki, fire hydrants didn't exist, so these transformed into fire trucks in the event of an emergency.
^The yellow square is the stay-out zone. The resulting truck is tiny, adorable, and incredibly efficient. Actually, the hose hook-ups are via manholes, not hydrants.
Yamazaki
Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey Library
^they had whiskeys from around the world, bottled up, and labeled.
Suntory Yamazaki Distillery
I was told by many colleagues in Japan, that visiting Kyoto this time of year was desirable; as the foliage would be changing. As you can see, the tree at the distillery was presumable young, and very rebellious. However, we had better luck at our next stop.
Meet Kiyomizu-dera. Perched at the top of a hill in eastern Kyoto, this Buddhist temple was built in 1633, using zero nails. At the time, the theory was that the underlying structure would be able to deflect more in the event of an earthquake, protecting the temple.
Many were dressed in 着物, although this seemed to be more or less a fashion statement.
Momiji trees were abundant.
Along the route to the temple were wonderful preserved and restored shopping streets... a major tourist trap. After our temple run, dinner was had a local ramen shop, and we closed the night at a craft beer pub (which served Rogue!!!).
One thing the ryokan had, was a traditional Japanese bath. Unlike my previous experience in a Japanese bath, I did not have the privilege of bathing with a Japanese rugby team this time around.
Day Two:
The next morning started off with a traditional breakfast with everyone staying at the ryokan, meeting up with Tyler and his friend, and then a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine was originally for Inari, the goddess of rice and agriculture, however now, it has expanded to all types of business. Every Torii is paid for by a business donation.
Inari is ministered to by white foxes
Lush
Portrait.
After we were completely soaked from the rains, we caught dried off during lunch at Mos Burger and went to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, which had a nice exhibit on the process of producing a manga.
In the evening, everyone parted ways, and I continued to Osaka.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Tokyo
I didn't shoot much around Tokyo this trip. Most of the time was spent shopping or looking for food/sources of mercury.
I was able to find:
As for shots, the hotel, as usual, provided reliable views of Shinjuku
Around Shinjuku Station.
I was able to find:
- A legitimate Neapolitan style pizza place.
- No seafood toppings!
- Excellent conveyor belt sushi.
- OMG copious fatty tuna and blue fin.
- Alleyway Udon stand
- NOM NOM NOM.
- Din Tai Fung.
- Menu is much smaller than what Taiwan or the US offers...
- Yodabashi Camera = dream store.
- Biqlo (Bic Camera + Uniqlo) = dream store #2.
- Tokyu Hands = best gift shop thus far.
- A discount candy/snack store next to Yodabashi Camera.
- That block is one dominant money trap...
As for shots, the hotel, as usual, provided reliable views of Shinjuku
Around Shinjuku Station.
Intro to Polymers
Ah yes, Boeing's lovely albatross. Three years behind schedule and dragging the stock down for the past five... Well, fast forward to now. The company has delivered a whopping 33 planes, and ANA just launched 787 service between SEA and NRT. I was lucky to nab a seat on a recent trip.
The cabin has a 1-2-1 configuration, so with my window seat, I got to sit next to no one *sigh...* Thus, with no one to chat with, I started documenting the flight (this post won't have anything to do with polymers):
Well, gate S11 at SEATAC has the worst window placement ever, so I can't see the plane... I guess I'll have to wait until I land.
@ Narita
With the next eight hours to myself, I'm unpacking my camera to shoot away. Climbing out of SEA provided views of Rainier, what I believe was a parhelion (sun dog), and also the Asiana flight on its way to Seoul, South Korea.
Also, the wing flex that engineers and airplane fanatics get all hot and bothered about? Well, let's just say that it's not too dramatic from the seat. And I had a pretttttty good view of it.
One thing that ANA lacks is a good movie selection, so I had the options of watching Total Recall, Spiderman, sitting, or an airplane cabin photo stroll.
I choose to stroll.
...and ended up with a short critique of the Sky Interior. Here's a shot of business class aft of door 2. The ceiling and bin wash lights were new to Boeing cabins at the time, although there is a sharp cutoff of light on the bins.
Other things spotted that I'm not going to post photos of:
While shooting the galleys after meal service, one of the FA's asked, "do you like airplanes?"
I replied, "one could say that."
We had a short discussion, and then the lead FA joined in as well. Their thoughts:
Door 2 Galley... WITH A MICROWAVE!
The infamous trash compactor...
Personal Rainbow Show!!!
After the fabulous show, I decided it was movie time.
Okay, three movies is enough, so let's chat windows (this entry is quite schizophrenic...). The 787 doesn't have window shades. Instead, at the press of a button, a current is passed through a fluid that's placed between the window panes. This fluid can shift from transparent to opaque.
Well, nearly opaque. One issue is that on sunny flights, you'll always see a nice green-tinted sun. But it's still cool, and the windows are larger.
After the chit chat with the flight attendants, my next meal had a nice note, STICKERS, and I even got a "First 787 Flight Certificate" that was signed by the pilots (which will go on my cubicle wall).
^Grilled Arabesque Greenling for breakfast.
As you can see, there was lovely light outside
But holysh*t, all of this changed on the descent to Narita. We passed through a storm and got struck by lightning.
All I saw was a bright flash around the engine nacelle; accompanied with a loud bang, felt the plane shake a lot, and smelled something burning... and the plane grew silent. I presumed it was a lightning strike and not an engine issue (since you know... there wasn't any fire or panic among the crew), but we didn't hear officially from the attendants for a few minutes.
We landed a short while later, and being a dork, I looked up the plane's flight schedule. It was delayed 1-hr for its return flight to Seattle. I wonder what they had to do to the plane...
OH, one last thing. The LAVATORY. I wanted to get a profile photo of myself in the lav, but I couldn't bring myself to walk into the lav with my giant SLR camera...
REGRET x1000... sigh, maybe next time.
Also, the lavs have a window, and the toilets have bidets. The water for said bidet is not heated; like typical Japanese bidet/toilet combos. Consider yourself warned.
The cabin has a 1-2-1 configuration, so with my window seat, I got to sit next to no one *sigh...* Thus, with no one to chat with, I started documenting the flight (this post won't have anything to do with polymers):
Well, gate S11 at SEATAC has the worst window placement ever, so I can't see the plane... I guess I'll have to wait until I land.
@ Narita
With the next eight hours to myself, I'm unpacking my camera to shoot away. Climbing out of SEA provided views of Rainier, what I believe was a parhelion (sun dog), and also the Asiana flight on its way to Seoul, South Korea.
Also, the wing flex that engineers and airplane fanatics get all hot and bothered about? Well, let's just say that it's not too dramatic from the seat. And I had a pretttttty good view of it.
One thing that ANA lacks is a good movie selection, so I had the options of watching Total Recall, Spiderman, sitting, or an airplane cabin photo stroll.
I choose to stroll.
...and ended up with a short critique of the Sky Interior. Here's a shot of business class aft of door 2. The ceiling and bin wash lights were new to Boeing cabins at the time, although there is a sharp cutoff of light on the bins.
Other things spotted that I'm not going to post photos of:
- Poor seal installations between seats and sidewalls.
- Uneven ECS ducting runs along the bins and sidewalls.
- ANA had to offset their door 2 galleys, so they don't have a full arch at the entrance.
- People struggled with the "universal" touchpoints.... One guy tried to pull and push the bin handle for a good ten seconds (think of a clawing motion)...
*double sigh* - The light blocks at the class dividers were hideous (think thin plastic covered with a vinyl bag).
While shooting the galleys after meal service, one of the FA's asked, "do you like airplanes?"
I replied, "one could say that."
We had a short discussion, and then the lead FA joined in as well. Their thoughts:
- The plane and galleys are much smaller than the 777.
- They prefer the 777 galleys, but prefer the 787's cabin pressure (more humidity).
- It's quiet.
- The Lavatory doors will SLAM shut under normal operation... (and it's ridiculously loud).
- They don't cycle through all the mood lighting scenes, but then told me to go back to my seat for the "Rainbow Show"
Door 2 Galley... WITH A MICROWAVE!
The infamous trash compactor...
Personal Rainbow Show!!!
After the fabulous show, I decided it was movie time.
- I
switch onsuccumbed to Total Recall. It was awful. - Next up was Spiderman. ...why did they make this? and Emma Stone was a blonde? What the heck?
- After that, I found To Rome with Love. Not bad!
- I saw Midnight in Paris on a previous flight, so now I hope there's always one Woody Allen movie on the IFE library.
- Oh, and while we're talking movies, everyone should watch Carnage.
Okay, three movies is enough, so let's chat windows (this entry is quite schizophrenic...). The 787 doesn't have window shades. Instead, at the press of a button, a current is passed through a fluid that's placed between the window panes. This fluid can shift from transparent to opaque.
Well, nearly opaque. One issue is that on sunny flights, you'll always see a nice green-tinted sun. But it's still cool, and the windows are larger.
After the chit chat with the flight attendants, my next meal had a nice note, STICKERS, and I even got a "First 787 Flight Certificate" that was signed by the pilots (which will go on my cubicle wall).
^Grilled Arabesque Greenling for breakfast.
As you can see, there was lovely light outside
But holysh*t, all of this changed on the descent to Narita. We passed through a storm and got struck by lightning.
All I saw was a bright flash around the engine nacelle; accompanied with a loud bang, felt the plane shake a lot, and smelled something burning... and the plane grew silent. I presumed it was a lightning strike and not an engine issue (since you know... there wasn't any fire or panic among the crew), but we didn't hear officially from the attendants for a few minutes.
We landed a short while later, and being a dork, I looked up the plane's flight schedule. It was delayed 1-hr for its return flight to Seattle. I wonder what they had to do to the plane...
OH, one last thing. The LAVATORY. I wanted to get a profile photo of myself in the lav, but I couldn't bring myself to walk into the lav with my giant SLR camera...
REGRET x1000... sigh, maybe next time.
Also, the lavs have a window, and the toilets have bidets. The water for said bidet is not heated; like typical Japanese bidet/toilet combos. Consider yourself warned.