Big in Japan

Still posting a few photos from the Japan trip this past summer... here are some random photos, mostly of things that are big (or not) in Japan.

One thing that is big is the new Tokyo Sky Tree. For years Tokyo's television broadcast needs have been served by Tokyo Tower, an Eiffel Tower style building. When it was built in 1958, it's 1100-foot height was sufficient, but there are so many tall buildings in Tokyo now that the coverage isn't good enough. So, the new Sky Tree will be almost twice as tall. It is located near Yumiko's mom's house, maybe a 10-minute bike ride away. It's still under construction -- this is just over half of what it will be when completed -- and it's already the tallest artificial structure in Japan, having surpassed Tokyo Tower. When completed, it will be the second tallest man-made structure on the planet.



Something that isn't big is the typical Japanese street. Here are a few photos.

This is the main street in front of a train station in Yokosuka.



Here is a street near Yumiko's mom's house. As you can tell from the parked cars, this is a street used for automobile traffic, despite being not much wider than some sidewalks in Boise.



Here's another. This one isn't wide enough to turn a bicycle around without dismounting. Long-legged folk can probably stand with one foot touching a gutter on either side of the street.



This one is a bit wider, but if feels more claustrophobic due to the closeness and height of the buildings on either side.



Here's another typical neighborhood street.



And finally, Yumiko's mom's street. Which is not one-way, by the way -- it's a lot of fun to watch cars pass each other on this road. Or see garbage trucks and delivery trucks drive down it. It doesn't seem physically possible, but it happens anyway.



Big in Japan? Crowds. This is actually a fairly uncrowded day at Nakamise, the street leading to the Asakusa Shrine. It may look crowded, but trust me, this is maybe one-third of capacity.



Small? Parks. Here is a park near the church building in Koiwa. That's all, folks.



Big? Gardens. Big as in popular, not big as in size, though this house has a yard that qualifies as both. I assume this land must have been in the family for a couple of generations, and they're well enough off that they haven't had to sell off the extra land. Even if their gardens are tiny, they take very good care of them, and they are always well manicured and aesthetically pleasing. How long do you think it takes to trim all those trees???



Here is a more typical "yard". This is the space between Yumiko's mom's house and the house next door. You can just squeeze between them if you're skinny and work at it a bit.



This is the other side of the house. The rain gutter on the right is Yumiko's mom's house, and it is half overlapped by the neighbor's rain gutter. Yes, the spacing between the houses is actually negative.



I'm not sure if this counts for big or not, but here's a typical cemetery. Each of the stones you see is for an extended family.



They were building a new house around the corner from Yumiko's mom. Here's what the construction looks like just past the foundation stage. They build a framework of (approx.) 4x4" board on top of the concrete foundation.



A few days later, the frame of the house was in place, and they were putting on the roof. They always finish the roof as soon as possible to protect the rest of the building from rain. The helmet gives a sense of scale -- the house is maybe 12 feet wide.



Big (popular): Bad English. I'm not quite sure what this sign is trying to say, other than the general point of "don't park here!"



Big: satellite TV. There are just a few antennae on this roof.



Big: Internet cafes, for those who don't have Internet at home. This is where we went to check e-mail etc. In addition to computers, they also had a humongous comic book collection (as well as other skankier literature). I think they also had DVDs for rent, free coffee, and other amenities, but I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the place.



We were there during obon, a holiday that is kind of sort of like memorial day. People put out these fancy special alters in memory of the deceased. These decorations are out for about a week.



Here's a cool skinny apartment building -- seven stories tall, and maybe 12 feet wide. Most of the occupants also subscribe to satellite TV.



Here's a big river winding through some unusually flat farmland near the Narita International Airport.



And finally, the biggest mountain in Japan, Mt. Fuji, as seen from the air on the way back from Guam. This photo was taken from about 100 miles away. I saw Fuji twice on this trip -- from the air, as seen below, and from a train near Yokohama, at a range of about 60 miles. Yes, Fuji-san qualifies as Big in Japan.

Octopus's Garden

Guam, part 3

The coolest thing about Guam, at least for us landlocked Idahoans, was being right on the ocean. The beach was right outside the hotel doors, and so the main thing we did there was swim and snorkel.




And when the kids got tired of the ocean (I'm not sure how you do that, personally, but anyway), they enjoyed swimming in the pool (which was also right by the ocean).




The kids found quite a few hermit crabs, like this small guy



or this even tinier guy:



In addition to snorkeling, we also tried "snuba" one day.



Snuba is basically the same thing as scuba, except that instead of carrying your own air tank, there is one air tank for the group, and the tank stays on a raft that move around with you.



This keeps the group together, and also limits how deep you can go (not that depth was an issue where we were, because the water was only 6-8 feet deep anyway).



For these reasons, I guess, snuba is considered to be safer than scuba, and you don't need to have a license or anything to do it.



You just wear regular snorkeling gear, strap on a regulator and weight belt, and that's it.



We spent about a half-hour underwater, looking around and feeding the fish.



Tumon Bay has three pretty distinct underwater terrains -- bare sand, sand covered with seaweed, and coral. You can see small patches of all three types of terrain here.



We learned that the coral areas had the most fish.



The water conditions were quite variable depending on the tides, and what you could see also depended a lot on the lighting. When it was overcast, you couldn't see very well. But when the sun was out and the water was clear, visibility was really quite good.



Many kinds of fish would kind of keep to themselves in schools, following each other around the rocks and coral formations.



These blue guys, for example, always hung out in large schools.



Others, particularly the larger fish, were more solitary, and some even didn't mind mingling with others.



We probably saw two or three dozen distinct varieties of fish. This one was really cool, with almost glowing blue polka dots.



These black and white ones were pretty common.



These larger fish were more rare.



Here's a trio of angelfish.



These skinny translucent fish usually hung out in large schools near the surface. They were rather aggressive if you fed them.



Most of the fish could be enticed to come close if you gave them food.



But some were really shy, and didn't want to leave the protection of the coral even if you tried to feed them.



These triggerfish like hot dogs.



They had about the most interesting and bold color schemes.





We also came across some more bizarre creatures, like this sting ray.




This flounder had amazing camouflage. It was very difficult to see when it wasn't moving. And when it would rest on the bottom, it would wiggle itself and settle into the sand to blur its edges and make it that much harder to see.



This clownfish was hiding in the anemone, ducking in and out just like in Finding Nemo.



Anyway, it was really, really cool. A whole different world!