Friday, December 31, 2010

Winter Illumination at Tokyo MidTown

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As every year, Tokyo Midtown set up an illumination display for the winter season. As usual, large crowds gathered to admire of the display.

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This year the illumination was named startlight garden, with over 250, 000 LED representing the Milky Way and shooting stars.

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Visitors avoiding the cold weather enjoyed the display from inside the building.


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At the garden, the impressive display was sometimes difficult to appreciate due to the crowds but the combination of lights and music made it worthwhile to endure the cold.

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Additionally to the lightshow, the trees of the surrounding areas were also decorated accordingly.

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Monday, December 27, 2010

Views from Nagoya Station

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Nagoya station in the Aichi prefecture is the world largest train station by floor area. Most of the space is located in the JR Central towers; one of the twin towers is used by a hotel and the second one is used as office space.

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Nagoya Night shot
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The towers provide great views of the city. the night view specially showing up the beauty of the Nagoya castle.

Nagoya station Tilt shift
Tilt shift
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The streets around the station, normally busy on weekdays, were mostly quiet on this holiday.

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The illumination decoration on the lower floors attracted many visitors, giving the station a special holiday feeling.


View Nagoya Station in a larger map

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Hike at Nansawa forest park

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The Nanasawa forest park at the east of the tanzawa mountains in Kanagawa prefecture,is a popular leisure area for residents of the Atusgi, although is no so well known outside the area.

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The area counts with several hiking paths, but we decided to stay on the main road, as we did not have a guide or a proper map.

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The mountains in the area were showing some of the autumn colors, not so impressive this year due to the extremely hot summer, but a great change from the usual city landscape. Unattended stands offer local products, you take what you need and leave the money in the jar.

Nameri-iwa, Nanasawa
Nameri-iwa Atsugi
Rock climbers practice on a small slope by the road before trying the more challenging Nameri-iwa.

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stone lanters, Okama Bensaiten
Along the road is the Okama benzaiten, a tori in the small stream running along the path.

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The best part of the walk was the small restaurant along the path, were you could catch your own food (conveniently located in a small pond in front of the restaurant), and eat it in the open terrace.

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Although we did not venture in to the hiking trails, the park was full of pleasant surprises to provide a pleasant walk; I surely will visit again and try the hiking trails next time.


View Nansawa Forest park in a larger map

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas Illumination at Marunouchi

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Marunouchi has concisely set up impressive Christmas illuminations, for the last few years. However, due perhaps to the economic recession, this year the illumination has been strikingly scaled down.

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To compensate, buildings in the area have set up illumination on their plazas and squares as in the newly constructed ‘Marunouchi brick square’.

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Nearby bulding the ‘Marunouchi plaza’ has set up a nice decoration, notice how the meijiseimei building, designated as important cultural asset, has been nicely integrated into the background.



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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Autumn at the University of Tokyo

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The University of Tokyo logo is formed by two gingkoes leaves, a yellow one and a light blue one, the gingko leaves has been used as a mark of Tokyo university in many occasions of the university history.

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Accordingly, the gingko trees are showing the beautiful yellow color of the autumn around the University.

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The University is open to the public, and a large number of visitors are enjoying the autumn colors.




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