View from the automatic Yurikamome train |
Car Show at Odaiba Water Front Park |
By Zurn-sensei and Tony Fulkerson
We then took a train to Odaiba water front park.
On the way to Odaiba, outside the train station a guy was showing off and selling some kind of magic puppet that seemed to jump around by itself without any strings. The guy was hawking this cheap flat plastic thing for 1000-yen (about $10). No one could figure out how it worked, but I saw that one of the spectators had a hand inside a travel bag, and the puppet was between him and the seller's duffle bag on the ground. I was trying to see the line when the puppet suddenly went limp and fell down. That same spectator then walked away at the same time as a policeman came up. The seller saw the cop and so just collected his things and left, the partner had just walked off into the crowd. He must have dropped the line when he saw the policeman. It was a pretty good trick, but not worth $10 to find out the secret was just a micro-thin fishing line.
The automatic Yurikamome train to Odaiba waterfront park was neat. I took the first seat since I knew it was the best seat for videotaping and seeing the sights. However Ben and Rachael got on the train before Nagaisensei was sure it was the right train. So before we knew it the train with Rachael and Ben had closed its doors and left. It turns out that we could have taken that train anyway, but we had no way to tell them where to get off and wait for us. So they went back to the start and called Nagai sensei's cellphone. We only had to wait 10 minutes for them to finally catch up.
Most things there were expensive, but it was a fun place to walk around. Toyota City had a huge futuristic showroom for all their cars and other stuff, including two huge car storage machines that were automated like great big robotic vending machines for cars. It was sugoi!
Everyone split up and went to different parts of the area for their own fun. We met back at a miniature Statue of Liberty by the bay. At night the lights of downtown Tokyo and Tokyo tower were amazing!
(By Tony)
The night's activities included a trip to a Dinky town-like area, sans University. It was called Palette Town and included wonders beyond our cushy American kin. The arcade outsmarted the combined efforts of Fred and I but fun was had by all. There was much rejoicing into the night, but we had to meet at an esoteric and hard-to-find meeting spot, and while I don't know about anyone else, I had to find a public phone and give the Senseis a little jingle, due to my hopeless lost-nessism.
Back in the hostel, our A/C finally did us right and we sank into our beds in rapture. Mmm, night-night. It is now 11:00 pm and the lights at the youth hostel need to be turned off- good night!