Just finished watching
"The curious case of Benjamin Button"

certainly an interesting movie, what does everyone else think .....any comments?

Hot summer Setagaya Shrine

Another hot day in Tokyo, felt like about 34 today but not sure... very humid too but nevermind.. Went to Setagaya Shrine and saw this... anyone have ideas what it is?

Those interested have been here before.. here & here

Been a couple of months and really just been rather busy with things to update but apologies for that. Max is bigger and has just passed the 3 KG mark.


He seems to be growing into a good looking cat...well he was a good looking kitten too :-)
Stay posted, will try to post more in the next week or so.

Cat Tower

Who knew they made such things as cat towers.....



of course you have to build them but Max seems to think its worth the effort.

It did take him a while to get the courage to go all the way to the top... after all he is still rather small...
Once there though he could see the benefits of being able to look down on everything and everyone....
Unfortunately most of them seem to be really awful colors - yellow, pink etc.. which while might look good in a nursery school does little to "blend in" Luckily there are some which are a little more subtle...

Max Update

Yes he seems to be getting bigger already and braver... trying to climb the room and enjoying himself in the process.... still he is worth the effort.




His color also seems to be changing slightly and some tiger stripes are showing.. what will he look like when fully grown... interesting!

Max

So the new addition to the family has arrived. Max is an American Shorthair and Scottish Fold mix cat although to be honest I am not exactly sure I can see both in him.
Anyway there will be more entries on him over coming weeks but for now enjoy......

Army Of Two

Picked up "Army Of Two" (Home page here) the other day. Basically a first person shooter with an emphasis on co-op play and using your partner to the best effect. Review coming soon...




Oh yes also picked up Lego Star Wars.. fun

Kawaiso Cat

Kawaiso, meaning "poor" is a word commonly used in Japan. This cat in a pet shop is particularly kawaiso.. but he is very also Kawaii meaning "cute". I am thinking of getting him..... stay posted for details. UPDATE - unfortunately he was gone the next day... so ill keep looking... Its good he found a nice home anyway.

P.S. - Wondering about the tiger ------> Went to see "The Golden Compass" or "ライラの冒険" as it is known in Japan. Its not bad.... but a bit "kiddy" Anyway the premise is that the people in this world have their souls on the outside of their body and can appear in the form of an animal of different sorts depending on the character of the person.. take the test and decide your Daemon on the official website here

N905iu

My simply awful Softbank phone broke.. well has been broken for the last few weeks and besides that I have been fed up with Softbank's poor service so decided to switch back to Docomo. The network is so much more stable and the services far better...

Picked up the N905iu which is one of the new 905 series but at the same time is a little different to the others being ultra slim and stylish but not having every function but the kitchen sink...


That said it still has everything you would ever need, mail, sms, calling of course, video phone, a 2M camera and full GPS navigation. In fact the only thing it doesnt have is 1 SEG TV which, to be honest I rarely used on the T911 Softbank phone...
It is beautiful..........


I also have to say that the menu system and display is great, the best I have ever seen on a phone... and I have had a lot of phones. The display shows 3D graphics in wonderful resolution and the mail for example gives you previews (which on the 3 inch display is essentially the same as opening it without having to do so!), and many shortcut functions which make life easy. It of course also has T9 input for English and Japanese which is a good point (again compared to the T911). The GPS is a really good system also almost identical to the ones found in the cars in Japan. You can get directions to a location, fix your current position, find out useful places around your current location such as restaurants convenience stores etc... or even have a wonderful female voice "speak" out directions to your location.

More info here

Tesco テスコジャパン

So yes its true there is a Tesco in Japan, I just discovered in by accident but interesting it was!

Check out the website here - in English
in Japanese

They dont have a huge range of UK products but a few essentials are welcome! Picked up some Indian cooking sauces as well as a few old favorites........


Probably the beans are the most important product they carry but also Tesco biscuits and wine is not bad.

Tesco (coming soon)

A Tesco in Japan? Yes its true..... more details coming soon.

Tobu World Square 東武ワールドスクウェア

Tobu World Square (東武ワールドスクウェア) is a theme park near to 8-minute walking distance from Kinugawa hot-spring. The theme park has 42 1:25 scale model of the most famous, UNESCO-designated World Cultural and Heritage Sites, completely with 140,000 1:25 miniature people.

The perfect gentleman

So you aspire to be the perfect gent. sophisticated, suave and debonair.


Now you have the beer to match, the perfect combination! ermmm.....

Takao - Jimba

A couple of weeks ago had chance to hike from Mt. Takao to Mt. Jimba. Both are fairly near to Tokyo but the total hike is about 20 km and takes about 6 hours. Luckily..unluckily there was a reasonable amount of snow on the ground which made the going slower than usual Take strong legs ;-)

Sausage Rolls

A staple food item in many countries there are sausage rolls in Japan of course....

Here is a standard sausage roll

A little bigger

And then there is the monster sausage roll (which was very good actually, having mustard and cheese inside always helps)


Finally, you can get sausage rolls in Pizza very strange....









The traditional sausage roll is made with puff pastry with sausage meat in the centre, a little different from the one above... If you want to try making them there is a recipe here

Setagaya Line 東急世田谷線

The Setagaya Line is a short train line running though... well Setagaya of course....

It is actually not a train but a tram (street car) so it often crosses a street and the actual carriage doesnt really look like a train...



The Setagaya Line is only 5km is is one of only two trams in the Tokyo area (the other is 都電荒川線) and also has its own smart IC card system ( I have to do another post on Japanese Smart cards but please wait for now or request in the comments). You can see an example of the card here which can be bought as a prepaid , top up card or a monthly pass....they can be actually used as both..






Check out the website (in Japanese) here :-)
,

Virtual Museums 小田急バーチャル鉄道博物館

I recently found this virtual museum for the Odakyu train line (one of the privately owned train lines around Tokyo)


It made me start thinking, why did they decide to make a virtual museum and what is a virtual museum anyway...? Is it any different to searching for information on the web? For me going to a museum means I can see the items for myself, I can touch them and its just a more 'real' experience to seeing something on the TV or the web....










A 'real' museum has character, history and magic... what do you think?