Return to Venue Fort

Eight years ago I first visited Venus Fort. It does not look like much on the outside. 

This time I entered through the History Garage. Not intentionally. But still it was fun to see those retro automobiles. 

And the vintage pseudo store fronts. Although not that retro, seeing that there are recent reproduction Barbie dolls in there.

In between all this is a portable shrine. 

Near the retro gas station. 

 What I came to see was this.

 The interior of Venus Fort.

While not as lit up as it was at Christmas eight years ago, 

The interior design is still impressive. With a definite Italian feel, it reminds me a lot of The Venetian in Las Vegas. 

Including the ceilings.

Which are painted like the sky to give you the feeling you are walking through a medieval town. 

In fact they even go from twilight 

to dawn and back again. 

It was nice to see that Cobara-Hetta was still there. I ate lunch here eight years ago. 

Under this beautiful yet not real sky. 

 And next to this gorgeous fountain. Next time, I will have to do that again.

There are six statues of goddesses at the fountain. 

It's a lovely place to spend time at on a hot muggy day. Which is why I had thought of stopping at Venus Fort in the first place during this trip. But then I realized, like most of the other places I went to, there was a connection. To the musician Mana.

It's Time for Pancakes

Part of my plan for my last day in Tokyo was lunch. Somewhere in the place I was revisiting.

There was something about this restaurant that caught my eye. And my appetite.

Because there was one thing I really wanted to do in Japan. Well a lot of things, but this was something at the top of the list. Pancakes.

Not just any pancakes. Those big, fluffy, super high pancakes. And Shonan Pancake was a place that served them up.

So I ordered, and waited. The thing about these pancakes is that it takes some time for them to cook. But trust me, it was worth it.

Fluffy thick, made with ricotta and marscapone cheese. But not too cheesy. It was just right for the lemon pancakes that I ordered. Served up hot with a scoop of lemon sorbet.

Lemon in the syrup, lemon in the butter, lemon sauce. Yet, it was just right. Like I said, every where I went there was lemon flavors. For these pancakes, it hit the right balance with the bit of cheese flavor in the pancakes. Definitely different, and I would try them again.

As to where Shonen Pancakes is located? It's in Venus Fort, in Odaiba. Which is my next post.

A Very Large Unicorn Adventure

My last day in Tokyo found me with a troublesome right leg and overcast weather. There were many places I wanted to see (as always). One was not far from where I wanted to go but it involved walking, buses and preferring to see it in better weather. So I thought hard as to what to do, given my limitations. There was another place I had thought about revisiting. When I realized there was something I had wanted to see for the first time. Near the place I wanted to revisit. And there was an easy way to get there. I needed to go to Ikebukuro Station to get my N'EX seat and lucky for me, the train I wanted to take was right by the ticket office. So I got on the Saikyo Line for the first time.

The Saikyo Line follows part of the Yamanote Line but doesn't stop at all the stations. Mental note for future, definitely need to use this line, as long as it's not rush hour. It still took some time to go from Ikebukuro to the Tokyo Teleport Station, but much easier than having to change trains. So up I went this rather futuristic escalator.

To find the back of the Fuji TV Building in Odaiba. 

Not far from there was Diver City Shopping Mall and The Gundam Base Tokyo. 

Of course there is a theme cafe. The Gundam Cafe, which looks a lot like the Gundam Cafe in Akihabara. 

But what Akihabara doesn't have is this. 

A lit up 19.7 meters tall 1:1 scale replica of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam.

That's  64.6 feet. Just a little taller than this man.

 Previously there was a Gundam statue here, based on one of the original designs. But it was removed and on September 26th, 2017, the new Unicorn Gundam was unveiled.

The design was based on the MobileSuit Gundam Unicorn anime.

 It definitely is impressive.

 Both the exhaust ports in the back and various panels light up. Pink means it's in attack mode.

There are a number of parts that move, including the two horns at the top. They move together to create one unicorn horn. There is a video here that shows how this happens, about 45 seconds in,  https://twitter.com/Normal_wa/status/911930241924214784 

While I was there, a man jumped the chain barrier. Two non-uniformed guys escorted him away. So they do have people watching just in case someone does something crazy. Most people, like these, were just getting selfies.

While there wasn't much beyond the colossal model, it was interesting to see and not too difficult for me to get to. Which was good because there was that place I wanted to revisit. 

Off in the distance was more of the Odaiba skyline, including this walkway. 

Which has some resemblance to the Gundam Unicorn. It's by the Tokyo Teleport Train Station. But I am getting a little ahead again. 

Because there was that place I wanted to revisit. 

Which was near the colorful Palette Town Daikanransha, a 100 meter Ferris wheel, which I first saw in December, 2010. And that place is what my next post will be about.

Food and Architecture in Ginza

While people may not be into Ginza's shopping, it's a place worth checking out. For the architecture. Besides Shibuya, there was another place I wanted to stop at. In Ginza. I wasn't sure how my right leg was but I decided to try going since I was familiar with getting there and getting back. And I wanted to get a few photos since I hadn't done much this trip. And there is much to see along Chuo Dori, one of the main streets. The Ginza Place building for one. It's a newer building with a facade based on sukashibori, Japanese lattice work. Designed by Klein Dytham for the Sapporo Company, the building's shape is suggested by the historic Seiko Building that is across from it.

Also at the same intersection is the Ricoh San-ai Dream Center Building. Now if they can get Mitsukoshi Department Store to redo their facade at the corner, they might get everything rounded off.

The lighting wasn't great for photos of buildings but this photo of the Louis Vuitton store is interesting. It looks different when it's not lit up.

Of course there are jewelry shops in Ginza. What I liked about Ginza Diamond Shirashi is their clock. And that they play lovely classical music outside their store. 

The shape of their zodiac clock is like a cut diamond. 

But for me, I was here for the lemons. TAU-Hiroshima. Good restaurants, good sake, good market and fun Hiroshima items like Hiroshima Carp souvenirs. I would feel bad if I was in Tokyo and didn't stop by.

I bought a few things to take back to Oregon, and a few things I enjoyed before leaving.

A little Onomichi lemon cake. 

A little Nishikido momiji monju. This one had azuki bean filling. 

And a small bottle of Fujujin Rice Daijinjo unfiltered raw sake from Sempuku Brewery in Hiroshima. This is their special label line for the anime movie "In this Corner of the World". I had a very nice conversation with the lady in the sake section of TAU. Turns out she lived in Chicago and New York. Since I was unable to go out that evening because of my leg, and because it rained, I enjoyed this in my hotel room. Being unfiltered raw sake, it would not have traveled well. It was good, and made my down time a little more enjoyable and the rain helped cool the night temperatures down. I opened the window and had a bit of sake while listening to the rain.

Shibuya in the Summertime

So this was the day after the concert. I wasn't sure how my right knee would hold up. It was swollen below the knee cap and pretty much all of my leg down to my foot was contused. I had landed right on the patellar tendon and top of my tibia bone, the tibial tuberosity. There was some pain but the swelling may have helped keep it from hurting more. I had also put cold bottles of water on it during the night. However it felt very stiff. But since I only had two days left and there was one place I really wanted to go, I thought I would see if I could handle it. So out I went under the sweltering Ikebukuro sky.

Into Ikebukuro Station and out at Shibuya Station. Where I headed to the ESP Museum for the MALICE MIZER 25th Anniversary Exhibition. Yes I am going backwards a little in my posts. But since I don't have many photos from this trip, I thought I would post a few of busiest part of Shibuya. 

That's right, the Shibuya Scramble. 

Down the street and by Shibuya Marui. Visual kei music must be doing okay, the band Razor even had a billboard on the store. 

 And more Marui. The company has a number of department stores in Shibuya and Shinjuku along with other places. Thankfully the ESP Museum and Craft House are not far from Shibuya Station so I made it there with out any problems. I also was actively looking for elevators. It helped.

I decided to get something to eat after my museum visit. Heading back towards a place I had been to before. 

Same street as Mount Rainier Hall. I'm hoping I can go there again next year. I had a lot of fun at that venue. I should also explain all the Namie Amuro signs. She is a very popular Japanese entertainer who was retiring on September 16th. So ads for her Final Tour 2018 dvd and blu-ray were everywhere.

As for me, I decided to indulge just a little. I had been very good with eating while in Tokyo. Salads, nigiri sushi with just fresh fish (none of that mayo stuff) and onigiri. Since I hadn't eaten out anywhere because of the heat, it was time for something fun. So I stopped by MOS Burger. It almost isn't an official trip for me if I haven't eaten something from MOS. 

This time it was their shrimp burger. Nice big pieces of shrimp this time and I really noticed the citrus flavor of lemon. There it was again. Everywhere I went had lemon in something. 

But the thing I really wanted was their onion rings. So I took a little time to rest my leg and enjoy some fast food. Something I don't normally eat. But once in a while, indulging isn't a bad thing.