Irreverently irrelevant.
Sysadmin, developer, web dude in a science research organisation. WordPress, Japan, planes, trains, Arduino, Raspberry Pi/Pico, puns, dad jokes, etc
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A walk in the park
It took until the second last day, but I found it! No, not the singing toilet. Its location is still unknown. I’m talking about Gokuri, Miracle of Grapefruit. This drink sustained me during our first visit to a hot and humid Tokyo. Since then it seems to have disappeared from the vending machines that dot…
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Snow, Streams and Steam at Hakone
Each gust of wind covered us in a cloud of rotten-egg gas. The landscape was stony and bare, except for paths of leafless shrubs. Grey water bubbled from steaming vents in the ground. Behind us Mt Fuji loomed large, covered in snow and cloud. We were at Owakudani, a dormant volcano whose collapsed sides had…
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Searching for the Singing Loo in Shinjuku
Ever since we spotted a picture of this moving, singing toilet in a book we’ve wanted to see it for ourselves. All I knew was that the Ten Chi toilet was in the Lemina Building located somewhere in Shijuku. Our search began in West Shinjuku on the 26th floor of the L building. According to…
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Karma Kamakura
Inside the cave locals placed their coins in the small wicker baskets and ladled the Zeniarai Benten shrine’s spring waters over the basket, soaking the money. Legend says that the money will be bring great returns once spent. As Australians we had a great advantage over the locals. A plastic fifty dollar note. No worries…
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Let’s go Kawagoe!
Imagine eighty people dragging a four tonne three storey wooden float down a street. On the float musicians are playing flutes and striking drums, while at the top a human sized doll watches over the proceedings. Now imagine twenty-nine of these floats parading past centuries old Japanese architecture through streets lined with tens of thousands…
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Venus on Planet Tokyo
A shopping centre decked out like an old Italian town, complete with painted sky and uniformed attendants marching with glowing red batons. It’s Venus Fort, located in the Odaiba area of Tokyo, adjacent to a multistorey showcase of Toyota cars which includes an automated car driving a indoor circuit. It’s quirky Tokyo with a cafe…
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Konnichi wa Nihon!
We said goodbye to Hong Kong today and hello to Tokyo today. The Airport Express to Hong Kong airport was fast and comfortable. Though it was nice to get some cash back we were a bit sorry to return the Octopus cards. These stored value cards were not only used as tickets on the MTR…
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Bonkers in Honkers
I told B that we should go sightseeing during the weekdays so that the sights would not be crowded with locals. It’s the weekend and I don’t think any local was sightseeing. No, they were out shopping like us. Such crowds! No sightseeing for us during our last full day in Hong Kong. Instead we…
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Hanging by a thread
The thread was more of a fat steel cable and there was more than one of them, but it still looked small in comparison to the height above ground. We were travelling on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up to the Tian Tan Buddha statue looking over Lantau Island. The entire ride takes about…
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All manner of transport
During our time on this trip we have caught all manner of transport, from a trishaw in Beijing to the Maglev in Shanghai. We’ve been on a hydrofoil on the Yangtze and a couple of sleeper trains across China. And many flights with more to come. Today was special for the number of different modes…