Miraikan Panorama
For the last full day of Mike and Owen’s stay, we went back to Odaiba to see some of the things we missed the last time we were there. The thing we really wanted to see was called Miraikan: the Museum of Future Technology and Innovation. I promised I would show Owen some robots and where better than the national museum of technology in Tokyo. Sadly we missed the giant Gundam that was up less than a year ago:
Odaiba Last Summer
Giant Laputa Sentinel I still have to Visit in Tokyo
Giant Robot in Kobe I Still Have to Visit
Museum of Future Technology and Innovation
The museum had some interesting exhibits that are best represented in some of the following videos. The first two shows a single strip of blinking LED lights that actually display a 2D image when you move your head (or camera) from side to side. Other things like a video that records and plays your shadow back onto an opposing wall and changes the feedback time loop is a trippy party trick. The best part was probably the virtual reality ride which was confusing at first. But we just waited in line until we got to the front and the guy explained it to us in English. There were two robots on a small platform. There was a guy who would be positioned somewhere near or sometimes over the robot and he would seem to be talking to this little moving robot. He would then wave a little stuffed animal in front of the robot and then a few minutes later new people would shuffle into the ride. We learned that inside the capsule was a motion sensor ride with a full semicircle 3D screen that would relay images that the robot would see in real-time. Michael controlled the left side controls of the small robot with one joystick and a young boy controlled the other side. Together they could make the robot turn left, right, move forward or backward by coordinating their moves. Inside, the small stuffed animals that could fit in the palm of a hand was now life sized 3D images attacking our command module. Every step our little robot buddy took, we felt the shock, heard the thump of the step and experienced everything it felt and saw. Now it didn’t seem so crazy the guy was talking to the robot, but still kind of a silly job.
We went once more to Venus Fort because Owen and Mike wanted to play more of their favorite coin games in the casino and I walked around taking pictures and videos like this:
Ninja Warrior
Afterwards we went to go to a place called Muscle Park which was originally recommended to us by Charlene (thank you Charlene). She got our hopes us last time and told us there was a Ninja Warrior course there we could try but we ran out of time before we could try it for ourselves. At first all the physical challenges seemed very childish or actually seemed geared towards just working out, but at the end of the building we found the Sasuke Challenge. If you’re not familiar with Ninja Warrior, it’s essentially a Japanese TV show that is aired in the States that I (and my friends) enjoy watching that pit willing participants against 3 levels and one final test of physical challenges that is a full fledged obstacle course complete with muddy waters. Each level increases in difficulty and culminates in a grueling test that only a few challengers have passed out of thousands of Japanese contestants, foreigners and even Olympic athletes who have attempted and failed.
Does anybody else notice that chick checking Owen out?
These are our recorded attempts of only 4 such obstacles. We didn’t get that far, but at least they replaced the muddy waters with soft pads in this course.
These are some pictures we took at the dock of Joypolis which turned out to be better pictures of Rainbow Bridge and the bay than any of the others we had previously taken.
Shiodome Light Show
While changing trains at Shiodome Station, we meandered around the station slightly lost and randomly found ourselves at one of the coolest night displays we had ever seen. Turns out this was one of the locations that Owen had looked up and wanted to see but we gave up trying to fit it into our schedule. We were lucky to have just run into it and it was really awesome actually. The light show featured lights choreographed to about half a dozen songs with any and every trick including: smoke, lasers and bubbles sometimes all at once and all for free!
Will Fish for Food - The Last Supper
This last one is a bit of repeat, but after enjoying the fishing restaurant so much my first visit, I had made sure that this was one place I would have to show Owen and Mike. I didn’t know much about Tokyo, but this was one of the few tricks I had up my sleeve and I saved it for their last dinner so that it would be memorable. We arrived late and almost missed the last call for food. But Owen and Mike each caught a fish and we had it fried, sashimi-ed and grilled. We ate everything that I made a note to memorize the last time I was here and went back up to our room to rest and pack for Owen and Mike’s return flight the next day.
Most Memorable Quote: YEAH! Aw, dude I feel kind of bad. I just killed a fish... all right now what?
i like this post, haha. i want to catch a fish! how cool.
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