Day Twelve - Tokyo (Part 2)

Onwards to Part 2, which is to the Fuji Television building itself!



We climbed the staircase since the escalator was not working *grumble* *grumble*. I'm so proud of my mom, at 60 (whoops shouldn't say that) and still can climb this many stairs!



Another view of the big ball of the building. It actually houses an observatory deck, where you can see the whole Tokyo from there. We wanna do that, but elsewhere, not here.



The mascot of Fuji Television. He always like to tilt his head, I dunno why.



The admission to the Studio Promenade is free, so we took the escalator down to enter it.



Ooh, a studio is open. I wonder what they're shooting now...



...the Hazmer, Mama and Kawaii Girl show! (ok ok I dunno her name)



This is the girl who took our picture earlier. The way she stares out the window is so elegant. Ok guys, pay up!



I don't even wanna know what this is.



This is a picture that we took in Kyoto a week ago... Just kidding! This is a mini-model that they use to shoot a funny sketch film. They will take a close-up shot of the buildings or alleys, then they super-impose the live action actors on it.



This is me announcing a major disaster. In Chinese, we call this kind of face the "Soorrr Haaaiii" face.



A shot of their studio. When you walk through the promenade, if you're lucky enough, you can get a glimpse of a Fuji show live.



Well well, more Chibi Maruko!



Hai, sensei!



Outside the promenade, there's some filming on some exercise session. The front is an aqua (oh man [pun not intended]) with girls following his lead.



And we say goodbye to Fuji Television station.

My mom wanted to buy something electronic for a friend, so we went off to (where else?!) Akihabara, the Electric Town of Tokyo.



Remember yesterday I mentioned that there are free English small lessons in the train? Well, here it is, explaining the difference between LATE and LATELY.



We did some shopping, then after that, I come to my favourite place to eat in Akihabara, Matsuya. Dzaid and I ate here 2 years ago countless number of times.



Here, you choose the food and order through the vending machine. The vending machine will issue a ticket indicating the food that you ordered.



Then you go to any seat...



...and present the ticket to the waiter. He will then give some water, salad and miso soup while they go cook up the meal.



And this is my meal! Ah, I SO miss this! This is Beef Karbi Rice set. The meat is freshly grilled, so it's very juicy and crisp at the same time. Man, I'm getting hungry even looking at this pic!



Well, the salad goes to my mom, of course.

We wanted some snack to eat at our next destination, so we entered this bakery. The staple food in Japan is rice, but bread is getting more and more popular. There's even a famous stupid and funny anime called Yakitate! Japan that features the various bread-making techniques.



This is one of the most famous bread in Japan, the Melon bread. Very sweet and tasty.



Just look at the array of breads...



...with their various shapes and sizes.



This is the other famous bread in Japan, curry bread. Here, it's in a shape of a doughnut (hmm but where's the center hole?)



On the way to our next destination, we saw this ad. Hey look, BM! Oh damn... Malaysia is looming over the horizon...



A guy playing the Gameboy Advanced SP in the train.



This ad is simple but creative. The white lines show the potential that Microsoft sees in your business. The tagline of this ad is "Your potential, our passion".



Another simple ad of the same concept.



Welcome to Roppongi Hill! This is a dedicated area where the elites and the artists express themselves. A very artsy area.



This is the Mori Tower, an office building in Roppongi.



From the hill, you can get a good view of the city. Lighted up is the Tokyo Tower, which we will visit today.



"The tokyo tower is within the palms of my hands." - Mama.



To make this place appear more elite, a lot of frameless glass windows were used on almost all buildings here.



Here, I'm having my melon bread and curry doughnut that I bought earlier.



Oooh Da Vinci Code museum, in conjunction with the upcoming movie of the same name. Too bad for my mom that it's coming soon.



Check out the Louis Vuitton shop.



Upon closer look, it's just a bunch of coloured glass. Very artsy.



Even the signboards here have better design than elsewhere.



The Mori Tower as seen through the rooftop of a shopping complex.



This is one way of putting ALL the floor maps of a shopping complex in one display.



Oh how nostalgic. I was here 2 years ago, amazed at big display of numbers indicating the time, temperature and other info. Still amazed by it, of coz!



From the shadow alone, you know that that's my mom.



This place has its own identity. See the six circles in the logo? The arrangement is so consistent that even if you take out all the lines, people will know that this is the Roppongi Hills logo...



...as clearly shown in this example.



Even some buildings surrounding it bear the same six circles in the same arrangement.



Alright that's enough for the night. It's time to go back to the hotel.

Ah so many pictures! Been wasting time blogging, it's time to head out! Mata ne!