Odaiba Walk

A line of workmen's gloves.

A bridge...

...with a little square for a person to stand in.
 

At Japan Content Showcase, a content market held in Odaiba. I always feel embarrassed for these girls.

An idol performance at the opening party that a lot of the guests had no idea how to react to.

The Fuji Television Network building, which is unique-looking but also quite bizarre. What is the sphere for?

 The view of Rainbow Bridge from the Diver City walkway.

Another shot, this time from the Yurikamome Line. The line is expensive, convoluted, and time-consuming, but the view at night are excellent.

Walk through Hiroo

Florists have the prettiest garbage.

 

I always see this weed in the fall.

Close-ups are everything with this weed. The flowers are as tiny as beads.

 It was like looking at shadow puppets.

Apparently this car is a Panther. It was a British car company that was set up in the 1970s that never really caught on, in part because they produced exclusively luxury cars in limited numbers.

The cult car made an appearance in 1996's 101 Dalmations, featured as the car of -- who else? -- Cruella de Vil.

 

 I'm sure these design details are all personalized.

 Different types of wheels.

This river is quite ugly to look at, but the concrete walls are high enough that it will probably never overflow.

Cages to catch lobsters, perhaps.

 Very bedraggled yet affectionate cats.

The end stop: a Spanish restaurant in Ikebukuro.

Halloween Touches

A Halloween twist on the traditional paper lantern.

 Look at the shapes of the hats!

The dog on the left is wearing nail polish, the one on the right has its hair done up in twists and a bow. I guess they are dressed as women. 

Tokyo Disneyland is especially charged up for Halloween, but it's not like I don't see this sort of thing every day.

The employees at this bakery also had to dress up.

Hidden Spaces

Who knew? The second floor of this super non-descript building in Edogawabashi houses...

...a space like this.

A small tea room/restaurant that opened up about three months ago, in what used to be a mahjong room.

 

It's run by three people, and the relatively small room has been decorated lovingly.

 

 The lunch set comes with tea, soup...

 ...main dish and side dishes, with lapsang souchong...

 

...and a desert with pu-erh tea. 

 

Unfortunately, it is set to close at the end of the month for reasons unknown.

Emergency Drill, Tokyo Bay Style

It was cause for concern last Sunday when I saw this helicopter hovering near Tokyo Bay.

 

For a moment, my mom thought it could be the ever-controversial Osprey.

Look closely, and you can see a fatigues-like pattern.

It turned out to be Japan's self-defense forces, on loan for emergency drill demonstrations. See the man sliding down the rope?

An errant balloon flies by.

Also, a huge flock of birds swooped very low and very fast over the water, giving the impression for a moment that locusts were coming.

Another fun thing: a demonstration of how fires are put out if they occur close to the bay. (For example, a factory fire.) I remember my dad viewing the fire-fighting ships from afar when the factory across the bay caught on fire after the March 11 earthquake.

The water spurts out of the red spouts.

Other unrelated ships on the Bay.