Roses 1 : Kyu Furukawa

Pictures from early -mid May. Hiro's parents were in town and wanted to see roses.... Kyu Furukawa is not far away. We went the day before the roses festival opened but the roses were already in full bloom.  The blossoms have been early this year.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the most comfortable shoes.

I really really want to start a collection of shoe photos.  Hiro is adamant I might get arrested as a variant of an upskirter (a woefully common practice here - are there any other countries that by law have a click sound on a mobile phone...)   The topside of these shoes are see through plastic.

Dinner last night

Hiro's parents arrived yesterday morning on the overnight train from Odate.  Hiro's mother, in  an effort to show her appreciation for the fact that they were staying here before they embark on their 50th wedding anniversary holiday, had cooked food and brought it down.  Kogomi (a mountain vegetable) and rolled egg I love.  Simmered horsemeat and scallops cooked with shirotaki (no idea how to translate that - noodle made from some kind of potato)  I am not quite so excited about.

With some rice and mushroom and onion miso soup it made for last night's dinner.  I can "offer it up for the holy souls" when eating elsewhere; it's not so easy to do on home turf...

Wakasu Seaside Park (Wakasu Keihin Koen) and the Gate Bridge

From Jonanjima park (blue mark on the left) we biked under the tunnel to an island which doesn't appear to have a name, but  it's is a waste disposal / power generation plant. (and I am 99% sure the site of Umi no Mori... though I wonder how they get their mail at the moment....

(The links below are quite interesting.) From there we went to blue marker on the right, Wakasu Keihin Koen.  It's a relatively new park that allows overnight camping (for a fee) and is at the eastern end of Tokyo Gate Bridge.  The Gate bridge opened a little over a year ago with relatively little fanfare.

I guess as more landfill islands are created, more bridges are going to need to be built... reducing the landfill would seem like a good option, though if there are enough artificial islands in the Bay, Tokyo might be able

develop power creation subsistence... 

\
http://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.jp/en/attachement/tokyowindmillE.pdf  Information about the power generation
http://www.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/civil_engineering/2007/91-4-3.pdf

Biking along

This is a newly opened bridge / newly opened bridge approach.

Tokyo Gate Bridge - opened 12 Feb 2012.

Gate Bridge from Wakasu Keihin Koen (seaside park)

You can climb the pylons of the bridge - this is looking south.

Wind farms - TEPCO's not all about spinning of the power generation to the
regions.  I'd like to see them put a nuclear facility here..better still, next to the Diet.
It might force some responsible thinking.

I can sympathise with this sign and its spelling - it took me ages to work
out how to spell Disney in Japanese letters & it still confuses me.

Looking north from the pylon (dirty glass). Central Tokyo's industrial
heartland. - all on reclaimed land.

Windmills looking out to the north west.

The pylon - we didn't walk the whole way across the bridge & back
If the weather had been clearer, I  might have been tempted.

Good luck Tokyo... I don't think Tokyo Governor Inose's
comment implying that Istanbul was unsuitable because
it is in an Islamic country  will have done much for Tokyo's cause.
Tokyo might be better placed to host a geriatric Olympics.
With a rapidly declining population it's not like it needs
a whole lot of new sporting infrastructure.

The Gate Bridge

A boat going under it.

Wakasu Koen sign

We made an obligatory stop at a bike gear shop - one that has moved to the
burbs.   The whole Tokyo Bay area is a curious mix of industry, expensive
condominiums, manicured gardens and park, the occasional convenience stores and mega stores.
It is totally devoid of typical urban culture like shopping strips, small independent businesses,
temples, shrines.

Umi no Mori: http://www.uminomori.metro.tokyo.jp/index_e.html