Tag: Tokyo Tower

Strine Sports

Getting Off to a Good Start

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So far, the winter of 2022-3 has been fairly kind to Tokyo.

Unlike 2022m when the early days of January saw snow and generally gloomy weather, this year has been warm and sunny on the whole.

Kangaeroo got on the bike early today and headed downtown to meet some mates near Tokyo Tower.

It’s Coming of Age Day in Japan, a national holiday, and the first when legal adulthood in Japan is designated as 18 years of age instead of 20, as it had been up until this year.

The holiday is also one of those made flexible a few years ago to give people more time off. While it’s great to have another long weekend, surely it could have been added onto the New Year break to give people a full week instead of forcing them to return to the workplace for one or two days?

Anyway, the rides in and out were both sublime! It’s cold, but not too bad, and there is no strong wind so far, which makes things much easier.

The weather also augurs well for cleaning up the lawn, which Kangaeroo is now gonna get stuck into.

Looks like a tough week ahead, but striving as much as possible to live in the moment and not get too overwhelmed.

Strine Sports

Tower of Strength on an Icy Morning

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Today started with a pre-dawn trip to Tokyo Tower.

A quick get-together with some mates over coffee and chockies followed.

And then it was a ride back home.

Now it’s on to familial duties.

It was cold and dark heading into town.

Just about every traffic light seemed determined to earn its keep by making Kangaeroo stop.

Still, Kangaeroo got to ride in with a reasonably quick time.

The get-together was over pretty quickly. It was nice to see some old faces for the first time in a while. It also reaffirmed how much the pandemic has changed things.

Yet another running race had taken over the Tama River cycling road again, which made riding home a little more onerous than a regular day when the track is largely deserted.

The family shindig will also involve a fair bit of riding, both to and fro, with the latter almost certain to take place in the dark. Will need to be careful coming home.

Morning wasn’t a bad start: Nearly 70 km ride

Strine Biz

Harbor City Coathangered! Sydney Opera House Among World Heritage List’s ‘Three Great Disappointments’

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Sydney Lights - AustraliaSydney Opera House is undoubtedly a symbol of Australia around the world, but is regarded by many Japanese as one of the “Three Great Disappointments” among World Heritage Listed sites, according to Japanese AllAbout.com.
It’s been common for centuries for the Japanese to rank lots of tourism-related sites — look at Katsushika Hokusai‘s famous Unfortunately for Australia’s Harbor City, the Sydney Opera House is generally regarded as one of the most disappointing World Heritage Sites, joining other disappointments such as the Eiffel Tower (Tokyo has a bigger replica of its own) and Mannekin Pis (which Tokyo also has its own version of).
Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji as an example — and there are literally hundreds of sites within and outside the country that the order-obsessed have graded, particularly in terms of Top Three lists.

It’s unlikely disappointment with the Opera House is connected with the drastic drop in Japanese tourist numbers to Australia, which have more than halved in the decade since 2003, and many critics acknowledge that the symbol of Australia’s biggest city located on Bennelong Point is delightful when viewed from a distance, especially when the view encompasses the Coathanger, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, another icon of the city.
Just in case anybody gets their nose out of joint at the “best seen from a distance” complaint about Sydney Opera House from among many Japanese, it’s worth noting that an identical sentiment is almost universal regarding Mount Fuji, a sacred and highly revered site, which should put the view into, er, perspective.