Tag: buildings

Obonyasumi Day 2

So, I arrived in Tachikawa yesterday and today was the first day I had some time to explore. Yesterday was super hot and muggy so I spent most of the day indoors, sitting under the air conditioner. 
Today, I spent some time with my friends from New York, at the biggest ear of corn I’ve ever seen, and talked about my plans concerbing the future.
Tomorrow I will be seeing a few other friends before heading back to Tokyo proper for some sightseeing. I’ve been West of the Yamanote line a few times before, so I’m going to check out the Eastern bits. Around 11:30 pm, I’ll catch a bus back to Nagoya.

On the Road

It’s Obonyasumi, so I’m traveling to Tachikawa to see my friends again.

I decided to take an early morning highway bus to Shinjuku station, from where I will take a train to Tachikawa. The train ride is about an hour.

The bus ride is about six hours. We left at eight twenty and didn’t arrive until after two. There were two short stop offs at reststops to use the bathrooms and grab snacks. I couldn’t really find anything I wanted so I snacked on mochi and grapes.

I will be in Tachikawa for three days before I go back to Nagoya and Anjo.

View from Gifu Tower 43

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I recently had some free time, so I hopped on a train to Gifu. Since coming to Japan, I have never been to Gifu City, though I have worked in several schools in the prefecture. I thought it was time to remedy that.

 

The train ride was pretty short, since I took a rapid train. It was the afternoon rush hour (weekday), so I had to stand the entire trip, but the ride was only about fifteen minutes.

The station is pretty impressive, with a large plaza for meeting people and a long wooden boardwalk.

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Nearby is Tower 43, a shopping mall, condominium, and observation area all in one. The observation area is completely free, which is nice. It is rather small however.

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You can see a lot from the large windows and a one- sided-glass elevator connecting the first four floors and the forty third.

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I ended up staying only about ten minutes, since there isn’t that much to see or do. The observation area is attached to a fancy restaurant, but when I was there it wasn’t open yet and really out my price range.

I would like to come back at night some time, to see the city lit up. I have a feeling it would be beautiful.