Rainy Day

We started the day getting a lesson on how to park in Tokyo with some very cool space-saving technology in the parking garage at Mike and Alicia's place. Since driving around ramps takes up a lot of space, many parking garages in residences and public parking areas have systems of shuffling cars horizontally and vertically to make the most out of space.

Mike would enter a code which brought his car into position:


Parking #1
Posted by Hello

Then, the car would turn around and you're ready to drive off:


Parking #2 with Bryce hamming it up
Posted by Hello


We planned on going to Akihabara, which is the electronics mecca of Tokyo. Unfortunately, due to bad weather and Japanese-style traffic, we ended up doing some karaoke with the kids in the car. I'll never listen to "Let's Get It Started" by the Black-eyed Peas without thinking of the boys belting it out while stuck in traffic in Tokyo:


Let's Get It Started
Posted by Hello

We saw some shrines along the streets of Tokyo that were there for a Shinto festival that was going on.


Shinto Festival Shrine
Posted by Hello


At the end of the day the guys took a trip to the batting cage to hit a few. As we walked to the batting cage, Mike and I were saluted by a couple of Japanese kids who were finished playing baseball and were waiting for their ride. Mike mentioned that foreigners or "Gaijin" are still a rarity in Japan, and reactions such as that are common.

In this batting cage, there are video screens of real-life Japanese baseball pitchers that wind up and pitch to you. Very cool. I had it on the "medium" setting. The fastest was a little fast for me (the fastest being well below MLB pitching speed). The boys had a good time and Mike got a few swings in as well. There was also a ping-pong machine, modeled here by Jens:


Jens waiting for the pitch
Posted by Hello


Jens in front of the Ping-Pong machine
Posted by Hello

This was a fun day hanging out with the Bollesens. Coming up, Ann and I head off to Meji Shrine, another huge shrine in the middle of Tokyo.