One of the advantages of working for a Japanese company is they occasionally send you off to Japan for a week. In this case I was there to see and present at the annual Ricoh research open house, but I still had plenty of time for sight-seeing. Click on photos to go to the whole section
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Our main reason for going to Japan was to visit the open house, but I've not bothered posting those pictures. However, we also got a chance to visit the Ricoh showroom in Ginza (Tokyo's Champ Elise). |
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Our hotel was very convenient to everything Ricoh, but their big excitement was the world cup coming to the stadium about a mile from their door. The were quite happy. The hotel also offered me my first glimpse at how things may be a little different than in the US, even in an international hotel such as this. |
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In Shin Yokohama, the Tokyo suburb where we stayed, there's a place called the Ramen Museum. On first entering you see a sign talking about Ramen (in Japanese), a map of Japan with pictures of different kinds of Ramen on it, a display case filled with piles of Ramen in tasteful colors, and a gift shop. Your first thought is immediately “why on earth did I just spend a thousand yen to see this?”. Then you realize there are stairs leading down, and enter a two story basement decorated like an entire Japanese neighborhood block from 1958, complete with movie billboards and painted sky. All around the courtyard are ramen museums serving the best noodles money can buy from each of the various regions of Japan. We got in the longest line and I was treated to the most wonderful pork ramen with buckwheat noodles I've ever tasted. |
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Here are a few shots from our evening wanderings. Japan is a bizarre mixture of very western and completely foreign. The capper for me (of which unfortunately I didn't get a photo) was the woman in full dress kimono, long flowing hair, and helmet riding a motorcycle. |
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There was art everywhere, but two pieces struck me as things I had to show particular artisans I know. |
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After all the work was done a few of us spent the night in a Ryokan, the traditional Japanese-style hotels where the Shogun once slept. This Ryokan was largely unchanged since the 1930's and was built on a hillside with numerous springs, including an outdoor hot-spring bath. The sound of running water was constant, and they had cut little foot-wide streams alongside all the paths going from separate rooms. That night a woman (who I think was dedicated just to us) served us the four-course meal that was traditional in these hotels, consisting of fish prepared in more ways than I ever thought possible. We then slept on tatami mats rolled out on the floor with the open-air windows all around. A fine end to our trip, I must say. |