Winnipegger get-together

Yesterday, I met up with two friends, Kim and Alex, who are originally from Winnipeg but are living in Japan (for about 4 years now) to teach English. They both live in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan so they don't come that often to Tokyo because it's a quite expensive and long trip. But they were in Tokyo for the weekend so we arranged to meet in Akasaka-mitsuke where we ate at a famous Korean restaurant, famous because many celebrities frequent that restaurant.

Chijimi, a Korean-style pancake

Kim

Alex, showing the display of celebrity signatures posted on the wall

We took a lot of trains that day. We went to Harajuku for some purikura, then to Shibuya to see the Hachiko statue.

Hachiko in Japan is known as chuuken Hachiko, meaning "faithful dog". In 1924, a professor at the University of Tokyo adopted Hachiko as a pet. Every day, the dog would greet its owner at the Shibuya station. One day, the professor suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and did not return. But every day for the next nine years, Hachiko came to the station to wait for its master. And so, near the Shibuya station, there now stands a stone statue of a dog, representing Hachiko, the faithful dog.

Then we took a few more trains to get to Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay. Initially built in the 1850s to help defend Tokyo, it has now become a major commercial area. We rode a giant ferris wheel overlooking Odaiba and Tokyo Bay. We chose to ride a clear cabin so we had to wait a bit longer because there are only 4 clear cabins on the ferris wheel. We were disappointed though because the bottom of the glass cabin was pretty dirty so you couldn't see much. But the view at the top was great. The whole ride lasts about 15 minutes.

The view at the top: you can see the Rainbow bridge

Venus fort: a shopping mall made to ressemble Venice, Italy