activities around Tokyo

More pictures and other updates. A few days ago, we helped Coppertop's mom get her new computer set up, so she's no longer running Windows 98. That evening, the town celebrated a harvest festival, with children pulling (and riding, and drumming on) a carriage through town.


The next day, it was a visit to Tokyo Tower, a three hundred meter landmark.

Here's the view from the observation deck looking down through a window in the floor:

We also swung by the Imperial Palace. We couldn't go inside, but here's what the gate looks like:

Then it was a temple and shopping area:

For some reason, these tours seem to like shopping.

That evening, we went to Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics town, a place where you can buy anything and everything electronic. There are stores specializing in capacitors, others in coax cable, and others in antique recording equipment. We eventually found one called Sofmap which has a large selection of used personal computers. After much searching, we found an inexpensive, good quality one suitable for Coppertop's seven year old nephew (and his family.) We paid them 1,000 yen--about $10--to deliver it in order to avoid having to carry the thing on the crowded trains. We're currently on a tour outside Tokyo, but the current plan is to set it up when we get back.