Security and Safety Expo 2009 at Tokyo Big Sight

Today I made the trip to Odaiba (well, more specifically Kokusai-Tenjijo) to attend the Security and Safety Expo (Riscon 2009) today. From robots to  signaling equipment to hazmat suits, there was something for everyone  but I was most impressed by the Tokyo Fire Rescue team who showed off both a rescue robot and more importantly, let ordinary people be "firefighters” but I get ahead of myself so let me try to make this more interesting and do it in a “album” kind of way again.

You can see the album here. I also uploaded two movies I made of the demonstrations I watched. I am embedding them below:

 

Kappabashi (合羽橋) Kitchen Town

If you are a restaurant owner in Tokyo starting a new business, you are going to need lots of things like utensils, chairs, signs, menus and so many other things. Well, you can get all that and more at Kappabashi - the Kitchen Town which is basically a very long street close to Asakusa (浅草). With offerings very very diverse and culturally significant, the street has become a interesting visiting spot to not just restaurant owners but other curious visitors as well.

Now before I mention some of the interesting things I saw there, let me briefly talk about the name. See, "Bashi/橋" just stands for "place" but "Kappa/合羽" is the name of a mythical creature that is said to live in rivers. It looks like a cross between a man and a frog with a star shaped crown on its head which holds a plate full of water. It was believed to kidnap children playing in the water and its main weakness is losing all of its power if the plate dries off so he always makes sure to keep the plate full of water. It looks like recently they have been working on this "monster's" image though and now there are very friendly cartoons of it drawn on the posters around Kappabashi. Moreover, there is a statue of Kappa (that's where I took this picture) hidden in a small inlet around the middle of Kappabashi.

Kappabashi is full of pots and pans of all prices as well as other usual suspects of restaurants all around the world but one can buy these things pretty cheaply here and some stores offer these not just in wholesale. The main stores of interest for me however were the ones selling plastic sample food (サンプル) that a lot of restaurants in Japan have right outside, kind of like a 3D menu. Some of these are very very detailed and their prices show that. A plastic sample of a hamburger with a "slice of tomato" and "lettuce", complete with "ketchup" and "mayo" sells for more than $100 easy. There is even sample food, usually not life-size, which can be used as a cellphone strap or fridge magnet. There was a fake scrambled egg badge even :P

Hurricane is coming!

So it looks like tomorrow a hurricane will be visiting Tokyo... I am going to have to cancel my bi-weekly visit to Akiba it looks like. Well, on a positive note I will be staying in and I will try to take pictures to post here - the hurricane should leave Tokyo after 3 pm so it's not that bad. The picture below is from the Japan Meteorological Agency's web site and it shows the progression of the hurricane. Let's see what happens tomorrow...

Efficient parking, Japanese style

See I keep mentioning how there is a shortage of space around here (as if you didn't know) but one then might wonder where do they park their cars. Yes, the Japanese do use the heck out of buses and trains, and there are lots of "paper drivers" - people who have a driver's licence but does not drive - but that does not mean the Japanese do not drive. There are in fact quite a few Japanese drivers out there and couple that with narrow side streets and you get sheer craziness during rush hour. Of course these cars need to be parked somewhere and this is where one of the ingeniuities of Japanese design comes in. The parking lots of apartments are pretty small so what do they do? Well, they create more space - under the ground.

This particular implementation is from a building close to mine. Each spot is converted into three spots. Each person gets a key to the parking spot they are assigned to and when they put in their key and turn it they get the right level set. I think it's a great idea but I wonder how much money it costs to build one of these things. I am afraid Tokyo is one of few places where the cost of parking spot is actually more than the cost of building this thing.