New Pictures

Hello everyone!

I have 3 weeks left until the end of semester. It's supposed to be the rainy season, but we've had a few days this week where the sky was completely blue. On Tuesday, as I went to buy some bananas (which are probably the cheapest fruit here), I went to the local zoo. This zoo has no admission fee, so it's great to go there whenever the weather is good. Also, yesterday, I took a stroll through Ginza, the first part of Tokyo to Westernise. According to one of the plaques along the side of the main road (yes, because of my study, I can easily understand them!), the main road used to be a canal. Apparently Tokyo was once known as the Venice of the East.


Anyway, this picture is in Kawasaki, on the way up the hill that leads to the zoo...a graveyard. After living in a city like Canberra, where each type of building has it's own seperate place in the city, this is quite different.This is the zoo. It's actually on top of a hill, probably about 50 metres above ground level. It's so refreshing to see trees here!
This is one of the birds I saw. It is absolutely huge! It might even be 75cm from head to tail. This bird wants me to give it a manicure, by the look of it!
This is a shot of the city below. Kawasaki appears to continue forever in every direction.

Also, recently, I was taken by some Japanese friends to the top of the Sunshine Building, which is much taller than most of the buildings in Tokyo, so you can see a large amount of Tokyo, all at once! It was cloudy when we were up there, but, apparently on a clear day, you can see Tokyo Bay (which runs into the Pacific Ocean), and even Mount Fuji, which is 2 hours away by car. (Mount Fuji is 3776 metres tall.)

Anyway, on Saturday I'm going canyoning with some church friends, so I'll keep you posted!