Snowy Run in Odate

I went for a run yesterday morning at Odate. It was much colder there compared to Tokyo - it was snowing!  I have been running in Vibram FiveFingers and they got soaked through right away in slushy snow.

JR Odate Station.

Statue of Hachiko was right in front of the station.  The famous dog was bred here.

Statue of Akita Dogs - Hachiko was of this type.

Away from the station was a lot of snow.

Here are my footsteps.

An elementary school field - not possible to play football.

Queues in Kichijoji

There are two places in Kichijoji that have long queues all the time.

The first is Satou Steakhouse in the shopping area by the station.  On the first floor, they sell Menchi katsu that is VERY popular.  It always looks like this. And this person tells her story to prove my point.

Here, the people finally buying their favorite Menchi katsu after a long wait.

The other is Iseya, a famous yakitori restaurant's take out counter.  This one is right by Inokashira Park.   Here's a report on the restaurant by CNN.

This is the entrance to the restaurant.  But unfortunately, I heard that this historical restaurant will be closed soon to be renovated.

3.11 Remembered

Today is the one year anniversary of 3.11 Disaster that struck Japan.  I wrote about my experience one year ago.

Today, as I ran in Inokashira Park, there were many people gathered for a demonstration calling for the government to take more action for the relief of the victims and against nuclear power plants.

Later on, they marched the streets of Kichijoji.

There were many TV shows about it.  Here, attendees of a memorial ceremony (attended by our Emperor and Empress) bow to do a moment of silence exactly a year after the original earthquake (2:46 PM Japan time).

Here's another shot of the TV screen - live from Rikuzentakata. Still a large ship that floated into the city by the tsunami remains.

Another TV show showed how the earthquake waves struck Tokyo.  Three consecutive seismic waves attacked Tokyo.

From the the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear fall-out of one year ago, Japan suffered over 17,000 deaths, some 27,000 people injured and as of today, 3,155 people are still missing and 343,935 people are evacuated from the affected areas.

Here in Japan, we are still coping with the aftermath of the terrible disaster.

Singapore Run, etc.

I spent a week in Singapore for a conference.  While I was there, I could run three times.

These are steps that go up to Fort Canning.

I saw this sign up at the top.  I was not ready to climb over the fence.

This is the Helix Bridge - made beautifully of stainless steel.

On the other side of Marina Bay from our hotel stood the famous statue of Merlion. When I ran in an early morning, as it was captured by my camera, it was not squirting water into the bay.  But right after I took this photo, water started.  Maybe it has a motion sensor.

A panoramic view - this one is looking towards our hotel from the statue of Merlion.  The hotel is the one in the middle - three buildings joined by a bridging structure.

This photo is not of running, but the pool at the top of the 57-story hotel I stayed.

A panoramic city view from the pool - the water body is Marina Bay.