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Ol n' Ben around the world
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Location Date Europe 1492297200 Africa 1492297200 Asia 
1462662000 North America 1126393200 -
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Location Date Tokyo 1273014000 Tsukuba
1272841200 Ishigaki 1272668400 Iriomote 1272495600 Yonehara 1272409200 Taketomi-Jima 1272322800 Naoshima Island 1272063600 Osaka 1272063600 Hiroshima 1271977200 Aso 1271890800 Kumamoto 1271631600 Kyoto 1271545200 Miyajima 1271545200 Nara 1271458800 Koyasan 1271372400 -
Location Date Mon, 03 May 2010
1272847440 Sat, 01 May 2010 1272745680 Sun, 25 April 2010 1272223200 Sun, 11 April 2010 1270951380 Sat, 10 April 2010 1270857000
A relaxing and resting day today ! Late wake up around 14:30, delicious brunch and then a bit of shopping in Tsukuba.
First we went to Joyful Honda, which is a huge do-it-yourself store - for the french readers, let's say it is a mix of BHV, Castorama, and Leroy Merlin !
We could buy there japanese knives, shoes, and most of all, we bought to N. the red fluorescent stick that every policemen or security guys have in Japan. So funny to find it in that store !
Then we headed to a second-hand shop where we could find cheap antics, and especially nice calligraphed rolled papers.
Then we experienced the unbelievable atmosphere of Pachinko, which are widespread and popular establishments in Japan. A pachinko machine is a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and gambling that resembles a vertical pinball machine, but with no flippers and a large number of relatively small balls. The player fires a ball up into the machine, controlling only its initial speed. The ball then cascades down through a dense forest of pins. In most cases, the ball falls to the bottom and is lost, but if it instead goes into certain pockets, more balls are released as a jackpot.
Because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan and Taiwan, balls won cannot be exchanged directly for cash in the parlor. Instead, the balls are exchanged for token prizes, which can then be taken outside and traded in for cash at a business that is nominally separate from the parlor, and may be run by organized crime.
The place was so unbelievably noisy and smoky, that we did not even find the courage to stay long enough to try and play with one machine ! Therefore we did not stay there more than 10 minutes !
Instead, we headed to a Game Center : still noisy but not as loud, and many funny games such as the "drum game" where you have to hit the drum in rhythm while following the music beat. We also stayed quite a while on a very sophisticated SEGA coin machine where you drop coins on a moving plate until it pushes more and more coins in small holes so that you get it.
We finally had dinner in a sushi restaurant, with a sushi master preparing food right in front of us. This was a delicious dinner, and a nice gift for O. birthday ;-)
We then drove back home where we ate Birthday cakes and drank green tea before going to bed.
First we went to Joyful Honda, which is a huge do-it-yourself store - for the french readers, let's say it is a mix of BHV, Castorama, and Leroy Merlin !
We could buy there japanese knives, shoes, and most of all, we bought to N. the red fluorescent stick that every policemen or security guys have in Japan. So funny to find it in that store !
Then we headed to a second-hand shop where we could find cheap antics, and especially nice calligraphed rolled papers.
Then we experienced the unbelievable atmosphere of Pachinko, which are widespread and popular establishments in Japan. A pachinko machine is a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and gambling that resembles a vertical pinball machine, but with no flippers and a large number of relatively small balls. The player fires a ball up into the machine, controlling only its initial speed. The ball then cascades down through a dense forest of pins. In most cases, the ball falls to the bottom and is lost, but if it instead goes into certain pockets, more balls are released as a jackpot.
Because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan and Taiwan, balls won cannot be exchanged directly for cash in the parlor. Instead, the balls are exchanged for token prizes, which can then be taken outside and traded in for cash at a business that is nominally separate from the parlor, and may be run by organized crime.
The place was so unbelievably noisy and smoky, that we did not even find the courage to stay long enough to try and play with one machine ! Therefore we did not stay there more than 10 minutes !
Instead, we headed to a Game Center : still noisy but not as loud, and many funny games such as the "drum game" where you have to hit the drum in rhythm while following the music beat. We also stayed quite a while on a very sophisticated SEGA coin machine where you drop coins on a moving plate until it pushes more and more coins in small holes so that you get it.
We finally had dinner in a sushi restaurant, with a sushi master preparing food right in front of us. This was a delicious dinner, and a nice gift for O. birthday ;-)
We then drove back home where we ate Birthday cakes and drank green tea before going to bed.
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