Tokyo, Day 1

Flying from Manila to Tokyo today. Beautiful clear skies, not a sign of the large typhoon that had just passed over Japan. We’re there for a week just to explore the city – it’s my first time so I’m really excited.

Our hotel is in Asakusa, and on our way from the subway station we go right through the Senso-ji Temple with our large suitcases (a bit awkward, but Google Maps said it was the fastest route).

Our hotel room has a direct view of the pagoda!

We go out to look for a late lunch. It starts to rain, so we run into a tiny place that serves roast beef bowls. There’s no one else but us, and the owner quietly prepares our bowls behind the bar. I assume he is the owner because there’s a poster of him with a beer on the wall. I drink sake in a glass cup that sits inside a larger square wooden box.

The place also has a very eclectic lighting setup.

It rains the whole afternoon and evening, and I’m afraid to take out my camera in case it gets wet. The electronics should be secure enough in the 3D printed enclosure of the latest prototype, but I don’t trust my engineering quite yet. Maybe I’m still thinking about it as if its the v1 prototype, which had just the screen and camera sandwiched between two pieces of transparent acrylic:

Looked cool but very fragile!