Tokyo Day 4: "The Futuristic District" and ....fire fighter drills?

Hello Friends Near and Far (well, mostly far),

Here's the rundown of our final day in Tokyo - I know at least one person has been clamoring for it, and the rest of you probably only look at this every once in awhile ;)

We woke up early to check out of our hotel, but they conveniently allowed us to leave our bags there as we weren't actually leaving the city till the late afternoon. In planning for our trip, I had read that there would be an annual New Year's event called "Shobo Dezome-shiki"or, "The New Year's Fire Review". This is something put on by the Tokyo Fire Department, and would feature acrobatic stunts on ladders - what's not to love? The event was taking place in Odaiba, a district of futuristic-looking architecture built on man-made islands in Tokyo Bay. The area has tons of other attractions, so we really wanted to see it.

Well, getting to Odaiba involved taking the monorail out and over the Bay, which made for great sights. The train takes a big loop around Odaiba, and with an all-day pass we could get on and off whenever we wanted. First stop - Tokyo Big Sight, a large convention/exhibition hall, for the event.

Here are two pics we took right after getting off the monorail:
I don't know about you but when I imagine how the future will look, gigantic saws are the first thing that come to me ;)

Anyway, there were lots of people heading to the same place, so we figured it was a really popular event. Firemen were stationed at various points of hallways and courtyards, passing out fire safety and emergency procedures pamphlets. Finally, we walk into a big exhibition room (expecting to see a hushed crowd waiting for the performance to start) - and see fire trucks, safety info booths, kids trying on fire fighting suits, and guys wearing big cartoony Fire Extinguisher costumes. Yeah....

Well, we eventually realized that there was going to be a show outside, and hurried to find seats (not real seats, just kneeling in front of the already full risers). Amazingly enough we found a English program, and saw that the acrobats didn't come on for an hour. So, we waited and tried to look interested as group after group went by - paramedics, firefighters, volunteers, junior leagues, etc. The crowd absolutely loved it, but we were kind of hiding our yawns. Finally, the acrobats appeared, and although the show was pretty short, it was definitely impressive.
After the acrobats finished we made a hasty exit, hopping back on the monorail and getting off at a more attraction-heavy area. We found ourselves at something called Mega Web, basically a big Toyota showroom housing the latest technologies. Chris got to do a virtual test drive (of some kind of future car system that brakes for you) while sitting in this drive simulator:
We also got a shot of this very, very large ferris wheel (unfortunately not in our budget):
We finished the outing by wandering around some interesting shopping areas and checking out views across the Bay.
This is a nice shot of the Rainbow Bridge.

From Odaiba we headed back to the hotel to pick up our things, and made our way to Tokyo Station to wait for our bus to Asou. We had a lovely time in Tokyo - I can't tell you how nice it was to get into a city again. Our town has its own charms, and it's definitely nice to see the stars in the nighttime sky, but city living means there is always something new to do or see. Seattle, we're talking about you, too.

Thanks for reading!

-Tessa