Fuji TV HQ home of the Iron Chef
By rocky | March 21, 2008
The futuristic city of Odaiba in Tokyo is know for it’s weird and amazing architecture and the Fuji TV centre is right up there with the best. The centre houses their offices and studios for many of their live shows and dramas. The Iron Chef which has a huge cult following was filmed at the centre between 1993 and 2001. Today huge shows like Ainori a dating program, Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi the Fantastic Deer man and 1 litre of tears are filmed there along with countless game shows, news and sport programs. The studios have a little blue dog you might see on some Japanese programs his name is Laugh, if you are really lucky when you visit you might get to see this fury critter mascot greeting the crowds. You can take a self guided tour of the complex and even visit the huge spherical lookout at the top, and on many weekends there are live shows and events being held in the court yards around the complex so you will have hours of fun. You might even be able to get yourself into the studio audience of one of the zany Japanese game shows.
Topics: Asia | No Comments »
Where would an Iron Chef shop?
By rocky | March 15, 2008
If you were an Iron Chef and wanted to deck out your kitchen stadium the best place to go for kitchen equipment would be Kappabashi in Tokyo. Kappabashi is Kitchen Town and it lies between Ueno and the electronics mecca of Asakusa. Here you can buy anything you would need to start up a kitchen from chopsticks, to uniforms to plates and saucers even those amazing plastic food models you see everywhere in Japan. There are hundreds of shops many specialising in different types of kitchen goods, for example Hashito sells chopsticks, and a shop called Tanaka sells lacquerware, and then there Kamata who sells knives. The plastic food shops are amazing, one good one is Maizuru, you can virtually find any type of food here all in resin, from noodles to steak, from sushi to eggs and even full seafood platters and buffets- the range is amazing- but they don’t come cheap some costing thousands of yen. But for the tourist there are some smaller affordable ones, and they have a good range of novelty fridge magnets and the like. The easiest way to visit Kappabashi is catch the Ginza line train and get off at Tawaramachi Station then its only a few blocks walk from exit 3. Most of the shops are open six days a week being closed on Sundays.
Topics: Asia, Gadgets | No Comments »
Is it a Capsule Hotel or a Coffin
By wattsy | December 29, 2007
When it comes to interesting and odd inventions you can’t beat the Japanese. The Capsule Hotel was first developed in 1979 as cheap accommodation in space starved Osaka and the idea quickly caught on across all of Japan. Check out the video above to get an idea of what a capsule hotel is like, but essentially they are prefabricated fiberglass boxes that are large enough to lay down in. They are piled into a large room with each floor having shared bathroom facilities and possibly some lockers and a vending machine. If you have ever stayed at a backpacker hostel this type of hotel could be considered luxurious with its extra privacy of your own personal capsule. Capsule Hotels are generally located near train stations as their customers are normally drunk Japanese salarymen who have missed the last train home. Very few capsule hotels allow woman to stay and some don’t like foreigners at all, but if your up for a cheap and quirky night’s rest in Japan it would be worth hunting one down.
Topics: Asia, Hotels | No Comments »