Audi Systems

When in Japan, we use the subways and trains and sometimes bikes to get around on almost all our outings. Aya's family very generously offered use of a car.

This car:

We had no need for it, and were frankly a bit terrified of something going wrong on the very narrow residential streets, and so never used it.

However, the generous offers soon became increasingly insistent, to the point where we found the key at our table setting and, finally, on our bedside table. Part of having good manners is knowing when to accept something gracefully, so we took it out for a spin.

Jeebus.

It is loaded with stuff, of course. One of the coolest things was the back-up camera system. The yellow lines show where the car will go with the wheels at the current angle and the blue rectangle is straight back.

Putting complete faith in the camera system was more than a little off-putting, and when the proximity alerts started beeping there was a noticeable increase in heart-rate. It is amazingly intuitive, though, and worked perfectly.

It also has both a built-in and an after-market radar-detection system (circled in green in the dashboard pic, above). You might think that we wouldn't hear much from them unless a police officer pointed a speed gun at us, but that is not the case.

The Osaka Kanjo-sen highway is awash in speed radar, cameras, and all manner of radio frequencies, and these detecting systems will alert you to each with different beeps, jingles and announcements.

They will  also notify you of directions, toll booths, interchanges, off-ramps, on-ramps, merging areas, high-accident zones, changing speed limits, road conditions, traffic updates and about a million other things.

Having two competing systems in the car produced the most unreal cacophony of alerts, announcements and advisories, all playing over the enka  (sentimental ballads) on the stereo:

So where did we go in this over-powered, insanely noisy, fantastic car?

To the Leach Bar in the Rihga Royal Hotel, where they make the most amazing G&T, served in brass mugs.

Osaka Eclipse

By pure luck and no planning on our part, we managed to be almost directly under the shadow of the moon during the eclipse on May 21. This was the first time for any of us in the house to be so close to the path of total occlusion, and a bit of mania overtook us as the moment of totality approached.


Using my father's recipe, we set up a pin-hole mirror to project the image onto a darkened wall.
A mirror is covered with paper in which a single hole (the aperture) has been punched. The reflection is aimed at a wall/screen in a dark corner of the same room.


The size of the hole dictates the focus of the image. Here, the lower image is the one coming from our one-hole-punch "pin-hole". It is out of focus and over-exposed because the hole is too large and too close to the wall/screen. The upper image is coming from a tiny crack between the covering paper and the edge of the mirror frame. The focus is much better, but the room is too bright to see it very well.

With more time to plan this, we could have set up multiple mirrors to direct the image to a much darker room. The word for "room" in Italian is, of course, "camera".


Outside in the garden, the camphor tree was doing a better job, making pin-holes with the gaps between its leaves.

We took quick glimpses of the full corona through a darkened piece of x-ray film, in direct contradiction of the warnings being broadcast on NHK at that very moment. Luckily, we had a doctor with us, although he was just as excited as we were.

Kyoto Trains

Further on the Japanese railway theme, we saw these two posters in Kyoto in October, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Kyoto City Subway.

Embroidering the trains onto "gama-kuchi" (frog-mouth) purses cleverly ties the subway system to Kyoto's history.

These are just adorable:

Yōkan (羊羹) is a thick jellied dessert made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. Kyoto is famous for it.

From the low number of views, it seems that not many people were interested in the train videos in our post a week ago. To show that we don't cave to popular opinion (or lack of it) here are two more.

A view of Kyoto rooftops on the way to Arashiyama (25 seconds)

Going from Osaka station to Shin-Osaka, the first leg of the trip from Osaka to Kyoto. We cross the huge Yodo-gawa river at 55 seconds (2:32):

For anyone who made it this far, click the map below to see the distance and route covered (blue line):

View Osaka to Shin-Osaka in a larger map

Okay, no more trains. Back to food and wine for a while.

Hankai Tramway from Abeno to Myokokuji-mae, Osaka

One of Japan's three remaining tramways (light rail, street car, etc) is the Hankai. Its Uemachi Line runs south from Tennoji in Osaka and passes within a few blocks of Aya's house in Sakai.


Traveling at street-level gives such a different view of the city and we often go into Osaka this way instead of on the much faster subway line.


These three videos were all shot on an October evening. They are slow and rhythmic and not exactly action-packed, but they offer glimpses of life that seem to float in pools of light, and can be fascinating if you're in the right mood.


We know it's crazy to expect anyone to watch these videos in their entirety, but we love this trip and we wanted to share it.

Part 1 (10 min):

Notes:
0:01 pedestrian proximity
0:30 departure 
2:10 big turn away from road, into residential area
3:09 two platforms float in the darkness 
3:31 level crossing 
4:25 pass opposite train (one of many) 
7:17 cars on the tracks due to narrow road


A search on Youtube turns up many more videos by people who really take this kind of thing seriously.


We have outlined the three parts of the route we captured on this Google Map:

View Hankai Tramway, Uemachi Line, Osaka in a larger map

Here is a link to the real one on Google Maps , where you can activate the amazing Street View.

Part 2 (10 min):

   

Notes:
0:07 depart

1:40 big turn
6:50 crossing the Yamato River
9:00 big turn

Part 3 (3 min):

Notes:
0:20 depart
0:27 Pachinko Enjoy!
0:30 big turn