I found Optimus Prime's head in Shinagawa.

I woke up this morning around my normal 5 am time, and I couldn't make up my mind if I was adventurous enough to take the subway to Shinagawa. After getting directions for the train switches and returning to my room to grab my glasses, I had enough time to talk myself into taking a taxi. I decided I would take the train on the way back to the hotel where I wasn't constrained by time. I also wanted to get a picture of the NTT Docomo building. The architects original design resembles a cell phone. At least that is what Stephen told me on my last trip to Japan, but I think the building looks like the head of a robot, and at some point the robot is going to climb out of the ground to battle Godzilla.  I already know Godzilla would win, so I don't know why the Japanese would build a robot building to battle Godzilla. In every Godzilla picture I saw, he is tearing up buildings and using their girders as toothpicks.

The Sony building in Shinagawa has some spectacular views, but most pictures are obscured by the steal framework of the building. When I went to get a shot out of a window, I realized that the window blainds are house between two pains of glass making it impossible to edge my camera in between then blinds to gain a shot.

I thought this may be a disappointing day to take some pictures. Night fell and I made my way to Shinigawa station to grab a train to central Tokyo. I made up my mind I  was going to walk from Tokyo station to my hotel by following the Eita-dori that passes close to IBM Japan's headquarters. This has been my most adventurous walk since I was started from one place that was familiar to me and traveling to another one that I had never done on foot.  From my past trip, I knew the route was safe, and if it was further than I thought, I could always grab a taxi.  This was a good chance to grab some night shots of Tokyo, and a chance for me to experiment with my Nikon D90.

I didn't take a lot of pictures until I was close to the Eita-bashi, and I wanted to try to capture a picture with lighting similar to what I was seeing.

I had a minimal amount of success in my first few photographs. The pictures came out too dark, and I wanted to adjust ISO and shutter speed, not the aperture of the camera. Basically, the aperture controls how much light comes into the camera via the lens. I usually do a poor job of managing the light, and I end up with pictures that have too much light noise or are blurry if I don't have a tripod. Therefore, I wanted to use the ISO level and shutter speed to control how much light makes it into the camera so I wouldn't need to  have a tripod to take my shots.  An amazing rant on something that most likely interests one or two people reading this.

The walk was refreshing, but there the humidity soaked my undershirt with sweat. As I walked along the Eita-dori, I gained a sense of comfort as I noticed a seven eleven and BMW dealership I recognized from my previous visit. I was near my hotel.  I decided to walk along the river and grab some skyline shots.

In the lower left hand corner of the picture is a small boat which I thought was a river ferry. I had seen similar boats traveling up and down the river during the day escorting passenger up and down the river, but as the boat got closer, I could hear the the music and cheer from one pretty cool looking party boat.

To end my evening I took a few shots of lanterns at the Suiten-gu Shrine near my hotel.
The Suiten-gu shrine is dedicated to easy child birth.  I will pay a visit there before I leave since it is traditional to visit the shrine before a child is born to a blessing for easy birth and afterward as a sign of thanks.

Off to bed before the 5 am sun rise! Rain is forecast for every day this week, but it reminds me of Georgia showers. Large this rain drops, but the showers pass quickly. Off to bed!