MY 11TH TRIP TO TOKYO, BUT THE 1ST TIME TO BE A TOURIST

This was my 16th times to Japan in 3 and half an years after joining this company. 11 times of them are for business to Tokyo, but I had never had a time to take a good look at Tokyo.

This time I decided to stay 3 more days in Tokyo after meeting, so I could visit some tourist sites more than just Narita Airport and Shinjuku Station.

WACOM INTUOS4 PEN TABLET

April 26 is the launch date of NEW Wacom Intuos4 pen tablet. People have been waiting for this new tablet for a long long time. Because the launch date of Intuos3 was more than 3 years ago.

This Intuos4 is a Medium size model, the working area is about 6"x9". New Intuos4 comes with 8 express keys and a multi function touch ring. the most advanced tech for Intuos4 is the 2048 level pressure sensitivity. I also love the OLED display which can show my express key setting. For more info, please check Wacom.

SHENGSING TRAIN STATION (勝興車站)

Shengshin Train Station is located in Miaoli county, Taiwan. It is the highest point of Taiwan railway system, about 402.326 meters above sea level. Due to route changed, the last train denatured from Shengshin Train Station was on 23 September 1998. After that, Shengshin Train Station became a train station without any arriving train. Today it becomes a popular tourist site because of well maintained train station, railways and old style Hakka atmosphere.

Near Shengshin Train Station, there is another famous site which is Remains of Longteng Bridge. It is also a part of Taiwan railway history. This bridge was damaged twice by earthquakes. Now it is displayed as a memorial for the 921 Earthquake

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MODEL GUN COLLECTIONS(5) - M14 RIFLE BY HUDSON

This M-14 rifle is my first no-firing model gun from Hudson. I bought it around 6 years ago when I had a chance to get a good discount. Or I will never have it on my hand. Thanks to the store owner Allan!

M-14 is one of the major rifles in western countries after WW II; the other 2 are FN FAL and HK G3. M-14 has the worst performance among these 3 rifles, so it had a very short service life in US Army and replaced by M-16 assault rifle. But recently, US Army brought them back to battle field as sniper rifles after some modifications.

In 1967, US sold the production line to Taiwan to mass-produce the M14 for replacing the M1 Grand rifle and others. This local produced M14 was called Type 57, because the year for the first production was in 1968 which was year 57 in ROC calendar.

I love M-14 so much, because it was my best friend when I took military training at Cheng Kung Hill (成功嶺) and when I served in army in Matsu Islands (馬祖). M-14 is long and heavy, even kicks a lot when you fire it. But it is still a reliable friend.

Today Type 57 rifle was decommissioned from Taiwanese military forces and replace by various local produced rifles (T65, T86 and T91), but it is still popular on survival games' battle fields.

a M-14 EBR airsoft BB gun, M-14 EBR is an enhanced M-14

ENJOY THE JAPANESE CUISINE

Yakiniku at Umeshin (梅しん)

Crab meal at Kani Doraku (かに道楽)

Tasting the local food is one of the excitement during the trip. For traveling in Japan, there are 3 major excitements: sightseeing, food and shopping. Because the Japanese Yen is so strong on the money exchange market, so we did not do much shopping, but still testing some great food; including Udon (Japanese noodle), green tea desserts, grilled eel, sashimi (raw fish), Osaka Yaki (Japanese style pizza), Tonkatsu (Japanese fried pork), and others.

For my favorites during this trip, I will recommend 2 restaurants; one for Japanese BBQ (燒肉), and one for crab cuisine.

We had the Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) for dinner in Kyoto at Umeshin (梅しん) . We visited Umeshin totally by accident. It was late and we were tired and hungry when passing by Umeshin, so we decided to give it a try. I think we were quite lucky to do so. We had tasty Japanese beef and pork for BBQ with a serve of kimgi (Korean spicy pickled vegetables) and a glass of cold Japanese beer. What else could I ask more? It was such a nice combination!

Another restaurant is for crab lovers, the Kani Doraku (かに道樂) in Osaka. The one we visited is located at Doutonbori (道頓堀) which is a major shopping and restaurant area. The big crab signage of Kani Doraku also became a symbol of Doutonbori. We had the crab meal as lunch before we left for airport on the last day of our trip as a wonderful ending. We ordered a serve of crab nigiri shushi and a serve of crab sushi rice, plus a glass of beer. It cost us almost JPY4,000 and did make a perfect ending of the trip.

Of course, we also enjoyed other food, but not so unforgettable.

Photos of other food