morten-skandfer’s posterous

Going to Japan is not so expensive as you may think, and staying there has never been cheaper. It's time to go!

One of the best ways to get around in the ultimate metropolis is by bike (apart from the excellent metro system, of course).  Here, one recommended loop, the Yamanote is described. Riding the entire Yamanote loop by train takes only about an hour, but you should spend three days on the tour. A local shop, near the Iidabashi rail station, rents out reliable folding bikes at a cost of 2,000 yen per day (about $21 at 95 yen to the dollar), and for a fee will deliver them directly to central Tokyo hotels.  The Yamanote rolls through a number of Shitamachi neighborhoods. Turn off a main avenue and glide eastward through the tangle of narrow roads. This timeless pocket of small, traditional businesses is just 10 minutes by bike from Marunouchi’s skyscrapers. Addresses in Tokyo are utterly unlike those in an American city, denoting a group of blocks instead of a specific street, and the streets are mostly unnamed. Orient yourselves by the main, named thoroughfares, which have signs in both English and Japanese, and by the local rail stations. Still only a mile and a half from the tracks of the Yamanote, the winding path takes you into Ryogoku, a part of Shitamachi synonymous with sumo. Tournaments have been held here since the 18th century, and this area is home to sumo stables, where the wrestlers live and train. Stay at ryokans, or traditional Japanese inn, like the one in in Asakusa, a famous Shitamachi neighborhood that’s home to a major temple, geisha houses and back streets that feel a world away from the modern city. On the final leg of the ride, along the southern curve of the Yamanote, glide down a steep hill to the Meguro River and ride along its bank beneath a canopy of cherry trees. Heading back toward Marunouchi to complete the Yamanote loop, you ride under bullet-train tracks, monorail tracks and an elevated highway crisscrossing each other overhead — arteries that give you a sense of the movement of this great city.More on: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/travel/20explorer.html

 

Staying in a traditional inn is a perfect way to step inside old Japan while being steeped in this most contemporary of cities. Harris Salat’s article “No Squishing: Biking a Tokyo Rail Line” (Sept. 20, 2009) mentions the Sadachiyo (2-20-1 Asakusa, Taiko-ku; 81-3-3842-6431), a traditional inn, or ryokan, as they are known in Japan, where he stayed his first night in Tokyo. This 65-year-old inn is in the old Asakusa neighborhood, which is home to a temple and geisha houses, making it feel centuries removed from modern Tokyo.

Also in Asakusa is the simple and elegant Ryokan Shigetsu (1-31-11 Asakusa, Tokyo; 81-3-3843-2345), which Frommer’s, The Times’s online content partner, recommends for its location and affordable prices; doubles from 15,750 yen or $173, at 91 yen to the dollar. But for a more authentic ryokan, the Frommer’s top choice is Homeikan (5-10-5 Hongo, Tokyo; 81-3-3811-1181), with doubles from 11,000, or $121, in the Bunkyo-ku neighborhood, though, according to Frommer’s, not as conveniently located. The inn has three separate houses, one is almost a century old; some rooms feature detailed Japanese craftsmanship.

For excursions outside Tokyo, there are two articles by Ken Belson on the Tokyo travel guide. In “A Mountain of Tranquillity Near Tokyo’s Frenzy” (March 4, 2007), Mr. Belson suggested going to the Tama region in the west, just an hour away by train, to breathe fresh air and behold vistas of mountains and rivers. For a day’s outing he suggests hiking the 2,000-foot-high Mount Takao, which has views of the city and Mount Fuji (but warns that Takao is mobbed on weekends and holidays).

 

2006年12月では私は東京Ginza地区からの列車でKawagoeのチャーミングないなか町にとどまる日本を45分以下訪問した。 それはとても古い倉庫、かkuraで群がった、今店および家を満ち、絵のような鐘桜のまわりで収容する。 little Edo呼ばれることKawagoeに非常に確実な感じ、古代東京の名前がある。

 

 

 

 

Mercat Santa Caterina (Market Holy Catherine) is the latest market built in Barcelona. Totally renovated in 2005 with brilliance by the architects Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT, is a little marvel located in the district of Ribera in Ciutat Vella. Beautiful architectural idea for this multicoloured ceramics roof having the shape of wave posed on an air structure of wood, which shelters all the stalls of the market. http://www.barcelona.com/barcelona_city_guide/shops/barcelona_markets/mercat_santa_caterina

 

Some ideas to consider for the "Nye Domus" site in Tromsø? Modern and organic, yet respectful to the urban fabric. We would not like to lose the prospect of the fresh food market in "Kystens Hus" or a modern gem on the waterfront.

 

 

 

 

Denne nye utstillingen er en interaktiv og estetisk vakker helhet basert på menneskets varierende liv og naturens årstidsvariasjoner i Arktis. Utstillingens hovedtema er dagens endringer i Arktis som blir presentert i fire deler av utstillingen. Aller først forteller utstillingen på en visuell og interaktiv måte hva Arktis er.  I den andre delen forteller man om tilpasning til krevende forhold av mennesker, dyr og planter. I den tredje delen konsentrerer man seg om verdensomspennende endringer som påvirker hverandre. I den siste delen møter besøkende den arktiske fremtiden i en positiv og optimistisk tone. Under utstillingen opplever besøkende litt arktisk kulde i et rom som er kjøligere enn de andre utstillingslokalene. Lokalet skal presentere snø og is under kalde forhold. Mot slutten av utstillingsrunden kan besøkende legge seg ned i en behagelig stilling og se på nordlysene gjennom miniteaterets tak.

 

Noe å studere for de mange som synser om et Nordområdemuseum i Tromsø? Ambisjonsnivået bør legges høyt. En lokalisering i tilknytning til Norsk Polarmiljøsenter virker logisk for meg, og gir Universitetet (UIT) et viktig vindu mot byen, befolkningen og besøkende. Det må da være viktig for en formidlings - og forskningsinstitusjon.  Er det noe UIT trenger, er det et sterkere og synligere nærvær i samfunnets hverdag, for rekruttering og formidling. Byutvikling er helt sekundært 

Mens det krangles om lokalisering av Nordområdemuseet på Tromsøya (og mange til og med kaller det et verdensmuseum for Nordområdene), har andre nordlige byer dette på plass for lenge siden. På denne bloggen er Museum of the North" i Anchorage, Alaska tidligere omtalt. Mye nærmere Norge ligger Arktikum i Rovaniemi, Finland. Dette presenterer på en unik måte den nordfinske livsstil, kultur og historie. Arktikum er et kombinert museum (Lapplands regionalmuseum), vitenskapssenter (Arktisk senter), arkitektonisk severdighet, populært kultursted og en spektakulær møte- og kongressbygning. Den nye vitenskapsutstillingen på Arktisk senter Muuttuva Arktis (Arktis i endring), ble åpnet for publikum i april 2007. På utstillingen kan besøkende gjøre seg kjent med blant annet isgrotte, nordlysteater, arktisk elv, forskningsstasjoner og de skiftende arktiske årstidene.

 

Finland har hatt en Nordomrrådesatsing på reiseliv (Santa Claus og alpinturisme), teknologi (Nokia byen Oulo) og forskning/opplevelser (Rovaniemi). Så til de som frykter at lokaliseringstriden i Tromsø skal føre til at Norge kommer for sent til å kapre Nordområdemuseet; det er allerede på plass, i Finland.

   

 

A White House committee has made five visions for future manned US space travel. http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/where-will-nasa-send-its-astronauts-nextIt spans from staying in low earth orbit to visiting neighbor planets. This is considered in view of the benefits for science, workforce and other long-term objectives. Some predict this is a plan to scrap US space travel as the shuttle is grounded in 2012. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427355.700-is-this-the-end-for-human-space-flight.html. However, emerging space-nations as China and India show some of the determination and inspiration as the US and USSR showed in the 50's and 60's. This will diversify the space fleet and may start a new space race. China is rumored to plan a lunar landing before the US gets back there, in order to stay, set up a base and harvest the Helium-3 isotope, crucial for fusion reactors, and available in hmuch higher concentations in lunar soil than on Earth. This may fuel their space ambitions, and pay the costs.  The fact that China has now entered the game virtually guarantees major western democracies won't back out. Like the US, China will use its space capabilities to cement ties with allies while demonstrating to its own people that it is the equal of other great powers.Space as business may thus be the new argument to reach for the black void again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Scientist magazine report that Canadian scientists have found that planting forests in northern Russia, central Canada and Europe would cool the climate more effectively than planting them in India, Brazil and most of China. Using high-resolution satellite data from several locations, the calculations took into account both the cooling effect of the trees soaking up CO2 and the heating effect that would result from the trees reflecting less sunlight than the crops they replaced. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427343.900-trees-in-far-north-provide-biggest-climate-benefit.html