The teams first started to size each other up when they gathered outside the Tokyo International Gymnasium around 9:30.
Peculiarly bulging boxes, odd costumes and team colours were the order of the day.
When the doors opened, we all streamed in to find our pit areas and get set up, ready for a 1pm start on the presentation sessions.
Shena, Katherine, James and Simon went to a cafe in Akihabara and saw this ‘washlet’.
They also saw this figure outside a KFC.
Today we went on an FLL-organized tour of Tokyo. Hal and family were feeling a bit out of it though, so they stayed behind and went exploring locally on their own instead.
First stop was Asakusa Kannon. We saw the largest temple in Japan, walked around a bit and went shopping.
Tony, Heidi, Colin and Aidan bought some sunhats and kimonos and got some Japanese handkerchiefs as gifts. (However, not only is it seen as almost criminally unsanitary to carry your own nose germs around with you, but it would be vandalism to blow your nose on one of those handkerchiefs!)
We then got a Japanese-style lunch at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, we got a lot of gifts and left for Akihabara, where we went to the Duty-Free Laox and did more shopping.
The tour conductor, Miko-san, gave us a quiz during the large journeys. Eventually, we were deposited outside the Western-style hotel most teams (but not us) were using.
We went up a 45-storey tower, Miko-san had pointed out, just before we left, to the viewpoint at the top, but it wasn’t that clear a day. Eventually, we arrived at the hotel and put an end to the long day.
Katherine, James and Shena were taken to the beach by Kyoko and friends. Katherine took this great photo.
Hal liked these buildings.
All our rooms include a tatami area with Japanese teaset.
The view below is what we can see from some of our rooms. The competition venue, Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, is on the extreme right.
Well, we got here! We sat on the tarmac at LHR for 90 minutes after boarding (because of the foul weather) but the flight was otherwise uneventful.
We had wondered if our unusual hand luggage might give us problems with security, but the only item that raised any issues was the model of the Oasis. The security people couldn’t quite believe we were carrying an almost empty box to Japan, but they confirmed it with each X-ray.
In this photo, we are waiting for the Airport LimousineBus into Tokyo. That took almost two hours and then we found our way through the subway system to the hotel. We were very glad to get there and have some food and drink! We were also happy to meet some Japanese people who we have only met through email before.
After we had checked into the hotel, we separated into three groups and found some activities to occupy ourselves until it was a reasonable time for bed.
It’s late, but everything is packed. We had a final practice with the team today. It was very difficult to keep on task (even more so than usual!). Our hand luggage is very odd - two or three laptops, four robot brains, a box with two robot chassis and all the attachments and strategic objects, a step-up transformer, vast quantities of electrical cable and device transformers, … We may not be flying out of T5 or with BA, but we did not feel we could trust an airline with the things that really matter! (Clothes? Pah, Tokyo can supply them if needed… we cannot replace the robot and would rather not bring home the Against All Odds trophy.)
Tech HEds
Hi! we hope that you will come back to this page often and follow our journey to Tokyo.