The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire! (+ Update)

No big weekend wrap-up this week, because I have almost nothing to fun cover. I did buy this though. If I was sitting next to each of you, I would be happy to take bets that you wouldn't be able to tell me what it is. (Except for JB, he would know.) Any guesses?


That's right folks, it is an plug adapter. I am going on a trip. It is actually the first time I have had to buy one of these bad boys. How non-international of me. Oh well, I wish I didn't have to. As my BOS sis said, as people living in 2006, we should be over this already. Nothing should be holding us down...we should be wireless. And if not wireless, at least there should be an international standard. But sadly, at present we need pages like this:


Or sites like THIS. From what I can grasp, I need an adapter and converter. Let's hope I bought the right stuff. If not, my chances of updating this site are slim to none.

I am off to Auckland this Saturday. I will be taking part in a training session for the next month or so. Man in Tokyo...in New Zealand! From what I gather from people who have completed the training, it is no joke. "Intense" and "challenging" are the words most used to describe it. I hope I have a little free time to see the sights, take some pics, post them here, and maybe even have a good time. If not, see you all next year.

But, before that, we have a couple things to talk about.

Again with taxis...I spotted two more colors. One of them I like, one I don't. This one, with its puke green/yellow base is not so hot.


On the other hand, we have this other one which its so fresh n' clean design: white base with some nice stripes. You might even describe those as rainbow stripes. Is this taxi trying to challenge the for the top spot...currently held by the gray with rainbows? Here is the Challenger.



Now, lets finally get to the title of this never ending post. Today I went to Harajuku and Shibuya. I wanted to take a quick look at some kix before heading over to Tower Records to pick up some treats for the trip to New Zealand. As I got to closer to the main intersection of Harajuku, I noticed lots of fire trucks.


Don't think that those crowds are because of the fire trucks. That is the regular amount of people at that intersection. There were tons of trucks. They had them parked everywhere.


I still had no idea where the fire was. And the pedestrians were all acting as though nothing was happening. Plus, the firemen and police that I saw looked like there was no reason to rush. So, I figured it was just a massive false alarm. I walked a little further and was stopped in my tracks by this:


That's right y'all! The Tokyo Fire Department has a Unimog. It's the first time I have seen one in the flesh. It is huge. I was standing far away and it was still filling the frame. To get an idea of the size, notice the lady in the right corner.


It looks like a blast to drive. I wanna try!!! But it must be a handful on most of Tokyo's tiny streets. Especially in Harajuku, where there are so many tiny alleys. I guess that's why they also brought this little guy.


Didn't get to see this one in action, sadly. Looks like fun to drive too. Man, they got all the hottest toys! Ok, maybe they aren't toys. Fire is serious business. I got carried away. Sorry. I was soon confronted with the reason for this huge presence of firefighters and their tools. Shock of all shocks, a fire.


As far as I could see, it was one of the many old houses sprinkled in between the shops. As of now, I have yet to find any additional info about the fire. Nothing online or the evening news. I assume no one was injured. The Fire Department looked like they had the situation under control.

So, back to the Unimog. Is it not the baddest beast of a vehicle? While I was looking for some links about them, I ran into some vintage Unimogs. This one looks like it wants to crush the Model T.


[source]

How about an evil Italian version...or three?


[source]

Man, I can't get enough of them. Click HERE if you want more info.

That is all from Man in Tokyo for a while. I hope I can talk to you all soon. Get ready for Man in Tokyo: in Auckland!

Take care.

UPDATE: Sadly, I was wrong about the fire. One 79 year old man was killed in the fire. So sad, for him and his family. Click HERE for more info. Be careful out there!