Welcome to Our 'Hood: Tokyo

Before I take you through the 'hoods that were my and my friends' hangouts .. let's get oriented .. back off a bit .. waaaayyyyyy off .. and see the BIG picture .. let's take a little Space Shuttle ride.

Get your bearings yet?  There's Australia at the bottom, Japan near the top.

A bit closer in, this shows all of Japan's islands. Honshu is the big one in the middle.  That's where we're heading .. if the pilot will pay attention.

Wrong island!  Way off course!!  This pilot has lousy concentration.  What's this??  Hmmm, it's that volcano Mt. Pinatubo in the Phillipines .. uh, oh! .. is that smoke I see??

 
 

Good grief!!  It's the volcanic eruption that rained dust on the entire Pacific and closed down the American military bases there.  Let's get outta here, pilot!  North, head north!

 
 

Ahh, it's Mt. Fuji.  Now, that's what a volcano should look like: harmless.  How about getting a little closer?

 

Mt. Fuji sure looks different from this angle.  Again, benign.  Looking at it from its base, and about to commence a climb .. it can look downright nasty!  OK, pilot, let's head farther north.

Osaka .. a little off course, but who cares?  It's a nice place to visit.  See that red marking?  That's an area 2,000 meters wide that is their sports stadium.  Is that Elvis there in the parking lot, eating a hot dog?  These satellite photos are really detailed; it's no wonder that Saddam Hussein is nervous.

Here is the sprawling Kanto Plain and Tokyo Bay.  We'll go in closer toward Tokyo.

Hmmm .. if you take off the green aviator sunglasses, you can see the colors a lot better.  Take us in, pilot.

Finally, Tokyo.  Well, it's not exactly my 'hood .. it's the Imperial Palace and surrounding areas.  I guess if we're going to see the 'hoods, we're going to have to get a cab.

This is much better!!  As we get closer and closer to Tokyo, you can see what a spectacular city this is.

Now, let's go visit all the old 'hoods my friends and I used to get into so much trouble in ..
 

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