Japan

Around the world in 3 hours-ish

B Byrd

— 6 min read
Around the world in 3 hours-ish

On Monday morning (because it was closed most of the time we were in Nikko), we walked up the road to Tobu World Square. This local attraction is full of 1/25 scale models of locations and buildings (all populated with miniatures) from all over the world.

Divided into a few different sections (modern Japan, USA, Egypt, Europe, Asia, old Japan), the models were incredibly detailed. Some were so good that with the right camera angle, you'd struggle to tell the difference from the real thing. See what you think from the pictures below!

Scattered through many of the models were a number of definitely-out-of-place coloured baby rhinos. That, and looking for any other amusing scenes, kept the boys occupied.

Entry to Tobu World Square.
Modern Japan.
Unfortunate motorway incident or murderous rampage, you be the judge.
Orange rhino at Tokyo Stadium.
Oops.
1964 Olympic gymnastics stadium (Tokyo).
Green rhino at Tokyo Station.
Former Imperial Hotel (Tokyo) by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Blue rhino.
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Narita (Tokyo) International Airport.

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100 yen (about $1) to see the band play and the fire boat spray.

We witnessed a significant pollution event at the port.
Orange rhino at Tokyo Tower.
Blue rhino in Central Park, NYC.
New York City.

New York wedding.
Bank robbery in NYC.
The Twin Towers still stand here.
Along with the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.
And on to Egypt...
...to see the mummies...
...and the pink rhino at the Valley of Kings.

After about an hour and a half (at the end of Egypt), we ducked out for lunch at our favourite local restaurant (another walk down the road). We ate here on our first day in Nikko and had been meaning to go back.

All this for less than $30, and delicious. No wonder we went back. Overall we have found food (both restaurants and groceries) very reasonable in Japan.

Then we headed back for another couple of hours, starting with Europe. It was quite fun to see places we'd been to before, especially on this trip.

The Parthenon.
The Fountain Palace of Peter the Great (St. Petersburg).
The Peace Palace (the Hague).
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Drawbridge in Amsterdam.

Neuschwanstein Castle.
The Bremen Town Musicians (and orange rhino) at Neuschwanstein Castle.
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Buckingham Palace (hey boys, we were standing RIGHT THERE!).

St. Peter's Basilica.
Amusingly, tourists here were also taking the always popular hey-I'm-holding-up-the-leaning-tower photo (while we resisted the urge today, there is evidence that A was not able to resist at the real leaning tower of Pisa).
The Palace of Versailles.
A bit of an overview of Europe.
St. Mark's Square and the Palace of the Doge, Venice.
Well that looks like Paris, but there aren't enough tourists.
A taste of Gaudi Park, Barcelona.
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London Bridge (hey boys, we walked RIGHT ALONG THERE!).

Holmes and Watson outside Westminster Parliament (and Big Ben).

After a whirlwind tour of Europe, we moved on to Asia for an even more whirlwind tour.

Wat Arun (Thailand).
Blue Mosque (Iran).
Angkor Wat (Cambodia).
Taj Mahal (India).
The Forbidden City (China).
Temple of Heaven (China).
The Great Wall of China.
Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (Taiwan).
Taipei 101 (Taiwan).

And then it was on the final section dedicated to old Japan. This was a really rushed whirlwind tour as it was getting very close to closing time (we're continuing our habit).

We made it back to the Hall of the Great Buddha (Todai-ji).
Even the deer were there!

It was a surprisingly interesting way to spend a few hours. I could have easily spent another hour or so checking things out. But it didn't quite make up for what we missed out on in Nikko. The main reason we'd come to Nikko was to spend a day at Edo Wonderland, a samurai-era theme park where you can dress up (samurai, ninja, noble etc.) and interact with the staff/actors. Unfortunately (and unawares to us) it was closed from January 15 to February 15, right across our time in Japan (apparently we don't always do our research carefully enough!).

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