Robin's Adventures

The World Financial Center, at 1,614 feet tall, is the eighth tallest building in the world. The building contains shopping, offices, a hotel, and an observation deck.

There is a rectangular shaped opening at the top of the building that is designed to reduce the effects of wind on the building. The original plan, which called for a round opening, was rejected by the Chinese because they felt it looked too similar to the rising sun of the Japanese flag.

The new design is unofficially referred to as the "bottle opener" and this has been commercialized in as an item for sale in Shanghai gift shops.

When the Jews tried to emigrate out of Europe at the beginning of the Second World War, they had difficulty finding places that would allow them to enter the country. Shanghai took in about 20,000 Jews between 1937 and 1941, accepting more Jewish refugees than any other city in the world.

Housed in the former Moishe Synagogue, the Jewish Refugees Museum has photos, video, documents, and personal items which show the lives of the 20,000 Jews who came to Shanghai to flee the holocaust in World War II.

The flight to Tokyo took about three hours, but due to the time change we lost an hour. We stayed at the Peninsula Hotel.

Check out this sensor operated toilet from our hotel in Tokyo, Japan.

Asakusa is a busy shopping and entertainment street in downtown Tokyo. One of the main things to see here is Sensoji, the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo.

At the entrance to Asakusa is the Kaminarimon, or "Thunder Gate," with a large lantern and statues of the gods of thunder and wind.

At Sensoji Temple, you begin by purifying your hands with water from the dragon's mouth at the fountain. In front of the temple is a large cauldron for incense.

Nearby, on the temple grounds, we saw families celebrating the Shichi-Go-San, or Seven-Five-Three festival, which is a festival commemorating the passage of children from one stage of childhood to the next.

Check out this automated cookie machine from a shop in Tokyo.

Built on the former site of Edo Castle, the Imperial Palace is the residence of the Japanese Emperor and his family.

The palace grounds, which cover 1.3 square miles, were said, at the time of the big property price boom in 1980, to be worth more than all of the property in the state of California.

The Tsukiji Fish Market is considered to be the largest wholesale seafood market in the world.

The origins of the fish market can be traced back to the 16th century when the shogun gave some fishermen special fishing privileges in the area so they could supply Edo Castle. They were able to sell off their surplus fish near Nihonbashi Bridge. As the population, and the demand for fish, grew, so did the market.