We demonstrated two systems at the show.  System 1 comprised a Viola Cadenza preamplifier and Viola Symphony power amplifier driving a pair of Ultimate Monitor speakers.  System 2 comprised a Viola Spirito preamplifier and a pair of bridged Viola Bravo power amplifiers driving a set of JBL K2 S9800 speakers.  A set of bridged Bravos will produce up to 1,200W into 8 ohms.  This a fairly popular configuration with our Japanese customers.  We even have one very keen customer in Japan who is using 4 bridged Bravos in his system.

Above:  Viola designer Paul Jayson makes some adjustments to his prototype of the Viola Quartet electronic cross-over.

Right: Mr. Hideaki Nishikawa, President of our Japanese importer Zephyrn, takes a moment to rest from organising the set-up.

The show was held in the Tokyo Forum building. This is architecturally unusual for Japan, having a very large amount of open space inside.  The picture to the left shows the roof structure which gives rise to the name by which the building is often referred - the boat.

Whilst we were out looking for somewhere to eat one lunch time we came across the eatery shown left.  As it shared the same name as one of our products we thought is deserved to be on our web-site.  We looked for restaurants called Cadenza and Symphony, but without success.

Tokyo is one of those amazing cities where you never know what you will find around the next corner.  In the case of the street musicians above we did not have to look around any corners, as they were playing in front of the Forum building when we came out for lunch during the show.  They were good too.

Here are a few pictures we managed to get during the sadly all to little free time we had during our stay in Tokyo.  The tasty looking meal of eel on rice shown left is actually a very realistic plastic model.  Japanese restaurants generally have plastic models of the items on their menu on display in their window. These are not just models. They are works of art.  If you can't speak Japanese, no problem.  Just point to what takes your fancy.

Staying with the food theme, this is a street side Japanese noodle shop.  These places provide quick, fast and tasty food and better still, one is never too far away.  Who needs fast food?

Dessert?  When you visit someone in Japan it is traditional to take a small gift, usually something nice to eat.  This is a shop selling what are called Castella cakes, which is a type of light sponge cake.  Yes we have tried them and they are indeed very good. We found this one conveniently located in a railway station.  Very handy if you  decide to drop in on someone and find yourself suddenly in need of a suitable gift..

Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) in Asakusa, the downtown part of Tokyo. Behind it is Nakamise Street, which leads to the Sensoji temple.  Nakamise Street is lined with shops selling beautifully made souvenirs and tasty traditional Japanese sweets and rice crackers. Plenty of good restaurants around here too!  The present gate was built in 1950, though according to our tourists' cheat sheet, the original gate was built on this site in AD 942.