More pictures from Japan

I though a few more pictures of my travels are in order.



Yum Yum!

This was on our way out of the Imperial Palace.


And this was the way in.

On Sundays, a whole lot of japanese in costume come out and pretend like they don't like having their picture taken.

Ado (nearer and further)

I arrived home from Japan safe and sound on the flight from hell. The grouchy man across the isle was sleeping with his foot in the walkway when a hostess tried to wheel a cart through. She thought it was stuck on itself but actually she was repeatedly running over this man's foot and ended up breaking his toes. He yelped and awoke a sleeping two-year old in the seat ahead who proceeded to scream bloody murder for the rest of the flight. Finally I landed in San Fransisco, ate a delicious chicken sandwich and boarded another plane to Chicago. My parents were there to meet me and so was my luggage (not the case with many others i hear). Three hours, a hot dog, and a bath later i was tucked into my bed at home reminscining of a wonderfully well spent 9 days.

Next came Christmas with the Canneys. You gotta love those Canneys.



I think the one who likes Christmas the most however is my dog. He opened all his own presents and then proceeded to tell us how much he liked them. (By the way my dog thinks he can speak english even though it comes out sounding like someone taped his muzzle shut.)



My Christmas present was right in order (a laptop) because the internet gives gifts as well. My desktop machine crashed (apparently she was sick of being asked if she wanted a larger penis) and is currently at computer therapy.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

A great place to visit...

So we have been a little shy about eating out here because of the language barrier and my food allergies. The problem has been solved! Yakiniku- The best meal I think I have ever had. It is delicious and as small or monstrous as you like. The price tag beats any restaurant in the states. You order your meat(s) and some veggies raw and they bring you a little grill to cook them on. We’ve eaten there twice and will definitely do it again before I return to the land of liability where such perfect dining doesn’t exist. Today we are going to try revolving sushi.

We are doing better than we thought with money, Thank goodness. We thought we would be out before the weekend and living on Soba noodles and sink water. Our frugality allowed us yesterday to watch a movie in Shinjuku (by the way, you know there are 20 something million people here in Tokyo, well I saw each and every one in Shinjuku). Howl’s Moving Castle was spectacular! I can’t wait till it comes to the states and I can understand what is going on.

Japan is more fragrant (or shall we say pungent) than the states. It’s a little like the weather in Michigan. If you don’t like the smell where you are, walk to steps and you’ll smell something different and equally bad, two more and it’s the best smell you’ve ever smelled.

Something else I’ve noticed; Japanese women dress so feminine. They all dress in skirts and tights and boots. Oh God, the boots. I don’t think you can call yourself a true Japanese woman without your pair of black knee high/cowboy/ 4in, heel boots.

4 am in Tokyo

The plane ride went by amazingly quickly seeing as how I did not sleep at all. It felt like being in a time machine. Like the whole world was frozen from the time I took off to the time I landed. Every time a meal came, I would look at it, find something I am allergic to and the woman sitting next would say in that I’m-really-worried-about-you tone “ You no like Chinese food!?”. The airport was dead. I was the only one to stay in Tokyo on my flight; everyone else stayed on to Seoul, Korea. I made it through immigration and customs ok and as the sliding doors part the first thing I see is Jake’s smiling face. It was so nice to see him! We changed money (I didn’t have any problems with carrying that cash, mom) and bought train tickets. The hotel is close to the train stop so it was easy to find.

Our hotel room is literally the size of an American bathroom. There is no closet or drawers. We are truly living out of suitcases. The great part about it is the bathtub. When I sit in it I can’t see out.

Wednesday night I just went to sleep because I had been up for 24 hours. Thursday we walked around the neighborhood. Japan is full of little narrow streets and none of the intersections are made of right angles. I doubt very much that there is a straight road in Japan anywhere. There is more neon here that I have ever seen. We went to the Shiboyu district, where the brontosaurus building is. There were lots of people and shops. We went in to this place called PopTeen and it was a small village of photo booths and accompanying costumes. When we came home I took a nap at 3pm and woke up at 8am this morning (oops). The first meal I had here was MickyD’s. Sadly, I haven’t been able to go to a restaurant because we can’t find anything I am not allergic to. Today we went walking around to the Ueno district north of us. On the way we visited a shrine. We visited this Great temple with a huge bustling market place.

After that we walked to the Ueno Zoo. We passed like 6 more shines on the way. The Zoo was great. I love Zoos. I believe I have now seen every living rodent on the face of the earth. They had everything. They had big monkey (apes) to little monkey (spider monkeys). They had hippos and lions and tigers and elephants, sea lions, king penguins, Aye-Ayes, Dholes and the American beaver. They had these giant salamanders that were like 4 feet long and a giant crocodile. I also saw colorful and poisonous tree frogs I had always wanted to see in my youth. We walked to the train station and to home, where I fell asleep at 6 and now I am up and its 4 am. Happy birthday Kristen, and Brett- The Time-travelers wife is fantastic!