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Andy and Josh in the Akihabara district, aka electric town. After WWII the army and navy
sold off their surplus electric equipment here...students would buy the parts and make radios then return
to Akihabara to sell them...ever since this is the place to buy electronics in Japan. |
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Mike (not Mikey...are you confused yet?) and Josh in Tokyo Times Square. |
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Another pic of Tokyo Times Square. |
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No comment needed. |
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A dog in a bicycle. Yes, a dog. Yes, a bicycle. Woof! or...how do dogs bark in Japanese? |
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24 Hour sushi! At last...why we came to Japan. The place is right next to the docks, so you know the
sushi is fresh. Tsukiji is famous for its tuna crop, with some of the Tuna weighing 50 or 60 pounds...then
consider that a single slice of the fatty tuna for us to consume is approximately $3...but so tasty. |
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Sure the Japanese are good cooks, but they are also cold, ruthless killers...you can see how much joy
this man takes in breaking a creatures neck for us to consume it's tasty, tasty, flesh. |
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Josh with Japanese goths...this is evidently the height of teen fashion according to our guidebook...the
Japanese are weird. |
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The entrance to Meiji Jingu Shrine. The wooden gate is called a Torii and signifies that the grounds
are sacred. |
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The Iris Garden in Meiji Jingu was a favorite spot of The Meiji Empress and The Meiji Emperor
who had it built for her. We were fortunate enough to arrive when the flowers were in full bloom-good
timing, eh? |
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Close up of an Iris in the Meiji Jingu Garden |
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Flowers are Pretty |
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Flowers...on Water! This is much more meaningful if you were actually there... |
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Which we were... |
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...along with some people in traditional Japanese Dress...who were also admiring the flowers, and without
realizing it, posing for our guerilla photography. |
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One of the kindly Japanese people we started a random conversation with showed us how to make boats
out of leaves from bamboo. |
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A tea house in the garden. |
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We stumbled onto a Shinto wedding ceremony...these are some of the priests and officiaries. |
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Hooray for Matsutya, shown to us by Mike. Here is the concept...you are hungry. You go to the vending
machine, pick what you want, put in your money and press the button. The machine gives you a little ticket
which you take inside the restaurant and present... |
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...for Food! No waiting! This concept is desperately needed in the states. |
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The famous temple at Asakusa. Asakusa was founded by two fishermen who found a statue of Kannon (a buddha)
in the river and decided to honor her by building a temple which in this day and age is a very famous...flea
market. Go tourist power! |
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Our group of intrepid adventurers in Asakusa, minus the huge red paper lantern. |
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Josh has paid good yen to figure out his fortune, which he does by shaking a box, waiting till a little
stick falls out, then matching the number on the stick with a number on the wall which has a fortune...btw,
Josh did this 3 times until he got a good fortune. |
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Here are Taiko Drummers. Taiko is Japanese for Tiny Japanese Men banging Huge Drums like Crazy. However,
it is an awesome thing to see in action |
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Us and The Family Mori, friends of Josh's Uncle who took us out to dinner |
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Josh and Michelle with Japanese schoolchildren.
Josh: " They are so cute, I want to just smuggle them into my suitcase and take them home...until
they grow up and we have to flush them down the toilet." |
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Josh, Ari, and Yuuki getting drunk in Japan. How drunk? The three polished off a bottle of Saki by themselves,
AND A glass of beer each. Look closely and you will see there are 4 cups and three people-and the cups
are all empty because the alcoholics couldn't wait for me to take the pic before they finished. |
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The Tanabata Festival in Japan. The festival is based on a legend wherein two lovers can only meet once
a year and that day is a festival with lots of food, games, etc. During the festival, people will write
wishes on colored pieces of paper, and tie them to tall things in the hope their wish will come true. |
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Michelle being all fashion model spontaneous for a pic at the Tanabata Festival. |
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