yes, i know, i've been neglecting my blog...sorry. i don't even know where to start back up. i guess i'll back it up to thanksgiving week when we skipped thanksgiving with our families and went to tokyo. yes, we went to tokyo the week of thanksgiving. and before anyone else asks; no, it wasn't for business; no, we don't really know anyone over there; yes, k-dogg just went there this summer; sorry, it really isn't any of your business how much it cost; no, i didn't miss a traditional thanksgiving meal; and yes, i'd go again! we had been talking about going on vacation that week. we both get the whole week off and between k-dogg's trip this summer and my trip to mission arlington, we didn't get much time off together this summer. we were originally going to go to missouri to see his uncle. then k-dogg got an email from expedia with prices for a flight to tokyo. he asked if i wanted to go and i said yes. so, the saturday before thanksgiving, we flew to tokyo. i kinda like flying. it's not really scary to me like it is for some people i know. however, 13 hours on a plane is too long! it's probably a lot easier to just post some pictures and fill in the blanks for you. i already put all my pictures on facebook...but some narration has been requested...
This is Yoyogi Park...with an authentic Japanese Red Maple! Tokyo has some really pretty sections...it isn't all just shrines and skyscrapers.
This is K-dogg at the first shrine we went to. A really nice older man told us that they were having a big festival that day. I'm not really sure what the festival was for, but they had displays of food everywhere. This ship reminded me of the floats in the Rose Parade...only with vegetables instead of flowers.
This is the first picture I took in Tokyo on our way to the shrine in Harajuku. While I was taking this picture, I caught an old man taking my picture. He tried to play it off when I saw him, but as soon as he thought I had turned around, he started snapping away again. All the girls and women in Tokyo wear dresses and skirts with patterned tights and really high heels, so I guess to see a white girl with short hair, wearing jeans, a sweater, and tennis shoes was picture-worthy for him. Not a lot of Americans go to Tokyo on vacation. The non-Japanese people we saw were mostly from other countries. We were asked if we were French, and I overheard some French, Italian, German, and some other languages I couldn't identify. The English I did hear definitely was not American!
This is the train. We rode it everywhere. Definitely not recommended if you are clausterphobic or don't like being up close with a lot of strangers, but it was pretty easy to figure out and a lot of fun.
This is Hachiko. Hachiko was an Akita that belonged to a professor. The story is that Hachiko would go to the train station everyday to meet his owner after work. The professor had a stroke at work one day and died. Hachiko continued to go to the station and wait for his owner for 10 years until he died. It's a pretty popular story that you can google and read about. This statue is a well known meeting place at Shibuya Station. Ok, so, now that I started blogging Tokyo, I promise I will finish...
k-dogg's favorite place on earth...Akihabara, the electronics and anime district in Tokyo
K-dogg in his version of disneyland...electronic stuff, video games, anime, and other weird stuff as far as the eye could see
I actually do kinda know someone in Tokyo. Cayce's family goes to our church and her husband was transferred to Tokyo a few months ago. We met up with them and they took us to eat at the restaurant that inspired the restaurant scenes in Kill Bill. We were sitting on the second floor right above the grill and all the stores and restuarants in Tokyo are hot anyway...I was about to pass out from the heat. That was the best green tea I have ever had! Someone really needs to introduce Tokyo to the idea of sweetened tea though!
Ueno train station...we were on our way to Kitchen Town and another temple Cayce had told us about. This was the only time we really had no idea where we were or how to get there!
But we found it! This was one of my favorite places in Tokyo. I got a lot of good pictures and there was a lot less English. We went to a shopping market kinda like the place we went in Piedras Negras near the border in Mexico. They had all the regular touristy souveniers you'd expect in Japan...but we were really the only non-Japanese people I saw for most of the day!
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