back in the saddle

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...