End of the tour.
In front of a small temple in Arashiyama.
Zen garden. The stones looked like they are raked regularly.
I probably have a few more pictures of Noriko in this album than are strictly necessary, but i like looking at pictures of her so they are staying.
Less tamed bamboo forest--no fences.
Tokyo at night, from our hotel in Shinagawa. As-is, not so interesting. But there's enough data here for some good image manipulation potential.
Josh went to Tokyo Disneyland while Yuko and i spent a day together. He took lots of pictures, but this being my photo album and me not being a big Disney fan, most of them won't be appearing here. Sorry, Josh.
Josh might be in this photo somewhere, but all i see is a group of 5 aliens.
Everything at Disney is just so... artificial. Water should not be that blue on a cloudy day.
Ask Josh to sing "It's a Small World". Better yet, don't.
Josh' favorite character: Stitch.
Here's the first photo of Yuko, looking prim next to a flowering bonsai exhibit.
The main gate to the Asakusa temple.
From inside, looking out.
Another gate.
Vendor sign in Asakusa.
Me sitting in front of some characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion at the Tokyo Anime Center. It wasn't actually that exciting of a place.
Rei Ayanami with Josh in the background. He's not checking out her butt, he's looking at something on the shelf behind her.
Astroboy, Doraemon, Pokemon, and a character i don't recognize. I've not actually seen more than 1/2 an episode of any of these particular characters' respective shows, but they are so emblematic it is hard not to recognize them.
I don't know any of these. The one on the left is kind of cute if you're into the whole "French maid" thing.
The streets of Akihabara still honor the old traditions. Good ol' Mario. One of the stores in that particular intersection was playing various authentic music from the 8-bit era. I stood for awhile and listened to the original Zelda theme in all its glory.
Josh took this one. I don't know why. I think it might have been because of the 2D barcode. In Japan they have those all over. People can take a picture of the code using their cell phone camera, and it then directs them to a web site for more information about whatever the barcode is for. Neat idea i guess.
The logo for the Ginza Apple store. I might be misremembering my corporate history, but when it opened i think this was the largest Apple store in the world. That is no longer the case, but it was still impressive.
Yet another American company doing business in Japan. This was in Tokyo Station.
I wonder what it would take to get this at the Cold Stone here?
We made a special trip to Akihabara on another day to get pictures of this ad. We thought it was for a movie and were going to try to see it. But alas, it was for a video game. Sigh.
Another ad for the same game. I'll give the advertiser credit for making some pretty ads. I looked up the game and it is actually an erotic graphic novel that comes on a DVD. In the US something like that wouldn't be advertised so blatantly, nor so tastefully.
No explanation necessary.
View from Tokyo Tower.
