God Bless America

My home, sweet home.

In my 19th flight since I departed for Turkey in June, I arrive back
at home. I am happy to report that Columbus was right--the earth is
round, and I've come full circle.

Tokyo Anime Center

Despite the title in English, your favorite anime characters are only
described in Japanese.

This is in the Akhiabara district, known for its cheap electronics,
comics and anime collections.

Japanese Businessmen

Because of the heat, they don't wear ties, but they do group together
and everyone wears a white shirt--sometimes with designs--but never a
colored shirt.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

Any trip of mine wouldn't be complete without some sort of financial
markets pilgrimage--I used to visit Alexander Hamilton's grave every
time I went to manhattan, till that became to onerous, living there
and visiting every month.

Kamakura Modern Art Museum

More naked figures than I bargained for. I was kinda shocked when I
figured it out...

Sakura Hotel

I've never been so excited in my life to see a white person! This was
right after the capsule hotel. It was great. I met some nice folks,
recharged the batteries (literally and figuratively).

Exhibition of New Sony Products

I was actually kind of disapponted. Only one playstation was set to
games, an none of the computers was hooked up to the internet. The 3-D
TVs were cool... but I'm still not sold on the idea...

Big Buddha: Daibutsu

What can I say? He's big, he's Buddha, and he's hollow so I went inside!

Potato Ice Cream?

Ok, it's actually a potato / vanilla swirl. Potato is purple. I just
had to try it!

Subway Pushers

So, I didn't get to see it myself, but when the subway gets totally
full at rush hour these guys push people in to squeeze them in
tighter. I wonder if that'd even do anything in New York?

Zen Temple: Kenchō-ji

Admittedly, I know a lot less about Buddhism & Zen than I'd like, and
I thought zen fell under Buddhism, but my guidebook insists that this
is the first zen temple built in Kamakura.

So, it looked like this was the coolest one, but it was really far out
of the way. Somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up there anyway, but
it turned out to be my favorite, so I'm glad I did make it there.

Shintō Temple: Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū

A cool Shintō shrine in Kamakura.

Book Lover's Paradise

Jimbocho is known for it's collection of antique books--I enjoyed
studying them, looking around, etc. Unfortunately, they're all in
Japanese...

Katsu & Raman

This place was really good.

So, they have a display with a plastic replica of each meal--you
select the meal number, then input it in the little machine, pay and
out pops a ticket--voilà! You take it in to the main counter and they
give you your meal.

Delish'!

An Expensive Peach

I didn't look at the price till I had already said I wanted it...
$3.90 usd. I could have backed out, but it was gigantic. Luckily it
was also the tastiest peach I've ever had!

Trash Cans?

I am amazed; japan is one of the cleanest countries I've been to, and
is certainly the most advanced, economically and technologically, and
yet there aren't any trash cans anywhere! They have bottle recycling
bins next to every vending machine, but nowhere to put garbage!

Buddhist Temple and Grounds

This Buddhist shrine was built after Tokudo Shonin carved a statue out
of a single piece of wood, tossed it into the ocean, and it floated
back to Kamakura 15 years later. The people took it as a sign of good
luck, so they plated it with gold and built a temple. This was all in
the years 721 / 736--amazing that the wood lasted 15 years at sea, and
that it's here 1300 years later!

Three Religions in one Day

I made it to a Buddhist, Shinto and Zen temple in Kamakura today. It
was quite the feat.

Just for good measure I read my pocket sized BoM while resting at the
Zen temple.

Video Arcades

Toys R' Us would do great here, where no one wants to grow up, they
just want to be kids. Not only do they still all love comic books (the
comic book section of the bookstore I went to yesterday was bigger
than the rest of the bookstore combined), but they're all hooked on
video games.

Thank goodness! What would we do without Nintendo?

Meiji Shrine

Dedicated to the Meiji emperor of Japan, who insituted the reforms in
the later half of the 19th century.

I really love the architecture here. I think it's great.

3-D TV

I've heard talk about it in the states, but here it is! The problem,
though, is I was never sold on it in the movies, so why would I want
to bring it into my home?

Tree lined streets

So Tokyo's metro region has 33 million, just shy of NY's 18 million
inhabitants. I was expecting things to be a lot more crowded than they
are, and the buildings to be higher. I mean, it's no Denver, but
Manhattan is way more intense than this place!

I think the trees add a lot. I've gone out a couple of times at night
and walked for five minutes without seeing anyone (9pm), which is
unheard of anywhere in manhattan. I try not to venture anywhere else
in NYC at night, so I can't comment, but I don't think you can compare
the places I've been visiting to Brooklyn. Just interesting.

Parasols

Parasol in Spanish literally translates to "stop the sun", which is
what these Japanese women would like to do. After all, while Americans
bemoan how pale they are, everyone else in the world wants to be as
pale as they.

(the parasols are black, so they're not readily visible. How many do
you see? Keep in mind that this picture was taken in the shade)

Vending Machines

Someone told me that there are more vending machines in Tokyo than
people. Clearly that can't be true, or every surface space in the city
would be a vending machine, but the fact that someone believes it
enough to even say it is saying something. You can buy everything in
them--from drinks to iPods to underwear (sorry, no returns).

Department Stores

I was advised to visit Isetan. It's huge, like the department stores
in NY. Maybe not as big as Macy's but up there. This one had two full
buildings. Actually, it reminded me more of Paris than NY.

Apparently all the department stores are owned by the same people as
own the trains, so they've build big department stores on top of all
the mail train stations to increase revenues. Brilliant!

The inside looks much the same as other department stores around the
world--Armani, Gucci and Prada clothes that cost more than the annual
salary of a Thai worker.

Tokyo shopping streets

Streets full of knick-knack (sp?) vendors.

Shibuya Daze and Shibuya Nights

Essentially the Times Square of Tokyo--as seen in many pictures and
movies. Hoards of people crossing the street in every direction. It's
pretty cool.

I love cities and people, especially at night with the city lights.
Not that I'd go hang out in TS on a Friday night, but it's always fun
to walk in the city at night.