karyn and steve take on japan: part 1

So now that my parents, the famous Karyn and Steve, have been gone for a few days and Jeff and I (and our apartment) have recovered from hosting duties, I guess it's about time to recap the visit.

We got off to a great start their first night here with my mom unpacking a suitcase full of American goodies.

The first day was a bit chilly but we ventured out to Shinjuku gyoen (park) anyways since we heard it was a great place to view the sakura.  My dad brought his camera and snapped a few pictures while we were there, including this sneak attack on Jeff and me. 

My mom thought the location was perfect and wanted to get in on the action.  

I'm pretty sure she stole that move from me. 

My dad also got some nice pictures of the blooms (though I'm sure there is a comment coming my way about this not being color-corrected in photoshop yet).

 He also captured Jeff "holding" my bag. Typical.

After the park, we headed over to Harajuku, but the only picture worth sharing is this gem clearly directed to the tourists who make up the majority of people walking around Harajuku on any given day.  

Our best guess is "tout" should read "touch," but we can't be certain. 





The next morning we were up and at 'em bright and early (thanks in part to the fact that my parents were still on east coast time) and headed out to enjoy a beautiful spring day in Tokyo.   We took the train with the commuters (an experience in itself) to the Imperial Palace gardens to get a view of the sakura in bloom.

In the palace grounds there are ponds filled with very well-fed koi, which my mother found quite amusing.  She might have taken a picture of each and every one had we not intervened.










My mom found a small waterfall which she insisted on getting as close as possible to, traversing a rock path through a stream while we all held our breaths waiting for her to fall in.  Much to my father's relief, she made it so I joined her for a photo op. 

I will spare you the zillions of self-portraits Jeff took of us and subject you to just one (today).

That's all for now.  I do owe my readers (all two of them, Karyn and Steve) the rest of the update, so there will be more. Eventually.

Mata ne,
Melissa

pathetic 65

I am not sure who decided that it would be a good idea to put the word "pathetic" on a shirt, but clearly they have no idea what it means and no understanding of why someone would not want that written across their chest.

This was not on Takeshita street in Harajuku where one expects to see "Engrish" shirts, but in a reputable store that is known for selling suits!  Japan, your difficulties with the English language astound me.  In one word: pathetic.

Mata ne,
Melissa

happy new year!

It is already 2010 in Tokyo and for those of you who are behind, I can assure you it's going to be a good year.

Here we all are right before the clock strikes midnight.  Clearly, Jeff was reeeeaaaly excited.

The new family dipping our big American feet into a Japanese New Year's Eve tradition.  Where are we and what's going on?  Patience is a virtue, people.  Admittedly, not one I have mastered.  Procrastination on the other hand....

Mata ne,
Melissa

not your typical burger.

Busy day yesterday. So action-packed, in fact, that it went until 3 am and I am just getting around to writing about it this afternoon. 

Jeff and I rode our bikes around for most of the day (since my toe is preventing me from walking for any extended period of time) and stopped for lunch in Harajuku.  I got what was apparently the popular "ladies choice" with avocado and onion as the topping rather than meat.  I'm sorry, but who needs additional meat as a topping on their meat patty?

Oh, and if chopsticks scare you: look! a knife and fork!

Notice the lack of bun and heaping plate of white rice that is served with the burger.  It was really really good and topped with a soy/wasabi sauce.

After that we stopped at one of the ubiquitous creperies in Harajuku.  This one is so cute in a little trolly car-like thing.

Taking the obligatory while-we-wait self portrait (please excuse the camera shadow under jeff's nose - he is not a dirty chimney sweep) 

After that, we had a few friends over to hang out.  Since the trains stop running at 1 a.m. if you're out after that, you have to wait until they start running again at 5 a.m. to go home.  We stayed up with them until about 3 a.m. before I crashed.   When those guys get chatting...

Mata ne,

Melissa

Dave Acker!

Yesterday we had our first semi-official visitor!  I say semi-official because his purpose for coming to Tokyo wasn't specifically to see us (I am still a little unclear about the official purpose of his visit - something about buisness school and being on Japanese TV and Tokyo Disney....) but he was welcome nonetheless! 

We picked up Dave at the hostel where he's staying.  Jeff had gotten it in his head that he wanted to go to a restaurant called Cocoon and Dave was in so we set off on our adventure. 

We took the train in the direction we were going, got off early to walk around a bit, went to Harajuku even though it was Tuesday night and the usual teenaged-girls-dressed-as-anime-characters crowd wasn't around, took Dave to take pictures at Takeshita street, started to get hungry, got back on the train to destination, walked around for another half an hour looking for the place (why can't the streets have labels!?), started to get really hungry, finally located Cocoon only to discover it was closed, and settled on the next closest thing.

Fortunately for us, the next closest thing wasn't half bad.  After some Italian food and a glass of wine, Dave was tired from a long day of cotton candy and Disneyland and we we were tired from our long trip home from our getaway, so we put him in a cab and headed home ourselves.

Dave's here for another few days, so if his schedule permits (there is an appearance on TV as well as travel all over Japan to contend with) we hope to see him again before he heads home!

It was wonderful seeing you, Dave!  Now who's next?

Mata ne,
Melissa