Work

Worked and then home.

Back to reality

This morning I met up with Mom and Dad at the hotel at 6:30 and took them to Tokyo station where they got on the train to the airport. At least that is what would have happened had my alarm gone off. I don't know why but sometimes my phone just shuts off. I've never had a problem with my alarm in the past so my phone picked the worst day to do this. Fortunately everything is labeled clearly enough and they had enough experience with the trains in Tokyo to make it to the airport with time to spare. I stopped at ToToDoN for lunch and then headed home. In the evening I headed back to Tamachi and went to ToToDoN for dinner cause it was so good. Some days it's just super awesome. In the evening I worked like usual.

Last day

Today it was a little warmer and Mom wanted to check out the cherry blossoms in NakaMeguro during the day so we headed back there and took some photos. From there we headed to Shibuya and got Okonomiyaki for lunch. After that we headed back to the hotel and just hung out till dinner. I accidentally scheduled myself to work that day, but it was too cold to do anything anyhow.

Yokohama and Naka Meguro

Today we started off by heading to Yokohama. We were going to go to a park in Tsurumi to look at cherry blossoms but the bus didn't come for another hour so we just went to Yokohama and checked out the Nissan Headquarters and walked around the Minato Mirai area. At Nissan now they have a history of design exhibit on now showing the design process. It was pretty interesting. Despite the cold many people were out walking around and the street performers were still putting on their show but with a smaller audience.

In the evening we headed to Naka Meguro where we met up with Takehito for dinner at a Shabu Shabu restaurant called Roku-Maru Gogenton It had warmed up enough there that many of the flowers were in bloom which was great and made for a great scene along the river.

Shiba Park and Odaiba

This morning I met up with Mom and Dad and we headed to Shiba Park. One of the main reasons for their visit during this time of year is to see the cherry blossoms. It's been a little colder recently so the flowers haven't fully bloomed yet, but some of the trees already have. Some people had blue tarps set up and were doing "hanami" which is flower viewing. This is a tradition in Japan in which people go and sit under the cherry blossoms and eat and drink while enjoying the view of the flowers.

We stopped over at the Ferrari dealer and looked at the car I'm thinking about buying and then headed to Daiba. For lunch we went to Caress which is a cool restaurant there that has a really cool atmosphere and good food. Following one of my friends recommendation we got the 4 cheese pizza with honey and my Mom loved it! We walked all around Decks, Aqua City, and Venus Fort. All the big shopping places in Daiba and also walked around the Toyota Mega Web where we saw the G Sports concepts and the Trumpet playing robot. The first two pictures below are in a pet shop in Venus Fort. It's crazy. It looks like a high end department store and has clothes, jewelry, and bags all designed for dogs. This is what I think is the main cause of the decreasing population in Japan. At night we met with my old host family and went to the Oedo Onsen. Always relaxing.

Ginza, Asakusa, and Shin-Okubo

This morning it was finally clear and sunny and wasn't raining so we headed to Ginza and checked out many of the shops there and then went to Shyabusen for lunch where we had "Shabu Shabu" which is where you get pieces of thinly sliced pieces of meat which you cook in boiling water. It's a lot of fun. I checked out the Abercrombie flag ship store in Ginza. It's crazy. It's maybe 7 stories and dimly lit with music playing and staff dancing. It's more of a club than a store but the inside is very cool.

From there we headed to Asakusa where we saw the new Sky Tree which is still under construction and should be one of the tallest buildings in the world when it's complete. After getting some souvenirs and stuff we headed back to the hotel. I stopped at the station and renewed my train pass and then we headed to Korea Town in Shin-Okubo. We went to Donkihote there and then went to Gamuzakoru which is a good Korean restaurant with a very unique building with potatoes stuck on the side of it.

Ebisu and work

Headed to the hotel in the morning and met up with Mom and Dad. It was still raining so our motivation to go out and do stuff was a little lower than normal so we watched this weeks episode of "Chuck" which is a show we all enjoy. After that we headed out to Ebisu to check out the Beer Museum which was closed for an event last time we were there. It's a lot bigger than I had thought and hand an exhaustive explanation of the history of Ebisu beer. There was also a tasting station and a guided tour which included a short class teaching you the proper way to enjoy a beer.

From there I headed home to change and they headed to the hotel.

Tokyo and Edo Tokyo Museum

Today it was raining so we tried to stick to inside activities. We started off in Tokyo at the Shin Maru Building and then then Maru Building for lunch at Kua'aina for lunch and checked out some the shops in the building and a little bit of the area.
After lunch we headed to Ryogoku to visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum. It's one of the best history related museums in Tokyo and gives you a clear insight to what life was like in Tokyo starting in the Edo era up till the 60's. They usually have volunteer guides to take you through the exhibits and tell you a lot about Tokyo and answer any questions you might have. The building itself is very cool and features a full scale bridge dividing the museum into Edo and Meiji periods. They have a lot of miniature models of the cities and famous buildings as well. In the third picture you can see that the TriForce from Zelda was around in the Edo era.

Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and work

Today we headed to Ikebukuro and the Sunshine International Aquarium in Sunshine City. It's pretty cool, cause of course they have the Aquarium there but also a bunch of other animals as well so it's more than just an Aquarium. We got there around 12 and the seal show started around 1 so we had enough time to walk around and check everything out before the show started. The third picture is a Manbo or Ocean Sunfish. It's pretty much the dumbest fish ever and they have it in a special tank with a clean bag covering the walls. Very similar to how you would put a crazy person in a padded cell. It's just in there by itself swimming around with it's mouth open waiting for food to float in. So dumb. I guess any natural preditors just laugh at the fish and are no longer hungry when they see it too casue they are known to grow up to 4 meters and weight over 2000 lbs. What the heck?


The show they had mostly featured sea lions doing different tricks but they brought out a penguin in a red bow tie at one point which was awesome.

After that stopped at Uniqlo where Mom and Dad got some wind breakers and then headed to Shinjuku for lunch. We went to the NS building where we had Tonkatsu. Some of the Sakura trees in the nearby park were in bloom so we walked through the park and then headed to my place. Then we all headed to Tamachi, stopped at Cozy Corner to get some of the awesome cream puffs they have and the really good chocolate. I went to work and they went back to the Hotel.