Harajuku Style

Its been a while since the last post. Sorry to leave everyone hanging, but life has been hectic. Things are calming down after the wedding, and we are settling into our new lives. I hope to find more time to keep the blog updated. so here we go....

These photos are from Cap's visit to Tokyo in April a week before Aya and I returned to Matthews for our wedding

Cap LOVES the Harajuku style. The japanese take "dress up dolls" to a whole new level

a traditional wedding we stumbled upon at Meiji Jingu

lot of walking so we had to stop for a beer. If you look just beyond the awesome picture of the table you will see matt & I. Need to practice with the self timer a bit

cool burger joint - an airstream on a platform just about street level on one of the pedestrian streets on the edge of Harajuku

I guess this is the Japanese equvalent of a shriner

different day, more beer on top of Yokohama Terminal

So this is the image of genuine American goods. any wagers on 99.9% of the stuff being made in China? Perhaps that is what makes it genuine.

Carnival? not sure what to make of this, but it was fun, definitely made people stop and was to raise money for Northern Japan. Was tough to drag Cap away...

So we promised him more beer and some food and he agreed.

Cherry Blossoms

April is typically a time for celebration in Japan, although this year the mood is much more somber than usual. Regardless, the cherries still bloom and respect for their beauty is paid.

Lunch break walking along the Meguro River in front of the office during the peak of the bloom

Sakura (cherry) promenade

Yozakura = Night cherry viewing

Senzoku-Ike - 4 stations from our house. Aya and I packed a picnic dinner and enjoyed some time under the cherries. It was sad to see this area so deserted at this time of the year - typically there would be people in every square inch picnicing and enjoying the cherries - but we also have to appreciate the once in a lifetime ability to enjoy these cherries in full bloom in such solitude, as we will never be able to again.

The cherries along the Meguro river in front of the Miyakoda's house

The view from the Miyakoda's living room

Gotenyama - the hillside behind the Miyakoda's house. This area is famous for its cherries, and once served as an imperial viewing grounds.

Hotel and reception garden

View of the cherries along the Meguro river from Kinoto & Yuri's patio

Panorama from the Miyakoda's patio

Cherry petals on the river viewed from the office

Almost as beautiful as when they are on the trees

Ginza

Aya & I spent a day shopping in Ginza and snapped a few pictures

Love the fact that they shut down the mainstreet on the weekend and turn this into a pedestrian district complete with benches & umbrellas. A great place to just hang out and people watch.

Hanami 2011

Hanami = Flower viewing party

This year was both to celebrate the cherry blossoms and to raise money for charity.

The spread pre-party

If only we could photoshop the gaijin out of this picture...

Miyakoda-san's Angels

The cake welcoming Aya, Kinoto, & Takahashi-san to the office

Miyakoda-san, Ishi-san, & Utajiro-san - the 3 stooges

The rooftop is a nice vantage point for a party

Earthquake 2011 - Update 2

Things are slowly edging back towards normal in Tokyo. The reactors are still a concern, as are the continued reports of radiation in the environment and in food products. Today it was announced that levels of iodine-131 in the Tokyo water supply were at 200 becqerels, which is twice the safe limit for infants. The recommended limit for adults is 300 becqerels, so of course there was a run on bottled water. From what I have read, for anyone other than very young children drining water with that level of radiation for a year would not be harmful, and likely the stress of thinking about the radiation is actually more harmful than the radiation levels themselves. It is believed that the increase in radiation levels in Tokyo are due to changes in wind patterns and that as soon as the winds move back to normal the levels will again drop. Iodine-131 has an 8-day half-life meaning it realatively quickly dissapates in the environment, which is good to know (or should I say hear).

But just to be safe Aya and I purchased our ration of bottle water and tea this evening to add to the 'emergency water supply' I already had stashed

Aya helping to scale the narrowest building I have seen yet in Tokyo. I checked and if I stretched my arms out fully I was wider than the house. Must suck to wake up.

Sunday we attempted to go to the museum to see the Boston Museum's collection of Japanese Art. That's right, I traveled all the way to Tokyo to see an exhibit from Boston, of Japanese Art. It was a nice day and something fun to do to refresh our minds. But unfortunately the museum closed 30 minutes earlier than usual due to the earthquake and energy conservation efforts, so we got there 2 minutes too late to get in. So instead we decided to go to an early dinner at an Izakaya that was featuring some early cherry blossoms.

Something about a yellow filter makes beer look even better than it already is.

Cheezu

A massive cherry arrangment in a private dining room

This place seemed like an old house with the way private rooms were everywhere. It was a really interesting place, and I am happy that we stumbled upon it.

Last week we celebrated the last day of Kombara-sans' appreticeship

Miyakoda-san demonstrating how he is going to crush the next earthquake that dares to interfer with his employees ability to work

Sometimes I dress up as a surgeon and try to impress people

Aya doesn't think that is funny

It is still eerily dark in many parts of Tokyo