These are our $15 steaks (I don't have huge hands by the way). 
Turned into a really good thai beef salad
thanks to the rewards program at Summit (local grocery) for buying our steaks.
An Pan Man (middle) and his friends. (our friend's 3 year old daughter thought Will was An Pan Man!!! - perhaps it was his rosy cheeks after a few adult beverages)
Emergency response training day at the Tama River
Water rescue unit
Help me!!! I am standing up in the middle of the river!
Water resuce force in action...after 4 minutes trying to start the engine
Capture the flag?
I honestly do not think anyone was left to respond to actual emergencies
Cool logo
Narita Express - direct to Tokyo from the airport
local train
Warning sign - "talk to the hand"
I thought Blue Thunder was a helicopter?
Train Depot
Oimachi line - tuesdays and thursdays to languange school
Oimachi approaching 
Main street Ginza
On holidays & weekends they close the street to vehicles and turn it into a pedestrian promenade complete with umbrellas and seating. Some restaurants even have tables in the street with waiters running back and forth from the restaurants.
Warped De Beers Building
I guess even diamonds can't buy you a straight building these days
Obviously the dogs love their costumes. Where is PITA when you need them? 
The mountain house
Dinner the first night
Snow still covers the peaks in early May
The gang at an overlook
The red bridge
'Insect Casings' exhibited in the gardens of the Nakamura Keith Haring Museum
Fukui, demonstrating some Dragon Ball Z techniques. 
Nakamura Keith Haring Collection
Entry hall to the galleries
Looking up in the entry hall
A multimedia exhibit of Keith's early streetart in NY City. Fukui and Sakagami are standing in the middle of the video giving it a 3-D appearance
One of the pieces on display
Interesting how the museum itself becomes part of the artwork
Sit down with me...
Sculpture courtyard
Keith's famous dog symbol
You can run, but you can't get out of this picture
Wetland at the rural botanical garden and insect museum
The gardens still support agricultural production of fruits and vegetables, and are intended to serve as an example of traditional farming techniques and crops 
A butterfly on display
The curator has collected insects from all over the world. And stated that only about 1/100 of his collection is on display.
Amazing that such a comprehensive collection is in such an unlikely place
Beetle
Beetles from space?
It is amazing to see the colors and patterns of nature.
A small village near Kiyosato that hangs Koi kites across the valley each year. The Kio kites are used to celebrate Boys Day (Kodomo no hi) the 5th of May. There is also a girls day (Hinamatsuri) on March 3rd.
When a families son's grow up and they no longer celebrate Boys day at home, they donate their kites to the village for this annual display.
A beautiful display in a gentle breeze
So many different colors and styles of kites. You can tell that some have been on display for years, and may not have much life left
sunset at the farmers market. The last rays of the day peek over the mountaintops.
Hiking in Kiyosato. It feels very much like the Blue Ridge...just in a funny language
Looking down on the trail up the ridgeline
Celebrating reaching the top
lunch at the top is a popular activity
Sakagami claiming the mountain for Okinawa
The Miyakoda's claiming the mountain for Miyakoda-san
Will about to fall off the mountain after 2 beers at lunch
Fukui daring someone to try and take his mountain
Celebrating how much easier it is to go down than it was to go up
Mudani Gallery - probably the coolest gallery of art (for sale) I have ever seen. A very traditional building type that follows the topography of the land with rooms at different levels being connected by stairways and hallways that are open to the landscape.
even nails in the wall look cool here
View from one of the "rooms." demonstrates the integration of interior and exterior spaces
The way the artwork is displayed is an art in itself
Hiking to a series of waterfalls
