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- Nothing will get in our way today. —Asakusa
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- Entrance to Sensō-ji: the oldest temple in Tokyo.First temple was completed in 645 —Asakusa
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- This Torii or gate is called Kaminarimon or “Thunder Gate”. —Asakusa
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- Not Kaminarimon, a different gate! —Asakusa
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- 5 story pagoda near the temple. —Asakusa
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- Here I am finding my omikuji. You approach this stand and put 100 yen into the deposit then shake this wood cylinder that contained numbered sticks. One of the sticks will come out a small hole and you find the drawer with that number stick on it which tells you your omikuji. It can either be one of 7 “strengths” of luck. If you get a “bad” luck you can tie it to a nearby rack which will allow the wind to disperse your bad luck. —Asakusa
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- My omikuji was small fortune: Though you want to climb up to a height or a dangerous peak, it bring you big trouble and hard work to go up there. You can be in safe all through your life wherever you stay on the flat place. So far as you keep the right way, a fortune may meet you sometime. It is sure that a certain fotune will help you get a happiness. *If your mind is always right, your request will be granted. *The patient keeps the bed long. *The lost article is hard to find out. *The person you wait for will not come.* *Building a new house and removal are both bad. *To start a trip will bring you a half fortune. *Marriage and new employment are both half fortune. —Asakusa
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- This one may have ended up getting tied and sent to the wind. —Asakusa
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- Shinohara-san looking confident in his luck today. —Asakusa
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- Temple Pictures —Asakusa
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- Buddha Bro
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- Look at the size of that lantern. —Asakusa
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- Chef preparing sushi —Asakusa
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- First taste of octopus —Asakusa
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- Sharing a meal. —Asakusa
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- Tokyo Sky Tree in the background —Kappabashi
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- We thought this was hilarious —Kappabashi
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- A torii – Entrance into a shrine. —Kappabashi
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- Spring is coming. Kanzakura tree, also known as a sakura, or cherry blossoms. —Ueno
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- Reads: Kanzakura. One of the earlier blooming trees.—Ueno
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- Pastries in the shape of Pandas. Delicious Pandas. —Ueno
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- Statues along path at Toshogu Shrine. Dedicated to Ieyasu, an important figure in Japanese history. Completed in 1651 —Ueno
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- Entrance to Toshogu Shrine with my friiends and excellent tour guides.
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- Enscriptions of good wishes for the coming year were written on these wood plaques.
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- Toshogu Shrine — Ueno
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- Picture of one of the plaques —Ueno
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- More statuary at Toshogu shrine. —Ueno
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- What a beast —Ueno
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- Hand washing station Toshogu Shrine. —Ueno
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- A close up of the hand washing station. You are to purify your hands and soul using the holy water in this shrine. —Ueno
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- Pagoda at Toshogu shrine —Ueno
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- On the way to this shrine there were some places selling food. We shared some octopus takoyaki – Deep fried balls of flour filled with food and covered in mayonaisse. They look like Dunkin’s munchkins at first but do not taste like them. —Ueno
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- More beautiful architecture. Ueno, Tokyo.
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- Temple —Ueno
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- Huge market in the street, we saw lots of these walking around Asakusa and Kappabashi —Kappabashi
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- Chicago Bulls! I always get excited when I see Chicago things.—Ueno
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- Roppongi
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- Going up? Next, Maxime and I went to the skydeck of this building. —Roppongi
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- Atop the Tokyo skydeck. Do you see the Eiffel tower? Nah that’s just the lookalike Tokyo Tower. —Roppongi
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- Nice skyline.—Roppongi
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- Made a quick stop at an Irish Pub…in Tokyo. Thought the menu is interesting being in Japanese. —Roppongi
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- Crazy building in Roppongi. Reminds me of hogwarts.
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- Welcome to Shibuya, a huge commercial district.
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- Lots of vibrant advertising and tall buildings. —Shibuya
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- Green train near Hachikō the dog. This is a common meeting place in Shibuya. Story of Hachikō in my “Only in Japan” section —Shibuya
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- Didn’t even have time to explore much of Shibuya, I will be back.
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- Trees on top of the building —Shibuya
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- A huge Torii, can you find me? —Shibuya
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- In the forests of Meiji Jingu there are barrels of Sake. We were tempted to open one. —Shibuya
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- Also barrels of wine from wineries in Burgundy, France. These were given as a gift to the Emperor Meiji who was born in 1852 —Shibuya
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- Shinjuku, another major commercial district in Tokyo. Had more of a business feel.
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- Incredible Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower looming over Shinjuku. It includes 3 educational institutions. — Shinjuku
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- All of a sudden DUST STORM! —Shinjuku
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- At first it reminded me of what it looks like when a tornado is coming. All of a sudden I was getting a ton of particles in my eye and mouth.—Shinjuku
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- A nice escape from the dust storm —Shinjuku
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- Shinjuku emerges after the dust leaves town. Really was a fascinating combination of smaller shops and huge buildings.
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- More Shinjuku
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- Billboard in Shinjuku.
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- Karaoke, of course, what else would have a 20 ft monster corpes on it. —Shinjuku
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- Puzzle building, I think this was a multi-floor restaurant. Shinjuku
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- More of the “Puzzle Building” —Shinjuku
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- Akihabara – Electric Town!
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- Akihabara – home of the gamers, electronics, manga, anime.
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- We heard some cheering and saw some glowsticks and had to see what the commotion was.—Akihabara
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- Appareantly a performance of some J-Pop. —Akihabara
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- AKB48 – is a pop group. There are 48 members, and their fans vote to see who will perform at the next show… —Akihabara
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- Streets of Akihabara – No cars allowed on the street this day. Same goes for bicycles
Jon In Japan 
The cities look great. When I was in Tokyo in 1945, there weren’t too many buildings left standing and they had their fish markets set up on the street. Watta smell. Made us want a biiru. Love ya……..
Grandpa Glenn
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