JIH mailed me last week about a fireworks display at Futagotamagawa – though S and I weren’t able to meet up with the rest of the group (we got there a little later than expected) we managed to snag a decent spot and I shot a “few” (more like 200) pictures of the show. I’ve [...]
I’ll have 2 sets of pictures from my trip to Mongolia – one from the trip to Hustai National Park and some from around the city of Ulaanbaatar. First up are the pictures from Hustai, below is a sample, and clicking HERE will take you to the full gallery. The trip to Hustai is not [...]
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’d been to visit my family in Mongolia last month. It was great to spend time with them and catch up (though I did come down with a stomach bug of some sort while I was there), and while we didn’t go out too much, I had a [...]
I recently bought a bicycle online from Rakuten. It’s an inexpensive mama-chari type, but should suit me well enough for the simple things like grocery shopping, taking clothes to cleaners, etc. (image of bike below is taken from Rakuten, not my actual bike) Last Tuesday (being on early shift) I finally managed to get home [...]
Filing this under the “odd things in Japan”, but apparently this cook claims he can change the flavor of his takoyaki at the snap of his fingers. Personally I think that either the TV show commentators are in on the joke, or else they’re extremely impressionable young guys. The funny thing though… is that I [...]
Shortly before Josh left Tokyo to head back to Philly, he and I headed over to Odaiba to check out the new Gundam statue they’d recently erected in order to promote both ecology and raise awareness of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics. It was a ridiculously sunny day and I got nicely sunburned, [...]
I came across this a few days back and thought it was incredibly neat. There are already a number of articles around the web on this though, so I’ll keep it brief. The images below are what happens when rice farmers get creative. By mixing various types of rice (depending on their color) and laying [...]
Another little adventure I had with my family during their time here was a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market. It’s someplace I’d always heard about during my 7+ years in Japan but never visited. Like Kobe, Kyoto, Nikko, Osaka, etc., it’s one of those kind of places that all tourists seem to know about [...]
One of the things mom particularly enjoys is visiting shrine sales, and thus a trip to AT LEAST one shrine during my family’s visit here was a must. I admit that shrine sales can be fun; the variety of items being sold is amazing. Anything from old swords, pottery, furniture, kimonos, paintings, ancient cameras, [...]
