Tokyo Tower

Tokyo is to Tokyo Tower as Paris is to Eiffel Tower. We knew we couldn't leave Tokyo without seeing / going on this magnificent giant. Since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower.

View from the observation deck.

Our first Print Club sticker picture =)

Good night!

Back in Tokyo

We started our first day back in Tokyo at the Ebisu beer museum. Since we didn't make it to the Asahi beer museum (Jimmy's absolute favorite), I thought I owed it to him. Here he is, excited, happy, and ready to go!

Beer, anyone?

After sampling several different types of beer (4 to be exact....with 2 repeats), we stumbled our way to Joypolis, a Sega sponsored game center. They had many motion simulators (think Star Tours at Disneyland), haunted houses, claw machines, and car games. Our favorite was a 2-person stateboard on a giant half pipe which we were able to control by doing specific step patterns.

Tokyo bay at night

Osaka at Night

Photos from our last night in Osaka.

Pachinko / game center

A crazy weird ferris wheel in front of the Don Quixote store. Too bad it wasn't working...

Kyoto: Inari Shine

Super shot post before Jimmy and I leave to go watch the biggest firework show in Japan...or maybe the world. I was just told that there are going to be more than 20,000 fireworks! Hopefully our endless readings on how to photograph fireworks is going to be put to good use...


Photos of the Inari shine in Kyoto. This was the used for the movie, "The Memoirs of a Geisha"

The Kyoto train station was just beautiful.

That's it for now! Sayonara~!

Miyajima

For those of you who don't know, Japan has an awesome railway system. Before we left the US, Jimmy and I bought a rail pass which gave us the chance to go anywhere in Japan =) Soooooo.... this is where we decided to go...

Miyajima, an island off of Hiroshima. This island is known for the beautiful torii, or a gate to a shine. During low tide, you are able to walk up to the gate. I couldn't decide on one particular photo, so you get to see it from different angles.

(all taken by Jimmy, since I was too hot and grumpy) <--- he made me write that.

The seaweed here is prettier than the ones in Hermosa, Mahanttan, etc.

Stylin' it

Me forcing a smile...and acting Japanese.

Much needed snack.

There were deer everywhere!

See what I mean?

My favorite part of the day...Dinner!

Osaka Universal Studios / Osaka Bay

We didn't have plans to go to Universal Studios, but when we saw the posters for City Walk, we thought, "why not"? Yup, we are suckers for advertisement.

Just like Disneyland, flavored popcorn was big.

On the 4th floor, there was a takoyaki (octopus ball) museum. After much consideration on my part, this is what I got...

Wasabi mayo *green*, Cheese *white*, and Curry *yellow*

Loving it

A meal is not complete without dessert...Watermelon popsicle!

*take note of my freckles, thanks to the sun*

We then headed to Osaka Bay and rode on the world's largest ferris wheel. It took about 15 minutes to go around the whole thing.

Ninja house. Tons of crazy traps

For example, this room was insanely tilted.

We finished our day with Jimmy winning another prize with the claw machine...a castle.

How in the world are we going to take this home?

Day 5: Osaka Castle

Osaka jo, built in 1496, is one of the most famous castles in the world. The Castle grounds, which cover approximately 15 acres contain thirteen structures which have been designated as Important Cultural Assets.

I overhead a conversation between a young couple...

Girl: Who's going to try to climb THAT wall?
Boy: A ninja

Hahaha...sorry, I thought that was totally funny.

They had holographic shows inside the castle.

Adios!

Gion Festival

Photos from the Gion Festival in Kyoto. We managed to watch 5 out of 32 floats, which took about an hour.

The first float had a little boy with makeup. Love the colors!

We couldn't stand the heat, so we took our little pathetic selves to an arcade. We had fun playing the drums...

...and Jimmy even won us a box of chocolates! It's just what I needed...

*note* Japan has insane claw machines...you can win ice cream, a small vacuum cleaner, huge stuffed animals, costumes, trash can, etc.

After cooling down, we stopped at a temple to get a shot with the boys...

Day 3: Shinsekai, Osaka

Wow...I'm so far behind on blogging. We have been waking up at the crack of dawn and coming home exhausted from walking and sweating.

Anywhoo, here are some photos of our first day in Osaka. We went to an outdoor shopping mall for some shopping, pachinko, and of course, food.

Here's Jimmy having way too much fun with the crazy souvenirs.

A shot with "Billiken", the "God of things as they ought to be"...don't ask.

The shopping center is famous for their blowfish dishes.