This is coming a bit late from my one every two days schedule, but here it goes. Two days ago, we went to Asakusa, which is known for the large Buddhist temple at the end of a long shopping stall street. We browsed around the shops for a while and then saw the shrine. We couldn’t find English translations for the fortunes so didn’t get any since I wouldn’t be able to understand if I got a good one or a bad one. When you get bad fortunes there are large racks to tie them to so that you can keep away the bad fortune. We walked back and I bought some headbands that are typical of Japanese culture, they have the symbols for “victory” or “hissho” and “pass in school” or “gohkaku”. I then got some postcards that I need to fill out and mail soon. I also got some Japanese soft-serve ice cream, they call it “soft cream”. I picked the rose flavor just to be adventurous. Kim chose mango. I have a picture of the flavors in the gallery (or will add it soon). Afterwards, we traveled back to Kawasaki and I got to see a 100 yen store (thats the equivalent of a dollar store in the states). We finally went to a Japanese restaurant in Landmark tower (the tallest building in Japan) where I had Sashimi on sushi rice (this included raw octopus, scallops, tuna, and salmon) and then had some more Ice cream, this time at Cold Stone.
Yesterday was a stay-in day. Everyone has been walking around so much that it felt good to just relax. Kim and I met her friend Lily for dinner at this udon place in Minato Mirai, but she had to leave soon after to talk to her serious boyfriend. We then walked back to her apartment (Kim’s that is) and stopped by Osanbashi pier, where I got some good photos of the Yokohama skyline at night. I found a new favorite setting on my camera that holds for some time to overexpose the light, giving a dull gray sky a very vibrant color. I have used this on many of my nights shots since.
Today, we went to Odaiba, its a recently developed area of Tokyo where they have many new and nice looking buildings. We took the monorail through to the end and then stopped in Aomi where the Toyota showroom is. We looked around some and then headed to Daiba, where Kim and I explored the mall for a few hours. We finally headed back to Shimbashi where we walked through Ginza. It’s the big area that reminds me a lot of Fifth Avenue. Lots of big flagship stores for many recognizable names. A very glitzy and expensive strip of road. We finally headed back and stopped at Kawasaki to have dinner, Kim’s mom and I each had two beers along with dinner and then we finally headed back to here. I have a small glass of plum sake waiting for me in the fridge, that I am going to have when Kim gets out of the shower.
Also, I will add captions when I get home cough (KIM) cough because it is too difficult to do major coding over the internet using SSH. But if you have any questions about the photos, just message me in some way and I can tell you about it. Also, just click the thumbnail and it should enlarge to full size, I have tested it on Firefox 3 and IE 7, so get up to date on those.