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Aquarium in Vancouver Airport (YVR)

Filipino Bobsled Team!

10 hours and three movies later, we made it!

I'm sure this is helpful train information if you can read it!

Drink vending machines on every street corner, every train station.

Rice farming I think, on the way from Narita Airport to Tokyo.

View of Takanawa/Shinagawa from our hotel

Shinagawa Station was our friend

Cherry blossom (sakura) near Imperial Palace

Classic jumping photo, mad ups Char!

I almost stepped in this while taking the photo! I can only imagine it's a bad day at one of these when the poo is not solid.

Nijubashi Bridge at Imperial Palace

Bridge gate guards. These guys don't move ala Buckingham palace.

Received permission to see Imperial Palace!

Mt. Fuji View Keep inside Imperial Palace.

Tokyo government hall, similar to the Capitol building from what I could gather.

Emperor's Family House

Garden hedge with many different plant species

Another keep at Imperial Palace.

Matsumoto tower I think at Imperial Palace, means pine tree tower

Samurai Kusunoki Masashige statue in Imperial Park

Char finds her non-boba milk tea!

Sakura in Imperial Park

Akihabara's Electric Town

You can win green onions.

Donburi made with fresh ingredients from the Tsujiki Fish Market.

The hotel serves beer in their vending machines.

Samurai/Darth Vader Armor in Google office building.

After many adventures getting there, we made it up to see Char's friends at Google Tokyo.

Ryan sneakily trying to take a picture of Char.

They have an amazing vending machine in the lobby area!

MK snacky poofs

Outside of the very fashionable Shibuya 109. Mistakenly thought this was the crossing shown in Lost in Translation that Naoko was telling me about. FAIL.

Never really figured out what this meant, but there were references to Darth Vader and who's my boss everywhere.

Shin-Nakamise Shopping Street in Asakusa. Ryan looks very tall here.

Approaching the Sensoji Temple, which is...

...under construction.

Koi koi koi koi koi koi...

Naoko told me what these were, but now I don't remember.

Pachinko slot machines

These things are so loud. You have to turn your volume all the way up to somewhat get the effect.

Asahi Brewing Co building. Supposed to resemble a glass of beer with head, but also known locally as the "Golden Turd" for obvious reasons.

It's like Christmas? http://bit.ly/8jHXiD

Front of a bullet train, or Shinkansen. These were comfy, we took it from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Fields of tea? on the way to Kyoto.

Shinkansen technology for a very smooth ride.

Udon noodles...and stuff

I believe this is a Dragon fountain to wash your hands and mouth before entering the temple.

Higashi Honganji Temple

Shoseien Garden

Kyoto tower in the background from garden.

There were 4-5 heron on this rock although I can only make out two here.

I guess the carp thought we had food, they all came to say Hi.

Nishi Honganji Temple

Ro-mon of Yasaka Shrine in Gion

Grilled bamboo shoot at Cherry Blossom Festival

Ceremonial stage

Can pay guys to pull you around in carts and explain the area if you have learned Japanese by now.

Old part of Kyoto

This is where the Geishas perform. Just missed getting a photo of two of them:(

Heian Jingu Shrine

Paper (possibly prayer messages) on trees in a shrine

Best ramen on the trip--but wait...

Philosopher's Path

Impressive sand garden at the Silver Pavilion

View of Kyoto from Silver Pavilion gardens.

The Silver Pavilion is not silver!

One of my favorite photos from the trip.

Nijo castle gardens

For Meghan. The one on the left looks a bit like Sarah, no?

Sushi roll for the shinkansen ride back to Tokyo.

Spicy shrimp chips

Delicious lime drink never to be found again! =(

Mt. Fuji (Fuji-san) from the Shinkansen.

Naoko told me what this was, but I don't remember now.

Lots of people taking pictures of the Kabuki-za Theater before it gets torn down.

Ryan's curry sampler. Spicy!

Lunch in Hakone

Lake Ashi in Hakone. Mt. Fuji in the background.

Ancient cedar pathway in Hakone.

Mt. Fuji is gigantic, with Lake Ashi and a late-blooming cherry blossom in the foreground.

Replicas of Edo Era Japan. Good since we couldn't take photos inside of Nijo castle or any of the shrines or temples.

Char budding up with the pirate ship captain!

Doh, I guess there's a real pirate ship captain!

Hells Valley in Hakone.

黒玉子 boiled in sulfur springs.

Tastes like...a hard-boiled egg.

Eggs boiled in this geothermal bath turn black. Eating one grants 7 years of longevity.

Downtown Hakone

Think outside the cup

Lots of people in Harajuku. Hard to move!

Salad over rice dish

Meiji shrine procession of some sort. Police said get out the way!

Crows seem to be the most populous animal in Tokyo

Apparently this guy is a star

Back in Asakusa. Yum green tea ice cream.

In line for the Tokyo Sightseeing Party Cruise

The new Tokyo tower under construction

Water bus ride, many bridges to follow. Sorry I'm an engineer!

Stealth water bus?

Hama-Rikyu Garden

Waiting at Hanode Pier for next water bus to Odaiba. Enjoying a cream soda (vanilla ice cream on top of melon soda).

Hot dogs because they were convenient at the time...and apparently a little frozen in the middle too.

Statue of Liberty?

Felt sorry for these guys, the wind died!

Thunder Dolphin at Tokyo Dome City!

Japanese baseball at the Tokyo Dome

Takoyaki (thanks to Naoko for the yummy suggestion=)

Cheering a little different than American baseball

Yomiuri Giants win!

Shogun Sanders?

Cute sign on subway

At a subway station

Suica card took us everywhere in Tokyo.

Ueno Park Zoo, packed!

At the Ueno Zoo...wait, are we back in Australia?

Why is everyone looking at us?!

A ball of lemurs?

Pedal and row boats at Ueno Park. Lots of people had the same idea as us, it seems.

Ryan's a little too tall for this gig.

Ryan's delicious bento box dinner

Tonkatsu for me

Shinagawa at night from our hotel room

This is where we checked our email at the hotel.

Our last day we just strolled around Shinagawa before catching our train to the airport.

Ryan Mattson
photos

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