Finally, an Update!!

For once I have a little time to update this blog. I have a few pictures from last week when we went with Kaori’s family to Tochigi-ken for a picnic and some late cherry blossom viewing at one of the local parks. Since it was a national holiday, the place was packed. There were vendors selling all sorts of food, and people were just generally relaxing and having a good time.

Makeshift parking lot outside the park.

Some of the late blooming cherry blossoms.

Tons of people.

This picture makes me hungry.

Kaori’s sister, Yuko and my nephew Kira, who will be one year old in July. He is recovering from heart surgery after birth so he has to use an oxygen tank for a while. You would have no idea he had heart surgery after seeing how much energy he has though.

Fish on a stick.

Salty, buttery baked potato. I guess the area is famous for these things. EVERYONE was eating them.

I wanted to join the karaoke contest but Kaori wouldn’t let me.

Squid anyone?

Kira has had enough action for the afternoon.

That’s it for now. There are a few other photos here.

Tokyo Weekend Part Two

I know I’m a little late, but here’s part two of our weekend in Tokyo.

Sunday had us heading back to Odaiba for the Mooneyes Street Car Nats. This is the view out the back of the Yurikamome train at Shibaura. The tracks are directly under the highway, and the structure in the distance is the Shibaura parking area, a popular gathering spot for highway racers late at night.

Passing another train on the Rainbow Bridge.

After hanging out the Mooneyes event for a while we were pretty damn hungry so we headed over to Aqua City to hit up the ramen theme park.

We ended up going with the same Hokkaido style ramen we ate the last time we were there. Nothing to get you going again like a big steaming bowl of ramen loaded with pork, eggs, and veggies.

Aqua City has a great view of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo skyline. Next time we are there on an overnight trip I will take some night pics here.

After lunch we decided to take a walk around the “beach” area at Odaiba.

The weather was nice except for the ugly haze that hung all over the place. I guess that’s what you get with one of the biggest cities in the world.

Is it a ferry or a spaceship?

J-cops on the beat.

HUGE dog. Awesome.

Enjoying the man-made beach.

This looks like a scene from the movie “Dazed & Confused” except in Tokyo.

Fuji TV building.

While walking around, we came to the pedestrian entrance to the Rainbow Bridge. We needed to head back that direction anyway so we decided to try the long walk across the bridge.

This looks like fun.

The top deck has the highway, while the lower deck has the standard road, railroad line and pedestrian paths.

Doing some fishing under the bridge.

Some old Mopars heading back into Tokyo from the Mooneyes event.

This shot shows the grade of the bridge pretty well.

Looking towards Shibaura on the other side.

Probably not a good place for those who are afraid of heights.

Sweet van.

Halfway there!

Dinner cruise ship heading under the bridge out into Tokyo Bay.

Dusk was starting to fall as we got to the other side, making for some pretty cool looking lighting.

Back on the ground and into the concrete jungle.

Pilot boats tied up at Shibaura.

On a Sunday afternoon some parts of Tokyo look like they came out of the movie, “I am Legend”.

Part of Tokyo’s large man-made river system.

On the walk back to JR Tamachi Station, I saw this mean looking R35 parked on the street. Great color.

Just another random building in Tokyo.

After this we headed back to Akihabara where we got on the Tsukuba Express to come home. We probably walked 3 or 4 miles in total so we slept most of the way back to Tsukuba.

Another fun weekend comes to an end. The next post will be a nice change from the craziness of Tokyo.

The rest of the pics are here.