Adventures in Tokyo with the Hansens

We had the opportunity to host the Hansens who are the owners of the company that Kent works for.  What did we do while they were in Tokyo? Kent and the guys had meetings and LeAnn and I explored the city.

Here we are. Kent, me, LeAnn and Jim Hansen, and Andrew Mangeris.

Tokyo is a big place, so where do we start our adventure?

We'll start by walking...... Look who we see! Some way cute school girls wearing their uniforms with their hair cut the same...... Maybe we would be better off implementing that dress code in our schools. With some of the fashions that we have to tolerate in the U.S., who knows, we may be better off?.?.?. We first went to the Tokyo tower to see the vast city and then headed to........ 

Asakusa to see the famous Sensoji temple. This is the entryway to the temple. 

Since I have posted pictures from the Tokyo Tower and the temple previously, I won't show too many now.  This is the main gate going into the temple area.

On our way to the temple, we passed many shops which included sandals for short or tall people. Check these "puppies" out. I think I would break my leg if I bought a pair of those.

For those of us who value our life a little more, the selection is endless.

For those who are rather stiff, these are just your style. Yes, those soles are wooden and they don't move. Once we got our fill of the sandals/flip flops, we kept walking toward the temple and found......

People making all sort of food such as rice balls or mochi balls as it is called in Japanese.

Here they are making rice crackers or senbei. Yumm!!

Cases full of different kinds of freshly made senbei are on display.

This guy is making little cake-like things with sweet bean filling inside. I'm not sure what it is called.

These tasty little morsels have different kinds of filling inside such as custard, cream, sweet bean, pumpkin, etc. So good!

Girls in their kimonos adorned the area.

LeAnn in front of the temple. 

We saw many kinds of people such as priests,

people carrying their dogs in a baby back pack. Seriously......we saw a few people carrying their dogs in a baby back pack! Not joking!

We saw people being carried in a jinrikisha. No, not us...... It would have been fun though.

And we saw older people outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

When we finished our time at the temple, we continued our adventures observing a woman weaving traditional indigo blue fabric on an old mill. So fascinating. 

We had to stop and eat, right? How about a tempura dinner which included various kinds of tempura, miso soup, egg custard, pickles, and rice. So yummy!

We wanted to go to the Imperial Palace via Tokyo Station. Yes, this is the awesome, old but yet functioning Tokyo Station.

Here we are in front of the Imperial Palace. 

On our walk one can't help but observe all of the sidewalks which are conducive for blind people. These bumps are everywhere to help those with walking sticks to know where and when to stop.

One of our stops was at a large hall where the Kyani convention was held. Kent hosted it and

Jim Hansen spoke at it. Nice job guys!

We couldn't help but ask this girl if we could take a picture of her beautiful kimono.

 Here is a view of the back and

a view of the side. It is major work putting on a kimono. Once the kimono is on, you have another difficult task of putting on the obi (the belt). Don't ask me how to tie an obi until I take classes on tying it,....... which probably won't happen.

Here is another beautiful kimono.

Pictures were taken afterwards.

Now that the convention is over, let's go eat!!

What is this? This is a beautiful copper pot for a dish called Shabu Shabu and this is.......

a cast iron plate for a dish called Sukiyaki.

This is preparation for Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki. Yummm!!

Shabu Shabu is where you cook vegetables and meat in a broth and then dip it in the yellow or red sauce. So good!

Sukiyaki is where you cook meat and veggies in soy sauce, sweet rice wine, and a little water. To die for!!

Once the meat is cooked to medium rare, you dip it in beaten raw egg and yes, people, it is tasty!

Here are the some of the veggies for the Sukiyaki.

Once you have finished cooking the veggies and meat, you add the left over eggs (if any) to the pot, cook it in the sauce and eat with rice. So good!

It was a great few days associating with the Hansens. We hope they enjoyed their stay in Tokyo and we invite them to come again some time.

Sincerely,

Kent and Barb