It was great to be with our grandkids and kids again! Give me the kids any time because.........
We are once again back in Tokyo....
the never-ending sea of buildings,
giant size bugs,
over-priced papaya at $16 a pop,
or maybe even over-priced grapes at a whopping $220 a bunch. Seriously? Yes. No fooling.
We are also in the land of high tech toilets. Come on U.S. why are we so behind the times??
You almost feel like you are in a cockpit...
Close, but without the windows.
We even have seat cleaner,
all sorts of buttons and things to make your experience better,
including a place to put your child. If you have two children, then you kind of have a problem! It's their way of birth control. Ha! Ha!
This is also the land of organized destruction....
What? Are those two cranes on top of a 15 story building? They are tearing that building down! Notice how it is a little taller than the building next to it.......
Now notice how it is shrinking...... I think I will go down there and check it out.
A plastic, temporary wall is put around the building prior to demolition and then cranes are hoisted up on the roof to take each floor apart one by one.
This is an inside view of the last of the demolition.
Once they destroy each floor, the remains are loaded onto trucks, and then hauled off.
As each floor comes down, the siding also comes down.
The building is completely gone with only it "footprint" left. It was so fascinating to see how the Japanese go about tearing a building down when there are other buildings literally inches away.
Let's move on to some entertaining signs that are displayed in the subway stations.
Be careful when you are carrying large loads while walking in the train stations.
If anyone falls into the train tracks, push the button for help!
Do not run onto the trains.....I think this sign was meant for me!
Hilarious!
Trader Vic's restaurant in the New Otani Hotel was our anniversary tradition twenty years ago and now that tradition has returned.
Appetizers of wontons, shrimp, barbecued pork, and ribs
dipped in one of these two yummy sauces. Soup served in a large shell, salad with delectable greens, hearts of palm, fresh cherry tomatoes, and other veggies were part of our meal. The only problem with this blog entry is the lack of the salad and soup pictures. I was so excited to eat that I forgot to take pictures!
Smoked Filet Mignon cooked in a large Chinese wood-burning oven was the entree of choice with incredibly flavored veggies and potatoes to compliment the steak. When we were finished, we had to forgo dessert due to the lack of stomach room!!
Our 35th wedding anniversary!! Wow! How the time has slipped by so quickly.
Living in a high rise apartment next to a freeway provides for hours of entertainment.
Entertainment such as watching a Maserati burn with at least a half dozen fire trucks helping to put the fire out. The most difficult part was watching the owner of the car stand there with his hands covering his face. Ya, pretty sad.....
The affects an accident has on the traffic changes thousands of people's lives for that day. Try getting off a freeway that is four stories above ground does not happen, so you just have to sit there and wait until you are allowed to go on.
This is a different accident and I'm not sure what happened here.....
This accident was bad enough that they needed a stretcher
for the motorcycle driver. Like I say, we can be entertained for hours just watching the freeway!
I'm done with looking at cement so let's move on to some more peaceful scenes.
Ahhhh.......Peaceful.
We can't stay in the park all day, so let's go to a summer festival!
This festival at Azabujuban is just getting started.
How does one get to the booth they want to go to? A football running back or a bulldozer comes to mind in crowds like these. Since we are neither, we just "go with the flow".
We see all sorts of people and all kinds of food.
We see cute little girls with clown wigs and showing us the infamous peace sign,
we see beautiful kimonos being worn by beautiful girls,
and we see any and all kinds of food that you may or may not want. So what's this? It's called Oden. These are things that you put in a big pot of some kind of soup and eat it. I'm not known to make Oden, mainly because I don't know what these things that you put in the soup are. It could be spooky, but then again, maybe not.
There is every kind of skewer you can think of.....
even a cucumber on a stick? A salted cucumber on a stick? Anyone want a bite?
How about a meat skewer? By the way, these guys aren't Japanese.
Freshly cooked shrimp anyone?
How about beef sticks?
Or maybe better yet a cooked fish on a stick!!
If none of that sounds good, you can never go wrong with corn on the cob!
There is nothing better than ending the day with fireworks by Rainbow Bridge over Tokyo Bay.
Enjoy life wherever you may be.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Uncle Kent and Grandma Barb
Kent and Barb
