Cruisin' Tokyo

After walking around Asakusa a bit and getting the obligatory photo taken with the Asahi Beer headquarters building:

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Nakano

I'd like to take a moment to pay homage to the area of Nakano in Tokyo.  It houses a covered alley of small stores that is attached to a multi-level shopping plaza.  It is in this multi-level shopping plaza that our Tours+ guide, Chris (he was the guide on our Tokyo Disney tour, as well, and the three of us got on so well that we specifically requested his Fuji tour so we could go Star Wars shopping with him again), and the two of us always get turned around and have to stumble upon our favorite tiny sci-fi memorabilia shop.  But it is sooooo worth the wandering around to find, let me tell you! 

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Asakusa and the Tomitas

Nobuhiko, Sakurako, and baby Iroi; Mom Tomita, me, and Brandon (photograph by Kanji)

We met up with the Tomita family in Asakusa our third day in Tokyo.  This was Brandon's (and Iori's) first time to Asakusa and our first time to meet Sakurako's hubby, Nobuhiko.

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Exploring Shibuya

On our trip to Tokyo last week, we made plans to meet up with Reiko (my first Japanese exchange student - and her family was my first Japanese host family) in Shibuya for dinner and drinks.  Brandon and I spent the morning exploring Akihabara and then decided to head over to Shibuya early to do some sightseeing.  We crossed one of the most famous and busiest crossroads in Shibuya.  It was quite impressive.

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Konnichiwa, Reiko!

I hadn't seen Reiko since my last solo trip to Tokyo in 2005.  She hadn't even met Brandon yet.  Needless to say, she and I were both quite excited to see each other again!  We met up for dinner and drinks at a yakitori bar in Shibuya.

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