Harajuku & Ikebukuro

Clockwise - Arielle & baby Iori, Brandon, Mom Tomita, Kanji, Sakurako, Shinta & Fuku-chan

We got to meet up with one of Brandon's relatives who lives in Tokyo our last full day of our trip.  It was fun to meet up with Kevin for lunch and then a trip over to Harajuku.  This was Brandon's first time to the famous Takeshita Street in Harajuku, best known for being on the cutting edge of teenage clothing trends.  It was definitely interesting and crowded.  :) 

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Tokyo Disneyland

We couldn't miss "It's a Small World" while we were in Japan!

Friday was our day in Tokyo Disneyland.  It was crowded (but not nearly as crowded as we'd find Tokyo Disney Sea the following day), but we had a lot of fun!  First thing we rode was the Star Wars ride "Star Tours" (I sure do love being married to a guy who shares my interest in sci-fi!)  Although the story was in Japanese, it was fun to see the familiar characters and ride the ride.  We also rode Space Mountain (indoor roller coaster and the only roller coaster I'll ride), Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, MicroAdventure! (Honey, I Shrunk the Audience), and waited in line for 2 1/2 hours for the new Monster's Inc. ride.  (Fortunately, we'd thought to bring a book and booklight [Thanks, Kristin!!!] for me and Brandon's iPod to keep us entertained.) 

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Tokyo DisneySea

Where Indy swapped out the skull...

We spent Saturday at Tokyo DisneySea, the "other" Disney park in Tokyo.  Whereas Disneyland focuses more on the original Disney characters and is extremely kid-friendly, DisneySea is supposed to be a bit more older-kid-oriented and focuses more on the Disney Princesses and adventure/discovery rides.  DisneySea was literally shoulder-to-shoulder packed most of the entire day.  Needless to say, we didn't get to ride as many rides as we did in Disneyland, but it was still fun. 

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Thanksgiving in Tokyo

Pikachu airplane

What better way to spend Thanksgiving overseas than traveling?  We just got back from a wonderful, long weekend in Tokyo.  (We didn't get to actually ride on the Pikachu plan, but thought it was neat!)  We got up at 3:30am on Thanksgiving morning to meet up with the tour group and catch a 2 hour flight to Tokyo.  (Two hour flight to Tokyo, 3 hour flight on the way home.)  This was Brandon's first trip to the "big city" and I was thrilled to be visiting my home-away-from-home again. 

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For Thai, go to SomChai

The Thai restaurant Megumi and I tried out.

Megumi and I tried out a tiny, four table Thai restaurant for lunch today.  I'd never eaten Thai before and Megumi had only had it once.  Let's just say it was an adventure.  Although I specifically ordered the "least spicy" thing on the menu - fried rice - I had only gotten through half of it before Megumi made me stop.  Evidently I was quite flushed.  Megumi was able to finish a little bit more than I was of her meal, but we were both ready to find a Baskin Robbins to help cool our overheated mouths. 

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