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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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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