I love my Cube Dog

Quote of the night - Tuesday

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were my Noonah."

we're back in berkeley with our kitties

it didn't take long after our arrival home to have a pair of kitties snuggling with us. emerson grace took her usual favorite spot... wedged in between us.

Sayonara Japan!

Today we leave Kyoto and fly from Osaka back to San Francisco. We had a wonderful and successful trip to Korea and Japan and are sad it's over... but we do miss our kitties, and Berkeley, and look forward to coming home. See some of you very soon!!!

Day 10: Kyoto temples and the Nishiki Market

Our evening ended in a restaurant on Ponto Cho (yes, I guess we were cool enough to eat there) that was totally centered around leeks. We weren't sure what we ordered, but we ended up with this crazy metal bowl that we cooked our own leeks in along with some other veggies, tofu and fish. We had some garlic fried rice with leeks, some tuna and leeks with a side of leeks. It was good, but I don't think I'm eating leeks for a least a few weeks! :)

Look at the crazy alien cup'o'noodles vending machine! Ha!

Even though it is one of the most touristy temples to see, we were just enthralled by the idea of checking out Kinkaku-ji, the golden temple. It was totally super golden and really gorgeous.

Anyone who knew I'd love Japan for all of its tiny miniature cute little things was right!!!

In between temple visits we decided to check out the Nishiki Market.
We love markets and this one was no different. We saw all sorts of things from crazy sea creatures to yummy sweet treats! And, we sampled lots of interesting things.

A little stream runs through downtown Kyoto.


We began our last day in Japan at the Sanjusangendo Temple. It had cool orange gates (Torii) and 1001 buddhas. You can't take pictures of the buddhas, but if you click here you can view some images of inside the temple. It was wild!

Day 9: Kyoto

We ended our first evening in Kyoto by snacking on some little pancakes that we watched spin through this pancake-making machine.

Here we are exploring the little street of Ponto Cho... definitely the coolest thing we've seen in Kyoto so far!

Everyone hangs out by the river in the evening!

Do we love Kyoto or what!?

We woke up in Tokyo, made our way to Tokyo Station and onto a bullet train, watched the Japan countryside fly by, and in just over two hours we were in Kyoto.

Night 8: Japanese Baseball

Tonight we went to a Japanese Baseball game. It was the Giants (the first place and favorite team in Japan) against the Swallows (the underdogs). Ballpark food consisted of Hot dogs, Soba noodles and Edamame.

What is a "Home In" you ask? Well, it's when the team scores in any other way that is not a Home Run. And, any time the Swallows scored the fans did an umbrella dance. It was a sight to see.

As signs all around the ballpark suggested, we made friends.

Day 8: Asakusa and Ueno Gardens

Today we decided to explore Asakusa and the Sensoji with our friend Miho. We bought lots of trinkets in all of the little shops in the area, and thanks to Miho helping us order, we had a wonderful Japanese lunch.

And lucky for us we stumbled upon the Morning Glory Market Festival. Morning Glories are my favorite flower so you can imagine my excitement! There were supposedly over 140,000 flowers there.

Day 7: Imperial Gardens, Tokyo Tower and Roppongi

Torrey, Dave, John, Paul and Ringo (George must have been in the loo).

At the end of the night we landed in a bar called The Cavern Club where a Japanese Beatles cover band called The Silver Beats plays live music. They were so awesome! All of the Japanese guys were so into it! We were all clapping and singing along together. But, it was indeed quite strange to see John Lennon speaking Japanese in between perfect reproductions of some of The Beatles greatest hits.

It was sooooooo hot and humid today!

But this snowcone really hit the spot.

And of course we had to vist the Tokyo Tower!

A Japanese graveyard.

We found our friend Taka and explored the Imperial Gardens with him.

We cannot resist a log ride!

Day 6: Tsukiji, Akihabara and Shinjuku

On the 4th of July we had sushi at a great place near the Tsukiji Market.

Akihabara, or the Electric City, was where we explored after dinner. Of course, we saw all of the hottest electronics along with all of the newest and greatest talking/spraying/etc toilets.

We ended our evening in Shinjuku at the bar atop of the Park Hyatt Hotel famously known for its appearance in the movie Lost In Translation. It was very cool, but VERY expensive.

Day 5: Conference in Tokyo

Tappin' dat Tokyo mini-bar!

We were famous tonight! Everyone wanted their picture taken with Freeman.

Engrish of the day... Swirkle!

Today we conferenced.

Day 4: Ginza

This morning we decided to check out Ginza with it's huge Department stores and bustling business people. Ginza is the Tokyo version of New York's Fifth Avenue. We even saw an Apple MacBook photo shoot going on with a real model and everything! So chic! So Tokyo!

Navigating the Department store was an adventure in and of itself! The toilet talked to me and birds started chirping. It was a little hard to concentrate on the task at hand in there. And, we eventually succeeded at finding lunch in the basement amongst the rows and rows of gorgeous food! There were lots of treats and of course, lots of sushi.

After an afternoon of conference talks we explored the neighborhood around our hotel.


In Japan, there is never a shortage of Engrish to be found.

Day 3: Seoul, Korea to Tokyo, Japan

Shibuya at night.

While strolling through Shibuya on our first night in Tokyo, we saw some wild stuff! We passed through one of the craziest busiest intersections in the world (I know, not like the ones in India) and we got to check out the latest and greatest in Japanese fashion!

Had to throw in a collage with some great Japanese signage and things. Let's Pretz!

I don't know about you, but the motto "Good Smell, Good Curry" doesn't really invite me in.

We woke up in Korea and just after lunch we were in downtown Tokyo!

I wonder if I were to chew this gum before a choir performance, will help me be heard?