Tokyo

Here are some more pics from Japan. On our first full day in Tokyo, we had a half day tour. One of our stops is the Meiji Jingu Shrine. November 15th is Shichi-go-san (Seven-five-three) or Children's Shrine Visiting Day where children of these ages dress in their best kimonos. They are taken to the shrine by their parents or elders to express thanks and prayers for their futures.

This is one of Japan's most famous icon. Hello Kitty is very popular and it seems that the Japanese really love "cutesy" type animals. There are all sorts of cute animals adorning cell phones even the men have them! It appears to be a common thing to do to personalize their cel phone. Another curious note is that during our entire stay, we did not hear a single cell phone ring. We saw most everyone has one but they keep it on silent and text message everyone. Big difference from Los Angeles where everyone shouts into their phones and has their own personalized ringtones.

This is an example of the buildings in Tokyo where they are stacked on top of one another. It is common to see people on street level handing out flyers or showing menus to draw business to a restaurant located on the 4th floor. It is like this almost everywhere we went and we would lose our bearing sometimes. One thing we heard is that it is expensive in Japan. Yes, it can be but there are plenty of places that are reasonable. Hector and I ate at a conveyor belt sushi place that you sit at a counter where a conveyor belt moves plates of sushi around the room. You just pick what you want and charged per plate according to the plate color/design. We ate until we were stuffed and our total bill was $28. In Los Angeles, one person can easily cost that amount. It was great so we ate there a few times...