Tokyo, Day 1

We covered so much ground today and took so many great photographs, I know I won't be able to cover it all in one post. Words won't do it justice. Hopefully Bryan will get a chance to post some photos tomorrow before we head to Kyoto, because we are staying in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, so our access to Internet might be limited in the next two days.
We dove head first into Japan's vast railway system this morning and stuck to the easy, circular Yamanote line, which took us to Harajuku, which Gwen Stefani has been pronouncing wrong in all of her songs (har-AH-ju-ku). Sunday is the day when all the goth kids dress up in costumes and hang out on the bridge entrance to the Meiji shrine. It is kind of a strange thing to witness, in that these teenage girls dress up in French maid outfits or Little Bo Peep type getup, and pose for strangers taking photos. Some just stick to the punk/goth look, but they still manage to hold on to a child-like innocence, as many of them are clutching some sort of stuffed animal.
The streets in the surrounding area are insanely crowded, but once you enter the path to the Meiji shrine, while there are still tourists about, the atmosphere changes to a very serene one. The contrast is so stark, it's amazing.

We were also lucky enough to witness a wedding or two; or at least we think we did. There were a few couples where the woman was decked out in white kimono with traditional face paint. One even had a fairly elaborate headpiece on. We also saw a couple where the woman was wearing a red kimono with bits of gold, though we don't know if she was with the one couple we thought were getting married or what the deal was. We just stood with the onlookers taking pictures.



After milling around the packed streets and crazy shops of Harajuku for a few hours, we hopped on another train to Yokohama to visit my Uncle Pat's brother Chris and his family. Chris has been living here steadily since '95, so it was a treat to spend time with him and his wife, Emiko, and his son, Sean. We got there and took a long walk past a rugby tournament, through a park with cherry blossoms in full effect and stopped at his house before they took us for a fabulous sushi meal. The place was very small - just a counter, and we were the only customers there. We got a full set and we tried everything - even these little minnow guys who were staring helplessly back at me before I popped them into my mouth. We rolled out of the restaurant and headed back to our last night in the king-sized bed, which tomorrow night we'll trade in for a tatami mat. Thanks again to Chris and Emi for showing us a great time!