the trip of a lifetime!

i took a bus to the airport and waited anxiously at the gate for my parents to arrive. the flight was a couple hours late, but finally they stepped out lugging along the hundreds of pounds of gifts, shoes and supplies they brought for me. after a long hug with my mom we went to discover japan! mom exchanged her money while i bought our train tickets. dad's job was to stand there and look like a tourist while watching the luggage.

arriving at narita airport after a long flight.

a family again!


and off to the skyliner train to ueno station and our minature business hotel. we caught up with eachother on the train and enjoyed the scenery of tokyo wizzing by out the window.
"this looks like mexico!" came from my dad, the king of vacation comparisons.


nice shirt man...


the double decker.


a mt. fuji necktie! how'd you know!?!


rather than doing away with cigarette machines they require you to swipe an adult id card. and since kids steal the cards, the new machines actually have age recognition software that read the wrinkles by your eyes! check it out here.


the most uncool payphones in the world.


you know you're gonna run into one of these.


the 'happy' birthday dinner. my mom gave her best forced smile as the waiter's at TGI Friday's (ok i was the one who wanted to go to TGI Fridays) sang a japanese song to her and snapped her photo.
after he found out it was really 7 am in the US, dad barely touched his food, "i can't eat dinner food for breakfast!"


strolling through ueno park at night with misty rain in the air.


ueno
oioi department store.


the tiny door to our tiny room.




ueno station the next morning, time to see tokyo!


but first... a short visit and prayer at a japanese catholic church.



excellently engineered bum house.


mini worktrucks, basically anything 'mini' is really... big here.


ameyoko (candy store alley):
tearin up the town at 7am! everyone was up early from the jet lag, but nothing was even open yet. but my dad did manage to make his first purchase in japan, a bag of pistachios and erin called while we were shopping. next stop: asakusa. or as my mom liked to call it A-sak USA!



inside asakusa station.


words to live by.


it's bad manners to pretty much do anything while walking even eating or drinking.


the real 'welcome to japan' experience, squat toilets!


best fake and real food in the world!


food ticket machines, ingenious.


asakusa!



kaminarimon gate outside of senso-ji shrine.




the god of tourturing my dad's legs: "keep walking and sightseeing or i'll crush you!!"


a nice off center picture taken with care and precision by my skillful father.


don't even think about walking with that cigarette buddy!


asahi beer building, designed to look like a frothy mug. the other thing is supposed to be a cloud, but it's generally accepted as a sperm.


what i think the monks were saying: "hey! check if they have any of those little key chain things! i wanna get something for my monkey."


i think my parents will pass on this.


purifying myself with insence.


mom got a bad fortune and had to tie it up to make it disappear.



the 5 story pagoda. like something out of a bruce lee movie!


can you recognize any of them? they are seriously obsessed with kitkat here. literally every time i go to the store there is a new flavor. last week i saw watermelon, and really what's the deal with flavoring kitkats anyway?


and a bunch of tasty and more than that smelly dried sea creatures to munch on.


"ok, i'm gonna pray." "no! no! do the peace sign!!"
""say cheese! *click*"" ..... ah man....


the souvenir shoppers are in the zone! but i think maybe somebody might be getting a little hungry and tired... beware..



crunchy stuff.


sharp stuff.


nutty stuff.


"try to snatch the pebble from my hand... helloooo... oh man.. seriously i don't know why i even do this.."


pittsburgh's own JERO, huge celebrity in japan that sings traditional enka music.


grrr... be careful! the cranky monster appears after too much sightseeing.


colorful obasans.


and the quest for a godzilla toy comes to it's triumphant end! after all day repeatedly saying "i haven't seen one godzilla thing yet!" the two beasts are once again reunited in perfect harmony.


allowing the troops to take 5.


we happened upon a traditional shinto wedding going on at a shrine.


you can lead a horse to water...

everything's smaller here.

the dreaded sushi experience... my dad's worst nightmare.


so i figured we'd better not start with raw fish. actual quote; "i think i'm gonna throw up, i just ate an egg rice thingy!" the end.


ahhhh... sweet relief!


friendly officer helping us cross the street and even has time to pose for a photo. you gotta love japanese people.


akihabara "electric town"
gathering ground japan's geeks and gamers.

the two superheros join forces, but one is a little more into it than the other.



good lord, buddy...



pachinko! off for some mid-afternoon gambling.


uh oh... looks like the jet lag is kicking in... better call it a day.


and finally we made it to our next hotel after a lot of shopping, sightseeing and most of all, walking. top three reasons why we knew it was time for a mid-day rest at the hotel:
"i can run, i just can't walk."
"my knee is bleeding inside!"
"i need arthroscopic surgery, Now!"

Homeikan, our ryokan (japanese inn) for night two.


shoes are neatly stored at the entrance and then it's all slippers from there.


after a quick tour, and we settled into our room, which was literally just a room, no furniture besides a small table. but it had nice views out the window and beautiful natural decorations.
we went out for some dinner and came back to see our futons were all prepared for us.

once again dad didn't touch much of his dinner. "the potatoes taste like something i don't like, the chicken tastes like chicken i don't like..."


off to the hot bath...



and mom even worked up the courage to challenge the group bath! way to go!



still feeling the effects of jet lag...
dad: "wake up! how long does it take you to put on make-up it's already 7:30!"
mom: "it's 5:30..."
dad: "oh... oops."

dad: "there's a stain on my sheets. i don't know what it is, but i don't like it."

traditional breakfast time!



dad commenting on the ground fish cake in the bottom right, "man, i just took a big bite of that! i was all pumped cuz i thought it was provolone cheese!"


day two off to see more of tokyo!
1000 yen! or... $10


harajuku station:
hip trendy area of tokyo.


one of these people is not like the other ones!


and a quick stop back home!

this is such an incredible picture. a deep bow, to be done with care and precision. the ultimate sign of respect in japan.


a stroll through yoyogi park



and once again lucky enough to spy on another wedding!

sake barrels.

nice guy who wrote your name in japanese and you could decide the price. we got justin's name written here.


scramble intersection in shibuya.


Denny's!

next stop yamanashi! we took the 4:30 bus to my hometown of kofu city. the views slowly change from the seemingly never-ending sprawling urban landscape and into spiking mountain ranges with small villages nestled beneath them in the valleys.
dad: "this place is more awesome than st. mary's!"
we arrive around 6:45 just as it was getting dark
and had some italian food before going to my apartment.

standing in front of my apartment.


hiking to shosenkyo waterfall with my japanese tutor.

and you thought trimming your hedges was a pain!


spring cleaning, bott style!!!
my dad risking his life 3 stories up to rid my apartment of dust.


the man my mom fell in love with... good god, what's happened?!?


visit to my school.
some tempura udon soup at the cafeteria.


sports pep rally:
the basketall guys!


all the new freshman showing respect and bowing to the older students.


time to see the town... don't worry dad, on bikes this time!


painting truck in japan.


kofu castle, let me just say, it was freaking hot standing there.


kendo practice
we heard some screaming and investigated to find these kendo guys wacking eachother over the head.



takeda jinja.



lake kawaguchi, most famous of the 5 lakes surrounding mt. fuji but unfortunately today fuji is stubbornly hiding in the clouds.


high school sumo tournament! check out those tooshies!





hottorakashi onsen looking down on yamanashi city, last night of the trip:(
after driving up a 80 degree hill to the top of the mountain we reached the hot springs. and afterward ate some houtou noodles yamanashi's local cuisine and headed home for the last time together.


the next morning my parents boarded the bus and headed for the airport. i didn't realize how much i missed them until right after they pulled away. my apartment that had been full of jokes, laughter, the smell of cleaning supplies and home cooked food never before seemed more quiet and empty. i know people say you can't choose your family, but lucky for me i couldn't ask for better parents. don't worry about me too much here, i'll be thinking about you everyday like always! hope you enjoyed your stay in japan!