Lets start on the Japan trip. We got into Tokyo about 5pm there time which is 3am Utah time. We got to our hotel, met with our tour guide Junko Ito she gave us a little orientation told us the easiest places to find food and let us go on our own. We went to a convenient store called Lawsons they are all over Japan. We bought food and basically went back to our hotel and ate then crashed for the night about 8pm.
The next day we woke up early and started your tour of Tokyo. We started off at the Imperial Palace.
This is the most famous picture place in all of Japan. Across the moat to the right is the actually Imperial Palace, and the regular public never gets to go in! Only twice a year the Imperial Family will come and wave out of the gate.
This is a Shogan who fought valiantly in a war but I can't remember his name. It is in the middle of a beautiful park.
After stopping a the Palace we saw one of the oldest Shinto Shrines in all of Japan and next to it was one of the oldest Buddhist Temples. It was really cool to see both of them so close together and it was so normal for everyone. Then after that we went to lunch in the Ginza shopping district. Things here were very trendy and also very expensive an umbrella was easy 6000 yen which is about 60 dollars and that was the cheapest you could find here. It is similar to shopping at 5th avenue in New York. After that we went to the Government building which is 45 floors tall. On the 45th floor there is a little cafe and an outlook area. I was so cool to see Tokyo for that high up.
All the trees in the middle is an artificial forest, they built a Shinto Shrine in the 1920's and so they planted all of the trees around it. I don't know how many trees there are but they were huge and they were all straight it was really cool.
That evening we went to a local restaurant for dinner, and it was similar to a Spanish Tapas bar. We had a lot of different kinds of chicken, rice, salad, mushrooms, and so many different things. I was so full I felt like I would pop if I ate anymore.
The next day went went to the Meji shrine in the middle of that forest we saw from the top of the Government building. It was so cool it had a huge Torii gate but of course I forget take a picture of it. After the visit to the shrine we traveled to Hakone. Along the way we stopped at a visitors center for Mt. Fuji
Grumps and Nona and the Visitors Center, Grumps had already found his favorite drinks for the trip!
After the visitors center we went to lunch at this little tiny french restaurant. The food was amazing, the wife would bake amazing bread and the husband would cook the food. I think she makes the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted it was still cake but it was also very close to a brownie!
After that we checked into our hotel which was a traditional Japanese hotel. It has a hot springs to soak in and yukatas to wear, because this is a place the Japanese come to relax.
Looks like you guys had fun. Dare I ask if there is any baby news;)
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