home sweet home

these are some shots d took while experimenting with our camera. all of them are from around our quaint little city of asaka.


as always, for more pictures go to flickr.

shinjuku on a sunday

our first sushi in japan. tomoye took care of me, although you can't really see her. maybe it's the camoflauge...
picture that really does not do justice to how giant and how busy it is...
"darren, take a picture of me being cute on the escalator!"
christmas lights against a backdrop of neon. it's just not the same.so that was our day in shinjuku. go here for more pictures. and go here for that christmassy feeling.

yesterday

our boring day in ikebukuro turned out to be pretty great.
we stumbled across a shrine...

and had what was possibly the most delicious coffee in the world.25 sleeps...

problem solved

solution? our very own brand new flickr page!! or, as one of the japanese english teacher's that i work with always says "special wonderful" flickr!!

yup yup.

the link is over on the sidebar. click whenever you desire. there's not much up there right now. we're only going to post new pics. from this point on. right now. from here. today. i think you understand.

also, please help us to settle something by voting in the poll below. much appreciated.

and the survey says...

which is true of soap?
	more lather = more clean
	lather schmather
Free polls from Pollhost.com

too many

seriously... we have way too many pictures.deciding what to post hurts my head.not "hurts" like how sake hurts me though.what i'm trying to say is that japan is beautiful...and we see so many great things and take billions and billions of pictures and i am not good at making decisions.for real... billions. honest to goodness billions.ps
i want to go back and buy that shirt.

best one yet

man, what a day! 9 hours we spent down by the bay, where the watermelons grow. we got there on an unmanned, elevated, rubber wheeled train (the yurikamome). this is inside it (well, looking out from inside it anyway)

it drops you off at one of the man made islands, odaiba, in the harbour. built during the edo period for protection from sea attacks, daiba actually means fort. (we're learnding) o.k. no more history... this is what you see getting off the train.

then through the promenades and boardwalks until we found ourselves at this tourist "mecca"...

yes... palette town. where, amongst other things, you can "drive" futuristic cars and shop in an 18th century south european town. adorned with art and the halls decked for christmas, this place forces a smile on your face. (not that we weren't smiling already) and i thought southgate was nice...

then came my favorite part... the 115m ferris wheel. i love the ferris wheel. what a cool ride, 16 minutes around and the view... fugeddaboutit. (unfortunately none of the pictures from up there are usable... stupid glare)

then back to the waterfront again, only this time at nightfall. for some of the most spectacular views... like this one.(kudos to c for this shot)

well, that was our day. pretty great huh? oh... here's one more, because people like to see us in the pictures...

odaiba

we had the best day... pictures and video later!!!

my battlecry would be "list"

ok. so... sake makes my head hurt. no more sake. seriously. such hurting today. it's so not worth it.

33 days. it's actually more accurate to say 32 sleeps. i am very excited and so i have been looking into things to do and finding out how to get places and how much things are going to cost... all of which i think are very important. know what else is very important? lists. that's right, lists. d has always made fun of me for making lists and, yes, he made fun of this one. i think i may have brought in on myself though when i called it an itinerary. it's not an itinerary. simply a list. a helpful, necessary, beautiful list. LIST!!

saturday already

went out to ohsho last night. a belated birthday celebration.after, john came over to cook me birthday pizza. (his shirt says "hiroshi" but that's not his real name)tokyo tomorrow. harajuku to check out the market at the togo shrine and then to tokyo bay for the giant ferris wheel. darren is very excited about the ferris wheel. he is so cute.

yucky and rainy

all that means is that we spend the day inside, cozied up in the loft watching movies. but uh-oh... we need snacks and food for supper...

randomnicity

sonic online until the hockey game starts.


coffee in my mug and d downstairs (downladder?) cooking breakfast.

payday tomorrow. holiday on thursday.


almost no trace of the gross cold i had.


countdown to mom and dad: 39 days.

ah the weekend..

d is making breakfast and just yelled up to me "YOU CALL ME UNCLE FLAPJACK!!"

holy f***!!!

these are possibly the spiciest things i have ever eaten.they are chips... the name says "don tacos" (that's right, i can read it!!). and i see the chili peppers on the bag. i even see that it says "chili" (well, it actually says "chiri", but you know). there are even flames at the top of the bag. "good" i think. "these will be like spicy salsa-y chips."

holy hell. that is all.

cool-ish

ice cream in a bag. mmmmmmmmmmm... seriously, it's delicious.

update

so it's 47 days until mom and dad come to visit.

no, we don't have furniture... unless you count the 2 shelves we bought when we first got here. we do plan to get something to sit on before my parents get here.

it's not bunk beds... it's a loft.

saturday morning

so that's it. the inside of our apartment. i guess it's more like a room. it's very very tiny. questions about any of it... comment people!!

how many days until my parents come to visit? i don't know. but i'm going to count today.

i have a very runny nose and a sore throat. oh, i also have a zit on my lip. i'm sexy in japan.

d ate all of the chocolate last night while i was asleep. he was up till 5:30am. no coffee for him after like noon from now on.

it's rainy right now. it's been sunny and warm like all week so i guess it's ok. i don't have to go anywhere today so rain on japan!! rain on. but just for today. maybe tomorrow too. but on monday, you definitely have to stop it.

gayle just got back from her wedding. told me that she drove marc crazy saying "when chrissy and i were here...". that made me happy.

did you ever think that anyone in the world still used 1-ply toilet paper? japan does.

ok... back to bed. crap, the oilers game starts in 10 minutes. decisions, decisions...

just some pics

we really haven't changed at all.

our apartment, 2nd one from the left on the top

the 17 stairs we have to climb, mailboxes, and d's bike

on a clear day, we can see the top of mt. fuji from here.

another ladder shot. man i hate that ladder.

i really like it here.

mommy...

my head hurts and i have the sniffles.and now my foot's asleep.