Japan part 1 - old Tokyo

We flew to Narita airport with direct flight from Portland, 10.5 hours. Wow, not too bad.

We spend 2 days in Tokyo then headed out so I will start with Tokyo. The first 3 nights we booked a ryokan in Ueno. Ryokan is like a traditional Japanese Inn. This room was pretty good and we did not have to share bathroom. The location is nice too it is in the residential part of Ueno and we walked around a little bit the first night and feels like old Japan. Not too many people are out and the place is pretty quiet.

The next day we woke up pretty early and went to Asakusa to see the Kanda matsuri and Sanja matsuri. This year the two festivals overlap on this Sunday so it was pretty fun. This is in Ueno where we stay.

We came out of the subway and saw this tengu guy. I guess he is ahead of the shrine.

Then the shrine come along. There are a bunch of people carrying it and they take turn and push people all around. It was noisy and fun feeling. A lot of the guys were just wearing the shirt and those old Japanese thong underwear. Michelle was really surprise to see all the butts.
We went to see the temple and get some breakfast. At the temple I got a bad fortune so i try another one and it was still bad so I put it back. :)

Takoyaki for 500Y. These were huge and Michelle liked them a lot.
Another shrine, they were coming around the corner and a group of people jumped in and changed out the old carrier.
Another shrine
After a while we got hungry and went to eat at Maguro Bito a converyer belt sushi restaurant. They had people lined up even before they opened. The sushi was actually pretty good.
They even have shrines for kids.
The golden poop building across the bridge.
Michelle really likes the vending machines. We spend quite a bit of money to get drinks on this trip.
We went to Ueno and then walked back to our ryokan. The ryokan is actually in Yasaka near Nippori station so we walked through the big Ueno park to get there.
We went into a yakitori bar for dinner. This is chicken wings.
We ate the chicken wings and then yakitori chicken and liver came. I like the wings the best.

The next day we woke up early again, I think we were a little bit jet lag. We went to the fish market and got there around 7am. This is fresh wasabi.

little baby squids
tuna
octopus. This fish market is really huge and busy.
We went to Sushi Dai a famous sushi bar at the fish market. We waited in line for 2 hours, but that was actually good because the fish market was pretty bloody. It was a really hot day and we got headache waiting though. In any case, by the time we got in we were ready to eat.
I ordered Omikaze (chef choice) and Michelle ordered small set.
This is toro, tuna belly, really good.

uni (sea urchin) and some kind of mackarel. The uni was really really good. I had it before in US, but this is much much better.
michelle's sushi. The chef will put down one or two pieces at a time and you just eat and talk.
tuna, baby shrimps, and something else.
After the fish market we went to Ginza and then Tokyo imperial palace. This is at the Sony building. We walked around and see the new products, cools but expensive. We walked around Ginza just a bit then go to Imperial palace next. The palace is not good because they don't let anyone in. We just walked around the out side a bit, but it was so hot so we went back to take a nap.

Then later in the evening we went out to Akihabara. This area has a lot of electronic stores and cartoon and toy stores.

That night we went to another neighborhood restaurant. This place is run by an old wife and husband team. This is gyoza with chieve and pork. It was really good and juicy.
Then I got ramen noodle, pretty good.


Next is Izu peninsular and then Takayama.

May in Portland

Called mom this morning and talk to her for a while, everything is ok. Mom also talked to Michelle and wished her a hapy birthday.

Wow, it's May already. Yesterday I took Michelle out to Le Pigeon for her birthday. We had foie gras, veal, braised beef cheek, Beaujolais, creme brulee and cappuccino moose. That was a lot of rich food, but it's Michelle's birthday so that's ok.

Today, Saturday, Michelle went to her Toastmaster runabout so I walked to the farmer market and got dill, chive, and mt. hood strawberry starters. I'll plant them on our balcony tomorrow. I also got asparagus, bok choi tips and a box of sweets from the Two Tarts, yummm... Got a hair cut on the way home. Then went out again to get May trimet tickets. I got Basil Chicken from a Thai food cart downtown, but it wasn't that good, kind of dry and they only used a little basil. At pioneer square, there is a legalize marijuana party going on. They were marching down Broadway shouting "free hemp." That's Oregon.
After that I walked to a comic book store in Chinatown for Free Comic Book Day! I picked up a bunch of free comics, but they are a bit of a disappointment. They are more for the kids to get them started. The free comic were really short.
This is a famous donut shop in Portland - Voodoo Donut. There is a big line today for some reason. I've never been inside yet.
Caught the bus home and took a nap and was rudely awoken by insistence hammering upstair AND a crazy rain storm. I mean huge pouring rain, wind, siren, thunder, lighting, what the heck is going on monsoon. I see a huge rainbow now though and all is well.

I got Bruce Lee's The Big Boss from the library so I put that in and had fun watching it. I'm doing a Bruce Lee marathon this past few week. I've seen Game of Death and Fist of Fury (chinese connection) and put in a reserve for Enter The Dragon. 8)

Michell just got home and she got elected as division governor, nice.
signing off.

sacramento trip

We went down to Sacrament to Jodi's wedding. She is Michelle's friend from Banning and they've known each other since girl scout. On the way down, we flew over Crater lake, it was really cool to see it from the plane.

I got a sport coat on sale from Macy, like it? Oh yeah, Jodi and Matt got a really really great champagne from Frasenettis. It has a nice almond taste to it, Nik you should look at this. It was really good and cheap $13 a bottle.


Joe and his giraffe. 8)

Michelle can't kiss on camera

Michelle and her multi racial family. just kidding, these are our table mates.
Joe at the old governor mansion.
Grizzly bear at the California capitol building. We took a tour, it was very nice.
Arnold's office.

We went to Old town Sacramento afterward and walked around a bit. It was so hot, probably high 80s. We're not use to the heat anymore. This is at Joe's crab shack. I got the crab pot, it had half dungeness crab, half snow crab, 6-7 shrimps, a sausage, corn and potatoes. It was good, but it got more and more salty as you keep eating. Afterward we went to a mall to hide from the heat. Then left to go to the airport early to take a rest.