randomly, japan pictures

because no one has seen them and i needed to learn how add pictures anyways, i give you japan: the abridged version.

my parents spent several months in 2004 living in a hotel room in tokyo; hey, it beats saudi and i got to go visit them. so here you have it, mostly.


tokyo from the prudential tower. this is what i was staring at while i was on aim with you kids at odd hours of the day and night (because i know you wondered). i spent endless hours contemplating this view when the concrete, heat, and crowds left me too overwhelmed to venture into the city. there are endless highrises like this in EVERY direction, it's the most enormous city i've ever seen -- but amazingly clean. i was definitely the most culture shocked i've ever been, which is why someone is coming with me when i return (hint, hint...)


the japanese gardens at makuhari (a district in tokyo) were absolutely immaculate, thanks to the team of gardners in little blue jumpsuits and white gloves. it's an oasis of calm five minutes from the subway stop; i love such contradictions.


my mom and me by the giant reflecting ball in ueno park; we didn't actually intend to be in the picture, but there was really no way to refuse the nice lady who offered to take it for us. life is amusing.


hachiko square in the shibuya district; you may recognize it from "lost in translation." there were soooo many people there, even late at night. it's one of the hip parts of town, which made me feel especially touristy.

i was in japan for a total of two and a half weeks. the first weekend, moonie-san (my dad's beyond amazing secretary) booked us a trip to the hot springs in hakone.


this is our ryokan room at the hakone hot springs. what you see is what you get, size-wise; at night you pull the mattresses out of the closet and sleep around the table on the floor. definitely efficient.


lake ashi in hakone has funny little pirate ships for the tourists, on which i got the most terrible sunburn ever. if you saw me last 4th of july (an entire month later), you know what i'm talking about. so worth it, though.


the lake ashi pirate ship included an imposing pirate who towered over all of the tourists. well, all except me.


dad and me in the woods by lake ashi.


"gaijin never know when to take off their shoes."
we discovered this pair of decently nice shoes inexplicably abandoned in the woods. noticing the small turd next to them led to a good hour of hilarity trying to explain this strange phenomenon.


the steam rising from the owakudani nature trail (also in hakone) smells so overwhelmingly of sulfur that it's a fight to hold in your lunch. once you get to the top, you're supposed to eat eggs that have been boiled in the springs until their shells turn black; legend has it that they extend your life. talk about nausea! but i did it, my life is magically longer now, and i got "hello kitty as a black egg" phone flair out of the deal. ;)


i love this picture of fuji-san through the clouds at owakudani. some day i WILL climb that mountain...


the hakone glass forest was an amazing discovery. they had glass sculptures on the grounds, in the buildings, and even floating in the river. i don't know why it exists, but it is absolutely magical.


a tree in the hakone glass forest; the leaves are little glass crystals. very awesome.

the other escape from tokyo was a trip to nikko on the bullet train. i refused to take a stupid tourist picture of dad "racing" the train, but i guess i probably should have... anyways, nikko is up in the mountains and proved to be an excellent escape from the opressive heat that lasted, oh wait, only as long as i was in japan.


rinnoji temple, part of the nikko world heritage site (which has some of the oldest surviving shrines in the country, if i remember correctly).


the carvings on the toshogu shrine at nikko were amazingly detailed. there were something like fifty plants and animals carved along this wall.


the pagoda at the toshogu shrine site.


and finally, the original hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys on the sacred stable at nikko. the poor sacred horse that resides in this stable must be epilleptic from all of the camera flashes...

so there you have it, or part of it. maybe someday i'll even finish my actual scrapbook and you'll be special enough to see it. haha.