Scorpion metal kit series

The instructions on how to build it were in Japanese...thank God for instructions with illustrations.

Soda Can Robug

Airplane at Narita Airport

Equipment to cleansing the buttocks with warm water

No Smorking on Tokyo street

Wavy building in Tokyo

Early morning visit to Hanazono Shrine

Blogging on my trip to Korea and Japan

This is the first time that I have brought a computer on my trip and blogged during my travels and I must say that it has been a success. The broadband connection in my room in Seoul was fast and free. The broadband connection in my room in Japan was fast and cheap [525 Yen (5.57 US Dollars at the going rate of exchange currently) for 24 hours]. I have thoroughly enjoyed telling you about my travels as they happen (or soon afterwards).

I will miss Don Quixote in Shinjuku

I will miss the Don Quixote in Shinjuku (and in Roppongi, to a lesser extent). Continue fighting windmills with your playful and kitschy stuff.

Tokyo Hand Yokohama

This one was different, but still in many ways the same.

No cute blue puppies with red spots in the mall

Weird...and what are those red things? Cheeks?

No balloons in the mall

OK, I sort of understand this one because the mall's ceiling was pretty high. Then again, if the balloons are filled with helium, then won't they eventually foat to the ground?

No radical skateboard moves in the mall

...and especially no wearing a baseball cap when your skateboarding either.

There is a clock on the ferris wheel, so that you can tell at what time you threw up on the roller coaster

Waiting in line for the pachinko parlor on a Saturday morning in Tokyo

Kaiten Sushi in Asakusa

I splurged a little and went to my favorite unusual conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

Can you guess what these items are?

Enjoying monkey-faced candy on the train from Nikko to Tokyo

Because of the "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" monkey carving at the Tosho-gu Shrine, one of the souvenirs to take home from a visit to Nikko is money-themed items, like candy and cookies.

Nikko Beer

They use the spring water from the National Park...you can tell.

Thick white noogles

Menu items at a Nikko restaurant. Good food, bad spelling

Shinkyo Sacred Bridge

Stone lantern offering at the Nikko shrines and temples

It is never a good idea to make the gods angry, as you can see by this statue at the Nikko shrines and temples

Elephants at the Nikko shrines and temples

The elephants carved at the Nikko shrines and temples look like they were carved by someone who had never actually seen a real elephant.

Me at Tosho-gu Shrine

Don't throw the coin into the sacred spring

Combination ticket sign at Tosho-gu Shrine

All you need is love emas at the Tosho-gu shrine

An ema is a wooden votive tablet. The ema is offered up at a shrine or a temple as a substitute for donating a live animal to deities for assistance in the achievement of some object, written on the back of it.

Metal lantern at Tosho-gu Shrine

Fern stone lantern at Tosho-gu Shrine

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil on the Shinkyusha - Sacred Stable

A relief depicting the lifecycle of the monkey

Tickets for Nikko's shrines and temples

Shoyo-en Edo period garden

Nikko 543 m above the sea

When it gets too hot in Tokyo in August, head for the mountains.

There is always a line at the Shinjuku Krispy Kreme in Tokyo

It is 6PM on a Thursday and there is a 15 minute wait for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee.

Can a person be in love with a store?

I love Tokyu Hands. Each branch of the store is a little different, but I love every one collectively and individually.

Pocari Sweat water bottle in Tokyo

Black cotton swab

With a black cotton swab, now you can see all the crusty yellow-white earwax.

Me eating whale meat in a can in Tokyo

Me eating whale jerky in Tokyo