Japan photos slideshow

For the last week, whenever I haven't been sleeping or working, I've been going through the hundreds and hundreds of pictures from the trip. I've finally managed to whittle it down to about 100. If you can stand to sit through all of them, here they are:
http://www.scredco.com/japan/

Back in RI

We're home. Only one snag on the return trip - an unplanned overnight stay in Philadelphia last night because of a delay in one connecting flight that caused us to miss our final connecting flight to Providence. But, we're here now, and still trying to figure out what day it is and what time it is and how weird it is that we lived 2 Fridays and that today is Saturday and not Sunday, even though it is Sunday in Japan. This is a picture of a gift from Rui. He reproduced the Providence Journal illustration of the baseball world showing the distance from Boston to Japan, signed by Rui and his friends Junco and Sumumu.

In Narita Airport

We're in Narita airport, about to board our 12 hour flight to Toronto. Not sure if there'll be time for posting again in Toronto. It was such a great trip. Rui was the best!!!!

Karaoke!!

After dinner at a Yakatori restaurant (yes, we branched out once again. This time we sampled sake and shochu as well as food!) with Rui and 2 of his friends, we went to a Karoke parlor. It was like in "Lost in Translation", kinda. We had our own private room. It was fun! I'll say no more - this picture should say it all. They're singing, what else but "Sweet Caroline."

Asakusa

We checked out of our hotel in Akasaka and checked into a Japanese Ryokan in another part of the city called Asakusa. The hotel in Akasaka felt a little generic - like we could have been in any city. Asakusa feels much more like being in another country. There were loads of tourists on the streets, but locals go there too. There's a long shopping street (picture on right) with store after store, jam packed with local food and souvenirs. The street leads to Sensoji (Asakusa Kannon Temple. picture on left). We did a little shopping there. Its a great people -watching place too. We kinda wished we had been there all week.

Food update

You'll be happy to know we finally branched out of Indian food and went for lunch at a Soba noodle restaurant. It was delicious! I got veggie tempura with mine. Greg had his with chicken. Not too far of a stretch, but delicious!

Cherry Blossoms!

Yesterday we went to Chidori ga fuchi Park and saw the cherry blossoms! They're not quite in full bloom, but probably 70% and their pink speckles blanketing the park was really something to see!