Our feet hurt

We are in two rooms in our Tokyo hotel. They didn't have one room with three beds so Don is across the hall. It's actually not a bad deal because the rooms here are tiny! It feels very much like a cruise ship room. We wake up early because we have no clue what time it is. Today we explore Tokyo via subway. Getting our tickets was a challenge but after we figured that out it was good. We rode and walked for 8 hours. Our feet really hurt. We went to a Nisaan race store. Don and Sean liked that. Then we walked to the fish market, it was crazy crowded. 

We were walking towards the Imperial palace and there were crowds of people. We started following the crowds and eventually figured out what it was all about. The Japanese build a shrine for a ceremony of Thanksgiving in November. The palace is only open the public two times a year and this was one of them. Until December 2nd they let people in to see the grounds and the shrine. It was a long walk and a long slow line to see a pretty plain shrine. Not sure I would do that again. It seemed to mean a lot to the Japanese.

This is the scene we waited in line for..

Day 3 in Japan Thanksgiving

This was a crazy way to spend Thanksgiving. I was really glad we had Thanksgiving dinner at home before we left or I would have been sad. I didn't take any pictures at home but Carter, Alika, David and spouses and Catherine's family all came for dinner.
We rode the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. I thought Osaka and Kyoto were such typical cities, I felt like I could be in Chicago minus the Japanese signs. Tokyo, screams "YOU ARE IN JAPAN!"

 

Subway ride after the bullet train, headed to our next hotel.

Really bad sushi train. We left after 3 plates and went to a Tepenyaki place. I know it''s bad but I prefer the Americanized version of Japanese food.

We went to the Robot Show. That was a loud bizarre show. It was like putting on the Macy Day parade in 5000 square feet. I'm glad we did it but I wouldn't do it again.

We were back to the hotel and asleep by 8 pm.

Day 2 in Japan

I thought the escalator at the Atlanta airport was tall. It's nothing compared to the ones at the "Cube" in Kyoto. They keep going and going and going.

That's  a lot of stairs.

 At the top of the "Cube." I'm not quite sure what it is, it's a mall and the top of the train station. It was really windy and cold.

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We were trying to find an indoor activity so we weren't out in the wind so went to the aquarium. They had some cool fish and salamanders. The dolphin show was lame.

Don wanted to eat at a beef bowl restaurant. Don and I liked it, Sean not so much.

We were walking back to our hotel and Don saw a crane shop. We went inside and talked to the owner and at 3 we went back to learn to make cranes. I don't know how you make a living teaching people to make cranes but apparently it's a thing. I think it's just a retired couple who own the building or part of the building. While Don and Sean were making cranes we saw a lot of police outside. The man whose English was limited and his wife told us the Emperor of Japan was going to pass in front of the store at 3:45 on his way to the train station. We stood outside at watched the motorcade and waved to the Emperor of Japan. Kind of a cool thing to do.

Video of the motorcade.

Emperor of Japan

Day 1 in Japan

Day one was with the tour group we went to a park famous for deer. Lots and lots of deep wandering around. One tried to ear my sweatshirt.

Temples on the grounds where the deer are.

Man, I love the toilets in Japan. They have got it going on. There have been a couple squatty pottys but the majority are heated toilet seats with heated bidets and self flushing. Some toilets even have a privacy sound so if you are making a lot of noise you can mask the sound with a recording of continuous toilet flushing.

We stopped at a shopping center in Kyoto and we ate at a sushi train. Sean was happy.

HUGE shopping center.

This was a really long day. It was dark when we made it to a shrine. Very pretty in the dark.

Washing their hands before going to the shrine.

I'm not sure why this one piece was written in English but it made a cool picture.