EriqX / Japan 2009 [Pictures]

TOKYO

The first 3 days were spent in Tokyo. We toured Tokyo Tower, traveled to Mt. Fuji, and took to the streets in Ginza.

1-tokyo.jpg - A view of Tokyo from Tokyo Tower 2-tokyo.jpg 3-tokyo.jpg 4-tokyo.jpg 5-tokyo.jpg 6-meg_floor-window.jpg 7-tokyo-tower.jpg - Looking up at the tower 8-tokyo-tower.jpg 9-thank-you.jpg 10-tea-ceremony.jpg - We travel to the Happo-en Garden 11-tea-house.jpg 12-happo-en_building.jpg 13-happo-en_monument.jpg 14-happo-en_lantern.jpg 15-meg_koi-pond.jpg 16-meg_koi-pond.jpg 17-meg_koi-pond.jpg 18-lantern_koi-pond.jpg 19-happo-en_koi-pond.jpg 20-happo-en_koi-pond.jpg 21-happo-en_koi-pond.jpg 22-happo-en_monument.jpg 23-happo-en_lantern.jpg 24-happo-en_lantern.jpg 25-bamboo.jpg 26-meg-dani.jpg 27-bush-building.jpg 28-bonsai.jpg 29-chinzan-so_monument.jpg - Lunch was at the Chinzan-so Garden 30-chinzan-so_pagoda.jpg 31-chinzan-so_pagoda.jpg 32-chinzan-so_pagoda.jpg 33-dani-meg_waterfall.jpg 34-meg-dani_waterfall.jpg 35-samurai-horseman.jpg - After lunch we toured the Imperial Palace 36-nijubashi-bridge.jpg 37-nijubashi-bridge.jpg 38-group-photo.jpg 39-eriq-meg_moat.jpg 40-meg-eriq-mary_boat.jpg - Sumida River sightseeing tour by boat 41-dani-nick_boat.jpg 42-riverboat.jpg 43-riverboat.jpg 44-nakamise.jpg - After the boat docks we navigate Nakamise Street 45-pagoda.jpg 46-incense.jpg 47-senso-ji.jpg 48-meg_art-coffee.jpg - Meg tries the chocolate cookie at Art Coffee in Tokyo 49-crosswalk.jpg 50-mt-fuji.jpg - Day 2 began with the Mt. Fuji tour 51-subaru_fuji.jpg 52-hakone_boat.jpg - A second boat ride takes us to the Hakone range 53-dani-nick_boat.jpg 54-matt-dani-meg_tram.jpg - An aerial tram takes us to the Komagatake summit 55-komagatake-summit.jpg 56-komagatake-summit.jpg 57-lake-ashinoko.jpg 58-lake-ashinoko.jpg 59-mary_summit.jpg 60-tram-structure.jpg 61-nick_summit.jpg 62-eriq-meg_summit.jpg 63-tram.jpg 64-shinkansen.jpg - The famous bullet train 65-train-station.jpg 66-on-the-train.jpg - We ride the bullet train back to Tokyo 67-meg_tokyo-skyline.jpg 68-tokyo-alley.jpg - We try to find our way to Tokyo's Ginza shopping district 69-apple-store_ginza.jpg - The awesome 5-story Apple Store 70-apple-store_ginza.jpg 71-debeers-ginza.jpg - The bendy De Beers building 72-ginza-sidestreet.jpg 73-meg_apple.jpg 74-meg-coffee_ginza.jpg 75-iphone-banner.jpg 76-apple-glass-elevator.jpg 77-apple-elevator-shaft.jpg 78-ginza-street.jpg - Back to the streets 79-mcdonalds_ginza.jpg 80-bikes-cat.jpg 81-ginza-street.jpg 82-wine.jpg 83-rooftop-garden.jpg 84-sidewalk-garden.jpg 85-tanuki.jpg - The infamous and comical Tanuki 86-tunnel.jpg 87-red-train.jpg - We set out again after dark 88-tokyo-overpass.jpg 89-tokyo-overpass.jpg 90-cabs-bikes.jpg 91-city-trees.jpg - The city thru the trees 92-shinagawa-station.jpg 93-celts-irish-pub.jpg 94-meg-beer.jpg - Meg and I try the Ichiban Shibori Muroka 95-dani_train.jpg - After Tokyo we hop a few trains to Kanazawa 96-meg_train.jpg 97-pikachu-train.jpg 98-drunks-wine.jpg - Statues at the train station

KANAZAWA

Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, we settle in to a smaller town for a few days.

1-422.jpg - This clock at Kanazawa station was a water fountain 2-big-gate_kanazawa.jpg - The "Big Gate" at Kanazawa station 3-kanazawa.jpg 4-100yen-shop.jpg 5-kanazawa-alley.jpg 6-long-nosed-devil.jpg 7-stone-lantern_frog.jpg 8-kanazawa-river.jpg 9-kanazawa-bridge.jpg 10-meg-bridge.jpg 11-kanazawa-bridge.jpg 12-bridge-street.jpg 13-kanazawa-river.jpg 14-kanazawa-shop.jpg 15-alley-night.jpg 16-coffee.jpg 17-street-night.jpg 18-meg-aj-nick.jpg - We set out in the morning for the Kenroku-en Garden 19-kanazawa-sidewalk.jpg 20-kenroku-en_lake.jpg 21-kenroku-en_river.jpg 22-kenroku-en.jpg 23-kenroku-en.jpg 24-kenroku-en_bridge.jpg 25-kenroku-en_bridge.jpg 26-kenroku-en_branches.jpg 27-kenroku-en_lantern.jpg 28-kenroku-en_meg-eriq.jpg 29-kenroku-en_nick-meg.jpg 30-kenroku-en_meg.jpg 31-kenroku-en_fountain.jpg - This is the oldest fountain in Japan, operating by natural water pressure 32-kenroku-en_trellis.jpg 33-kenroku-en_lantern.jpg - Kotoji-tōrō lantern 34-kenroku-en_pond.jpg 35-kanazawa-castle.jpg 36-kanazawa-statue.jpg 37-motorcycle-coffeeshop.jpg 38-kanazawa-leg_statue.jpg 39-kanazawa-graveyard.jpg 40-kanazawa-graveyard.jpg 41-buddhas.jpg 42-blob-statue.jpg 43-samurai_district.jpg 44-samurai_district.jpg 45-meg-coffee_shop.jpg - We found a coffee shop run by an old woman on our way to the Geisha district 46-eriq-coffee_shop.jpg 47-geisha-dist_home.jpg - Kanazawa's Geisha district 48-geisha-dist_street.jpg 49-geisha-dist_shinto.jpg 50-kanazawa-night.jpg - A view of Kanazawa from the hill 51-meg-swing.jpg 52-stairway_road.jpg 53-geisha-dist_cat.jpg 54-kanazawa-statue1.jpg 55-kanazawa-statue2.jpg 56-kanazawa-statues.jpg 57-taito-station_hello-kitty.jpg 58-taito-station.jpg 59-kanazawa-pigeons_bike.jpg 60-21st-museum.jpg - Outside the 21st Century Museum 61-spiral-staircase.jpg 62-tanukis.jpg - More Tanukis 63-river-sign.jpg - No feeding the birds, no angry dogs 64-kanazawa-river.jpg 65-suzuki-hello_kitty.jpg 66-bike-flower_pot.jpg 67-kanazawa-station.jpg 68-eriq-deer.jpg - A side trip to Nara, where timid deer roam 69-eriq-deer_jumping.jpg 70-meg-deer.jpg 71-nara-deer_sidewalk.jpg 72-meg-coffee.jpg - More happy coffee moments 73-plush-tanuki.jpg 74-meg-ice_cream.jpg - A random ice cream shop, in an alley, in the front of a woman's house 75-checking-the-map.jpg 76-drink-of-water.jpg 77-nara-meg_street.jpg

KYOTO

Kyoto was the perfect city. Amazing food, shops, and culture. It was the best part of the trip.

1-kyoto.jpg 2-kyoto-intersection.jpg 3-meg-hat_shopping.jpg 4-t-shirts.jpg 5-kyoto-station.jpg - The most impressive structure of the trip 6-kyoto-station_stairs.jpg 7-kyoto-station_stairs.jpg 8-kyoto-station.jpg 9-kyoto-station.jpg 10-kyoto-station.jpg 11-happy-terrace.jpg 12-kyoto-at-night.jpg 13-kyoto-station_stairs.jpg 14-station-night.jpg 15-meg-trains.jpg - We set out in the morning on one of our many day-long walks 16-american-car.jpg 17-meg-tiny_cream.jpg 18-bike-beer-cupholder.jpg 19-socks.jpg 20-harley-davidson_apple-sticker.jpg 21-kyoto-street-night.jpg 22-no-walking.jpg - No walking in the bike lane 23-walk-lane_bike-lane.jpg 24-ladies-clinic.jpg 25-eriq-tattoo.jpg - Getting inked at Catclaw Tattoo 26-meg-bike.jpg - We rented bikes for our last day in Kyoto 27-bikes.jpg - Taking a riding break by the river 28-meg-bike-shop.jpg 29-turtle-rock.jpg 30-eriq-meg.jpg