Dina enjoying a beignet

New Orleans Feb 2009

Father's day at Hokkaido

All the action at table 14

The Paparazzi at table 14.

Sure, Lee would dance in his chair, but would he dance on the "dance floor"?

The Oakes.

Kayla, hamming it up for the camera once again.

And all the pretty people on table 17.

Then there were those people way over on table 3.

A Few More, but I know there are better "Snaps" out there.

I can't take credit for this picture of the cake. I just handed my camera to Dina and told her to take a picture of "the cake" for me.

And more of the ceremony.

Melissa and Josh are looking for a few choice "snapshots" so if you have some to share, forward them to her. We'd like to see some more too, and you can post them here as well.

Congratulations Mel and Josh

What a great time we had. The day was flawless, the company was grand. Even the weather cooperated (OK, so it was 25 degrees cooler than earlier in the week, but we weren't dining outdoors anyway).

Congratulations to Josh and Melissa. We wish them all the best.

Donkey Ha Ha!

Fanning the fish (above), Donkey Ha Ha (below).



The parks in Tokyo are full of cherry blossoms and people rearrange their work schedules (those that still have jobs) to allow time during the day to visit them.
And where there are gatherings of people there are vendors selling food. Everything from barbecued fish on a stick to deep fried spaghetti, and of course in this baseball crazy city, Hot Dogs.

The national unemployment rate is currently at a disastrous 4.5 percent here in Japan. A rate that Californians, or Americans in general would be glad to have.

Happy Easter Wedding in Tokyo?

It's Easter Sunday here in Tokyo and the only sign of Easter are the throngs of tourists here on Easter/Spring break. There are no other signs of Easter, as in little kids searching for hidden eggs or colorful foil wrapped solid chocolate rabbits. Unless you consider this to be a sign of Easter.

Then there are these two girls.

But I think they dress like this normally.

And, this IS Japan so you'll see women dressed like this as well.

The tulips ARE blooming so that at least is a sure sign of spring.

OK, pansies too.

We spent the day visiting the Meji Shrine located in a rather large wooded park in the center of Tokyo.

We've seen weddings there before but today, in the course of an hour or so, we saw at least half a dozen weddings going on.

A bride with a labor intensive hairdo.

Changing into post wedding garb.

A procession heading for the shrine.

It was all very orderly, and never did one wedding overlap or run into another despite all the tourists taking pictures (guilty).

A procession after the wedding ceremony. We were not allowed to see the actual ceremony. We only witnessed the processions parading to and from the ceremony which took place in inside the shrine. The groom's family and friends line up single file behind him and the bride's behind her.

There was even this Caucasian guy marrying a Japanese girl. Friends and family flew in for the wedding.

Portraits after the ceremony.

Not sure if we need to buy a vowel here.

But it still is spring here and the cherry blossoms are at their peak now. The weather has warmed into the seventies accelerating the process.

We made our way over to the Ginza. We didn't even try to enter these stores.

The good thing is we're not still in Thailand where things are falling apart once again.

We'll be heading home in a few days to do our taxes. See everyone in a few weeks at yet another wedding.

A Cherry Blossom Birthday

We arrived in Japan yesterday (3 April) and it's COLD here. We got off the plane from Bangkok and it was wet and 35 degrees in Tokyo. OK it was six in the morning.
We decided to take the bus into town from the airport (60 dollars) and after the hour and twenty minute trip we arrived at Shinjuku station, right smack in the morning rush. Two million people go through Shinjuku station on any given business day, the largest station in all of Japan, and they all end up on the streets. It's all very organized here with people walking on the left hand side of the street, until you get to a crosswalk, then it's a free for all.

Our first full day in Tokyo and it's Alan's birthday so we did, as he would say, something HE wanted to do FOR A CHANGE. Funny how it turns out that we often do things we both want to do anyway.
Anyway, it's cherry blossom time, although it's still in the early stages, so we went to gardens in Shinjuku, and spent the day there with about twenty thousand other people who had the same idea.

We had a great time, and a great day. No birthday cake but plenty of sushi, ramen, and katsu curry, mmmmm.

And it even warmed up into the mid sixties.