Tokyo Trip

Hey Folks, we're jumping out of the normal routine here and I'm (Curtis) gonna post for once. Deana and Avery are playing with her leap frog thing-a-ma-jig (that sounds Japanese, huh?) and I thought I'd play on the computer for a change.

We went into Tokyo today (Saturday) with our friends, Mike and Michelle. I worked with Mike at the Smyrna plant about 4 years ago and we did time together in Japan on a project about 6 years ago, so we already knew each other. That made meeting up and getting together a bit easier when we arrived here. They have an 8 year old girl and a 3 year old girl, so Avery likes hanging out with them too.

Anyway, we rode the bus into the Yokohama station and took the subway into the Tokyo area. The purpose of the trip was to take the girls to the huge Hello Kitty shop. It was 7 floors and had more junk... uh, I mean toys, than you could imagine. We bought Avery a stuffed dog because that's what she had to have (Only our daughter would buy a DOG at a KITTY store) go figure.

While we were at the Hello Kitty shop, Deana and Michelle went into a China Bazaar shop with loads of Chinese trinkets and souvenirs. Deana bought a mouse pad of two sumo wrestlers fighting for us to use here at the house. When I go to grab the mouse, all I can see is the "backside" of a sumo wrestler. Nice...

We walked around a lot and man, was it crowded. We were near Harajuku and Shibuya station in the Tokyo area. We ate lunch at T.G.I. Fridays. It was great, but pricey. We also found a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and the girls HAD to have a box of doughnuts. Any takers on a guess of the cost of a dozen? Anyone? Try $16. Sounds high to me, but I haven't bought any back home in ages, so maybe it's not too bad.

We walked back to the Shibuya station and crossed the "scramble". It's an area where several roads come together and every 3 to 4 minutes, all traffic lights go red and it's a free for all crosswalk. Supposedly, more people cross through this intersection on a daily basis than any other anywhere. Here are some before and after photos so you can see the difference. It's nuts.

I'm also posting a picture of a store called Condomania just because I can't stand not to. Sorry if you find it offensive. I saw the building and immediately told Deana we had to have a photo. This place is right in the middle of everything - not at the end of a dark deserted alley or anything. It's not in a bad area either. It was just too funny not to share. It's too bad the picture is a little fuzzy. Check out the "mascot" on the upper right side of the building.

On the way into the station, we passed two girls holding signs saying "Free Hugs" I SO don't understand this place sometimes. Avery partook in the hugging and they laughed and thought it was cute. I didn't push my luck - fear of rejection I guess. They didn't have a line of people or anything. Just funny.

We're really pumped up about our air shipment coming in tomorrow. It's going to be like Christmas. Especially when we unwrap our air mattress!! I've been sleeping on the floor for a week and I can't wait to upgrade to outdoor camping level of sleeping. We'll get our real beds in another month. Our kitchen contents are coming with this shipment also so we can FINALLY start cooking some meals. We'll also be getting Avery's birthday present with our shipment just in time for her Birthday. Deana is going to make a cake and Mike and Michelle are coming back over tomorrow afternoon to celebrate with us. Her actual birthday is Monday, but since I have to work all day, we're going to celebrate on Sunday.

Speaking of work, things are going well for me (some of you have asked). The guys I work with are very nice and helpful. Two of them speak English, but the rest do not. The work is tough and demanding, but we knew it would be going in. The hours are 9:00 to 6:00, but most people are there before 8:30 and no one leaves before 6:30. It takes me about an hour to commute to work. My commute consists of a 2 block walk to the bus station, a 10 minute bus ride to the train station, a 20 minute train ride to my destination, then about a 20 minute walk to work. It's really not bad as long as the weather is nice (which is has been lately). It will be a different story when it gets hot and rainy.

I'll close out with a few other pictures from today. If you happen to post a question, be sure to check back to see if we answered it. We are trying to answer posted questions within the comment sections in the post.