Final few photos from Japan

It's cherry blossom season and the country has gone mad...

… there are tourists everywhere and even Olivia and Julia from the Bay

Early morning Keiko (sumo training) with some trainees that obviously need to eat lots more rice.

The shinto monks at Meiji Jingu performing morning rituals

Daily tuna auction at Tsukijii….at 5am…yawn

'Snow Monkeys' in Jigokudani Park (close to Nagano)… they were all distracted by a young male being 'put in his place' by a dominant male

A day of spring skiing in Hakuba (close to Nagano) with Ralf.  A few locals joined in our impromptu baseball game and had a good laugh

Ghibli: our favorite museum in Tokyo.  Obviously we're not the only ones as the waiting list to get into the museum is about a month long...

Goodbye, Japan… I miss the formal bows already...

Kyoto

The 'Golden' or Kinkakuji temple is the best known temple in Japan, with meticulously upkept gardens.  The army of gardeners in Kyoto never stops working.

The Nijojo fort has rooms with creaky (nightingale) floors to prevent assassins from sneaking up on the emperor.

However, the decorative details...

…and mossy forests were my favorites

We were fortunate to see this friendly couple on their way to be married in one of the temple gardens.  These rickshaws are popular modes of tourist transport in Kyoto… but typically they wear t-shirts

Jex and Bruce reviewing plum and cherry blossom photos..

Origami Kaiken

This small store/museum has amazing pieces of wet folded as well as traditional and unit origami on display.

The fabric on these pieces is hard to tell apart from the real thing.  Even the tree in the background is made of paper

We took a class with Mr. Fukui (author of one of the books) and learned a bit about the wet folding technique  (frilled lizard on left).  Jex also bought a couple of books and we now have dozens of creatures and unit origami pieces all over the apartment.

Hanami

It's cherry blossom season and the parks are overflowing with Hanami picnics.

Temples are quieter areas to view the blossoms without crowds.

This man sells baked sweet potatoes to viewers.  The open fire in the back of his truck is fired with wood timbers.  Scary looking but the potatoes are delicious.

Olivia is visiting from Palo Alto and consulting on Jex's photography.

Taiyaki

On a cold day these fish-shaped pastries are perfect.

They come filled with sweet potato or bean paste.

The 'fish' are baked over hot coals and served piping hot.

…mmm

Back in Tokyo

Locals are obsessive about their favorite restaurants and stores.  They will line up for hours, rain or shine.  Our line up limit is 20mins so obviously we're not very 'local'.

The 'Flying Tiger', a Scandanavian dollar store a few blocks from our apartment , has such long line-ups that security guards are required to police the line-ups.  The store has been open over three months and there's no sign of line-up abatement...

At the gym each piece of equipment has a towel attached to it so that you can wipe it down after use.  

Even the homeless have neat rows of structures and half of them have potted plants on their doorsteps.

Last skiing Post

Lots of wind and stormy weather in Niseko...

…hence lots of fresh powder

Many of the lifts were from a different era.  Some were wooden, single seaters and this one had a conveyor belt to speed up the loading.  Likely a precursor to high speed quads.

Smashed into the Hirafu gondola: Jex, John, Michele, Dirk, Kida, Marin and Linda.  
11-77, not a bad age span!

Hot drinks from the vending machine always gave us energy for that extra hike… or snow angel.