Swine and Pig, Together in Japan Part Deux

For the grand finale of Katie's trip to Japan, she and I took the Shin up to Tokyo and spent four super packed days there. It was SO much fun and we ate amazing food (of course). We also REALLY made an effort to observe and engage in the Tokyo culture. Japan is such a fun, safe, and hilarious country. I really LOVE living here.

Waiting for our Shinkansen. It's also known as the Bullet train and is in the top 3 fastest trains in the world! It's top speed is right around 200 miles/hour. We were able to make it to Tokyo in just over 4 hours. It would have taken about 10 to drive. 

We made it! Roppongi is a happening district in Tokyo and we were able to explore it quite a bit since our hotel was here.

This is a picture in Miraikan: The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. It was SO COOL! In this picture, I'm playing with an animated stuffed animal that is used to help folks with depression. It responded to various types of touch and petting and really moved, sounded, and behaved like a real animal. 

Just holding up the globe. No biggie.

There was the futuristic "town" we could operate in as a character on the screen. It was like using a Kinect - it was all motion operated with our hands.

We were able to watch Asimo, the robot, in action. He could jog, kick a ball, dance, etc. His moves were really loose and limber so it looked more lifelike.

We ate a snack at the museum and I just HAD to point out the option for a "Pork Frunk Dog". I love Japanese translations of English words, LOL.

Underwater pincher fingers!

Yeah, so there's a GIANT robot outside the mall. It lit up at night and was SUPER cool!

Preparing to brave the famous Shibuya crossing. Hundreds of people cross in every which way, including diagonal, every few minutes. It's insanely busy.

I had to.

Only in Japan... you gotta love it. :)

We went to the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden. which is HUGE. It's beautiful though, and we could have spent all day roaming around. It was really quiet and peaceful even though it's completely surrounded by massive and bustling Tokyo.

The French inspired rose garden

We traveled to the famous Meiji Jingu Shrine and came upon an authentic Japanese wedding ceremony!

I can't believe I'm adding this to the blog, as y'all are probably aware of my arachnophobia, but this is a famous structure in Roppongi Hills and I was brave enough to not only look at it, but to get close enough for a picture.

More of the Roppongi Hills area

Katie is really good at capturing unique photos

We tried out a "scary" Japanese cafe and ordered a delicious dessert, chocolate milk, and blood orange juice. Scrumptious! Love the attention to detail.

There was a ridiculous wait to go up in the Skytree Tower, so we decided to see our city view from the Mori Museum Tower later in the day.

So, not as high up as the Skytree, but still a rockin' view of the city.

You can see Mount Fuji in the distance!!

The Mori Art Museum is obviously a home for contemporary art. We were permitted to take pictures of most of it, which I found super awesome.

This was originally an ant farm,hence all the ant trails. I can only imagine how long it would have taken to build all the nation's flags out of sand, then allow little ants to walk through it! Makes for good art though.

I think Katie would move to Japan if she could, LOL. She really embraced the culture and was a pleasure to host. Thank you for sharing this fabulous adventure with us, Swine!

Swine and Pig, Together in Japan Part Uno

The day after the Yamasaki's returned to Yokohama, my sister, Katie (AKA "Swine"), came to stay for two weeks! Don't ask me where the nicknames came from... all I remember is Katie started calling me "Pig" (affectionately believe it or not, LOL) so to retaliate, she was lovingly dubbed "Swine". Since then, Cole has become "Hog" and Joel is known as "Ham". We are weird, I know :-p

Anyhoo, we had a stupendous time showing her around and helping her vegetarianism navigate through this very meat heavy culture.

She looked mighty fresh after traveling for 24 hours straight! I was so proud of her - she made her way from one Tokyo airport to the next via public transportation with no trouble!

I brought her into my office to show her off

And yes, this is Joel being "Bro-Iced". We left a Smirnoff Ice sitting on the floor in the foyer so when he came home, he wasn't able to come in until he completed the ritual. This is a REAL thing folks! HA HA!

We took Katie to our favorite restaurant, Trois, that serves French/Japanese fusion cuisine. The owner is apparently one of Joel's co-worker's relatives so he made us reservations (and apparently when he described us to the owner, he knew exactly who we were. We only eat there about once every six months or so, but I guess we made an impression, LOL). Little did we know that they were going to hook us up with free drinks and a specially made dessert for Katie!!

The nest is actually sugar and was totally edible and delicious!

Katie was able to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball with us this year! We had a little bit of fun on the obstacle course before we went inside.

The wall is WAY more difficult than it looks!

Katie got to meet some of my favorite gal pals!!

Fun times

We had a GREAT table right up front by the guest speaker's podium! 

We took Katie to Hiroshima and ate at one of our favorite places. They had the owner of a local  micro-brewery hosting a game night and sharing his brews with the customers. It was all in Japanese and we were the only English speakers,  but we had a BLAST! In this pic, we are wearing the guys' face, LOL. Katie won a rock-paper-scissors contest and got a bumper sticker!

We went to another AMAZING new restaurant called Tent-o. And guess what?! It was in a tent!!! Their plating was be-u-tiful.

They even had vegetable sushi so Katie could get some of Japan's finest cuisine.

We walked around Peace Park for a while and visited the Museum. It's harsh, but real.

Taking in the sights

You definitely see some fun, interesting things walking around Japan

Katie had an AWESOME panoramic setting on her camera

Took the Swine to Miyajima Island and introduced her to mochi , which is pounded sweet rice with various sauces. This one was green tea.

She was so excited to try Dr. Fish and then freaked out and couldn't do it! In her defense, it is one of the weirdest sensations EVER having little fish eating the skin off of your feet, but what an experience!!

The precious deer of Miyajima Island

My brave sister went back to Miyajima on her own and hiked up Mount Misen!

THEN she went back to Hiroshima on her own (Joel and I had to work). She walked into a restaurant and said, "Watashiwa vegetarian-des" and they understood... kinda. The soup was all veggies, noodles, and tofu, but the broth was PORK! Katie was super respectful though and ate what she could, even though she hasn't had anything meat-ish in years!

Katie loved how the Japanese restaurants have fake food in their windows so you can see what they serve. This was one of our favorites!

Next blog: Swine and Pig take on Tokyo!