Japan

We like to tag along with Jeff whenever we can when he travels for business.  The opportunity came up to go to Japan and with a really good deal on cashing in frequent flyer miles, Jack, Grace, and I went with him and his co-workers.  We landed in Tokyo then immediately hopped on a high speed train to Himeji, about 3 hours, which is a "small town".  Actually about 1/2 million people.

All of Japan's vending machines look like this:  Awesome "old school"

Business' closed doors, cool design

Flower shop

A lot of doors have this kind of entrance.  You push the pad and it slides open.

Himeji castle (under renovation)

The first day in the city, we visited the local zoo.

Stroller:  Good thinking!

Cafe where we ate lunch

Alley shopping

We were very surprised at how few people spoke English.  This was even true in Tokyo.  Maybe we were not in the right places, but we thought the communication barrier would be more difficult in Japan than in China until you learn the language. 

Now on to Kyoto, home of the famous Geishas and lots of beautiful temples.  We were set up to take a bus tour of Kyoto and visit several Buddhist temples.

Garden at the first Buddhist temple

 

Bamboo to build tree canopies

Building the scaffolding

 

Outside of the temple

Second temple we visited

Purifying area

Purifying area outside the temple gates

Cute Japanese lady

Then we went back to Tokyo for the rest of the weekend.  These are the views from our hotel room.  We were in Japan when the small earthquake happened, but we did not feel anything.  We were in Himeji at the time, although Tokyo was said to have felt it.