Exploring!

A friend and I were on our way to a Buddhism class the other day, and we got lost. By the time we found the place, the class was half over, so we didn't bother. However, that did not ruin our day! We trekked all over the surrounding hills and found some cool shrines and a cemetery.

More Flowers

One amazing thing about Japan is that flowers bloom all year around. The winters (at least in our area) are short and mild, so something is always blooming.

Battling Bugs

I came across a game in an arcade that stopped me dead in my tracks. You battle beetles against each other!! What will they come up with next?

Coin Machines

Here are a couple of coin machines that caught my eye that I just had to share. They have the funniest and silliest things in these. I give you dangling Star Wars characters, and squirrels playing rugby!

The Mommas!

All of us with the Buddha in Kamakura

We had our moms over to visit us during the holidays! They were here 3 weeks and we had a blast. They really enjoyed themselves, and we loved getting to spend time with them. We took our time showing them around since we had so much time with them. We showed them Mt. Fuji, the suicide forest, Tokyo, Kamakura, and everything in between. They had delicious crepes, sushi, ramen, went to an owl cafe, fed pigeons at a shrine, picnicked on Mt. Fuji (on the clearest and BEST day EVER to view the mountain, I might add!), became pros at the train system, fell in love with the convenient stores (you simply cannot understand their grandness unless you go to one in Japan), and so much more. There was a gorgeous sunset the evening they left to go back. It was a perfect trip!

Fast Fish!

We were in Tokyo last week and found a neat sushi-go-round (aka sushi place that uses a conveyor belt to serve your food). This one was different because while general dishes you can grab are on the conveyor belt, the food you order comes out on a bullet train on a train track above the belt! It's so cool!! They had a great variety of sushi, too - they even had duck!! It was soooo good. Their fried octopus was on point, too. Best I've had yet in Japan.

Plastic Critters

Coin machines are huge here in Japan. You can find them everywhere, especially in malls and arcades. They can be stacked as much as 4 or 5 high and take up an entire wall. They have the coolest little things in them. Neat and weird little toys and figurines. Key chains and nicknacks. There are several that I want, and I finally caved and got a couple. When I say weird, I mean they have things like super realistic sushi and insects, cats inside sushi, various anime figurines that are designed to hang from your computer monitor, toys that appear to pass gas or poop, extinct animals.... you name it, you can get it from these coin machines. It's so much fun to browse them and just see all the wild things you could get. The two machines I hit up had hamsters inside food and pets drinking alcohol. I was really wanting a hamster in a cup of coffee and a dog drinking beer, but instead I got a hamster in a tub of popcorn and a cat drinking wine! But they are awesome and I love them! I want to start collecting these adorable little figurines. Not sure what I'll do with them.... maybe get a shadow box to display them, but I just love them!!