Tokyo 1998

Tokyo/Oregon 1998


Akihabara (ah key ha bah rah), the electric town. You can get any electronic device here and usually at a great price. This is one of about 1000 shops side by side so the prices must be competitive.		A different place with different shops. These are all gift shops and little trinkets. This place is called Asakusa (ah sah cu sah). I was standing in the middle of this stretch of shops, it goes on equally as far behind me.

A cool Japanese style pagoda. I think it might have been an 'Abe Pagoda'. Get it?		The land of convenience. A beer machine on any given corner. I think they auto-lock around 2am.

Shopping malls go 'up' not 'out' here. There's no room for an American sized mall here, like the Mall of Georgia, so they go up in floors. This was bigger than the picture shows.		I do smile occasionally, when there's a cutie nearby.

Me imitating the God of the mountain. Think I might have ticked him off.		They actually fell for my cheesy Italian accent and phrase "how you doin' ". Never works in the states.

I went to the old town in a part of Tokyo and I was 2 feet taller than everyone.		If you want to Snow Ski and there are no mountains nearby, build your own. Right in the middle of Tokyo.

This is the license plate we all want, the one that says "you legally cannot pull me over for anything". Wouldn't that be nice. It was at a party thrown by the Consulate in Oregon during the second half of the Tokyo/Oregon trip.		The consulate's party included my favorite food, sushi. There were about 12 platters like this and it was all top quality fish.

About a 40 foot hollow metal figure of a buddha, this one is called Daibutsu (die boo tsue). It was built in like 1200 AD. Can you believe that? How did they do that in 1200? It might even have been 900, I can't remember. Wow.		This was the fashion at the time in Tokyo. I saw everyone wearing these. Guys and girls. I thought they looked ridiculous, but took a pic for old times sake. They were like $100 too. Crazy mixed up stuff.

My Japanese class. I love it when people lean way in for a picture and then there is like 5 feet on each side of the photo. Look at the silly pose from the teacher.		They have McDonald's and it tastes about the same. It costs about the same as well, maybe a tad more. It's pronounced Mah cu dough nah ru dough.

I flew from Tokyo to Seattle and then down to Portland. The pilot was kind enough to circle twice so we could all see the top of Mt St Helens. What's left of it.		If you ever fly to Tokyo, here is the International Airport (Narita). Notice the woman screaming in the lower left hand corner.

Groups of young girls always seem to want pictures with tall foreigners. And they always do the peace sign, even today.		Why do planes fly? How does air passing under a certain shape magically lift hundreds of tons in the air. Here is the Pacific ocean at 10,000 feet.

There is an entire plastic food industry. Most restaurants have their menu outside with plastic samples so you can see what it looks like.		Some shrine had a wall of saki stored for a hundred years. Bet that was good, if they ever opened it.
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This guy stood motionless for hours. I don't know what makes someone decide to paint themselves silver and do that, but I tipped him a buck. I should have tried to make him laugh.		this one too.

This building had chains all the way around it. No real purpose but man it looked cool. Chains. I bet they hate it when it's windy and they get knocked out every time they leave.		A) Notice the steering wheel on the right. B) notice the thin car/van across the way