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  • Tour of Tokyo

    Scale Model 01
    Scaled Model 03 (Boat)
    Scale Model 02 – Detail

    Bus tour w/Yuri

    Drove past the Emperor’s Place

    Edo Period Museum

    Beautiful scaled models of Old Tokyo City

    • Scale Model 01
    • Scale Model 02
    • Scaled Model 03 (Boat)

    Lunch near Red Gate

    Group Lunch

    An elderly man tried to speak to me in English

    Shopping after lunch

    Exchanged money w/Yuri
    My “local bank”

    Geisha Theater

    Daimo de jour!!

    Shopping in Harajuku

    Bought: Tea pot & T-shirts

    Very LARGE dinner at Ikebukuro in downtown Tokyo

    Actually a feast!!

    Back at Akasu home

    Yuri and her brother looked up in dictionaries what the tea set said
    Writings of an ancient poet

    – Andrew
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  • Kamakura, Japan

    Note – All images are scanned from slide film.

    Kamakura Train Station
    Temple Front
    Temple Roof Detail
    Sake barrels
    Little girl elaborately dressed
    Apex Detail 01
    Statue Detail 01
    Apex Detail 02
    Children Statues 01
    Children Statues (Detail)
    Bronze Buddha
    Bronze Buddha (Head Detail)
    Incense Burner (Detail)
    Open Air Market
    White Dragon protecting a coin pond
    Watering Stand w/Cat
    Bronze Dragon Shrine
    Dragon at the end of the tunnel
    Which way to go?
    Walk way into Cliffs 01
    Looking out from a tunnel
    Map (General)
    Map (Detail)
    Prayer Wall

    Temple/Shrine Island

    This was a fascinating island.

    After walking through a small little town with many open air markets, we proceeded to the top of the island.

    Once at the top, you are greeted by a White Dragon protecting a coin pond. We briefly stop to make an offering, and then continue down the walk way.

    As you walk, you see many more Shrines and Temples…

    • Watering Stand w/Cat
    • Bronze Dragon Shrine
    • Prayer Wall

    Ocean Side of the Island

    Map (General) & Map (Detail)

    Once you get to the back side of the island, which faces the ocean, there is a wood walk (green) way that is built into the cliffs.

    In two separate areas, there are tunnels (yellow) that go into the cliffs.

    • Walk way into Cliffs 01
    • Looking out from a tunnel
    • Split in the tunnels

    At the end of the tunnels, there are mysteries to be found!!

    Train back was during late “Rush Hour”

    Dinner at Akasu’s

    During Dinner an Earthquake of a magnitude 3.0 hit

    When I first felt the quake, I thought that it was a large truck, but as the Akasu family looked around, and a door swung open, I began to know there was something more to this.

    The Akasu family informed me that I had just witnessed an earthquake!!

    After some time, the local TV stations began to report the tremors.

    – Andrew
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  • Culture Day – Japan

    Note – All images are scanned from slide film.

    Tokyo Tower 01
    Guard Gate 01
    Guard Gate 02
    Dwarf Pine trees
    Samurai Warrior Monument
    Tokyo Tower 01

    Culture Day (Japan)

    This morning I woke up around 04:00 A, and I have been puttering about the room. Getting the presents together to
    take over later.

    07:00 Breakfast

    09:00 Meet Mr. Akasu in the lobby

    Back to his home for the first time

    • We exchanged gifts
    • We watched the Waterloo Gardens tape

    First experience on the Japanese train system

    See the young men walking around in full decorative dress with wooden shoes that sounded like horses on
    a cobble stone road.

    Bus tour took us by…

    • Emperors place
      • Walked around the Emperor’s Place…
        • 500 yrs to build
        • 2013 Dwarf Pine trees in the Main Compound
        • Over 3 miles in circumference around the compound
      • Monuments
        • Samurai Warrior
      • The small stones around the gates where used to detect when someone approaching
        • Guard Gate 01
        • Guard Gate 02
    • The Diet (Japanese Government Building)
    • Russian Embassy
    • Tokyo Tower
      • Tower 1
      • Tower 2

    Dinner at the Akasu’s

    Agadashi and Delivered Sushi!!

  • Arrive Tokyo/Narita

    We finally arrived at Narita airport just as the sun was going down. I got to see some of the southern part before it was too dark.

    Getting through the airport was a breeze. My luggage was the first off, and there was no problems with customs.

    Mr. Akasu and another gentleman picked me up, and drove me to the hotel.

    On the way to the hotel, we passed the Indoor Skiing place. I was told that it contained a 300 ft. slope, and was open year round.

    I was also amazed to see children, and single women freely walking or riding bikes around after dark.

    I also noticed many vending machines, that serve food, beer, cigs, etc. They are all over the place!

    We finally arrived at the Dai-Ichi Hotel Hikarigaoka around 20:00 . I was checked into Room 612, and said good night to Mr. Akasu.

    I got to the room, unpacked and crawled into bed.

    While laying in bed, I was channel surfing, and I came across a show that had people sitting in wooden tubs, and they would have liquid poured over them, and I think they had to guess what the mixture was.

    Another scene had the contestants running through corn fields, and strapped to their back was a 6 ft long bamboo shaft attached to the persons back, with a little yellow flag attached. They would then end at a table which had different plates of food covered with tops, and once again they had to guess what it was.

    I think I finally fell asleep around 22:00 P (Local)

  • Start of the Adventure

    10:00 - UA Flt#195 - Philadelphia->Chicago/Ohare (2B)
12:30 - UA Flt#881 - Chicago/Ohare->Tokyo/Narita (3A)

    Once again, I managed to sleep through my alarm!

    Holly woke me up with her phone call.

    We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

    I checked in and went to the First Class lounge, were I had two cups of Cappuccino and then called Brian with a final check in.

    On the plan from Phily to Chicago, I noticed a very tall black man moving through the First Class cabin.

    As he took off his long leather jacket, first I noticed that the jacket was as tall as I was! I also realized that it was Julius Erving!! a.k.a. “Dr. J”!!

    The flight for the most part was uneventful. The gentleman next to me, did have a death grip on his seat during some of the turbulence.

    In Chicago, Dad was waiting for me at the gate, and then we headed to the First Class lounge. We did wait and see “Dr. J”.

    Finally, we got on the plan for Tokyo and we settled in. Your personal area was huge! One could fit another seat in front of you.

    The first meal that was served seemed to me endless. Caviar, smoked salmon, crackers, cheese, fruit, etc.

    For my main meal, I got the Japanese meal which actually turned out to be quite large, and had some beef! After that, there was another round of cheese & fruit, then the desert, which I did not partake in.

    The two movies shown were “Speed” and “The Shadow”. I had already seen “Speed” on my trip to LA last week.

    I was never able to sleep during the plane trip. I tried on several occasions, but I would sleep for 5-10 minutes and then wake up!

    I do remember flying over parts of Alaska. The endless ranges of snow covered mountains. So isolated. Nothing in sight. Just snow and mountains.

    – Andrew
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