Sunday, November 25, 2007

tokyo

ah, tokyo. at last i feel like i have experienced the city. you know, besides those 3 years that i lived there. anyway, i'll let the pictures do (most of) the talking.


after a comfy and convenient night on the bus, leaving the snowdrifts and rice fields of akita...
we arrived in sunny, balmy, cosmopolitan tokyo. my very first stop was up this familiar hill...

to my old school, ISSH. suprisingly they let me without any hassle to wander around freely. school wasn't in session, it was a parent-teacher conference day, so I explored the eerily familiar grounds proudly sporting my alumni visitor badge. i even got into my old kindergarten classroom!


many a good time was had on this swingset.

the school's centennial celebratory timeline. sadly, my attendance 1987-88 was not noted.

many a skinned knee was had on this astroturf. the school had just had their annual international festival the week before, so i got to see pictures of that. I remember dressing up in my korean hanbok and mashing rice for mochi at the festival back in my day.



and back up another hill...



to my old 'hood




i didn't attempt to get into our old apartment, but it was fun to check out the area again.



next, i headed to nearby roppongi.

mori tower and (below) louise bourgeois' maman creepily squatting at its base

at the entrance to the mori art museum, where i saw roppongi crossing, definitely the perfect pick for the only museum i was able to visit during my stay (contemporary works from mostly japanese artists).

and up the tower to "tokyo city view"


tokyo tower and surrounds...



fuji-san even made an appearance!




oh, the sprawl of it all



after setting up shop at our luxurious capsule hotel, we headed back to roppongi for a night out. we ate at a fun spanish resturant and visited a dance club that provided hairstylists for the ladies free of charge. of course we had to try it...







let's just say there was backcombing involved. modeling our new do's with some girls we met at the club


the next day we visited the senso-ji temple in asakusa.



cathy below the "giant red paper lantern" i promised her we'd see

blessing oneself with the incense smoke.






the sumida river

edel and cathy in front of the infamous flamme d'or building

we finished off the afternoon and evening (window) shopping in and around shibuya. above is hachiko crossing, most likely place to get trampled in all of tokyo?

No comments: