2nd weekend in Japan

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Konban wa again... well it is about 9pm on Tuesday night of my last week here and I am finally getting around to updating all of you on what has been going on.

On the 2nd Saturday I was here, we actually had snow flurries in the morning.  Other parts of Tokyo had actual snow on the ground - from what I hear and read in the paper, that is NOT the norm for mid-April in these parts.  It then rained for a bit but by mid afternoon it was up in the mid 50's -- very strange weather!  We have had a lot of rain over the 3 weeks but most of it has not been too heavy, except for one night when the rain wasn't too hard but it was really cold and the wind was blowing something awful and naturally we had to walk a ways from the train station to the restaurant.  But all in all the weather has been ok but I sure am glad I bought that coat!!

Michelle (the girl from the UK) and I  (Karen was studying!) took the Yurikamome train (the one by our hotel) and went to Venus Fort.  It is a 4 story outlet mall that has a big kiddyland on the ground floor.  We did some window shopping -- prices were a bit steep and I really don't think they had anything in my size since I am a bit taller (and wider, ahem) than most Japanese women.  It is a really big place and has a small casino in it on one of the floors.  Not sure if it is a full blown casino or just one that is open for certain events.  There is also an amazing fountain on one of the floors and another has a painted ceiling that looks real and even goes from day to night!  There is also a car museum showing various American, British, European and Japanese vintage cars.  Pretty cool.   There is also and actual Toyota dealership there too.

But I have to tell you that the wackiest thing we saw was the shop that was full of clothes and strollers and toys for DOGS!!  They always say Americans are a little bit crazy about their pets but I think we have been outdone!  They were also having some sort of thing with Dachsunds cause they were everywhere....including on the mall flyer.  Most were dressed up and some in the strollers.  I think Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) would be shaking his head in amazement.    We did see a few dogs that were actually walking and some that were au natural, but....

When we were done at the outlet mall, we got back on the train and came back to Daiba (where the hotel is) and did some walking around Aqua City -- if you remember, it is a mall NOT a water park!-- and just hung out and relaxed.  It was really nice... there is a little park down there by the harbor and it has a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

On Sunday some of the group went to Disneyland but 2 of the guys -- Mike and Aaron -- and I decided to go visit the market and Buddhist temple at Asukusa (it is a section of Tokyo).  We took the Ginza line of the Tokyo Metro subway.  The subway and train system in general is pretty amazing and it doesnt take too long to get your bearings in it. 

We got to Asukusa and it is pretty amazing that right in the middle of the bustling city, with all the modern buildings there is an area with an open market and a large Buddhist temple surrounded by numerous statues.

I stood by the cleansing cauldron -- doubt if they call it that but that's what it looked like to me -- and cleansed myself in the smoke before I entered the temple.  I bought some ebony prayer beads and made an offering.

We also got to see the arrival of a bride and groom for a traditional Buddhist wedding.... something I found out the next day was very rare.There were also several women in traditional dress with extremely elaborate obis -- not sure if they were part of the wedding party or just there visiting like the rest of us.

And I was able to find a shop selling kimono fabric and obi brocade remnants -- leave it to me to go halfway around the world to go fabric shopping!

We were going to go to the Imperial Gardens but by that time we were hungry and by the time we walked around and found a restaurant -- an Italian pizza place with pretty good food -- we were too tired to go back and walk any more so we called it a day!