Oh Tokyo
I had follow-up training in Tokyo on Monday. I took the shinkansen a day early and hung out with some friends from my Omiya group. Over the course of the four hour train ride, I had plenty of time to ponder life here in Japan. It’s interesting how quickly the exotic becomes routine. For example, riding a bullet train. Two months ago I’d never set foot in one, but now the experience is nothing special… just one of those things to get you where you need to go. Yet, even when something loses that initial wow factor, there is always more to experience. Case in point, while riding one of the JR trains around Tokyo, someone jumped in front of the one we were on. In Japan, suicide doesn’t have quite the social stigma it does in the US, and ending it all in front of a speeding train is one of the common ways to do it here.
Well, I won’t dwell on that subject. I have some pictures from the weekend, the majority of which were taken during the train ride to Tokyo. The quality isn’t the greatest, but this gives you an idea of what the northern Honshu countryside looks like. The leaves are just starting to change around Akita, and the once seemingly endless fields of green rice stalks have been harvested and now lie bare. I’ll stop blabbing and let you see for yourself.
The last picture isn’t anything special. The shinkansen had stopped, waiting for another train to exit the tunnel burrowing through the mountains. I just liked the texture of the trees in the background.
A photo request – the famous Akita dog statue in Tokyo. It’s located near the station in the Shibuya district – the Time Square of Tokyo. If there’s something in Japan you’d like me to photograph, send me an e-mail or post a request. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll certainly try to oblige.
More sights around Shibuya. Way too many people for my tastes, but it was certainly a happening part of the city.
“Time is a companion who goes with us on a journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived. After all, we’re only mortal.” A cool sculpture in Yoyogi Park – a place with weekend markets, crazy costumes, sidewalk bands and fearless breakdancers… to name a few of the sights.
One of the ‘punk’ bands.
You can’t tell, but these are the breakdancers. I took this picture for the background. That oddly-shaped architecture is the gymnasium building from the 1964 Summer Olympics.
We had dessert at an overpriced cafe in Ginza, Tokyo’s upscale shopping, dining and entertainment district. Have you ever had a $10 cup of coffee? Me neither, but some of my friends did. (My mocha freeze was only $9.)
My first YouTube video! These are some of the breakdancers. Hope you enjoy! 
