Posting all the pics that didn’t make the blog while I was in Japan…

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

We visited a “space” exhibit in Ginza.  This paper cut-out display challenged you to discover three contrary cut-outs in the crowd: a child, a woman with an umbrella, and a cat.  I found the woman with the umbrella and think I spotted the kid, but no luck with that cat.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Part of the same exhibit.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Tokyo’s interesting architecture.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Subway warnings.  Watch those kids!  And drunks!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Some of the goodies at Dandelion chocolate in Tokyo.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Me, ready for chocolate-making action.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Ramen stop.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

The true 4D experience rumbling, wind, and scent.  I’ll leave it to you to provide the requisite tie-in joke.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Umeda station isn’t named after the plum.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Osaka at night

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Osaka during the day.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Akemi just can’t resist.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

We spotted quite a few of these circular dead vegetations outside several izakayas.  No idea what they were.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

My friend at the farmer’s market – TamaNegiAtama!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Another farmer’s market friend – he of the spicy pepper powder.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Some Osaka shopping.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Avocado tofu – surprisingly good.  As is most of the tofu in Japan compared to what we get in North America.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Osaka fish market where you can just stop, point, and have it raw or cooked.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Selfie-er’s beware!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

My take-out meal on the shinkansen.  Heavy on the fried stuff!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Waiting under the giant spider.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Green velour pants in Ginza.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Some…interesting accessories – Ginza.
September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Chef Masa (Sushisho Masa) is a huge fan of the anime One Piece.  Some of the restaurant’s bathroom decorations.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

One of the colorful dishes at Esquisse.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Dessert at Esquisse.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto prefecture.  And Akemi.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Fresh fruit convenience machine.  Looks pretty popular.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Doggy bentos.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

One of Hiroo’s popular eateries.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

More of Tokyo’s interesting architecture.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Interesting window display – Omotesando.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Akemi, thrilled to be at Pizza Seirinkan.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Pina Colada-inspired dessert at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Akemi watched Angry Birds on the plane and insisted I watch it because the main character reminds her of me.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Scallops at Benoit.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Akemi and I got matching Gudetama t-shirts.   They reflect my current mood.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Tokyo bakeries are insane.

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

One of the weirdest desserts of the trip.  Ingredients included black truffles, parsley, and dill.  Very interesting – in a horrible horrible way.

15 thoughts on “September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

  1. I love your vacation pictures! I love even more that you remember the whats and wheres of each one. 😀 I usually come back from vacation and have to try to piece them all together. I started taking pictures of signs to help.

  2. To make it 4D, wouldn’t it be rumbling, wind, scent and denial? 🙂

    I love the “meh” t-shirt. Exactly how I’ve felt all week. I’m having a bit of a culture shock getting back into work after 5.5 weeks off. And this is still after a couple of weeks back!

  3. I had a nice long comment but my #*@k)&g computer ate it! Anyway, thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures! Damn &$*t pile computer!

  4. Holy cow! Love the pics! Gudetama has grown on me. Interesting architecture. The food looks wonderful. How were the scallops? Is that a S&M purse motif? And what’s up with the mustaches?

    Once again, thanks for sharing your vacation with us! Hope you and Akemi are resting up. Continued doggie prayers your way.

    @sylvia: thanks for the countdown…37 wks and counting

  5. Great pictures.

    Long ago there was a theater in town, with the screen in twin domes, nicknamed “The Bra”. It had immense sub-woofers in the sound system and the seats would rumble, and could be shaken by hydraulics in the floor. I think that was how it worked. Saw Earthquake there in 1974, complete with seat shaking thrills. It was an iconic local landmark, and the pilots on approach to the Air Force base would use it as a visual marker. But no one goes to movies anymore and it closed, and was torn down to build a used car lot, one of several owned by the same family. There was a move to save The Bra, but it just was in the wrong location.

    We still have a working drive-in though, so there’s that.

  6. Those subway signs are a hoot! Tell me you had some of those goodies at Dandelion chocolate? Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Hope those rewrites go smoothly. {{{Hugs}}} to the pups!

  7. The food pictures in general are always great and wonderful inducements for immediate food cravings.
    I do have to admit the last one – desert??? was very non-appealing.
    Give me the bakery that is above it.

    Have you had any more news on the puppies?
    Enquiring minds like ours, want to know.
    thanks

    IF…anyone finds my OCD mention of the count down to the DM S3 annoying, please holler…I will stop it. This just keeps my focus…lol as I reallly am very anxious. I stole the original number of 39 weeks from Anthony Lemke’s comment of how long we need to wait.

    To date (Friday nite), 36 weeks and counting down.

  8. Joe and Akemi, I don’t comment much, but want you to know I enjoy following you. I always look forward to seeing what you are up to – including the dogs. I love DM, I love the BTS info and pics, I love the personal stuff, I appreciate you giving us an insight on what it’s like being a screenwriter, I appreciate the time taken to connect with your fans. I hope I meet both of you someday. I’m glad you had a good time in Japan and a safe trip. Have a great weekend. ‘becca

  9. Thanks for sharing all the vacation pics. Especially the buildings and structure architecture!
    I’ve always had a very deep attraction to aesthetics in architecture.
    I remember once at age 16 starting out at 125th st in manhattan and walking nearly the entire length of NYC all the way down to Little Italy just to photograph all the interesting buildings and structures I could find.
    A few years later became fascinated with the design
    of tree houses people were building out west to live in.
    I actually quite seriously considered building one of my own at some point.

    I’ll be sure to share pics here if I ever actually decide to do it, eh. 😀

    Also (((LOVE!))) the green velour pants that beautiful young woman was wearing.

    Velour & velvet dress pants have become quite the fad in the fashion community these days.
    I definitely am going to look into purchasing or
    perhaps? designing myself a unique couture pair!
    I’ve n amazing short very sexy black leather jacket with gold zips
    as well as a white canvas unusual shaped diagonal zip jacket
    those green velvet pants would go absolutely perfect with! <3

  10. I thought I found the umbrella, but I don’t see a woman attached to it. I think maybe I see the cat, but I’m probably wrong on that. I don’t do well in puzzles like that.

    The goodies look good; you look like you are having a great time. The ramen looks good. Wow 4-D? I just got used to 3-D. It would be like 3-D meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation.

    Osaka by night is pretty too.

    Standing under a giant spider would not be possible. Not after the damage a real one did to my arm.

    Velour is now *in”. To some.

    Fresh fruit convenience machine needs to go in every high school in America and remove the junk convenience machine.

    Now I’ll need to watch Angry Birds so I know what Akemi is talking about.

    @Drea When I went back to NYC in 2012 I had a different appreciation for the city that I never had before. I took SO many pictures of the architecture of the building and just thought to myself you just don’t see that intricacy anymore in all those old buildings. I think I was so absorbed by it my childhood friend was getting annoyed at me.

  11. So update on us: I interviewed the 3rd group home people on Wednesday and I am excited. Yes, you heard me right. We had our person-centered planning meeting today (Friday) at Patrick’s school and everyone feels the same — this place sounds like a dream. We’re going to set up separate visits (they can’t accommodate a mob so me, Jeff, Patrick and our in-home trainer Jan will go visit one time and Patrick’s case supervisor at school, his lead teacher and the teacher of record for the Texas Education Agency will all go to visit on a separate visit). I am going to go to the other two agencies I talked to just to see their group home set ups so I would have some basis of comparison. Our target time will be in August or early September of 2018 for the switch in living here to there. Everyone is excited.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.