Japan Highlights

Well, the trip that Julia and I had in Japan was truly a blessing and one of the most wonderful experiences of our marriage so far. We really felt like royalty and Julia dressed up so beautifully that all of the locals likely thought we were.

Here is a picture of our first meal, while it was still alive!



It was really an amazing meal.



Then off to Ginza for some serious shopping. Do these ladies look like they are having fun? Julia is more of a Gucci girl, but Lorena likes Prada.




Also in Ginza we went to some of the food markets. It was amazing the assortment of foods. What do you think of the beautiful cantaloupe? Perfection, but are they worth 10,000 yen??



That evening, we had shabu shabu. The Kobe beef was amazing. We certainly had our fill. I think the wait staff was laughing at us for how much we ate!!


I had to run off to work, but in the morning I realized our room had quite a view!!


Here I am at Aizuwakamatsu. On the way we took the fast train (shinkansen) to Kooriyama and took a rental car from there. It was cold and pouring down snow. All of the trees were covered with snow. It was quite a wonderful sight. I am glad I had my heavy wool coat!



Julia had fun while I was working. She visited a master pottery artisan. Those are some big vases!! She so stylish! Look at her doing a little money laundering, well maybe washing. It is supposed to give good luck. Also see her tour guide, Yuri was a good cohort for her. They said the rickshaw was a little scary but a good way to get around. She also spent a day in Kamakura and saw the “big Buda” What a beautiful sight!









Finally here is a picture of the reception after I gave my talk at the technical forum at Semicon Japan. Morokuma, Julia, and I were all certainly having fun!



After the reception we partied a bit more in Ropongi! Here we are having fun. Brian and Lorena certainly know how to have fun!!




Then we took the train off to Kyoto. The ride was pretty comfy. Beautiful views of the country side along the way too.


The first afternoon we had in Kyoto we took it by ourselves, but took a tour bus the following day. This was key because then we were certain to hit the highlights. It just so happened that one of the Shinto shrines we were visiting has a wedding going on. What do you think of the brides outfit?



Of course there was a recently married couple at the same spot!



Then we were off to other beautiful sights. The golden pavilion used to be the Shogun’s retirement home. What a spot, it is covered with over 10kg of gold leaf. It was really neat.



That evening, we went to Arashiayama. It is some sort of festival of lanterns and lights. It seemed all of the town was there, it was packed. Here is a picture I took pointed off into the bamboo forest. There was long walks through the forest with lanterns lining the trail. I also had fun tweaking up the photo to bring out the contrast.


Then off on the train again back to Tokyo, we had dinner in the hotel sushi bar that night. It is supposedly one of the best in Tokyo, we had a fantastic meal! I guess I just like taking pictures of my food.