[LIFE AS I KNOW IT] japan 2013, part two; kyoto

Last week I posted about the first part of our Japan trip here...

Here are some photos of our time in Tokyo. It was very hard to choose only a "few" as our time there was amazing and we have tons of photos!

We were very lucky to stay with friends we were in Tokyo - this is there home! 

More "American" style than "Japanese" :)

Our friend Naosuke took us this little Izekaya in Ebisu, it was very small and only sat 8 people. 

It is a "one man" bar. He served + cooked very well. We had some great food that night.

On out first weekend in Japan we left the city and went to Kawagoe. 

It was a very old town from the Edo period. This is a photo I took of the sleeping koi.

We were VERY lucky to stay at a traditional style hotel and 

onsen (hot spring) in Gunma. It was beautiful!

Here is a picture of our room, from the entry. The rooms were divided by sliding doors and 

rooms had tatami mat floors. The bathroom was also very 

traditional with a wooden soaker tub. 

This room is the sitting room. When we got back to our room after dinner we

 had individual futons ready for us to sleep in. They were comfy.

Our dinner in Gunma was sooooo good. We sat on the floor (which took some getting used to) 

and at many many dishes, they were all very good. This is only some of our first "round". 

If only we could get food like this in Canada!

This is a picture of Yudai making silk at an old factory we toured. 

On our way up to Karuizawa we stopped at a small pond to walk around .

This is Tyler, Yudai and Hiro san.

When we arrived at Karuizawa we ate some of the best soba we have ever had.
This is Tyler and I with the Suzuki's (Hiro san, Yuka san and Yudai) at lunch.

We had lots of fun at the "trick art" museum :)

This is a picture of a tiny frog Yudai found the afternoon after the typhoon!
The weather was so calm we went out for a walk in Inagi, the area the Suzuki's live.

These boys were looking for crayfish.

Yudai make us yakiniku - yum!

We met some friends for sushi in Skiji - this is a picture of the fish market in the early afternoon.
 Still a busy little place but the fish auction was long over.

We stopped at Yoyoji Park, this is the Yoyogi National Gymnasium built for the 1964 Olympics.

It was designed by Kenzo Tange.

Just a little street art.

This is the first tori (gate) leading into the Meiji Shrine. It is a beautiful walk thru the
trees as you make your way to the shrine. 

There were a lot of heart motifs at Meiji Shrine. I loved it :)

This is Kumiko san and Miwa san, we stopped for a drink and to give them some
books we brought for them from Canada. 

Everywhere I looked there were cute little details, this is a fence in Shimokitazawa.

This is a picture of the "Cocoon Tower" by Kenzo Tange's son. 

This is Tyler and I at Sky Tree in Tokyo.

We went up the Sky Tree with Nobu san, Hiro san and Tyler at the lower deck.
The view was outstanding. We even seen Mount Fugi, very faintly on the horizon.
We were lucky that the day we went the sky was very clear.

Here is Tyler, taking in the view.

I could not believe how tall and skinny the buildings were in Tokyo with only a sliver of space between.

Hiro san took us to a sushi restaurant where we had omakase from a
"celebrity" sushi master in Japan. 

Here are some of the pear trees in Inagi, the pears were huge, juicy and expensive!

On our last day in Tokyo we went to Iogi, this is the town where 

Tyler lived when he was teaching in Tokyo.

Leopalace was his apartment.

Here is Tyler checking out his old apartment, thumb up ;)

This a picture of the Whale Bridge in Inagi, a pedestrian bridge. 

According to Tyler, the concrete work is exemplary :) I thought this was a cool picture. 

Hope you enjoyed our pictures - we had a great time in Japan and will definitely be going back at some point in our future. We can not wait for our Japanese friends to come to Canada to visit so we can hopefully show them as great of a time as we were shown.

Any suggestions for our next trip!?