City of lights... and video games

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Japan was great, Laurie and I really got a great feel for the city and found the people to be so friendly. Not nearly as many people spoke english as we had expected, so a phrase book and suggestions from a good friend who spent a year there(thanks again Marisa!) really helped. Besides almost burning my hand on the hot water dispenser thinking it dispensed Soy Sauce, and then eating god knows what at some resaurants because nobody spoke english and there were no pictures to chose from, we did well not knowing mutch english. Although Laurie got a little better than I at speaking Japanese, we did pretty well and had fun with it.
The city is huge...12 million people! I guess that is why everythgin is so small as well...hotel rooms, bathrooms barely big enough to turn around in, and stores and I didn´t see many buildings less than 10 stories high... and every floor is being used.
Lots of electronic stuff, cell phones, etc. I also never knew that video games were so popular with 30 year old men at 8 in the morning. We would see the video game stores filled with people at 8 in teh morning with techno music blaring out of them...crazy. The ligts at night are amazing, so colorful, and confusing at the same time.
Attached is a picture of Laurie and I in front of a Temple in Tokyo (very large and beautiful...the architecture seems simple, and then very intricate as you get closer) Also a picture of us at a Japanese resaurant for Laurie´s Birthday with or new waitress friend. She was sooo nice and loved teaching us about her foods. the chef even came out to speak to us (I think it was more to practice his english...but still nice) After a week in Tokyo it was off to Hong Kong....

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Photos

Temple in Tokyo
...yes, it was cold, especially coming from Hawaii

great food
just polished off a bunch of food we had no idea what we were eating...mmmm

awesome dinner
nicest waitress in Japan... great sake too!