Some Shots of Our Last Meal

In a few of my posts I've shown some the food I've eaten this trip. Some of it has been pretty good. Some of it then… a little more exotic. I will have to admit when we were in Kamakura that I loved eating at McDonald's. Ordering that number three really hit the spot.it doesn't mean that I didn't like eating in Japan this trip, but sometimes there's nothing like the taste of home. In Tokyo, I found an Outback Steakhouse in Shinagawa, at Chili's in Asakusa, and a Sizzlin in Sinjuku.

I don't know why someone would want to go to a Sizzlin when you can get a Kobe steak, and there are many times when there is a Japanese flayer to the menu. Just because I could get American food in Japan, doesn't mean that it was ever a main staple. In fact, most of the time I focused on many of the delicacies of Japan, Korea, and other Asian cultures whose edibles are well known in Tokyo. Our last meal in Tokyo was no exception.

The team didn't get many dining experiences together outside of the office because we were constantly slammed adjusting to our client's needs and preparing for the next day. In fact, we only had team meals outside the office, and far last night we were sure to take taste Japan home with us. We went to a small Japanese restaurant near Tokyo station down from the Big Echo Karioki Bar. We had our traditional appetizer of lightly salted peas, but our feast quickly turned to a more exotic mix of choices.


The first interesting food of the night was soy soaked conch mussels that were still on the shell. The picture doesn't do justice to the size of the actual shell that was larger than human fist. Some people at the table ate the conch straight out of the shell while others poured the mixture of conch and soy over the bed of salt that supported the shell. It's actually provided two different flavors. The first with a heavier soy taste and the second a taste of the ocean.

 Was it good? If you like escargot it was. The most interesting part of this food selection was presentation. I've had oysters on the half shell and clams over a bed of linguine, but there was something odd about the presentation of the conch.

Here's a picture of Kevin eating a piece of conch. It really puts in perspective the size each bite within the shell. The hardest part of eating the conch was picking it up with the cheap chopsticks provided by the restaurant.

The next yummy morsel will probably make some people's stomachs turn, and I had a lot of debate within myself whether to actually try to eat it. It wasn't because it looked disgusting or other people who made bad faces when they ate it, but I know that most whales are endangered. I'm not comfortable eating something as a delicacy simply because it's rare. That being said, the Japanese love eating well, and it didn't taste too bad.  One of my friends called whale bacon, but it had more of a taste of cow tongue or ham than bacon.

Would I eat it again? It didn't taste bad, but it's not something I would choose off the menu. I'd like to see a few more whales in the ocean before eight whale again.

There were a few things I didn't eat, but I did get a picture of. I can't tell you how this tasted, and at that point I didn't think of getting someone's opinion. By the time I got around to getting a piece of this fish, it was already gone. I guess the best thing I can do is say somebody like it at the table or I would've got a bite.

As you can see, by this time our table was getting pretty full, and although it came earlier in the middle, I say when the more interesting dinner choices for last.

This platter was a mixture of sashimi plucked straight from the ocean. In fact, I can truly say this is the freshest sushi I've ever seen. When the platter landed on our table, the skewered fish at the top of the platter was still twitching. Richard thought it was the wind from the air conditioner blowing the fish's tail or vibrations from the floor, but we quickly ruled out in two ways. First we blocked the platter from the wind and lifted it off the table. The tell of our fish still twitched. Second, we could see the fish twitch on the second platter before derived table. It doesn't get much fresher than that. Minus the twitching fish at the top platter, this was a phenomenal plate of sashimi.

This mill is a great way to end our workshops in Japan and spend time with our Japanese counterparts. My Japanese coworkers were great host. Hats off to you guys!

Japanese Happy Meal and it's Surprises.

The lunches for out workshop have been pretty good while we've been in Japan. Today, we had a traditional Japanese lunch box full of bits and morsels of goodness and exceptional badness. The lunch came in two layers. The first layer seemed to have a lighter selection, while the bottom section appeared to be the filler section.  I didn't want to be the first to get one of the  mystery lunch boxes, and Neel, our Indian coworker, was brave enough to grab a box first.

Neels's big problem was that he can't use chop sticks. I never thought I would be making some kiddie sticks for an adult, bu I got a rubber band, some paper, and two coconuts and made him a child's pair of chopsticks. I really didn't need any coconuts, but I though the professor on Gilligan's Island always used coconuts, so I wanted to sound as innovative as the professor. Actually, if he was so innovative, how come he couldn't fix the boat or build a new one. Scratch the coconuts.  Chopsticks, rubber band and some paper is all you need to make anyone some kiddie sticks. Now, Neel isn't the best judge of foreign delicatessens.

Rick and Luke soon joined us in the arena, and grabbed a box each. I decided in wasn't rude to eat at this point so I grabbed mine. Luckily, I was finishing an email, so Rick and Luke got  ahead start on the box.  There was a lot of enjoyment out of figuring out what was safe to eat. 

It was a real game of Russian Roullette. Each time I chose on of the items in my box, there was an interesting texture or a very unique taste. Some things were okay, but I can still taste some of the bad choices as I'm writing. The rice burrito's in the button were pretty good, but there was a little item that looked like a grape that had the saltiest, bad taste of anything I have eaten in Japan. I like a lot of Japanese food, but today's mystery box literally left a bad taste in my mouth.

Just before our next meeting, Blaine and Knut grabbed their happy meals and joined us in the conference room. Both Blaine and Knut didn't get far before they decided they would try to find some hamburgers in stead.   Our conversation over instant messaging start with Blaine

Blaine -  I couldn't eat lunch
Knut - It was nasty. I need a burger.
Me - It was ... exotic
Knut - whatever describes nasty to you.
Me - That was our most expenseive lunch
Blaine - Let's get our money back and get some sliders


Nothing like some interesting food to end our workshop. Knut wanted to take the box home, but he said it smelled too bad.

Rick Suggest a Rickshaw

I couldn't help the title of this section, but here is a picture of Rick and Luke contemplating a rickshaw.

We passed  by Jufukugi on our way back to town, and there was an active service going on as we approached. You could hear the beat of the drums as worshipers gathered at the temple. Being a part of the service was a real treat. We didn't stay long, and I did not want to take pictures of the ceremony of the temple since there was an active service going on. I did grab a picture of the long walk way to the shrine as we left. The shrine itself was founded by Eisai. He is basically the St. Patrick of  Japan, but Buddhist

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As you can see from the picture, there is a long approach to the shrine that provides a peaceful walk.
The day was nearing an end and we wanted to get to Hachimangu shrine. Luckily, Hachimangu is right down the street from the train station. It is a shrine, not a temple;therefore, it is devoted to Shinto and is dedicated to the patron spirit of the Samurae, Hachiman.  The wooden planks, bails or rice and lanterns that typify a shinto shrine were evident at Hachimangu. We entered to the shrine area from a side street with an imposing view of the main shrine high up a set of stairs.

If you look to the left of the stairs, you can see a fenced area. There was once a beautiful Ginko tree here that died in 2010 from the cold. I am not sure If a Kingo will grow back. I'm not sure if the tree will grow back, but it's root base is protected by the fence around it. 

The view from the top of the shrine gave a great view of the near by buildings and the surrounding area all the way to the train station. As we walked down the the stairs to head toward the train station, I noticed two lakes that were full of lilies. I grabbed a couple shots before we started loking for food.

I liked the walkway from the shrine to the airport so much, I took a picture of it. on either side of the path is a one way street lined with shops, but the little path in the center gave a very looking out feeling rather than an I'm in the middle of two roads.

After placing Thomas Yang in charge of dinner, we meandered through the streets looking for dinner. Thomas is a pretty picky guy, and this may not have been a good time to delegate. Luke, Rick and I found a menu that looked agreeable, but Thomas was convinced there was better food in Kamakaru.  We ran our great circle of streets passing a KFC, a lot of Japanese spots and Mc. Donalds. We finally
decided on the original choice and we had some excellent Japanese food. 

We all hopped the train back to Tokyo. I noticed it was a straight shot to Tokyo station, so I told the guys I wasn't getting off. Luke viewed the map, and figured he had a better way to get to Shinjuku Hilton. We parted ways. In retrospect they should have stayed on my train. Luke's decision put the guys on the local train back to Shinjuku. I was back to my hotel before the next train arrived to pick them up.

I got grabbed a train from Tokyo to Otemachi and then to the station at my hotel. When I surfaced from the underground, I could hear the distance sound of music, and I followed it to a small lighted area a block or two from the hotel. Laterns filled the darkness as the Tycho drums kept a constant rhythm. I'll post the pictures in my picasa link , but I grabbed some video.

It was an amazing day.  The dancing really capped it off well. I would recommend Kamakura as a great alternative to Kyoto.  There was still more to see. We missed a few temples, and we missed the ocean. I think I really missed spending the night there. The feeling of country side was a good breather from Tokyo. The travel sites recommend autumn and spring as the best times to go. I can see what with the cherry blossoms in the valley to bring life to spring and the mountains surrounding Kamakaru exploding with color in the fall. For anyone interested, here are the rest of the Kamakura pictures.



Pictures of Kamakura

Through the Graveyard and Back to Tokyo

I wanted to start off today's blog with a picture of the steep pitch of the road we had already taken up the mountain. We left Zeniarai Benten and continued up the road to a new set of mountain ridges. At the top of the ridge, the trail split. We could get back to town either way, but the fork to the right was a little long than the fork to the left according to our map. I'm not sure if that really means much since the map wasn't scaled at all. In fact, on the first journey through the woods, we apparently went off the map. A Japanese gentleman working on his yard helped us draw in the missing piece of the map, and he got us back on track.  The map also gave us a few big roads, but the detail was horrid. We had learned to use the map as a general guide, not as the definitive source on distance or roads.


Our real dilemma was how to make best of the time we had left. Additionally, the heat, distance we had walked and humidity had an effect on the team. Rick had become a little dehydrated earlier in the day, and had a charlie horse in his calf.  Rick's problem wasn't due to lack of fitness, but a lack of water. None of us had hit the restrooms all day because we were seating any water we were drinking out of our bodies.  Our real problem was time. We didn't want to miss the last train out, and we still wanted time to hit a couple more sites. Our initial decision was to go left, but we saw a clearing off to the right, and we wanted a good shot from the mountain tops. The clearing didn't provide a good view of the mountain side, but it did provide us with a placid garden with a large Buddha at it's heart.

We were still looking for that magic spot to get a picture, and we never went back to the left trail. I guess you can say we were inspired by Buddha. Not far from the Buddha statue, we found our best view of the day.

You can see from the picture, we're a pretty good ways up. We weren't the height of the Rockies or Cascades of course, but definitely at the altitude of the Appalachains. I would have loved a cloudless day to spy a view of Fuji from this height, but it wasn't to be. We didn't stay at our view long before we started back down the mountain.

We trudged down the mountain and approached our first graveyard. At this point, we didn't realize how big the grave yard was. We thought we had found a unique area embedded on the side of the mountain. We grabbed our cameras to click a few pictures.

Each stone is called a Haka and is typically owned by a family. This means there can be multiple generations of Japanese that were cremated and buried at the plot. The wooden boards behind the Haka are the names of individuals how have been interned in the small crypt of ashes below the Haka. Because of the lack of space in Japan and the cost of these plots, some Japanese are spreading their ashes elsewhere.

A gentleman at the Buddha garden told us to make sure you follow the path that goes straight, and  it will get very small, then open up again. When we left the graveyard it did just that. What he didn't tell us is that the trail becomes very tricky to navigate since the there was a significant drop with a cool canal excavated by thousands of years of erosion from water. Everyone who knows me can understand the challenge this was on my ankles. I made it down without a single collapse of the rubber band ligaments holding my feet together.

The trail continued through what we had realized was a large cemetery. It was a strange way to come out of the mountains, and the chirp of the crickets provided an eire peace to the area.It wasn't hard making our way out of the graveyard onto the small streets of Kamakura.

A Walk in the Woods.... Japanese Style

Rick's suggestion that we take the hiking trails from site to site was a good one. When we found the stairs, Rick charged his way up gliding swiftly up the stairs. I don't think Rick realized how high the stairs were going to go, but he kept a good pace going up the first flight.  The stone stairs quickly turned to wood as we climbed higher.

 Ricked remained the lead dog up the rapidly ascending stairs until we reached the top for a spectacular view. I realized when we finished snaking our way to the top, that the foliage was too thick to get a good photo to give a perspective of how high we were. I looked at multiple times for some visibility through the foliage, but it was too dense to get a shot. The crickets chirped as we walked up and down the ridge on a small dirt path.

As we descended on of the ridges, we found a set of yagura in the side of the cliff. Yagura are tombs that are built into the sides of cliffs, and they dot the hill sides of Kamakura. The first set we past looked more like cenotaph which is a tomb in the side of the cliff that honors someone who is not buried there. I was excited to see the Yagura because I had already read about them the previous night. There is a lot of debate about when the Yagura were made in Kamakura, but it is clear that Kamakura didn't have a lot of space in the value below. The cliffs served the purpose of honoring the dead. Even today, the residence of Kamakura use the cliffs as a graveyard The article about yagura is pretty good on the subject of Kamakura's cliffs .Wikipedia Yagura

Later in our trip, we saw the largest Yagura in Kamakura from the ridge. The lighting contrast was horrid for this picture,and Ill see if the other guys have a better picture to replace this one. This was one of the few points we could see the value.

We  came out of the woods a little disoriented, hot and thirsty. Thank god for the vending machines that just pop up on street corners with water, green tea and other liquid refreshments. We passed by a pharmacy after wandering around and asking some locals for directions. Rick picked up some Japanese Tylenol and we all worked on hydrating. The air was very hot and thick, and when we passed by a Seven Eleven, Luke and I went inside to look for a frozen lemonade.  The one hundred Yen I spent on that lemonade was well worth it. Both luke and I used our wooden spoons to poke away at the ice when we both hit a lemon right in the middle of the frozen lemonade. I whittled my way around the edges thinking it was a rip off to get two ounces of ice and a lemon when I realized the lemon was just a slice that I quickly peeled off my lemon iceberg. I guess when you've been eating some exotic food a lemon seems pretty normal to stick in your mouth, and it was worth the though. The treat was a sweet and cold candy of fresh lemon surrounded by ice sweetness. I wish I took a picture, but I was too enthralled by the cooling goodness that the Seven Eleven Gods had given me.

We made our way up the road and started another ascent to our next "must see" in Kamakura, Zeniarai Benten Shrine. Visitors to Kamakura travel to Zenairai to wash their coins in the springs there. It is said that the washing money in the springs will make it double. I was more impressed by the mixture of Buddism and Shinto within the cliffs. The mixture was seemless and it made it hard to distinguish one from the other in this holy place. In some of the cliff walls, it looked like the walls were crying water.  We entered the Shrine through a tunnel into the light on the other side. 

The discoloration in my shirt is sweat. I thought this picture portrayed how hot is was the best.I also thought it was pretty cool to me some pictures of me at some of these places. I'm usually the guy taking the pictures, and I haven't had a lot of opportunities to get pictures of me in Japan..

I also got a picture of the rest of the crew before we entered Zeniarai Benten Shrine. From left to right is Luke, Rick and Tom.  

After entering the Shrine through the tunnel we emerged on the other side only to pass through a series of Japanese gates.

After I took this picture I became separated from Rick, tom and Luke. I wasn't concerned since I the tunnel was the only way in and out of the shrine. We had all taken a right turn, but the team had gone to eh upper pool while I found a small waterfall in the lower pool with a pond just below it full of Koi.

It didn't take long for me to find the rest of the guys at the upper pool where I grabbed some quick video before we descended down the stairs to view the rest of the shrine.

Every once and a while I post a picture I like just because I want to. As with most shirnes, there were a number of guardian statues at the shrine . I liked the smile on this one, so I grabbed a shot of him.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the people washing their money in the springs. I think I was too engrossed in the scenery and peacefulness of Zeniarai Benten.  The day not over, we continued our ascent back to the mountain tops that surrounded Kamakaru.

Kamakura

Traveling overseas can have difficult moments, especially when no one has a cell phone. Today was one of those days. Trying to coordinate multiple people who are staying at different hotels across Tokyo can be challenging. We had decided that the team was going to meet at specific stations along the rout to Kamakura, our destination for our day off. I left this morning from The Royal Park and grabbed a train to Tokyo Station. From there, I took the Maranucho line to Shinjuku to meet part of the team at the Hilton. The trip to Shinjuku was an easy glide between the stations, and I quickly made my way out of the train station onto the streets of Shinjuku.

Shinjuku competes with central Tokyo for the title of business center of Tokyo, and it was easy to see why after exiting the flourescent lit tunnel into the daylight. Shinjuku is a jungle of metal trees and it was hard to get a good skyline shot form my perspective, but there were a few intriguing buildings I had to take pictures of.

 When I entered the Hilton, I knew the challenge would be connecting with Luke and Rick so we could leave together for the station. To my luck, the restaurant was located on the first floor, and Knut was eating breakfast with his wife right at the front. It was a great spot to meet, since I could scan the whole lobby for the remaining group and soon Rick, Luke and I had gathered down stairs. Thomas Yang came down right as we were preparing to leave, and we set off for Kamakura.

For us, getting to Kamakura was a challenge since we were planning to meet some more of our team members at another station. We took our train two stops and hopped off looking around for our Thai friend, Tom Somboosong. The first train rolled by us as we scanned the platform. before the second train arrived we split ourselves up and down the platform with the understanding we would all get on the next train regardless.  The train arrived, and Tom and his grouped had not arrived. We hopped on the train and worked our way to the center. Although there is an express train to Kamakura, we were Japanese rail amateurs.    In retrospect, we should have taken the JR Yokosuka Line. It's an express line that was a straight shot to Kamakura. We hopped on and off trains and asked numerous people for assistance along the way. I asked an old man at one train station that found me on the train further down the line. He tried to explain to me to get off at the next station and grab another train. He gestured with his hands a lot and I nodded a good bit as he tried to show me on a map within the train itself. When we got off the train, a couple who sat across from us was also going to Kamakura, and helped us get to our final train and on the way.


Our group knew the most important thing to do when you get off a train is find a place to eat! The golden arches called our name, and we heeded it's call. I order number 3 (san) as did most of the rest of our group. The restaurant was small, and we couldn't find seats. An employee showed us out the doow and up some flights of stairs to the "other" eating area. It was kind of odd leaving the restaurant with our trays and going up a flight of stairs to another floor, but that's Japan. We ate our lunch and planned our day.

My wife, kids and mother in law can attest, I love to walk. When Rick suggested we walk our way through the streets, I wasn't going to object. We navigated the maze of small streets to try to get to the other side of the station.  

The area immediately around the train station was packed with Japanese tourist spending their Saturday wandering the streets. Most of them were going to one of  Kamakura's major shrines, Hasedera. It didn't take long before we were in the Japanese country side. 

Our first stop was the Great Buddha. The Buddha is 30 ft tall and made of bronze. The first statue was build around 1200, and it has been rebuilt multiple times since then. Amazingly,the first Buddha was destroyed by a wind storm. When I saw the Buddha I was in awe, but I couldn't imagine a wind storm taking it out.

That's me in my Willy's Weenie Wagon shirt. I knew I needed to represent my childhood hometown. One day, this shirt will fall apart and disintegrate from wear, but this was not the day. At the foot of the Buddha was a daily offering of flowers and fruits. 

Additionally, there were incense burning in a large pot  in front of the statue. Patrons buy incense from the local monks and burn them in the offering pot for blessings.

 The Buddha was absolutely amazing, and we walked around the statue, there was a vendor taking 20 Yen to go inside. Of course I paid my twenty Yen to enter the bronze human cooker. The smothering heat was intensified as we entered, and the humid air sucked the water out of our bodies as our shirts soaked in sweat.  

  
Buddha was like a cheap chocolate Easter bunny, one large hollow shell. It was hard to get a good shot inside, and the hole in the back hole you can see in the picture is Buddha's head. The chocolate Easter bunny is a great explanation since the Buddha doesn't have an internal skeleton. The statue was casts in thirty separate shapes and pieced together to create the final product. 

Left to Right: Rick,Luke,Thomas

 We took a break, and made our way to the hiking trails. Along the way, Luke was craving icecream and he decided to go bold and try some green tea ice cream. 

Luke wasn't impressed by the green tea ice cream. He said it didn't taste like he expected. When I asked him if it tasted like green said, he said,"Yes". I'm still confused at why he would think green tea ice cream wouldn't taste like green tea. 


Geographically,  Kamakura is an interesting place since it's nestled between a number of mountains, and is right on the ocean. We missed the chance to go to the beach, but we weren't going to miss a chance to climb through the mountains.  The mountains will have to wait for me to have some more time to write.  

Team Dinner

We have had a busy week at working getting ready for our workshops with Sony. To insure I'm getting some exercise every day, I decided I would walk from the Hotel to the Tokyo Station about 1.5 miles away. From Tokyo Station, I took the Maranuchi line to Shinagawa. I haven't found a good way to counteract the heat and humidity. Most mornings, I'm sweating before I am a block from the hotel, and my undershirt is normally soaked by the time I am to the office. On Thursday, Knut wlked into the office and he looked like he just walked in from the rain. Sheri asked him if the rain had stopped, and Knut said it hasn't been raining.  Tokyo doesn't deliver the searing heat that can end a football practice in the August sun, but the humidity is amazing. Residence of Tokyo use fans and carry small towels to keep themselves dry. I think I need to bring a change of clothes.

Our team had an amazing meal last night, and it's the first real meal we've had as a team outside the Sony cafeteria. Most of our Japanese co-workers brought their families to dinner with us giving an atmosphere of home with children  coloring sheets of paper at the table or playing hide and seek around the table.

The children were a real hit at dinner, and the provided a sense of family for a table of travelers. Bobby packed me pictures of the girls and Cole that I've kept in my backpack to share. It was a good time to show off the family.

We had a very traditional Japanese meal.  Filtered, unfiltered, hot and cold saki filled the glasses while a palette of seafood based dishes dotted the table. Smoked salmon, sushi, tempura and rice porage with fish were among the delicacies enjoyed family style around the table like a dinner at the Dillard house. 

 I'm not a fan of rice porage, but I was a fan of the smoked salmon and unfiltered Saki. The salmon reminded me of my grandmother smoking salmon in her electric smoker after a trip to the northwest. In the pictures above, you can see the soupy rice porage in all it's gooey goodness. Another exotic item on the menu next to the smoked salmon is salmon skin. It was deep fried like a pork rind, and reminded me of it's swine cousin. Crunchy, salty and a slight fish taste about sums up salmon skin.

With the hard work on preparing for the workshop nearing completion, Kevin raised a glass of Saki in a toast to Sasamoto-san and the team for their dedication. Most of all, I knew Kevin wanted to be in my blog. I guess he can marked this off his bucket list.  After dinner, I grabbed a taxi from Shinagawa to the hotel. The majority of the team decided we would go to Kamakura in the morning, and I wanted a little rest before our trip.

I found Optimus Prime's head in Shinagawa.

I woke up this morning around my normal 5 am time, and I couldn't make up my mind if I was adventurous enough to take the subway to Shinagawa. After getting directions for the train switches and returning to my room to grab my glasses, I had enough time to talk myself into taking a taxi. I decided I would take the train on the way back to the hotel where I wasn't constrained by time. I also wanted to get a picture of the NTT Docomo building. The architects original design resembles a cell phone. At least that is what Stephen told me on my last trip to Japan, but I think the building looks like the head of a robot, and at some point the robot is going to climb out of the ground to battle Godzilla.  I already know Godzilla would win, so I don't know why the Japanese would build a robot building to battle Godzilla. In every Godzilla picture I saw, he is tearing up buildings and using their girders as toothpicks.

The Sony building in Shinagawa has some spectacular views, but most pictures are obscured by the steal framework of the building. When I went to get a shot out of a window, I realized that the window blainds are house between two pains of glass making it impossible to edge my camera in between then blinds to gain a shot.

I thought this may be a disappointing day to take some pictures. Night fell and I made my way to Shinigawa station to grab a train to central Tokyo. I made up my mind I  was going to walk from Tokyo station to my hotel by following the Eita-dori that passes close to IBM Japan's headquarters. This has been my most adventurous walk since I was started from one place that was familiar to me and traveling to another one that I had never done on foot.  From my past trip, I knew the route was safe, and if it was further than I thought, I could always grab a taxi.  This was a good chance to grab some night shots of Tokyo, and a chance for me to experiment with my Nikon D90.

I didn't take a lot of pictures until I was close to the Eita-bashi, and I wanted to try to capture a picture with lighting similar to what I was seeing.

I had a minimal amount of success in my first few photographs. The pictures came out too dark, and I wanted to adjust ISO and shutter speed, not the aperture of the camera. Basically, the aperture controls how much light comes into the camera via the lens. I usually do a poor job of managing the light, and I end up with pictures that have too much light noise or are blurry if I don't have a tripod. Therefore, I wanted to use the ISO level and shutter speed to control how much light makes it into the camera so I wouldn't need to  have a tripod to take my shots.  An amazing rant on something that most likely interests one or two people reading this.

The walk was refreshing, but there the humidity soaked my undershirt with sweat. As I walked along the Eita-dori, I gained a sense of comfort as I noticed a seven eleven and BMW dealership I recognized from my previous visit. I was near my hotel.  I decided to walk along the river and grab some skyline shots.

In the lower left hand corner of the picture is a small boat which I thought was a river ferry. I had seen similar boats traveling up and down the river during the day escorting passenger up and down the river, but as the boat got closer, I could hear the the music and cheer from one pretty cool looking party boat.

To end my evening I took a few shots of lanterns at the Suiten-gu Shrine near my hotel.
The Suiten-gu shrine is dedicated to easy child birth.  I will pay a visit there before I leave since it is traditional to visit the shrine before a child is born to a blessing for easy birth and afterward as a sign of thanks.

Off to bed before the 5 am sun rise! Rain is forecast for every day this week, but it reminds me of Georgia showers. Large this rain drops, but the showers pass quickly. Off to bed!