Tokyo Day 03 - Shinjuku

After taking care of some business this morning (as is the case when you are anticipating 52 student arriving in a unfamiliar place), Dove, Jason (the other Jason - Ray's friend) and I traveled around to get used to the city. I wanted to go to the hotel from Lost in Translation, so we make our way to Shinjuku.


There was a nice park there (Shinjuku Central Park). A young lady playing some sort of fancy stringed instrument. The photo is not nearly as interesting as audio would be.

Even in Tokyo Saturdays are for yard sales! That's Park Hyatt in the far background (our destination).




At the Park Hyatt:

We were making our way to the New York Bar and Grill on the top floor (52). That's the abr from the film). Here we are inside the elevator:

The view was lovely...



We were told that the bar was closed (I don't think it was) so we didn't get in. We were not dressed for the dining room for sure. We then made our way back through the park. We foud a homeless shanty-town area:


A father/son round of catch:

Father/daughter time at the yard sale:

Back toward the station I noticed a manga add for beer:

We had a fantastically authentic lunch at a yakitori hole in the wall. (BTW, it was Jason's birthday!):

Back in Ginza (our home town) the main road is closed and turned into a walkway on the weekend:

The vehicles here are so cute!

Sun down happens around 4pm.

Atmospheric perspective:

The students and artists had a fancy (sit down on the floor, no shoes) dinner after they arrived and checked into the hotel (around 9pm). Tomorrow we're off the Ueno Park and at least one of the three museums there, maybe more.

Check out Jason Maurer's Blog (he's the animation professor for the trip) he's got cool video of the trip so far. He'll be updating regularly as well.

Tokyo Day 02 - Meiji, Nakano, & Akihabara

Our first full day in Tokyo. This is down from our hotel. We've walked around most of the day (all of the day).


Dove draws all the time. Here he draws some guy in the subway.

After taking care of business this morning we traveled to the Meiji Shrine, which was my favorite thing today.
It's an absolutely lovely place.
Before entering in the main shrine one must wash one' hands.


There was a shine of a different kind...

We also went to Nakano:

And after a trip back to the hotel, we made out way to Akihabara.





Dove draws some more (Ray looks on):

Sachi sorts through her cards.

I love the advertising and public warnings in the subway.

More subway.

Here's a store the sales a ridiculous array of screentone:

The amount of dojinshi produced and available is amazing:

Note in this manga shop how the are two sides shonen on one side and shōjo on the other.
I didn't see the "no cameras" icon until after I took the picture. I was asked to not use my camera.

Tomorrow Dove and I are to get lost on our own. We'll see if we make it back...

Tokyo Day 01 - Travel to Japan

Chicago Hare airport:

A sandwich place that salutes the graphic arts:

From the airplane (I think we were over canada or some other such glacier):

More glacier:

Dove in Tokyo airport:

Jason with a compass and map (only getting us slightly turned around):

We wandered around after Ray showed up.







Too tired for any substantial narrative this morning. Today we take care of stuff. Tomorrow the students arrive. I still have a cold.

Getting Ready for Tokyo!

Alright. Let's not even talk about this last quarter - I'm still trying to recover. Ugh.

I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow morning and I'll be there for over two weeks.
I've got a new bag (fresh with a Snoopy patch).

I've also got all my stuff packed and ready. I've got got plenty of reading material for the 16 hour plane ride. I'm going start taking my reading more seriously. I don't know that I'll be as serious as Mr. Jarrett with his fancy manga reviews, but who knows...

Okay. I've got to try andf get some sleep. International travel tomorrow!