Tokyo, Japan-Part 2

To finsh our first day in Tokyo, we went to dinner with some relatives of our friends the L. family.  Since we don't use people's real names on these blogs, it will be difficult to describe the relationship exactly.  For those that live in Boston, this is the sister of D.L.  All you have to do is look at the picture, replace her hair with a blonde wig - and you'll see D.L. ; )  Anyway, the family was a great deal of fun.  K (the sister) served a mission in Japan years ago - and her Japanese was still very good.  I took the family to a restaurant called Inakaya, in Roppongi.

This is a restaurant I visited almost 10 years ago...and I haven't been able to find it until recently.  Any way, we sat at a long, U-shaped counter, on the other side of which are piles of fresh vegetables, beef, and seafood.  In the middle of all that food, seated in front of a grill, are male chefs - ready to cook whatever you point to. Orders were yelled out by our waiter and repeated in unison by all the other waiters, resulting in a cacophony of ongoing, excited yelling. Sounds strange, I know, but actually it's a lot of fun.  Here's a video clip of what it's like:

We had some awesome food - particularly fish.  Here are the before...and after shots:

Notice the teeth on that bad boy...seriously...

I guess we were hungry...

Day 2

I decided to take C-Rob to McDonalds for breakfast - it's much cheaper than the hotel breakfast buffet:

Yeah, that's a "large" size drink...

After breakfast, we headed out to Meiji-jingu, a Shinto shrine in the heart of Tokyo.  The grounds surrounding the shrine are large - about 175 acres of forest.  It's a tranquil, beautiful place that makes you forget you're in the metropolis of Tokyo.  

This is one of the gates within the Meiji-jingu complex - called a tori.  That's C-Rob at the left-hand base of the gate, just to give you some perspective.  It's a beautiful piece of simplistic Japanese architecture.

Here's C-Rob at the gate to the inner courtyard of the shrine

Inside the courtyard, is an old tree, surrounded by hundreds of small, wooden blocks.  On each block, you'll find a "prayer" that is written by visitors to the shrine.  It's a really unique feature of Meiji-jingu...and it gives you a little glimpse into the lives of the visitors from around the world.

After this tranquil experience, we decided to try something a little noisier.  We went to a shopping area in Tokyo called Omote-sando.  This is a tree-lined boulevard occasionally compared to Paris' Champs-Elysées, with trendy boutiques and high-priced cafes.  Normally, this isn't my kind of place.  However, hidden within this high-end retail area is KiddyLand.  If you saw my post on "Plundered Treasure", you'll understand why I love a giant store dedicated to toys.

This is a store adjacent to KiddyLand - G-Man would go nuts in here...

I had a blast in KiddyLand...and C-Rob enjoyed watching his father act like a kid.  At least that's the story I'm going to tell.  To top it off, I needed a little sugar after walking, so I decided on a Wonka bar.

I'm running out of time...so I will finish Day 2 tomorrow.  I'll show you my FAVORITE noodle shop in the city...