The Final Chapter of Our Japan Trip

Okay, it's only taken me four months to finish blogging about Japan. I need to close out the trip so that I can blog about all the other things that the family is up to!



On our last full day in Japan, we visited Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. This is probably my favorite temple complex in Japan. We go there every time we visit Japan and it's always neat and interesting. On this trip, it was raining so it wasn't as much fun to wander the grounds and the gardens, but I just find it so terrific to enter the templex complex via the giant gate, go through the long corridor of food stalls and shops, bathe in the smoke close to the temple (for good luck) and then visit the actual temple.

 

 Here's the crew walking to Asakusa from the subway

 

Here's the corridor with shops and food stalls.

Here's a view of the temple gates from Sensoji Temple.

Here's a view of one of the gardens.

I guess Sensoji means so much to me because it was one of the first temples I visited with Maki after we got married and visited Japan for the first time in 2001. We also brought CJ there during his first trip, back in November 2004.

This time around, I bought a couple of woodblock print posters of the Sensoji Temple and the Kaminarimon Gate. These prints now hang proudly in our stairwell from the first floor to the second floor.

After visiting Sensoji, we had lunch at a local restaurant, then the Kato family headed back to the hotel and Alex and Christine visited the Studio Ghibli museum. We are all Miyazaki fans and Alex said the museum was incredible and worth visiting.

After naptime, for our last dinner, we went to the Ueno District and met up with Takashi, a boyhood friend of Maki's and Takashi's wife and son, Aim. We had dinner at this incredibly, fancy, sukiyaki restaurant with tatami mats, lots of courses, and incredible service. We always have dinner with Takashi when we go to Japan and it's always a treat. CJ and Aim played together and seemed to get along really well, even though CJ doesn't speak Japanese and Aim doesn't speak English. Funny how that works.

Two servers would come in periodically during the meal to cook the food and serve us.

Here's the sukiyaki, cooking away. The food was delicious!

Here's a picture of CJ's meal.

 Here's a photo of Takashi, his wife Sunao and his son Aim + Maki, MJ and CJ.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel to get the boys off to bed and then finish the night by completing our packing. I try to stay pretty organized during trips so that packing isn't a nightmare. Nevertheless, it's always work to get everything ready for the morning and then make sure we don't forget anything.