Hibuya

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The world's busiest intersection.....

On our last day in Japan we decided to try to find the world's busiest intersection. One of the old Aussie's had posted about it on her blog, so we used that information and headed off to Hibuya. After wondering around the train station, we managed to spot the Starbucks that she said she sat in to watch....so we headed over there. This is what we saw from inside on the 2nd floor.
Everyone waiting for the green light to cross the street....

Everyone crossing the street. It is estimated that over 1 million people pass through this intersection everyday.

This is Mitch and the kids sitting in the window at Starbucks.

I asked Mitch to take this picture to show Tina that it wasn't so busy on a Tuesday afternoon during summer vacation (She waiting for about 45 mins with her friends to get window seats, we waited about 5 seconds)

After we had our fill of people watching, we headed back out on to the streets.

What time is it?

This semi passed through the busy intersection at least 10 times while we were there. They were promoting a new singer, I think. They were selling her CDs on the corner.

just a sculpture outside the train station

Mitch liked this beer ad he saw on the train back to the hotel....

we weren't sure if this was Beer Bitter Face or what...

We had a great time in Tokyo. This will be my last post for this blog. If you would like to follow us back in America, please go to http://thehammesclan.blogspot.com/ Please know that our American blog will mainly be for our friends back in Japan so they can keep up with us.

We loved being in Japan and can not wait to see our friends again, whether they come to America for a visit or we go to Himeji for a visit. We miss all of you!!!

Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku

Our hotel. We stayed on the 44th floor.
part of the view our of our room
RJ and daddy went swimming...Sara wasn't old enough by hotel standards...


The Tokyo skyline by night (this was on Mitch's camera) You can see Tokyo Tower just left of the center of the picture.

A picture of almost the same spot during the day.

We did manage to see Mt. Fuji from the hotel, but you can barely tell in the picture. It was amazing to see from so far away.

Tanabata (Star Festival)

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Our good friend Miho invited us to a Star Festival that she was going to with home stay student from New Zealand (Elizabeth). RJ and Sara were happy to wear their Yukata's again (Yes, Sara got another one...)


There were games to play
And ramunei to drink
And friends to pose for pictures with...

Thanks Miho for another great day!! We miss you in America!!

Ikebukuro

OK, so here I am finishing up our Tokyo trip...
After a fun day Tokyo Disney, we decided to head over to Ikebukuro (another area in Tokyo). We had heard that there was a Build-a-Bear Workshop there and seeing how we brought their bears all the way from America, we figured we had to try one last time to get their Pawsports stamped.

Some of the scenery from the streets

Sara was very happy to find a stroller and put Pink Peaches in for a ride...

RJ checking everything out....
Cute yukatas for the bears
Here is some evidence that we were actually in a Japanese store.
After we were all done. Sara got a Kimono for Pink Peaches and RJ got a ginbei for Wilbur the Wildcat. Everyone was happy

While wondering around we came across some familiar sights...
A cute rabbit on the street
More of the city streets
More familiar sights (KFC)
These Sanrio stores were everywhere. You could get anything Hello Kitty or even Shinkansen (the bullet train) there. These were RJ and Sara's favorite kind of stores

If we weren't headed home after this trip, we might have stopped for some American Pizza
A street performer
A Smoking area on the street corner
City streets
More familiar sights

It was another great day in Tokyo....I have one more blog on the world's busiest intersection...

Tokyo Disney

Sorry for the lapse in blogs. I am staying at a friends house this week and she only has dial up. My wonderful husband found out that Peter Piper Pizza has free wireless Internet...so as I sit here at 9:30 pm.....please enjoy a recap from our trip to Tokyo Disney...


After riding the over night bu from Himeji to Tokyo (it took us 10 hrs), the kids were very excited when they figured out where we were going.

At the entrance....Many people had told us that Tokyo Disney looked exactly like Disneyland in California...we didn't think so. There was no train station right out front
Many of the characters were out front to greet us...Pluto
I think this is Gapeto (from Pinocchio)
And Pinocchio. I was impressed with how the kids were with the characters. Sara wouldn't go near them but she was willing to stand next to her brother who was VERY excited to see them.

Don't think there is a Hokushi's in California
This is the end of Main street. Very different.
ToonTown entrance
While Mitch and I waited in line for the Jolly Trolley, RJ and Sara found fun things to play on

More cars

Cool water..yes it was hot and yes we let Sara get into the fountain.

The Jolly Family on the Jolly Trolley

More characters in Toontown
Tea cups. RJ and I went pretty fast on our spinning.


Sara chased Max down for a picture

Pumping up the water for an explosion
Checking out the hole in the door
Get me out of here!!

The parade...I don't know what was better...seeing Tigger bounce or watching my kids have the time of their lives!! It was awesome to see they experience all of this for the first time!

RJ and Sara waving at their favorite characters.
The castle
Tokyo Disney map


Not too sure about this, but it was outside while we were waiting for the bus back to our hotel.

I have a few more entries for Tokyo, but I am going to get kicked out of the pizza place soon. I have created our new blog at http://thehammesclan.blogspot.com/ but there isn't much there yet. It will mainly be a blog for our friends in Japan and family out of Arizona so they can keep up with the kids and see what they are up too and to see what Arizona is really like.

Check back in next week....not sure when I will be given permission to leave again....