From the airplane

In the airport - I waited.

 On the subject of toilets, all of them have a built-in err rear shower - even the new ones. They're pretty big on toilet technology

Riding to the hotel - very clean cabs and snow. The drivers even wear white gloves, but that picture was blurry. $210 to go to the airport - damn.

Signs with bad grammar - a regular around these parts

I wonder if they sell beer here:

If TV commercials aren't enough, you can go out here:

Here's the hotel coffee maker that I couldn't figure out how to use - it spilled on the floor and my coffee looked like ginger ale.

A view from the hotel window:

A view from the 36th floor:

Check out this rollercoaster we saw from a restaurant on the 25th floor and some other pictures from the same place

Kim drank at the restaurant

They have umbrella holders outside many buildings and important signs, too.

An 8-way crossing... I took lots of pictures because I could.

The most colorful building ever

The building across the street was an electronics store. That's right - ONE electronics store.

Another electronics store in Akihabara (aka 'Electic Town')

Inside the electronics store

Many of the buildings had three or four bars - all of them had signs like this - Oh, and the karaoke place... one of the 4,100 (or so) I saw.

For a second I thought I was in LA:

A delicious entree on the menu:

There's always someone working in Tokyo.. even at 2:00am

Here's the office!

Competition:

They have little vending machines on the streets with hot drinks in steel cans! The red buttons are for hot drinks and the blue ones for cold

They're really into style in Tokyo. Check out this hot pair of panty hose.

Here's where bad Japanese people go

Knowing English was useless

Security at the Imperial Palace. I wonder if I would have been arrested if that guy saw me taking pictures

Rules for the walk around the Palace Japanese style!

I just think it's weird that we have odd numbers after the decimal here and they have even numbers there "80.0 FM". Weird. Oh and the other sign - explain it to me.

Really expensive gas leads to really small cars. HeHe

These pictures are from the monorail that goes through part of Tokyo from the Shinbashi station. Total Jetsons!

When people get sick, they wear masks so as not to infect others. Talk about a culture based on respect for others!

I went to see Kabuki theatre. It was totally awesome. There are no women - all the women are actually men dressed up!

I liked the girl in front of me all dressed in traditional Japanese gear. She wasn't half bad, either. :)

Crowded subways

Amazingly, I found my way around...

I went to a real Japanese Odaiba spa while out there. You had to walk around in a robe the whole time!

And while you're there, there are places for your friends...

But there are rules.

I had to go to the doctor for an infection. It kinda sucked, but she was cool - she told me all the cool places to go. Notice the high-tech phone in the waiting room

Even the Japanese buy German cars

And then they wash them in mini-car washes

I actually started knowing where I was going on the subway!

I found the one bar where non-Japanese people hung out!

This robotic guy's arms moved too - very cool

They've got the coolest signs that tell you traffic patterns... of course all the lights would be on solid here in LA

Talk about effective advertising!

Then I wondered around Asakusa

I took the waterway back to the hotel

And as I walked to the station, I was entertained by the building with the yellow thing on it

Tokyo is the cleanest city I've ever seen... you could eat off the floor.

I went to a Japanese garden, but it was winter. No matter where you looked, you could see the city despite my efforts to hide it from the camera

What happened to separating recyclables?

A bathroom with no doors (taken with a high-quality disposable camera)

Here are some pictures around the waterway station

On the way back, I watched some Japanese girls play Irish music and even bought a CD! More high-quality disposable camera pictures.

My layover back to LA was in Honolulu (it was no accident of course)! As soon as I got off the plane, I hoped on the city bus. Somehow, I managed to get my finger in every picture.

The Delta desk was closed, so I had to carry my 50 pound bag everywhere. Here's a picture of my bag relaxing in front of the view while I rested from carrying it.

Three pictures without my finger...