Our Japan adventure began with our UNITED flight early Saturday morning. Actually, we were scheduled to fly out at 11:40 am that day but our departure was delayed by three hours due to mechanical issues, so says the airline. The wait felt like an eternity. We sure were glad when our flight finally took off and we went on our way.

Taken during our first morning in Japan. We stayed at our "home" in Tokyo. The Villa Fontaine right across the Tokyo City Air Terminal in the Nihonbashi Hakozaki area. We ate breakfast in the McDonald's inside the TCAT.

We had a day prior to our flight to Naha and we decided to rediscover Ginza. As soon as we came out of the Tokyo Metro, we saw the former site of the WAKO Department Store. Its store window was still nicely dressed but there was a sign that made it known that it was no longer the prestigious and expensive WAKO store. It was now called the Seiko House.

We had been to the Kabuki Theater before and in fact we watched a play there one spring evening. However, we seem to have forgotten that it was walking distance from the former WAKO bldg and that it is actually in the GInza area or very close to it.

At the beautiful Kabuki Theater

The facade of the Kabuki Theater

Not far from the Kabuki Theater was this temple, the Tuskiji Hongwanji Temple. Now we were pleasantly surprised to see it. It was in fact our first time to visit the temple.

This was the main facade of the temple.

Here's a view of the main altar inside the Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple.

We were glad we could take a picture of the temple up close.

Another rediscovery for us was the Tsukiji Fish Market. I honestly didn't realize it was walking distance from Ginza.

The plastic food displayed at the window of this restaurnat really caught my eye.

A stall in Tsukiji Market

This picture was taken upon our return from Naha, Okinawa. I wanted to see Shibuya once again. This was another picture of mine taken next to the Hachiko statue. We walked around here for an hour and then we left the area for Yokohama where we were going to visit a thrift store, the Book Off Super Bazaar in Yokohama.

Mid morning of our first day in Japan, we went to this cafe in Ginza and ate some cake.

While the cakes we bought were good, the size was definitely small for our taste. Then again, we are used to gigantic slices we get at home in the US>

This medium sized curry noodle soup and one tempura only cost me $4.50 at the Noodle House right across the TCAT.

On our second to the last day in Japan, we went back to Ueno to explore the area. We had been there twice before but those visits took place ages ago. We wanted to see what the famous district of Tokyo was like. There we headed to the Tokyo National Museum. My first visit here was last 2005! Yup, 21 years ago!

It was dusk when this picture was taken. We planned on staying until the early evening. We wanted to see everything there was to see inside the museum buildings.

This was the rear of one of the main buildings of the Tokyo National Museum at dusk. I really loved the reflection of the building on the water.

The first of the three areas we visited at the museum grounds was the pavilion dedicated to Asian cultures. Here we saw Chinese, Pakistani, and Cambodian religious stone statues that were oh so beautiful.

A Japanese armor

This was another branch of the laudrymat we often go to for our regular clothes washing. This branch was just a block away from the Villa Fontaine Nihonbashi Hakozaki.

Sweet treats for breakfast in Ueno. We actually ate this inside a KFC restaurant where we had early lunch during our last day in Japan.