The first time I saw a gas station in Japan it took me a minute to figure out where the gas pumps were.  Do you see them?

You have to look up the pumps are not on the ground here. See?

Japan is the land of superior customer service.  Shopping takes awhile longer because each item is often individually wrapped even if it isn’t a gift. Today it is raining and I made a few purchases at my grocery store for a luncheon on Thursday. It reminded me of the “bag raincoats.” I haven’t had one in a while, I guess I haven’t been shopping in the rain recently. They have perfectly sized plastic bags that slip right over the top of the paper shopping bags.

Today was Sumo day for us. We get the company tickets one day of every Tokyo tournament. This means we go to sumo three times each year. It was a fairly calm uneventful day. It is only the second day of the 15 day event so things could get better. It seems that since Asashoryu retired some of the wrestlers have become a little vicious. Baruto has become a favorite among the fans. With the sport down one yokozuna (the highest rank in sumo) I believe the others are trying to get to the top in a hurry. Hakuho is the lone yokozuna.

Here are some photos from today:

The Venue

The parade 🙂

Baruto

Warming up

I'm ready

Here we go

Yikes

He's down

Security Guard

This afternoon we went to Yoyogi Park to the Jamaican Festival. We ate jerk chicken, rice with beans and snow cones. Then we listened to a little reggae music and walked around. We saw the most amazing dreadlocks on this Japanese man.

And a fairly common sight, dogs in strollers.

When I woke up I was so excited that it wasn’t raining anymore.  The skies are so clear that I could see Mt Fuji if was somewhere higher.  Rick can see it from his office on a day like today. It was perfect for my bike ride. I love Tokyo before 6 am! I decided to go Tokyo Bay. I found New Takeshiba Pier quickly. I took some photos from the pier.

New Pier Takeshiba

Because 25,000,000 people live in the Tokyo metro area they are always looking for new land.  Odaiba is reclaimed land in the middle of Tokyo Bay. The Rainbow Bridge is the direct connection to Tokyo.  Rick’s office is in Odaiba. His building is just left of the center in the photo below.

Odaiba

Doesn’t the Fuji TV Building look like it was built with an erector set?

Fuji TV Building

Ship Mast Landmark

I am discovering that sometimes I see things through the camera lens that I wouldn’t normally notice, like the sailor you can see in this photo.

Ahoy!

Looking up the Sumida River

I love the view from my kitchen window in the spring and fall. The rose bush in the picture is planted on the ground and grows up to the roof of the three story apartment building next door.  It is covered with dusty purple blooms in May and November. I like roses because they are the only flower I have ever been successful at growing.  I don’t have a garden so I am glad I can see these from my window

Rainy Day View

Window open shot

Zooming...