My Camera Lens...

On Sunday afternoon, my lens locked in a zoomed in position and wouldn’t close. Since I was in the land of Nikon, I thought I could swing by the service center (where I took these three phootos) the next day and get it fixed in a jiffy.

Boy was I wrong! During the hour that I had to drop it off to be examined, I visited a giant electronics store to check out replacement lens. When I returned, I got the bad news that it would take 10 days to repair and would cost $400. I told the fellow that he could keep the lens.

I then went back to the store and bought a Tamron lens. To get the best price, I needed to pay in cash. It took about ten minutes for six sales clerks to figure out how to direct me to the nearest 7-11 so I could get to an ATM; three of them were even kind enough to walk outside the store to send me off in the correct direction. How’s that for customer service?

That night I stopped back at Midtown to see the Summer Light Garden for one last time and try out my new lens. I’m happy with the results!

Yummy Food!

After the zoo, we visited the shrines in Ueno Park. Along the way, we stopped for a grilled ear of corn.

We found a great restaurant just outside the park for dinner that was economical and delicious, a good combination.

We also went to my favorite snack shop and stored up on green tea cookies and candies, some of which we even brought back to Holland to share.

They didn’t sell Oreos, but Ashlynn found these green tea ones at 7-11 and they were delicious.

Ueno Zoo...

On Sunday we went to Ueno Zoo, Japan’s oldest zoo which opened in 1882. According to Wikipedia, all of the animals were executed during World War II so that they wouldn’t run wild through the streets of Tokyo.

The pandas were both asleep, so not very entertaining. Luckily the macaques and lemurs were bouncing around.

While some parts of the zoo were quite modern, the hippo area was archaic. We felt bad for them squeezed into such a small space.

These newborn naked mole rats didn’t seem to mind being in a tight space.

Back to Roppongi Hills...

That evening we went back to Roppongi Hills.

I finally managed to get a photo of Ashlynn with the Doraemon.

We arrived just as a festival was finishing up.

The lights of Tokyo Tower were changed that night.

Diamond and Flowers Ferris Wheel...

We noticed Tokyo’s 2nd highest Ferris wheel (385 feet or 117 meters) as soon as we got to the station near the aquarium. 

After visiting the aquarium, we took a ride.

The views were great, but there was incredible glare as the late afternoon sun distorted our view towards downtown.

Built on reclaimed land, the grounds surrounding the aquarium is the largest park in central Tokyo.

Cool Architecture...

The architecture of Tokyo Sea Life Park was really cool! It was situated right on the bay with beautiful views. In the background on the right you can just make out Tokyo Disney. 

Ashlynn had no idea she was being photo-bombed by three girls in kimonos.

Tokyo Sea Life Park...

That Saturday we went to Tokyo Sea Life Park after confirming that they don’t have any dolphins (the movie The Cove showed Japanese fishermen killing dolphins that are rejected for use in aquariums and Ashlynn didn’t want to inadvertently support that system in any way).

The entrance and entire setting was very impressive!

There was a wide variety of sea creatures displayed including moray eels...

...and penguins.

We especially enjoyed this section of the park, which featured fish from off the Japanese coast.

Heading to the Hash...

I managed to hash seven times during the six weeks. On this particular Friday evening, I stopped along the way in Akihabara to see it lit up at night. While trying to find the entertainment district, I came across a place that sold only rice balls, one of my favorite Japanese snacks.

Also saw a cool parking garage with a double entrance; because of the tight space the cars don’t have space to turn around so the floor in front of the entrance rotates.

Akihabara was interesting with lots of huge banners of anime.

Would have liked to have stopped to take photos during the hashes, but was too nervous about falling even further behind. Luckily the trails were always well marked as twice I was late for runs but still managed to find my way.

Walking Through Minato...

After I dropped Ashlynn off for her shoot, I decided to walk back to the apartment. Along the way I saw...

 ...a Denny’s (another example of America exporting its finest)...

 ...a grave with a padlock (not sure if that’s to keep someone out or in)...

...and a building outside an art museum entirely devoted to locked umbrella storage.

Jill Stuart Shoot...

While I was working on these posts, additional photos of Ashlynn appeared on the Jill Stuart website. These are some of the rotating New Arrival banners that appear in the middle of the site.

If you actually want to buy any of these expensive outfits, then you have to go to the website of Mix Tokyo, the Japanese distributor of Jill Stuart.

As of today, these outfits are still “Coming Soon.” Hopefully we’ll receive hi-res versions for Ashlynn’s portfolio. In the meantime, I’ll keep haunting the website to find additional shots.