Traditional Roto Sushi...

 We spotted a roto sushi place that looked pretty nice for dinner.

Ashlynn attempted to order pickled eggplant, but when the sushi chef tried to hand her fish instead, she declined. Luckily she didn't notice that they had whale on the menu until we were almost done or she surely would have lost her appetite.

It might not have been the day that we'd originally planned, but it was great fun anyways. 

While we haven't seen a geisha yet, we do regularly see women in kimonos. I just loved how this woman is using her obi (sash) to store her RayBan fan.

Machida's Shopping District...

Rather than exploring the giant malls, we roamed Machida's shopping streets surrounding the train station that were closed to traffic. Ashlynn's friends call her Ash, so she liked the name of this salon.

Manga (comics) and anime (cartoons) are a big part of Japanese culture.

In addition to halls for adults to gamble on pachinko (a small upright pinball machine), there were several arcade halls mostly filled with claw and hook machines in which teens attempt to capture stuffed animals and other goodies.

At first glance Ashlynn thought this might be dried fruit, but on closer inspection it is clearly dried squid.

It is unlikely that Ashlynn will get to try on a real kimono, so this will have to suffice.

This colorful assortment of tutus was not in a costume shop, but rather just an accessories shop for teen girls.

Machida...

Silly me. Since the hash instructions said to bring a flashlight, I thought that might mean we'd be heading somewhere rural. Instead, Machida was another vibrant city (with a population over 400,000) that just happened to be on the western outskirts of Tokyo.

Luckily we enjoyed walking around this city because as it turned out, we never did find the start of the hash. Apparently there was a missing part of the instructions from the website that I'd failed to get since I hadn't emailed the organizers.

We found some cute alleys, which Ashlynn called an unexpected adventure.

Surprisingly, there was a statue of Christopher Columbus on the main shopping street.

Yoyogi Park...

Last Saturday the Samurai Hash (Tokyo's largest hash) was running in the evening instead of during the heat of the day so I thought we'd head to Yokohama before continuing to Machido for the run. Instead, I let Ashlynn sleep in after getting home at 2:15 a.m. Adjusted plan was to head to a movie in the afternoon and then to the hash. Silly us thinking we could show up just 10 minutes before the movie starts like we do in Holland. So, once again a change in plans. We decided to head towards the hash early, first stopping for a walk around Yoyogi Park, one of Tokyo's largest parks.

 We happened upon a photo shoot...

 ...and some fellows dancing to a drum beat. We also saw groups of musicians performing and fitness groups working out as well as many families having picnics.

Karaoke...

When Stella, Ashlynn's Dutch model friend, arrived in Tokyo, her parents came along for one week and then travelled through Japan for another three. They passed back through Tokyo for a few days and invited us to join them for an evening of karaoke. I assumed we'd be going to a karaoke bar, but instead we went to a "karaoke box," an upscale private room rented by the half hour. Based on the size of the facility, karaoke is much more popular than we ever realized. Two other Dutch models also came along; Malijn outshone us all with her amazing voice.

It was so much more fun than I expected and the 1.5 hours just flew by. It was great that it was just the eight of us and that we could be as goofy as we wanted.

Ashlynn and Stella

Here I am singing Dancing Queen with George, Stella's 11-year-old brother, and Monique, Stella's mother. We all had a great laugh whenever Peter, Stella's dad, took the microphone as he loved to ham it up. We all sang the final song together, Bon Jovi's It My Life in honor of Stella meeting Jon Bon Jovi's son at a nightclub in Roppongi. Afterwards, the girls went clubbing. I was nervous about Ashlynn going out, but the girls really looked after her. As models they get free entrance and free drinks, and the bouncers make sure nobody bugs them. She had a great time being treated like a celebrity and meeting the male models.

Another Local Restaurant...

We noticed that one of the traditional restaurants on our street had Japanese omelettes on the menu, which Ashlynn had wanted to try, so we went there for dinner. It was very nice inside and the service was fantastic (it did help that our waiter spoke great English, which seems to be a rarity).

When I ordered the seafood mix, he said that many foreigners find the pickled fish not to their liking. I figured that I like pickled herring, so I'd try it anyways. To my surprise, the bowl of fish had a raw egg on top, which he'd failed to mention. As the fish was cold, the egg obviously stayed raw.

The concoction was served with seaweed, but no rice. While I would definitely avoid this in the future, it didn't stop us from having a great dining experience.

Many restaurants provide baskets of some kind to store purses and other bags, which is a nice touch.

This restaurant also provided bathroom slippers so you wouldn't have to be barefoot in the restroom.

Better to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission...

A week ago Friday (sorry I'm a bit behind), Ashlynn had a long lunch break. After eating pizza sticks (which were yummy), she suggested that we go up the Midtown Tower. I was hesitant because I was certain it wasn't open to the public. Sure enough, there was a sign that said: Authorized Personnel Only Beyond This Point. Ashlynn had been up the tower earlier in the week for a casting, so she felt that she should be allowed to show me the view. We marched straight past the sign and got in the express elevator for the 33rd floor.

Once upstairs, the security checkpoint was around the corner. While this prevented us from seeing 360 degree views, it also meant that no one stopped us from checking out the views from this side of the building, which were pretty spectacular.

I didn't have my Nikon with me, so had to settle with photos from my phone.