Mt. Takao and the Okada Home

Okada-san`s garden. He also has several green houses, a tree farm, fruit trees, and a vegetable garden, which produces delicious kambachi (pumpkin) that we eat with horseradish at dinner time.

Tokyo is by far the largest city I`ve ever been too--which is astonishing because it is also the cleanest. Everyone recycles, and recycling bins like these are found throughout the city. This was taken at a gas station.

The Okada house.

We went for a hike up Takao-san, (Mt. Takao) yesterday, but we didn`t hike down. We took a cable car.

A temple on Takao-san.

Okada-san and I at the summit.

Yes, this is what the summit of a mountain looks like on the outskirts of Tokyo. Not even Japan`s sacred peaks can escape the `concrete jungle`.

The Plan!

Tomorrow is my last day in Tokyo, then I plan on doing a solo hike of Mt. Fuji-san tommorow night. And by solo, I mean I plan on being alone within masses of tourists who also want to climb the tallest mountain in Japan, who also will be watching the day lift its face from its pillow over the land of the rising sun, and who also will be buying green tea from the highest vending machine on planet Earth. Yes, there is a vending machine at the peak of Fuji-san. And a post office. Hell, I`ll bet there`s even a Starbucks.

After Fuji-san I`ll be hitching north to Hokkaido, Japan`s northern most province, then back down through the Japanese Alps.

The Okada family has been great. Very hospitable, and very generous. They`ve even inspired a few haiku of my own:

Arigato, Okada-san
Sushi lunch, cow-tongue dinner,
And a bed for a week.

Tatami mats,
Green tea, and haiku.
Heaven?

Fresh blueberries:
Garden grown. Into the air--
I catch them on my tongue.

"She say you look like
Jame Dean." I say, "thanks-- wait--
domo arigato."

Subway children
giggle because I am foreign.
I giggle too.

**Before someone corrects me, yes, I know traditional haiku is 5-7-5. In many modern haiku, even in Japan, the 5-7-5 structure has been loosely abandoned.

Anyhow, it`s almost time for me to eat lunch and for you to go to bed, so I will be going. Thanks for reading. Kampai!

Tokyo

Well, here is Tokyo Tower.... sideways. I can`t read Japanese and can`t really figure out how the hell to flip the tower right side up. Sorry!

From the top of Tokyo Tower. Imagine looking at this view--but in all directions.

The Tokyo Tower is the tallest self-supporting iron structure in the world, putting the Eiffel Tower at number two. Take that!

The Rainbow bridge.

Looking up from the bottom.

A circuit-board of an electronics store. Eight floors. Gigantic.

President Obama, repin` some mad Sony headphones.

Very confusing.

Again, sorry for the sideways thing. Coyfish in a pond.

Bad picture of a good temple.

Jun and his fiancee... boy she loves flashin peace!

Eeeek!

Sorry.

Crazy dude doing crazy stuff in Tokyo`s "City Park" equivalent.

It`s a Small World After All.... sang the man in the park.

Baseball. Pops, I thought you`d appreciate this.

Mmm!

Lunch. Thanks, Jun.

Do I really need to comment on this?

A wedding. The translation of that little license plate you see dangling from the back: Just hitched!

Okada-san, happily grilling some cow-tongue (quite delicious) at the dinner table.

This swastika has nothing to do with WWII nor with Nazism nor with hate nor Hitler, but it`s actually a Shinto (the native religion of Japan) symbol.

The Edo museum in Tokyo.

Miniature models of traditional buildings.

The building with the green roof is where Tokyo houses its Sumo matches.

Yu and I, hangin out outside the Emperor`s place.

Yu gets nervous about the subway.

"No no no no."