So in reality we started out our travels in Sendai for a day or two, headed out to Hakkodate. Next was Sapporo, took the sleeper train to Hiroshima, dropped in Kyoto for a little while then back to Sendai. Made a little stop at the end in Tokyo to visit Colin and hit some of the last few major tourist sights I may have missed. So when people ask where in Japan I went, I say the whole puppy! Here are some highlight pics from my camera!The both of us out side Hiroshima Castle. Sorry the pictures are not in a really great order. Oh well, it's our trip.
Hiroshima Peace Park. Such an eye opener.
Heehe. In Sapporo we did a lot of walking. Sean decided one evening after a long bout to find some rather out of the way churches/establishments that we ought to take a break and visit the massage chairs. And Japanese massage chairs are miles ahead of anything I have ever tried before. Your feet, legs, arms, hands, bum, back, and neck all receive very special treatment.
Also in Sapporo we saw festive dancers. We missed all the serious competition but saw some youth with awesome outfits that changed 3x in one song!
The Sapporo Tower. (Better than the Eiffel right?)
Golden Temple. This was really cool to see but hard to enjoy with all the school children.

PAGOTAS!!!!

I think this place is called Meijima -- could be really wrong.

He is so cute I just couldn't help but put a good picture where he was looking and smiling up!

Sunset at Hiroshima Castle. Such a beautiful day and the festival that night was so much fun.
The Romans had nothing on the Japanese. This pic is taken under a massive aqueduct near a shrine in Kyoto. We were too cheap and too pressed for time to go in the shrine. But I felt justly rewarded.

Sean just loves to pose for the camera!

The tallest wooden building in all of Japan. Inside is the biggest Buddah you have ever seen, but my camera had a hard time with it. Sean has immensely better pics of all this by the way.
I loved the Torii's. It was SO neat to be walking under 1000 lined up torii's all with that beautiful and unique orange. We didn't make it through them all (it was a little hot and I wanted to make it out to Nara to see the big Buddah!)
While I was going camera happy, Sean took a moment to really enjoy the rock garden. These gardens are unique little buggers. Beyond the fact that you can never see all 15 stones (unless you are 5.3 meters and stand in a certain place revealed on the internet), if you take the time to look at them they really do grow in beauty.

In order for all the pictures to be in the right order... I'm going to skip to the back and post pictures that way... sorry!

Sean laying with the homeless men in the Tokyo Imperial Palace Park. And Me standing by double layer bridge at the Palace

Sean at the big stilty shrine... no I really don't know the name but most of you probably do.

The Tokyo LDS Temple!!! the only true house of God


Beautiful scenery of our water trip in Sendai. Only my 2nd time ever on a boat on the ocean!!!

Our first little tourist spot, called Hakkodate for those who know Japan. It was funny how one of the first things Sean and I went to see was Christian churches and English style buildings!
Sean doesn't like to turn, and this is my pathetic attempts at a candid shot. He is looking out over the Sendai landscape. I am sorry to anyone who I told Sendai was a little town. It is where Sean's Obaachan lives. It is not small.
Hakkodate building...
Sean steering the wheel at the Hakkodate Bay.
OUR FIRST HOTEL. The bathroom fits me... and nothing else. The shower hooks right up to the sink so it is a one or the other type deal. Amazingly enough, though the walking space is tiny in these places, the amenities are great! Internet, blowdryer, free toothbrush and razor!

Hey all...
I figured that since we are just starting (sort of) our own little family we should start posting up what we are doing. We just recently got back from Japan and it was so much fun! I don't think Sean has fully recovered from coming back... but he is still just as cute as ever. Meeting Obaachan was a blast, and I've realized how badly I need to work on my Japanese. We had a tonne of fun sight seeing and going out with the family there. Colin even humored us and led us to the Tokyo temple! Sean had a wonderful time teaching CPR in Mongolia (hopefully I can get him to write more about it... I still haven't heard much, apparently pictures are requisite first.) I missed him a lot, but loved touring around with him in Japan. He was a good translator and we rarely got lost! Well I will put up lots of fun pictures. I have lots also from The Wedding but those are a little big and need to be converted down to a decent size before I can even think of putting any of them up.