I went to visit Jim in Japan and we spent the weekend in Tokyo and then took the train to Aizu Wakamatsu. That is where Jim works. Aizu is out among the rice paddies in the Japanese countryside of central Japan. There are mountain ranges to both the east and west of Aizu. The town itself is fairly small when compared to some of the bigger cities.
Date(s): May 8 - 17, 2008. Album by kerri stephenson. Photos by kerri stephenson. 1 - 63 of 63 Total. 492 Visits.
enlarge 119KB, 800x600 1 This is the Hilton Narita that Jim stays at when he gets to Japan. He then takes the train to Aizu the next day.
enlarge 118KB, 800x600 2 The Hilton again
enlarge 107KB, 800x600 3 This is the nighttime view from our room in the ANA Continental Hotel in Tokyo. Jim and I stayed there 2 nights.
enlarge 97KB, 800x600 4 The same view again
enlarge 74KB, 800x600 5 Jim in our hotel lobby
enlarge 74KB, 800x600 6 We took the Tokyo Afternoon Tour in the rain on Saturday afternoon. The trip started with the 40th floor of the World Trade Center for a panoramic view of Tokyo. This is the rainy day view.
enlarge 123KB, 800x600 7 This is what the view would look like on a clear day and it also has the names of the places your seeing in english
enlarge 59KB, 800x600 8 This over looks some of Tokyo Bay
enlarge 71KB, 800x600 9 Tokyo Bay again
enlarge 104KB, 800x600 10 Again - the would be view on a clear day
enlarge 58KB, 800x600 11 It's me - in full tourist mode, blue sticker and all.
enlarge 59KB, 600x800 12 Where in the heck is Jim's blue tourist sticker?
enlarge 67KB, 600x800 13 Another rainy day view - aren't those wine glass (or tornado) buildings cute?
enlarge 121KB, 800x600 14 If you view this picture in full size mode you can read the name of the wine glass/tornado buildings in the background. I'll try it in a second to make sure. They are called the Tokyo Towers.
enlarge 133KB, 800x600 15 another clear day picture view
enlarge 115KB, 800x600 16 and our rainy day view
enlarge 103KB, 800x600 17 Waiting in line for the boat tour up the river and under a whole bunch of bridges. I call it the 100 bridges tour.
enlarge 79KB, 800x600 18 The harbour
enlarge 84KB, 800x600 19 getting aboard the boat
enlarge 77KB, 800x600 20 our boat for the trip up river to the Asakusa Temple
enlarge 63KB, 800x600 21 Jim began taking pictures from the back of the boat and here's those wineglass/tornado buildings again.
enlarge 74KB, 800x600 22 the following pictures of river and bridges were taken by Jim from the back of the boat in the rain (although he was standing under cover on the boat)
enlarge 107KB, 800x600 23 a bridge
enlarge 88KB, 800x600 24 and there's another bridge
enlarge 110KB, 800x600 25 and another bridge - all of the bridges seem to be different from one another
enlarge 72KB, 800x600 26 a unique style for a bridge
enlarge 97KB, 800x600 27 more bridges
enlarge 75KB, 800x600 28 This kinda looks like a giant yellow chili pepper that sits on top of a building next to the river - not quite sure just what it is though
enlarge 65KB, 600x800 29 The Asakusa Temple
enlarge 106KB, 800x600 30 one of the buildings on the temple grounds
enlarge 89KB, 800x600 31 This is a view from the stairs of the temple towards the exit
enlarge 95KB, 600x800 32 Me with a nice background
enlarge 77KB, 600x800 33 another view
enlarge 96KB, 800x600 34 This is outside the Imperial Palace grounds looking at the moat. The grounds and palace are only open 2 days a year - the king's birthday in December and on New Year's Day.
enlarge 114KB, 800x600 35 still raining on our Takyo Afternoon Tour and I'm still in front of the moat
enlarge 98KB, 800x600 36 We're in Aizu now and the next few pictures are taken from our 9th floor hotel room that over looks the east side of Aizu
enlarge 95KB, 800x600 37 That's Mt. Bandai in the very background with snow still on the mountain
enlarge 105KB, 800x600 38 In Aizu, unlike Tokyo, they have real houses. There are not that many tall buildings around
enlarge 129KB, 800x600 39 Gas was $1.60 per liter and it's just around 5 liters per gallon so you do the math - it's very expensive for gas in Japan.
enlarge 86KB, 800x600 40 still views from the hotel room
enlarge 87KB, 600x800 41 Kerri's eating her most favorite meal in Japan. It's Korean BBQ and it's the best tasting meat I've ever eaten. We ate there 2 times in 3 days and they have pretty good beer there as well.
enlarge 84KB, 600x800 42 I'm standing on the step of the Korean BBQ restaurant
enlarge 76KB, 800x600 43 Another view of the BBQ place and of course if you look very closely you may notice that it's raining - yep, raining.
enlarge 140KB, 800x600 44 The sun is shining brilliantly today and I've gone to the Tsurugajo Castle in Aizu. This is about the stairs that the samurai would run up and down defending the castle from invaders
enlarge 167KB, 600x800 45 These are the stairs
enlarge 143KB, 800x600 46 This is the castle
enlarge 100KB, 800x600 47 another castle view
enlarge 109KB, 800x600 48 I went into the castle and looked at and read about Aizu history and on the top 2 floors (observation posts) you can take pictures. This is from the 4th floor
enlarge 106KB, 800x600 49 the next few pictures are views from the 4 sides of the observation posts over looking Aizu
enlarge 158KB, 800x600 50 the castle grounds
enlarge 143KB, 800x600 51 castle grounds again
enlarge 150KB, 800x600 52
enlarge 100KB, 800x600 53
enlarge 130KB, 800x600 54 the tall building in the middle of the piture is our hotel - the Route Inn
enlarge 136KB, 800x600 55 more of the castle grounds
enlarge 110KB, 800x600 56 some views of the castle from the ground up
enlarge 132KB, 800x600 57 this is a small worship area on the castle grounds
enlarge 155KB, 800x600 58 the entrance to the small worshiping area
enlarge 161KB, 800x600 59 the moat that surrounds the castle
enlarge 101KB, 800x600 60 Some fo the english displayed on the castle grounds
enlarge 82KB, 800x600 61 Here's a brief history of the Tsuruga Castle
enlarge 84KB, 800x600 62 This is the Toho Spa hotel lobby. I went to this hotel to have a Japanese massage and it was both a beautiful hotel and a great massage.
enlarge 99KB, 600x800 63 outside view of the hotel
