Love it!
Today started off with M and I's morning chat. crossed a few more things off the list and she had dinner with her mom which was nice. She said that Greta is having a hard time with everything. She knows something is up...especially when the big suitcases come out. I think she will have fun at Mindy's moms and then Greta will get to come home to my Dad whom she hasn't seen in a year. Here world is going to get all upside down. I guess all of ours will be soon enough.
After chatting with M, I made my way to Shibuya and had lunch with a friend. He runs a digital marketing studio just beyond the main Shibuya intersection. We had Tongue, rice and a broth that was amazing. We had a nice chat and I got to see he studio which was cool. After our chat, he set me up with a couple of record stores and I proceeded to get lost in Shibuya which was great. Here are a couple of images from the walk.
From Shibuya, I started walking and walk I did. First I went to a couple of Record stores which lead me to Yoyogi Park where I sat for a good few minutes.
Then I headed to Meiji Jingu again but to see the gardens which I have missed each time I have gone and guess what...I missed it again. ;)
Then I walked through the back streets for Harajuku, something I didn't really get to do last time. Really quite remarkable all the super cool shopping off of Omote-sando. Such cool stuff from shops that I have never heard of. Really refreshing.
Then I made the long trek up the Omote-sando road to Aoyama-itchome which was a haul. Not really sure what I thought it would be good to walk. Had two chances to take the train. I guess I just wanted to see it...never had before.
Then I got home and made dinner...noodles again this time but more fresh. I ate on the roof again but this time it was different. There were no people and the lights on the roof were off. Only the glow of Tokyo tower and the surround buildings light the roof. This plus the wind blowing really made for a super relaxing dinner. This city is very busy and always on and everything seems to be indoors. To be on the roof, outside with the breeze and no people was quite welcome and I soaked it all in.
Tomorrow Mindy arrives and I can't wait. With how work has gone and me being here earlier, it has truly been a long time since we have really seen each other. This time with just the two of us and with Takahiro will be special. I know Takahiro will keep us busy (and awake) but it will be our family, together...finally.
While I have been waiting for M to arrive, my time in Japan has been quite exceptional and I wanted to recap this part of the journey.
The initial reason for my trip was for work, we have been working with our partner office in Tokyo for a Japanese airline and we had a presentation scheduled for the 6th of August. I knew there would be a chance that I could be coming for our baby as well but didn't know that till we got the call on Thursday Aug 26th. What a blessing to have this opportunity to be traveling for work and get to just stay longer in this fabulous country.
This is a shot from my desk at the DYR office. After our presentation on Monday, we still had work to do and so I held up here working directly with the Tokyo team on our next steps. It was great working with them and man, the Japanese work very hard. We had quite a few long days but we did start later so that was nice. All in all, it was a very busy week in the office and I didn't get to do too much other than work during this time. We did score some great okonomiyaki for lunch one day as well as an evening of electronic darts which was great.
Here is the Tokyo team...they are such great hosts and great partners! We had a great time and on Friday I was able to attend an new product launch and we had drinks after. It was a great time to finish out working with them.
/// Saturday ///
On Saturday, I finally started to get to explore and do a few things. As you can see from a post below, my main goal was to get some groceries and get caught up on laundry which did take a little bit longer than I expected. We also got the great package from Akachan Honpo with all the goodies from our adoption coordinator. What a great morning for sure.
Before Lunch I headed to the Shrine and garden next to our apartment which was pretty cool. It was a nice walk but it started getting a little hot so I headed back to the apartment for lunch.
At about 2PM I headed to Shimokitazawa, an area of Tokyo that I have recently read about and wanted to go to. This part of town was very cool and I can't wait to take Mindy there when she arrives. There were several super cool shops, both new and vintage, as well as great places to eat. There were a couple of baby stores as well that I think we could find some great stuff for Takahiro.
One of the reasons for going to Shimokitazawa was for this coffee shop, Bear Pond. I had read about it in some of our research for the Japanese airline in a WSJ article and was the big reason for me to go to this part of town. The coffee was suppose to be exceptional and it didn't let me down. I had a cappuccino and it was probably the best I have had...even better than in Italy.
Being sure I didn't miss any trains and knowing I would be back with Mindy I decided to head on back to Shinjuku station so I was "in walking distance" from our hotel. Back in Shinjuku, I just walked around and wanted to explore where I had been in 2002, my first trip to Japan.
/// Sunday ///
Sunday started slow with a Skype call with Mindy and then coffee on the rooftop. The mornings have been some what cloudy which makes being outside not so bad. I had a pretty full day which started with making my way to Akihabara and looking for this Arts & Crafts series of shops. There are couple of images below and even though it took a little to find, it was worth it. There was a bunch of great stores and I recommend visiting if you come to Tokyo.
Next on the list was making my way to Asakusa which at this point was the closet I had been to Tokyo Sky Tree. Mindy and I plan on visiting closer to Sky Tree later so I focused on seeing Sensoji Temple and the area around there first.
The temple was really quite crowded being a holiday and all but it was good to see.
After dealing with the crowds I was ready to move on to the next thing but I had promised Mindy one thing...
To get Green Tea Ice Cream!
The next place on the list was the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo which took a bit to get to. Had to change train lines once and the walk from the station to the museum was quite a bit and of course, it was the hottest day yet on my trip!
Finally making it to the Museum, I first decided to enjoy the park next to it. I wanted to actually take a rest from all the walking that day. The park its self was quite enjoyable. There were several families gathering being that it is a holiday but I just found a park bench in the shade next to a fountain and relaxed. This was really was great. It was nice to be outside and not sweating. The shade and breeze where just right. Thinking, napping and people watching where the only things to do and it was great.
There was this great bridge structure with Sky Tree in the background which was cool to see. After about 2 hours (I think...kind of lost track) I headed to the museum.
The museum was great and saw some great work including the 2 pictures above, the Marilyn series from Warhol and a Lichtenstein. Really enjoyed my time there.
After the museum I headed home wanting to enjoy the last few hours of time on the roof top deck. You can see the view above which is really cool to just stare at. I ate dinner up on the roof deck and chatted with some folks staying in the apartment complex...seemed to be quite the hang out in the evening and with the view, you can see why.
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