[JenB]

How're you getting this stuff home? It sounds great... you'll remember this time forever... fireworks festival, how neat. Are you mostly staying in Tokyo or are you making side trips to other cities/ the countryside?

[TalonDJ]

Ah Monday... We meet again. You will not get the best of me this time. I even got up early and went running. I WILL get the upper hand. I admit that trick where I got all the way to work before noticing I was wearing two different shoes was pretty clever. Did not see that one coming. But the day is young and I will not be beaten!

[SuziQ]

Gina's lending us an old Army duffle bag to help pack the extra stuff. One of the coolest things I've gotten is some chopsticks. I got a set for Clare and me and for Paul and David, our names inscribed on our own pair in Japanese. I also got a nice Japanese cookbook for myself and some smaller ones for the boys. I got some regular chopsticks for SSQ and David cause they are not as interested in the Japanese stuff.

Last week we went South and west about an hour out of Tokyo into the mountains at Hakone. It was lovely. Tomorrow we're going down to Enoshima Island and then up to Kamakura. It will be the first time I've even seen the Pacific shoreline, and it will be from the Japanese coast. Way cool!