Japan

I spent the weekend in Japan with Tom and our friend Rachel who was my lifeline and sanity in grad school. It is safe to say we were each other's lifelines. Rachel is now a tenured Physics professor in Seattle and is pursuing her PhD in Education, along with getting married this summer. We have not seen her since our wedding celebration in August 2005, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Here are Tom and Rachel at a curry place in Yokosuka. Yokosuka has a long history as a Japanese Navy town and is famous for it's curries. I had no idea that there are such things as Japanese curry dishes. However, there are, and they are delicious!



On Saturday we pretty much walked around Yokosuka and took in the sights there.
It can be challenging to find your way in a foreign city sometimes. That is why I am glad to have Tom to figure these things out for me...


The city has a huge water fountain with shows timed to music a few times a day:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2670032553_260cbb5823_b.jpg

By far the coolest thing we did was to travel to Kamakura to see the Giant Buddha also known as Daibutsu. Daibutsu was cast in bronze in 1252 and is currently on springs to protect it from earthquakes. The statue stands 30 m (more than 90ft) tall. It is quite a sight...




From the Daibutsu we hiked along an ancient trail connecting the local towns to the small village of Kamakura Kita where we visited two large Buddhist Temples. The grounds and statues were very striking.




Here is one last shot of Tom and I along a tree lined walk in the town of Kamakura.


On Monday Tom and I had a little adventure in Tokyo which ended in me arriving at my gate five minutes before boarding started...not within my comfort window at all!

So the trip was nice, and Japan was fun. I will definitely go back while they are still there and hopefully get up to the North some. I heare the skiing is great in Hokaido, so a winter trip may be in order...

There are more photos over on Flickr