Seen Around Tokyo

There was a big earthquake this evening!  It seems that everything is fine, and although there was a 3 ft. tsunami in the north, it only did minor damage.  We were almost 300 miles away from the epicenter, but it was still the strongest earthquake that either of us has felt.  It's really amazing how the architecture here deals with it though.  Despite how much it scared me there was nothing other than gentle swaying.  The most startling part about this quake though was how long it lasted - between 60 and 90 seconds!  Definitely less fun and exciting than the tiny ones that are over in 15 seconds.

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted but I've been taking pictures and thinking about blogging for the last couple weeks.  I've just been thinking about our apartment hunt as well, and I haven't wanted to say anything because it might jinx it.  But I think it's close to being settled, and soon I can post all about it.  In the meantime I've been hanging out lots with Raku and doing all sorts of fun things.  Last week she had a friend visiting and we went out to Kamakura, one of the historic capitols of Japan.  It's only an hour away by train, but it feels so calm and peaceful compared to Tokyo.  We looked at gardens and temples and shopped in quaint little stores.  Christian - if you're reading this - it reminded me of when we went last year and you bonded with the pigeons.

The carefully swept rocks always make me feel so peaceful.

I've also been noticing trees growing citrus fruits that are ripening now.  I'm not sure if they're oranges or something else, and I didn't realize we were in the right climate, but they're beautiful.

Right now Tokyo is a candidate city for the 2020 Olympics, so they're having all sorts of events to get the public excited.

So Raku and I became Olympians:

Don't we look strong?  (There's a little seat under us)

And then after all the hard olympic training, we had to become chocolate bears.

The way the bears were positioned we couldn't both get behind it (maybe because it was for children).

And I found a vending machine selling toiletries and band-aids:

And finally, a shot that Raku took on a night out last weekend

She's a pretty great photographer (but we're a pretty gorgeous couple).

Up next, a post about Christmas in Japan!