Summer 2013 Trip to Japan

This is Dad and Peter Johnson at the fish market, a fascinating and smelly place. See the octopus below, on sale for a great price!

The workers at the fish market wore masks and drove these little trucks around, hauling fish.  Watch out if you happen to get in the way -- there is danger among the dead fish.

This is a beautiful Shinto temple, used for most happy occasion in the lives of the Japanese people, like marriages, births, and blessings.

This is us with Grandma and Grandpa, who were happy and relaxed.  We loved Grandma's cooking, as always, and we sure enjoyed their company.

If you haven't seen the movie, Hachi, starring Richard Gere, you should.  This is a statue in the main square dedicated to Hachiko, the dog on whom the movie was based. He is very famous in Japan.

Unfortunately, Japanese women are not used to American toilets and they desire to stand on the seat.  Signs like the one above are meant to help the women learn to sit on the seat.  Everything else looks too dangerous.

This is our beautiful Japanese hostel near Mount Fuji, where we ate an authentic Japanese meal, after taking hot baths and dressing in kimonos.

This is the traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto.

The sign said that the deer in this park were very polite and would thank the visitor for feeding them.  However, they were also aggressive and took nips at your bottom if you didn't produce food at a fast enough rate. They watched the vending machines so they knew who to stalk.  :)  Dad was that lucky guy.

The reason Josh is crawling through the hole in the tree is that it is the same size as Buddha's nostril.  If a person could crawl through the nostril then that person would gain intelligence.  In our group, Josh was the only one who gained that intelligence.  The rest of us will need to starve for awhile before trying to gain that intelligence.  :)

Japan was a trip of a lifetime!