okayjizo

An old 'donjon,' part of the Imperial Palace complex in the heart of Tokyo. The various buildings were originally built during the Edo period by some bad ass shogun and eventually became the imperial residence. Royal events are still held in some of the Palace buildings. The entire tour was outdoors. Hard to admire the magnificence while trying to keep your core body temp above freezing.

Notice the gloved hands and megaphone (might be hard to see in this pic). The man and his two straight lines are not to be messed with.

Japanese tourists, they're everywhere.

the asian partridge family going balls out on rock band - brother on vocals and pops on guitar. i was eventually recruited to wail on the drums (sort of a captive bandmember while i was laid up recovering from the stomach flu). band name - save the children...i'd like to say moms was the band's number one groupie, except she only catered to my dad. we killed it on radiohead's 'creep,' weezer's 'say it ain't so' and yeah yeah yeahs 'map.' got the beat down however on beastie boys' sabotage and rolling stones 'gimme shelter.' tough licks. still waiting to get paid from our gig in berlin.

day one in tokyo - snow.

bro lighting it up with issey miyake.

tokyu subway station, offpeak hour.

With the wetsuit? Sweet deal.

Like candy.

Lovebirds in Tokyo.

Evil spawn.

It was obvious we needed help. As a footnote, I think my dad could pass for Japanese.

"Okonomi-yaki is very versatile, as it can serve as lunch, supper or a snack with a drink. These days it is very much a food of the people, unlike the dish from which it is thought to have originated. Today's okonomi-yaki may have stemmed from a grilled dish made with wheat gluten. A man called Senno Rikyu first served this as part of the tea ceremony meal (chakaiseki) in the Azuchi-Momoyama era (1568-1600). It was essentially a batter of flour and water spread on a grill, cooked through, brushed with miso and rolled up like a crepe." I think okonomi means whatever you like. We liked shrimp, fish, sausage, prosciutto, mushrooms, sprouts, fish eggs, eggplant, tomatoes, spinach....all topped with sweet sauce and japanese mayo.

Racing gear check.

Boarders without borders - Nozomi, one of my brother's co-workers, and her Japan-born Swiss-raised international man of love, Greg, tinkering with toys while we wait for our curry lunches.

Ninjer ski mask.

Victory poses.

Guests are encouraged to wear these yakatanas (traditional robes) before and after onsen and also around the lodge.

Guests are NOT encouraged to get loud and blinkered or harass the waitresses for their phone numbers for a little one-on-one english lesson.

Girls gone mild.

Akiko, Paolo, Hamish, Greg, Nozomi, Me.

Someone got a little pooter spray happy.

Happy feet.

Day two. All smiles.

Early morning onsen, yummy breakfast and powpow for dessert.

Snowballs

A trail crossing from one ski area to another - long flat areas and two or three uphill stretches. We wound up hoofing it most of the way.

Small figure in the middle of the pic is my brother on the other side of the valley, my destination. It was a gorgeous trek but sadly the area we hiked to wasn't as fun - icy and super windy.

Passing time until the shuttle arrives to take us back to the ski area where we started out.

The lift back to the lodge. Bye bye Nagano.

Konichiwa smelly armpits.