JULY 23-26 - TOKYO, MARS - a pictoral essay, Pt 1

After we finally arrived in Tokyo and checked into the lovely hotel, we set out to tame our noisy bellies by scarfing down some grub at a nearby Yakitori joint:







Then I subsequently passed out, but not before I snapped a photo of the cute origami left on the pillow to greet me (don't worry, I didn't crush it).



The next day, we went to the Blue Note early so we could set up for our four day residency.



They always treat us so well - which includes an excellent feast every night!







After the first show (which was early on a Saturday night), we decided to head out to the Abbey Road club to catch out favorite post show entertainers - The Parrots, an absolutely amazingly perfect Beatles cover band.







And Ade always manages to find himself on stage with them to belt out a few tunes...





The next day I went wondering around to take some photos.







Then we went to the club early again to practice (and who are we kidding, eat dinner).







Then one of our biggest Japanese fans, Kazumi arrived with gifts - handmade scarves, because she knew we were going to South America, and that we had to keep warm.







After the second show, we went out for some drinks and snacks with great friends Mune, Aya, and Yoshi. They helped us find a quaint little restaurant, hidden away on the second floor above an otherwise unassuming office complex.





We ordered digitally:





Then we decided to stack the leftovers... I swear we only had a little bit of Sake.



Our Japanese names were written out for us:



On the third day, we went to Harajuku to spend some of our hard earn yen for friends:







View from the restaurant at lunch:







Some ok pasta:



Now fueled up, we were ready to shop 'til we dropped... literally... it was almost unbearably hot and humid that day!











On to our favorite toy store:



I was so distracted with making purchases, I forgot to take pictures inside - d'oh!















Don't worry, we did not go inside.



Hey look - Tower still exists over there!

















Traversing the famous Shibuya intersection:













Ah, time to refuel:



After the show we were taken to yet another meal (ay caramba - Tokyo is not good for my diet!)... but this was worth it, as it was much fun and very tasty, in a tourist-y, gimmicky sort of way. See, we went to Gonpachi, the "Kill Bill" restaurant.








Mmm shrimp nests...



... or hats for silly drummers:





To be continued... and stay tuned for the South American tour post...