Super Angie...food glorious food

Super Angie... Manga hair

I have very little patience with most things in life, including my hair. When my hair starts bothering me, I know I should have cut it yesterday or the day before and I have been known to try cutting it myself or begging Rick at midnight to cut it. YIKES!

So, its that time of the month (hair cutting time) and I decided WHY NOT get my hair cut in a foreign country. Did it in Germany. Did it in China. I'll do it in Japan.

I'm really glad I did!Down on the street outside our hotel, we were handed a flier for a hair salon. It had a picture of a cute girl with short hair...I can be a cute girl with short hair, right? So we walked in and were greeted so warmly. LISTEN UP ALL AMERICAN GREAT CLIPS...take a lesson from the Japanese! I filled out a form with my name and birthday and saw how they wrote my name in Japanese...very cool. Then they lead me to a nice chair.

Luckily, because of the picture, they knew just what to do. I was moved over to get the shampoo. Everything about the chair was automated and VERY VERY cool. They laid blankets and towels all over me and went to work for about 10 minutes. Ahhh...ohhh...mmm.... felt good. Can I take a nap next time please?
My hairdresser dude was awesome. He looked JUST LIKE one of the guys from the 90s band DEE-LITE (went to their concert in 9th grade with my brother Jeff). Everyeone at the salon was hip and young and most had died their hair to be...MY NATURAL HAIR COLOR. I feel so special. They all want to look like me. (j/k)The finished me. I LOVE my hair. Totally hip and cute and flattering.
Me with Kikuchi Noriyoshi. So awesome. He gave me a "membership card"...I guess I'm now a member. neolive.co.jp

I've already decided that next time I come to Tokyo, I will get my hair cut there again...and this time bring them gifts from America!

--Super Angie

Super Angie...Sunday Sunday

On Sunday, we got up bright and early (5am) and headed out. We wanted to go out to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo because they close the streets on Sunday and allow joggers and bikers the right a way. Its 3 miles around the palace, so we decided to go walk a 5K and get some good exercise. But first stop...the bakery, where I fell in love with this bear roll....
And then I ate him!
I loved the trees that are in the Imperial Palace area.
Since we have been to the Imperial Palace before, we didn't go into the main section, but instead walked around the outer walls. Heres Rick in a gate thingy.
Here I am posing in a ANTM pose. Yes, I'm a dork!
The moat of the palace has HUGE fish, geese and even turtles!
I really liked all the decorative cement blocks we found periodicly on our walk.
Moat geese.
One thing we found very interesting was all the runners and bikers would leave their belongings on a park bench. Water, wallets, bags of food etc. PERFECTLY SAFE! No one touched other's stuff and it was perfectly safe for them to go do a lap or two of the palace and an hour later return to their stuff.My sweetie
Pretty flowers and plants along the walk.
Along the way, we found a small park that had stretching benches at it. I used the sit ups bench while Rick just enjoyed elevating his legs.
Where are our kids when we find a fun park? Its funny how even when your kids aren't with you, you still keep your eyes open for kid friendly places.
The moat around the palace. Isn't Rick so cute?
I don't know what this building is, but I think it looks neat. Its across the street from the Palace.
Rick standing outside one of the gates.
A jogger running through one of the Imperial Palace's gates.
A ground's keeper.

We thought this was so sweet. This guy is carrying the umberrla vAs we were leaving, we saw some rollerbladers speed skating by.
I kept thinking of all my running and bking friends. You guys would have been in heaven running and biking around this beautiful area.
Afterwards, we hopped aboard the Yamanoto subway line and went to Harajuku. Every Sunday, the streets of Harajuku are PACKED with young Japanese girls who come dressed in costume--most look like little bow peep and other "girlie" costumes. Last time we came, we saw A TON and I even had my pic taken with a few of them. So cute. But this year, we didn't see as many. :(
The streets of Harajuku are VERY narrow and there are A TON of people!

Mmmm...crepes with chocolate ice cream and strawberry slices in it. Mmmm... My favorite!
Heres Rick inside the cockpit of an airplane inside a VERY teen bopper store called PINK.
Right next to Harajuku street area is a very high-end shopping area. We first went into Dolce and Gabana (D&G). I have a bunch of fake D&G stuff and I thought I was a "fan", but the attitude of the people inside turned me off. It was still exciting to see the real clothes and bags and shoes, but its just not my thing. Next we went to Louis Vuitton. The store people were way more friendly and *GASP* didn't freak out if you wanted to touch a bag or scarf! LOL I actually had a lot of fun in the LV store and gained a lot of respect for the history and handman ship of the products. After LV, we went into Channel which surprisingly had a very party like atmosphere. I enjoyed "shopping" in these stores---
After Harajuku, we headed to Shibuya. We think everyone should go to Shibuya at least once to enjoy the craziness of crossing the street with 100,000 other people (no joking.) but Rick and I just don't like the vibe there. Here he is petting the statue of Hachiko the dog.
Heres ALL THE PEOPLE. Its totally crazy and people cross the street in all directions at the same time.
We found a cool grocery store in Shibuya and enjoyed seeing lots of new products.

It was a very long and hot day, and I got sunburned, but we had a blast. AND we calculate that in addition to the 3 miles we walked at the palace, we also walked a good 6 more miles. PHEW! Thats a lot of walking!
--Super Angie