Alis & Loren Take Tokyo

We rounded out the month of May with a fantastic visit from two friends from the US - Alis Whitt (Charleston across-the-street neighbor and metaphorical next-door neighbor for life), and Loren Schwerd (sculptor/artist extraordinaire formerly of CofC and currently of LSU). It was great fun tooling around Tokyo with them - seeing everything againthrough two pairs of super-fresh and always unconventional eyes. We hit the wedding jackpot at Meiji Shrine in Harajuku on their first full day here (see pics below).
The next few days were a whirlwind of coz play zoku, kaiten sushi, trying on Issey Miyake, being menanced by an angry crow, cruising the Seibu food floor, making gyoza, missing the Chocolate show, drinking beer, getting turned away for eel, joining a takarazuka fan club, seeing antique matchbooks, collecting fortunes at Senso-ji lounging in the outdoor bath, etc, etc. Mid week, Alis, Loren and I, along with my good friend Momo, headed north for an overnighter at a ryokan in Nikko. Alis and Loren then spent three days/two nights in glorious Kyoto before heading back to Tokyo where we had a fabulous dinner together in a swanky izakaya in Ginza. Check out the pictures below for a little glimpse into our action-packed week of festivities. It was so much fun to share this adventure with great friends - thanks for coming you guys!!!