Sundoufu, spicy Korean tofu dish

Pinga met her university classmates for dinner. Korean restaurant reminded them of Korean town in L.A.

Yosakoi festival, start of golden week

Pinga ran across this festival in Ikebukuro. Today is the start of golden week. It is a week with three national holidays close together. Most Japanese take very little vacation but this week the whole of Japan travels and it is crowded everywhere.

Sunny day

Pingu and Pinga were out walking the neighbourhood as it was sunny and nice.

At izakaya

Izakaya is a Japanese style bar. You can order drinks and small dishes. Pingu and Pinga are having tofu.

Lunch at high rise building

Pingu and Pinga came to have lunch in Shinjuku. This is the view from the restaurant's floor.

Dumpling factory

Here you can see how busy it gets in order to serve dumplings at the restaurant.

Lunch at Din Tai Fung

These dumplings contain soup inside of them. Pingu and Pinga like them a lot. The restaurant has them as speciality and usually there is a very long line outside to get in.

Beijing duck

Pingu was very happy to eat very tasty Beijing duck. It was actually tastier than the one he had in Beijing.

Mailboxes in Taiwan

Pinga thought it's interesting to have two mailboxes side by side. Red one for international and green one for domestic.

Taiwan high speed rail

Pingu and Pinga said good bye to their friends. They were treated to a superb dinner. Now they are taking high speed rail from Taichung to Taipei. It's very fast and comfortable as well.

Arriving in Taichung

This cute poodle is called Ichigo (strawberry). She and her owners met Pingu, Pinga and parents at the Taiwan fast train station.

Tasty shark's fin lunch

Pinga's friend took them to a very nice shark's fin restaurant.

Arrived at the Taipei Airport

Pinga found a parsimon head doll sitting in the arrival lobby. It almost looked like a real person.

Colour changing coasters

At an Odaiba restaurant, coasters are lit and they change colours. If you lift a glass, it stops shining.

In New York?

No, this is statue of liberty in Japan. It's a replica of the small one in Paris.

Tokyo bay

Pingu and Pinga are now in Odaiba with their friend.

Hello Kitty town?

Pingu and Pinga are now in Tama center. Sanrio puro land is located here and the town is promoting itself as a town where you can meet Hello Kitty. It is run by the company behind Hello Kitty.

Macaroon

Pinga and Pingu had tasty desert today. Pinga loves macaron!

300 years old pine tree

This very big shoe tree was nicely lit up as well.

Tokyo tower

Tower lit up in the center is Tokyo tower. It has colourful lights this week for Olympic purpose. Tokyo is one of the candidate cities for 2016 Olympic game and Olympic commitee members are currently visiting Tokyo.

Sakura light up

Pinga went to see sakura at Hamarikyu garden. They light up sakura this week. It was raining a bit and not so many people were there. Yaezakura, one type of sakura, was in full bloom and very beautiful. It's in the middle of Tokyo but very quiet and nice.

At a bar

Pingu is with a former colleague enjoying some drinks.

Sakura close up

In Niigata, sakura is in full bloom now. Pingu and Pinga are very happy to see it.

Japanese set menus

Pingu, Pinga and parents went to traditonal Japanese restaurant. As you can see, there are plenty of food. Niigata area is famous for its sake, rice and soba noodles which they made sure to order.

Onsen instructions

This five step instruction board was posted just before entering the baths at one of the local onsens (natural hot spring).

Mountain sakura

Unfortunately the weather is not that good. Pinga, Pingu and Pinga's parents drove to a nearby mountain where Japanese tv recently filmed a historical drama. They only climbed a bit to see some mountain cheery trees.

Sakura

On the way to Niigata they stopped at Numata park and enjoyed the cherry blossoms.

Money come come

This cat can be found in most shops. It is supposed to bring good business.

On the way to Niigata

The whole family including Deja vu are driving to Niigata. Let's hope Deja and Pinga don't get car sick.

Deja's view

This is the view from the balcony where Deja sometimes sits. It is warmer and more interesting than my balcony for sure.

Deja with rain coat

It is raining in Tokyo at the moment so Deja vu is getting a rain coat in preparation for her evening walk.

Shabu Shabu!

Pingu and Pinga is having shabu shabu at home with the family. Very tasty!

Tasty but expensive ice cream

Close to Pinga parents' house is a small mall with this ice cream shop. In Japan ice cream is almost twice the price to Sweden but it is tasty.

High hopes for breakfast

Pingu was eating breakfast and Deja-vu was sitting beside him looking at it desperately.

After ski donuts

Pinga's friend bought donuts and it tasted very good. The one Pinga ate had purple sweet potato paste in it and sesame seeds around it. Another one Pinga's friend holding had a bit yellowish colour and had a flavour of lemon. Hmm looks tasty...

Shimbashi revisited

Pingu made a quick stop at Shimbashi for lunch. Pingu used to work here during one year when he lived in Tokyo. The office where he used to work is closed now. May the "Japanese tele mosquito" rest in peace.

Bumpy slopes

Pinga loves skiing on a bumpy slope. As the temperature was high and snow was melting, Pinga and her friends skied a lot on this bumpy slope.

Akihabara hard drive mission

Pingu went to Akihabara to look for a hard drive to Pinga's laptop. The mission was a success. In the photo you can see a typical Akihabara scene with girls advertising to the geeky guys that visits all the tech stores. Akihabara is called electric town for a reason.

Skiing

Pinga is skiing today with her ski instructor friends. It's sunny and they're sweating!

Shinjuku station

This is the station with the world's highest number of people passing through every morning. It is quite busy now too even if it is Sunday.

Boring job

This guy has the questionable job of informing that there is elevator construction at this station. Note the politely up turned megaphone so to not scream directy in somebody's face.

Yaki niku

Pingu and Pinga met some friends in Shinjuku for dinner. They also received nice gifts. The food was a kind of Korean bbq. Very tasty!

Beer?

If it looks, smells and tastes like beer then it must be beer or? In Japan there is a beer tax that is connected to the contents. By changing the formula it is possible to avoid and then this "beer" costs the same as a soft drink. This is the third generation of almost beer and it is getting quite popular. This one has 5% alcohol.

Interesting kids top

Look at this kids top print. Are we talking mind altering drugs here?

Well behaved but fast eating Deja

Look at Deja vu. She is really hungry but still she waits for the signal. I could never do that.

Do your arms need a hair cut?

In Ikebukuro Pingu was waiting for Pinga when he found this sign. I wonder if anyone need an arm hair cut.

Cute kitchen sponges

Pinga found these cute looking sponges and bought one with a dog face.

Ikebukuro shopping again

Pinga and Pingu went shopping again in Ikebukuro. There are lots of clothes shops for Pinga and plenty of gadget shops for Pingu.

Dog and cat cookies

Pinga found these cute cookies in a bakery shop. They may be cute but I am sweeter, right?

Double gyoza set

Pingu loves gyoza (Chinese fried dumplings). So pinga's family took him to gyoza restaurant. Now they all stink from garlic.

Noisy shopping

Pinga and Pingu went shopping in Ikebukuro. Japanese people are usually very quiet but that rule is broken by the sales people that shout out special prices and so on.

Cherry blossoms falling

Not sure if you can see it but the cherry blossom petals are falling. It is 25 degrees warm and the Tokyo cherry blossom period is almost over. This location is close to Pinga's parents house.

Deja vu

Pingu and Pinga reached Pinga's parents' home in Tokyo. Deja vu greeted and was happy to see them.

Sengoku!

Pinga's dad came to pick Pingu and Pinga up at Ueno station. They then passed by their old neighbourhood, Sengoku.

Landed in Japan

Pingu and Pinga just landed at Narita airport. Now they are on the train bound for Tokyo. This is a photo out the train window close to the airport. As you can see it is rather rural.

Expensive!

While changing flight in Paris, Pinga found nice looking macarone but 3 euro? No way!

On the way to the airport

Pinga and Pingu are now on the way to Copenhagen airport. Tokyo beware!