Joe and I spent the last week in Tokyo. It was our first official trip to the mainland of Japan. Joe attended a dental conference, while I got to see the city! Since there were a lot of pictures & sights, I'll take the next few days to post pictures & info about Tokyo.
Joe and I stayed at The New Sanno hotel in downtown Tokyo. If you want to look it up on a map, we were within 3 blocks of the Hiro-o subway station.
Hiro-o was a cute little part of town. There were lots of sidewalk cafes, bakeries, high-end retail stores and.......
Hiro-o was a cute little part of town. There were lots of sidewalk cafes, bakeries, high-end retail stores and....... ....dental clinics of course! The cherry blossoms (sakura) were beginning to bloom in Tokyo while we were there. 
Joe and I quickly learned how to use the Tokyo metro/subway systems. I must say, the Tokyo metros are about as clean as the D.C. metro, but as expansive as the NYC subway. We traveled on the subway all week.
The only "inconvenience" was that the Tokyo subway/metro is owned by three different companies. So you can't buy a "Super-Saver" pass and hop between the different tracks. We opted to pay before each ride.
Most of the signage and announcements are in Japanese. Fortunately, there was enough English to get around. And when there wasn't, the Japanese were very kind to us. When we first got to Tokyo, we took the Monorail to the JR line, then the JR line to the Hibiya line. Well, the JR line ended early and there must have been an announcement to get off the train (which we missed!). A very nice Japanese man gestured for us to get off the train with everyone else and another woman told us that a new train was coming.
I tried to post a picture of the subway map, but it might be too small. You can click http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/index.html to see a map on the website. 
Here's inside the Hiro-o station.
Here's inside the Hiro-o station.
Then of course, we did experience a 7.0 earthquake at the end of the month. Joe and I were fine, but I can't say that I'm really looking forward to the next! Our apartment was fine, but we did take a picture of our diplomas -- they certainly shook!
After the earthquake in Japan, there wasn't a tsunami. But the next day, we had tsunami warnings all day from the earthquake in Chile. We didn't actually see a big wave, mostly a high tide and a little surge in the water. You might be able to tell from the following pictures:
We went to Ocean Expo Park.......
...the Churaumi Aquarium (Dad touching a starfish)....
I think our dinners from the Awase Fish Market were floating around in there.....
Ooops! Yes!
Visited the Orion Brewery and got a taste!
Mom & Dad fell in love with anything and everything benimo (the okinawan purple yam). Ice cream, sorbet, cookies, pies, tempura, baked and even on sushi. 
The last day they were here we went to the Southeast Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful!
