Japan 2012

 It's been 11 years since I have been home from my mission and 9 years since my last visit.  I thought since my sister has to work right now, I might as well take advantage of her job, so a semi impromptu trip to Japan began to unfold.....my mom and sister decided to tag along as well.
  After a long flight, first class seating though, we made to to Narita International Airport!  From  Narita Airport we had to catch a train to Tokyo and then catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) up to Niigata.  I spent about half my mission up in Niigata....I started up there as a bean and then was lucky enough to end my mission there as well...full circle. 
 We stayed with a friend my mine that I met while on my mission and then another friend joined us while we were there.  They were so helpful in taking us around Niigata and Tokyo.   While in Niigata we went to Hakusen Park, saw where I lived as a missionary, went over to the church, did some shopping and of course had to try out all the food!  We went to a Ramen shop, grocery store and bakeries, Fujiya for some delicious strawberry cake, Mister Donuts - yum, and yakiniku! Yakiniku was one of my favorite places to eat when I was a missionary, that is when I could afford it, it was kind of a splurge item.
While in Tokyo we went to church to visit some ward members who were serving a mission at the Tokyo temple and were in a english speaking ward.  Took us about an hour to get to there by the subway and walking.  The church is right next to the Tokyo temple so once we rounded the corner and saw angel Moroni we new we were headed in the right direction. 




While in Tokyo we went to a see a big shrine in Asakusa. 
We had to hurry and take a picture before people would walk through.  This was a very busy place.  We took about a dozen pictures before we finally got a good one.

 A statue of a Kabuki theater guy was randomly placed out in the street so of course we had to take a picture....my mom called him the scary guy...wonder why she is blowing him a kiss......

















It was finally time to say goodbye to the mom and sister.  They headed back to the states after an eventful trip to the airport!  Good thing we had Megumi so she could help navigate us to the airport after a major accident on the JR Railway that took out many lines getting to the Tokyo station.  We ended up having to go a totally different way just barely getting them to the airport in time to check in.  Hope they had a fun trip!  So glad that got to see a little of the country that I have to come to love!

THANKS FOR VISITING JAPAN!!!