Hi everyone! I'm currently vacationing in Japan! I came here to see my Aunt Kumi get married - which was really cool! She was married at Meiji-jingu Shrine, which I hear is one of the most popular places in Tokyo to tie the knot. The day that she was married, 22 other couples were also scheduled to be wed at the same place. Each wedding was to last 40 minutes, to allow for all of the ceremonies. Aunt Kumi looked really pretty all dressed up in her kimono - just like a geisha girl. I want to get dressed up like that someday too! After she was married, we all went to restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel, where I watched everyone eat fancy-looking food made into really neat shapes. They also had a little baby bed for me to lounge in while I waited, which I must say was quite comfortable! After that, we were all pretty tired, mostly because of the jetlag, so we went back to our hotel (The Comfort Hotel), and went to sleep. Oh, I forgot to mention, when we first arrived in Japan, we all went out to eat at a restaurant that Sumo wrestlers eat at, in the town where they all live and practice the sport. That was really neat, even though we didn't get to see any sumo wrestlers while we were there. Everyone was eating 'chanko', which is the famous sumo wrestler dish. It has many vegetables and thin slices of beef that you cook yourself at the table in pots of boiling water. It smelled really yummy, but unfortunately, Masamune and I couldn't eat any of it, bummer! So instead, we just sat there and stared at each other.
On Sunday, the day after the wedding, I got to go to a really big baby store called Akachan-honpo. Mommy was so excited to finally go there - she heard they had lots of cool stuff. She kind of went a little crazy, and bought me a bunch of Anpan-man items. Meanwhile, I got to be pushed around in a funky little stroller-type shopping cart, where I got a birds-eye view of everything in the aisles. I can't wait to check out all of my new stuff when I get home! Yay! After the store, daddy and grandpa Matsuno went with mommy and me to a noodle restaurant in the train station. Another restaurant where I couldn't try the food - that is so frustrating! Anyway, mommy tried to give me a drink of vegetable juice from a baby juice box, but since it had a straw, I wasn't sure quite what to do. I sucked in the liquid through the straw but then somehow it all dribbled out onto my new shirt. I'm sure mommy was not thrilled about that since I had only been dressed a couple of hours ago. I guess I have to practice with a bib on next time! After lunch, we went back to the hotel and got ready to meet up with mommy and daddy's friends who now live in Tokyo (Kota, Mami & Yohei). They met us at our hotel, and we all went to Yasukuni shrine. Along the way, we walked by a famous area that everyone goes to, to view the cherry blossoms, but since we're a week or so early, we didn't get to see any. I heard that was a good thing since if there were cherry blossoms out, we apparently wouldn't have been able to walk through the area since it gets so crowded. While at Yasukuni, I got a little bored and so started to play with my socks. Next thing I know, one of them went missing.