japan- part one

we had the most amazing time in japan! i can't wait to tell you all about it, but i've decided to do it in weekly installments so i can organize the trip in segments and share even more pictures.
i'm going to post about one day at a time, each monday.

we'll start with one of the first pictures i took in japan- at the airport when we first arrived!

japan is the land of cuteness, right?! this picture has to be the work of miyazaki, it reminds me so much of the studio ghibli movies that we love. (if you aren't familiar with these movies, you need to be! our favorites for the younger kids are my neighbor totoro, ponyo, and kiki's delivery service, but i'm definitely getting spirited away and howl's moving castle in the next few years.) 
mr. o's brother had a car waiting for us at the airport- it was so nice to not have to worry about finding our way to their house, and just be dropped off at their doorstep! that taxi ride was so exhilarating, seeing japan for the first time, trying to form an impression in the early morning fog.
  

after we got settled and cleaned up a bit, we went for a walk with ryan (mr. o's brother, who lives and works in tokyo and was gracious enough, along with his family, to share their home & lives with us). this park was just up the street from their house, and it was breathtaking.

 the first temple we saw in japan wasn't a buddhist temple, but an lds one! you could see angel moroni through the trees.

we fell in love with japan pretty quickly, and seeing this beautiful park first probably had a lot to do with that.
  

another cute sign. i love it!

this is mori tower, which was one of our landmarks for finding our way back to their house when we were on our own.

some pretty flowers (with my pretty sister-in-law in the background). there were so many beautiful flowers everywhere we went- you can plan on lots more flower pictures to come!

this cute robot park was another landmark close to the house. i loved the robot totem pole you can see in the distance to the right.

 and here is tokyo tower, lit up at night. 
our first day was spent exploring the area and hanging out with family. it was so great to see them in their element! 
my first impressions of the country were; green! pleasantly humid. clean. small, stylish people. birds & flowers everywhere. adorable kids & babies. it was so comfortable and easy to be there. i felt safe. i didn't expect to feel comfortable, so that was a really pleasant surprise. 

(vintage happy posts are on hold while i do weekly recaps of our vacation, but they'll be back!)