japan- part four

 check it out- we got our own picture like one i used in this post! this is actually shibuya crossing, and it's where jen (my sister-in-law) took me to find a fabric store. i thought i'd be blown away by the fabric here, since i've seen (and ordered!) so much japanese fabric that i've loved online, but the store i went to wasn't all that great. probably a good thing for our bank account! i did find some cute stuff, just not what i had imagined. there's a whole fabric district in nippori, but i didn't want to make a special trip for that and spend a lot of time & money. we put more of a priority on sight-seeing and spending time with everyone.

 

this dog statue was outside shibuya station, and jen said people were always taking pictures of it. turns out it's this dog, which i had seen a movie about last year! 

after shopping, we went to lunch at a yummy thai food restaurant. this whole day mr. o was the odd man out. we met one of jen's friends for lunch and more shopping. he was a sport to go along with it all- but i guess he didn't have much of an alternative, either!

 this is an amazing ribbon shop that i passed on a holiday (it was closed), lost sleep over (so many plans & project ideas!), and then went back to. i was like a kid in a (really pricey) candy shop! 

 it was so hard to settle on which ones/colorways to get. i wanted them all! this was the only time we were in a real local mom-and-pop type shop, where we had to communicate with gestures & drawings, but the lady was so sweet.

i loved this "no smoking" sign- have you ever seen a cigarette crying? so cute!

here is our nephew cole, and niece savannah at an audition for a spareribs commercial! cole ended up getting the part, which is just one of m-a-n-y modeling/commercial jobs he's done here in japan!

 on one holiday when ryan wasn't working, he took us to the reclaimed island of odaiba for lunch and some shopping (three cheers for the 100 yen shop!)

 here's our niece ava, and cole on the restaurant patio.

they have a fake statue of liberty there! makes me wonder how many there are around the world!

up next, hiroshima!

see parts one, two, and three!