J Lo's Spring collection presents...

For those of you that might not have heard, my oldest son Dunnington and I recently returned from a trip to Japan. I had considered myself reasonably well traveled, having lived in Europe and otherwise growing up all over the country--I’d even been to Canada. It struck me when we landed at Yokota Air Force Base outside of Tokyo that I had not set foot on foreign soil in fifteen years (well, not counting Canada). And this was very foreign soil.

I was looking through all of the pictures today and I had to share.

Today we went to Bountiful for some Larsen family photos. This one didn’t quite make the cut, but I cropped it and I have posted it here for your viewing injoyment.

Yesterday we got out of the megatropolis of Tokyo and visited the woodland realm of Nikko. The above picture was taken at a famous shrine there which also serves as the tomb of one of Japan's greatest Shoguns. I don't recall his name, but his relationship with a shipwrecked Portugese sailor was the basis for the book and movie "Shogun." You can see Dunnington in a white t-shirt climbing the stairs. The outstanding feature of this shrine is that it is much more ornately decorated than any building we had seen previously. This is very un-Zen, but apparently that was the Zeitgeist. The building pictured is actually just one of the gates in the complex.

Had some time this morning before breakfast so thought I'd put up a couple more pictures...

Today we made our first excursion into Tokyo. The highlight of the day was taking in a bit of traditional Japanese theater. I find myself sounding very much like my dad: "Do you know how old I was before I got to go to Kabuki theater?!"

Above is a picture I took during our lunch in a ramen shop. Dunn's been quite a trooper when it comes to trying new foods, and I must say that all of the chopstick training has paid off. I've been particularly impressed with how willing he is to try his hand at speaking Japanese. We were at a street festival in Kyoto on Saturday and Dunn was happy to run back to a stand where we'd bought some food and ask, in Japanese, for some chopsticks. At his age I remember being too shy to ask for a cheeseburger at McDonald's--in English.