"You saw a light, I saw a freight train coming."

Tuesday the fifth we went to Ueno Park, which has a lake covered with incredible lotus plants, huge blossoms:

You probably can't tell from this picture, but that fish had the most content expression on its face. Its pursed happy mouth said, "I can't think of anything better than to be eternally perched on this stone wave." A far cry from the discontent gaping maws of its carpy brethren in the murk below.

There was a clock at the top of this statue, and mama wondered if it was a war memorial "eternally frozen at 10:27 when the bomb dropped." "An odd coincidence," I said, "considering it's 10:27 right now." The clock clicked over to 10:28, and we went our way.

We adored this disgruntled little guy, eternally annoyed over the difficult task of holding up this water trough.

We ate some shaved ice watched a turtle try to climb onto a ledge and got lectured by a homeless man how Americans don't greet people properly. Then we went to the Toshogu Shrine:

And speaking of war memorials

There's a flame burning in the center

That has been kept alive from a flame found in Hiroshima.

Because it was still early, we went to a neighborhood called Sendagi. All we got a chance to see was the lovely little Sudo Koen (park)

The area is supposed to be a taste of Old Tokyo, but we weren't there for half an hour before we got a taste of Noah's flood. We abandoned our search for traditional sweets and baskets and took refuge in the gateway of a cemetery:

So that's all the news from Tokyo, for now. The next day we headed back to Yaita, where all the women are strong, good-looking, and above-average. We've had some adventures since then that I'll post later.