Asakusa Samba Festival on Aug 29th

It was so crowded in Asakusa, but was lot of fun. We have large Brazilian population in Japan, and the Samba Festival was huge and continued for several hours. This picture is the Samba poll dancers on moving float. This is famous Kaminari-mon (thunder gate) in Asakusa. There were too many people and we couldn't even move. We find a Japanese pub on the 5th floor of building on the main parade street, and decided to watch parade from the pub.










I look this picture from the pub window, but the pictures didn't come out good because the windows had wires. However, the location of the pub was in front of the judge's tent, and all dancers were showing off.

My friend risked his life to open the emergency escape window in the pub to take this picture. Floats and samba dancers move quickly, so it was really hard to take good photos.

Lotus Pond & Chaya in Ueno Park

I love this Lotus Chaya tea house in Ueno Park over looking the lotus pond. He is my server and bring me the ice cold beer.


Parked my bike by the lotus bond. I found out that lotus flowers bloom only in the morning. I got here late in the afternoon. and flowers are all closed. I would have to come back one day early in the morning.

Tokyo Bay Fireworks Show

These pictures are from the last weeks Tokyo Bay Fireworks. They displayed 120,000 fireworks, and I am not sure how they are financing for the show. We paid 7,000 Yen each for the up-cross seats on the pier, but the show itself is free and open to the public.

Lunch Time Get Away

My other lunch time get away place is the observatory deck on the top of Bunkyo Civic Center. From the observatory deck, you can see Tokyo Dome and the giant roller coaster that goes over the Dome.

This green building in the center is where my office is. Yes, we are working and living in the building jungle of Tokyo.