Lucky Cat

Lucky Cat! The kids love these 🙂 I have to admit, they are pretty precious.

Praying Buddhist Monks

🙂

On Guard

We found these dangerous looking dudes in Tokyo’s National Museum (an amazing place to visit!). There was one for each Chinese sign, and mine was the one of the far right I think. 🙂

The Ringing Bell

This is one of the bells at Japan’s Kamakura Shrines. It sits at the top of a mountain, and originally was run to denote important news/times. Now, they still ring them on News Years Eve if I understand correctly. They are beautiful works of art!

Further good news: I climbed a butt-load of stairs to see this bell, and I was delighted to find out that it also gave me a great view of the area. Plus, I know I lost some weight. 🙂