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<\/a><\/p>\nIt impressed us how the shoguns and emperors of Japan could balance ornate extravagance with elegant minimalism in all aspects of design.<\/p>\n Autumn is our favorite season, but we jumped right from summer-like heat in Vietnam to icy winter in Beijing and Shanghai. We were very thankful to find fall in Japan. Kyoto was especially gorgeous during the full moon festival, and we’d love to go back and spend more time there someday.<\/p>\n We met a number of cutesy harajuku and anime characters in addition to future fashionistas walking and shopping in Tokyo.<\/p>\n Sam started working on a pouty face he calls “baby steel”. Is modeling a career he could fall back on if the computer programming job market tanks? You be the judge.<\/p>\n Our friend and fellow traveler Sarah Bogard led by example. Her father taught her to love sushi when she was a very small child, and she passed on to us her enthusiasm for fresh sushi from the Tokyo fish market. We ate some weird stuff that day, but Sarah, a faculty member on the ship, is smart. She didn’t tell us what we were tasting until after it was down the hatch, and we didn’t ask. Thanks for the lesson, Sarita-san!<\/p>\n We washed down the raw fish with delicious green tea.<\/p>\n Finally, we learned that good karaoke is more about spirit than vocal abilities.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n