Everyone’s been asking about my trip to Gary and Yoshie’s wedding in Japan from a few weeks ago. Rather than repeating the same stories over and over again, I thought I’d sum it all up in one place.

My first night there Gary, Bobby and I hit the town. We wandered around Namba, Amerikamura and Den Den Town until the morning trains started running. Sorry for the blurry photo. I had been awake for 32 hours by this time.

The next day the entire family visited Osaka Castle. The castle was nice, if choked with tourists wearing identical Roots jackets. I preferred the grounds surrounding the area, with its battlements and giant rats.

The wedding ceremony took place in a temple nestled within a lovely hotel not far from Osaka Castle. I was unprepared for the group clapping that takes place in a Shinto wedding and did not take part. This was my one regret for the entire trip.

The only excursion we made outside of Osaka was a day trip to Kyoto, where we explored various temples and walked among the cherry blossoms. The perfect capper to an altogether wonderful journey.