Sorry for the lack of updates this month, but I have a good reason: I was entertaining my very first houseguest! High-school friend Katherine flew all the way from San Francisco just to visit my little corner of Tokyo, and I did my best not to disappoint her. It was great to have an excuse to pay a return visit to some of my old favorite places, as well as to check out some of the sights I've been meaning to get to.

(To make it easier to keep track of the days, I'm taking the liberty of back-dating the next few entries, so each chronicle of Katherine's tour will be dated correctly.)

Sunday's first stop was just a short walk away: Ikebukuro's Sunshine City Aquarium. Like everything else in Tokyo, it's cramped, tiny and crowded, but the kids don't seem to mind. We didn't either.

Katherine's a better photographer than I am, and she has a cooler camera, too.

Everyone loves aquariums.

We did plenty of other stuff that day, but I didn't get pictures of everything, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Not shown: shopping for sushi fridge magnets in Tokyu Hands; getting lost looking for an ATM in Shinjuku.