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Patrick has been calling every dog breeder in China trying to find the perfect dog for us when we get to China.He has become the world expert on Chow Chows, which are very cute dogs… just kind of large and hairy-ish.

I have fallen in love with little red toy poodles while in Tokyo, they are absolutely everywhere. Little red toy poodles and pugs. Pugs are just so adorable with their eyes that boggle out and look in different directions at the same time and all their snorting.

Patrick thinks pugs look they have just been off for a days work in the mines with their sooty faces and feet. Now he has said that I think they are even cuter.

I want a little dog. I love the way their back legs walk just a little faster than their front legs until they are walking almost sideways, either that or they just bounce along all four legs off the ground at once.

I want a little dog, because if I had a little dog, I could buy him a little yukata from d.o.g web.

We went to Odaiba today as we only had a few hours after getting up late and messing about at home for too long.The weather is really rainy season weather at the moment, so it was dull and grey all afternoon. It made it feel that we were in Shanghai already.

The place itself is a little tacky, but its a nice change for an afternoon to be able to smell the sea and sit at an outdoor cafe for lunch. The sound of people strolling by on the wooden decking as we drank our coffee made me a little homesick, especially as the coffee was pretty average.

Patrick enjoyed a seafood pasta dish, that wasn’t quite Renzo’s Docklands standard, but it wasn’t so far off.

We found the lovliest store though, full of wooden and glass trinkets and toys. I spent 30 minutes or so squealing at all the little glass creatures and trying to choose one to take home while Patrick patiently hung about holding my basket.

Eventually I chose for myself a smiling cat, a little pig sitting on a set of scales and breaking them, a bunny for Patrick and a few little Japanese figures to take home for Tracy. (Who hopefully wasn’t expecting a surprise… sorry Tracy!)

I wish I could have taken them all. The little fat piggly will sit in our kitchen in Hefei and remind me that I’m going to have to fit into Chinese wedding dresses soon, and inspire me to get back to my pre-quitting smoking size.

This little bear made me laugh. Poor ugly little thing.I don’t know why I find such ugly things so adorable. I wouldn’t want a pretty dog, the uglier the better.

Can’t beat a little cross-eyed pug for ugly cuddliness, or a scruffy little bow-legged something-or-other.

I remember in primary school being told by someone who had their facts not quite straight, that the defenition of cute is ‘ugly but lovable’, this wonky little bear fits nicely into that category I think.

I stole the picture of Ugly bear from La Luz Inc. (who also have lots of pretty things for those that dont like ugly-cute so much).

I should NEVER have stumbled across *this* store.

RENTAL PUPPIES!

…but very expensive rental puppies.

I want to rent a doggie, then buy him a CAKE.

Puppy The World is the best shop ever.

I have worked more this week than EVER before. Four full days in a row this week! Whew.The weather has been perfect, which I am sure will change once my weekend comes back around.

We walked home through the park yesterday evening, just in time to catch the last of a group of little doggies that had been part of a dog show in the afternoon.

It was all I could do not to bundle them all up and run away with them. They were all small and matching.

I wish I had taken a photo of the grandpa we spotted collecting up his six little grumpy doggies onto his person and riding off on his bicycle. He zipped three into the front of his jacket with their heads poking out the collar and the other three wriggled about in the basket on the front of his bike.

They had some big enclosures in the park where people could let their dogs run about safely off their leads, a large one for large dogs, and a couple of smaller ones for the smaller dogs. This seemed a very good idea to me, it saves picnicers from being bothered by dogs running all over the park and saves the owners from the worry their dogs might not want to be caught again once let off the lead.

We also passed the last few remaining performers near the NHK building on our way home. On Sundays, hundreds of singers, musicians and dancers gather to perform near Yoyogi Park. They don’t perform for money, just for enjoyment or recognition I guess. By the time we had walked past, there were only 10 or so people remaining, but they were still all too loud and too close to each other to get much of an idea what each of them would be like alone.

Hopefully I will eventually get a Sunday off to go and see everyone in full swing.

Patrick had another competition this morning, this time an ekiden with Jason’s team. They won, and Patrick got a lovely towel as a prize - about time he was rewarded. He didn’t run the race backwards, but did run the wrong way for a while, just to give the other teams a bit of an advantage. They still weren’t good enough to keep up.

The photo at the top of the post is of the Docomo Tower and a Harajuku street we walk along on the way home. It is easy to find our way home from wherever wo go in Tokyo, we just head for the Docomo Tower. I think it may hold the record as the world’s tallest clock tower or something of the sort…