The Big Japan Trip

Day 1 - Takeoff

2009-04-10T05:21:00.007-07:00

The big day was finally here, the day we were leaving for Tokyo. After 6 months of planning it was time to get on the plane and hope for the best. We had decided that since Japan was 13 hours ahead of us we'd get an early start on the time change. Three days before leaving we started on the Anti Jet Lag Diet and two days before we started ourselves on Melatonin. Nothing was going to stop us from seeing everything we wanted to see in Tokyo, it was us vs. sleep and we wanted to win. The night before our morning flight we didn't go to bed. We stayed up all night, watched the big Japanese win of the World Baseball Classic and went to a diner at 4am just to keep ourselves from dozing off (even though it does go against the diet linked above). Around 5 something AM we did fall asleep for about an hour but were soon back up and ready to make the 45 minute drive to Newark airport.

Unfortunately for us the sun glare that day was unbearable and it ended up being over an hour and a half drive. Oh well. The airport ended up being almost empty. No lines at the Continental check in counter and we breezed through security. Making it to the terminal was a pretty easy process, and we had hours to spare.

Outside the window our 777 was waiting to take us on the 14 hour trip to Narita. Luckily we had our secret weapons to deal with that, Ambien for me, Xanax for her. The plan was to fall asleep soon after takeoff and sleep until it was time to wake up in Japan.

And sleep we did, for about 5 hours, right through the first meal, Yes, that's right, first meal, as in you get more than one, and for free too! Unheard of!

A whole menu of options. Who knew that the skies could be so friendly? So far the plan was working, after waking up we got changed, brushed out teeth, washed face, and were ready to take on a new day.

Mid-flight snack. American.

Then we crossed the international date line, so I suppose that takes us to Day 2.

Day 2 - Don Quijote is Amazing

2009-04-10T05:21:00.005-07:00

Day 2, still on the plane. Some sort of time travelling must be going on here. At least we were fed well.

Rice and teriyaki chicken, we must be getting close to Japan.

The flight was pretty uneventful, a little bit of chop towards the end but we made it in one piece (hence me writing this), the plane was pretty wonderful. Was the first time for both of us on a 777. My ears didn't pop like they normally do on planes and having the inflight entertainment system was pretty nice. Hundreds of videos on demand to choose from, games to play, and music to listen to. During the time I was awake it helped pass the time. Headphones were even free!

After landing we made it through customs and set off to the Keisei train line as our hotel was in Ueno.
$20 (or so) a ticket and we were off. It takes about an hour to get to the Ueno Keiei station, which is located here:

View Larger Map

After a 710¥ cab ride we arrived at Hotel Edoya and were taken to our room, a Japanese style Deluxe TWIN/DOUBLE. Before we wrecked the joint we took some pictures.

The room also came with a matching pair of yukata.

Don't we just look wonderful?

Sure.

Anyway, we were off to look around the rest of the hotel and then head out for a little while. Upstairs on the top floor we had our first encounter (up close) of the joy that are Japanese vending machines.

BEER! From a machine! Brilliant! We made our first purchase.

Sadly the beer would have to wait, as exhausted as we were from traveling it would destroy us, instead we got some cider drink and a coffee. The coffee from the vending machines in Japan is pretty good. You have dozens of choices and styles, we tried many but could never hope to hit them all.

An outside seating area and a little lounge to sit in.

Also upstairs was an onsen for men and one for women.

(ignore that sunlight there, just pretend like we took them on the first night and not the day before we left)

After that we headed out to futz around Ueno before we passed out from exhaustion. It's a pretty happening place there, lots of pachinko parlors, arcades, restaurants every other shop (which I noticed as the vacation went on was pretty much the norm in Tokyo, there were more food places there than anywhere else I had ever been). We also stumbled across Don Quijote, which quite possibly be the greatest store on earth.

Not my movie but it gets the point across. This chain sells everything you could imagine, a whole floor of food up to maid costumes, electronics and video games, furniture, clothes, movies, music, vacuum cleaners, makeup, medical supplies, "adult entertainment', it was insane. All while four different songs (including the theme song from that video) are playing on different sound systems and outside the store an announcer is yelling about all the wonderful things you can find inside. Visiting a Don Quijote store should be a requirement for Japanese sightseeing, something that everyone needs to experience once.

Back to the hotel and it was time to finally go to bed.

Day 3

Day 3 - Fish, Gardens, Crafts, and Clothes

2009-04-10T05:21:00.003-07:00

It was our first morning in Tokyo and we were off for an early start.

(blurry)

It was about 6 am, we were out before breakfast at our hotel, some salarymen were already out in their suits but not many, the streets were empty. We needed something to eat so we had our first encounter with a Japanese convenience store (7-11 was a block away)

!!! A wall of rice balls! What was this magical place? Who knew that such wonderful things could be bought at such a simple store. No Slurpees or Doritos here, instead we would onigiri, bento boxes, salads, light and fluffy sandwiches, and even an udon pot by the register.

She had to buy some mochi, here (in the US) it's pretty rare, but there it's everywhere, she was ecstatic.

We ate our food (standing still and not walking with it, of course) and were off to our first destination of the trip.

Jet lagged early morning tourist destination of choice, Tsukiji Fish Market. We did not wake up early enough to get to the fish auctions, which we didn't plan on anyway since it requires getting up before even the subways start running, we did have plans on a fresh sushi meal at one of the more popular sushi restaurants around the market.

I suppose we go

After wandering around alleyways and side streets we asked a shop owner where to go and he pointed us in the right direction. "Make a right, a right, a left, then a right". Sure thing.

Amongst the crowds on one of the numerous same looking streets we found our place.

Sushi Dai. When you go make sure you take a picture of the sign for yourself, there is nothing in English and if you can't read Kanji you'll have no idea where to go. Just show anyone in the area your print out and they will be able to direct you to where this place is. Being that it's quite popular prepare yourself for a wait. Even at 6 something in the morning we stood in line for 47 minutes.

Lost amongst a sea of people. Once we made it in we ordered the set, which is basically a chef's selection of what is fresh on the menu, but not just any set..

The beer set! Nothing like Japanese beer and sushi at 7:30 in the morning.

A special note about this one above, it was still moving, sort of pulsating, when it was served to us. Now that's fresh.

In order they were (I think) tomago (egg), octopus, tuna, some kind of white fish that I forget, red snapper, tuna and sea urchin, the pulsating clam?, another one I don't remember, a baby shrimp roll (the white stuff on top are tiny shrimp), a nice easy tuna roll, mackerel, and salt water eel. Was it all good? Well, it was fresh, and they gave us some crazy stuff that we wouldn't have been able to try elsewhere. We could have just ordered the basics like salmon and tuna but this gave us a chance to try somethings we would not have otherwise. Doubt I'd do it again though.

When we got out the line was wrapped around the corner. If it was 45 minutes when we were there early the wait now must be hours.

Into the inner market we went.

While making your way back there look out for the guys on the carts. They will mow you down if you are not careful. There are hundreds of them zooming everywhere and you are simply a nuisance to them.

Back in the inner market you will find yourself in a never ending maze of stores selling every possible form of sea life imaginable.

Ever wonder what they do with the tuna once they get it?

Choppin' tuna.

Heading back out towards the train station we stopped at what we think is the local shrine where the fish business people go to show their respects.

With the fish market done we headed off towards Hanzōmon to check on the sakura at Chidorigafuchi. It seems like I read the map wrong as we instead ended up at the Imperial Gardens, an unexpected destination which we did not even know existed, but was a pleasant quiet diversion.

Passing the entrance to the palace.

Crossing the inner moat into the Imperial Palace grounds. The first thing you'll notice after you get your entrance pass (free) is a huge stone structure.

It is the remaining foundation of the original castle tower which burned down in 1638 (a common theme in Japan, things burning down) and was never rebuilt. Now it just sits there and looks huge.

With a tree on top.

We walked around one of the main gardens.

View from the opposite side facing the donjon

Some of the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

We left the gardens and decided it would be a good idea (I came up with the idea) it would be a good idea to walk to Shinkjuku. We didn't quite make it all the way, at the Yotsuya station we hopped on the subway and let that carry us the remaining distance.

Outside the station we were greeted by a very busy area, complete with huge TV screens and loads of lights.

The main goal of the day was Closet Child (one of three that we would eventually visit) but on the way (meaning, looking for it) we stopped at Okadaya yarn shop, a huge two building multi floor craft and clothing store.

No pictures allowed but I did take one of the bathroom door, everything there was just as cute and the people were incredibly polite, which was amazing, not something I was used to in America.

On the way to Closet Child we passed a conveyor belt sushi place. Fascinating to see one in real life! We never did stop in at one but it was cool to see. Closet Child was found (use this site for directions) and she bought a bunch of stuff. Everything in Japan is just her size.

Homeward bound next, back to Ueno and our hotel. We stopped at Don Quijote one last time, were once again amazed by everything we found, headed back to our hotel and promptly fell asleep.

Day4

Day 4 - Lolis

2009-04-10T05:21:00.001-07:00

Our fourth day of this Japanese Odyssey was set to be a day of high teen fashion dedicated to shopping. We would start at a loli shopping street and make our pilgrimage to their Mecca.

At 7am we were out of bed and at the breakfast nook of our hotel, a restaurant on the bottom floor. Food was included with the price of the room. There is a choice between western style which consists of some kind of sausage, bread, jelly, and milk, and Japanese style, which is tomago, rice, fish, two kinds of soup, and some stuff which I think you are supposed to put on the rice, I think this because that is what

I saw the Japanese folks do so I copied them. We ate and headed out the door to our first destination.

Harajuku

There we were, standing at the gateway to the world renowned Takeshita Dori street, the place to go for all of your loli needs.

My first glimpse of the fabled McHotdog. It would be days before I could taste it.

We arrived before the stores opened so we took an unplanned side trip to kill time around the block and came across a little garden pond.

A nice little turtle. Fish.

And a cherry blossom tree tucked away.

Continuing on..

"A mere 3 minute walk" back to where we started. Well then, that sounds easy enough. We rounded the corner and instead of the empty street we left earlier we were faced with the masses of Japanese girls that we would be up against for the rest of the day

Oy.

We went through the crowds and she made her way to the Harajuku Closet Child. She shopped and shopped and I stood and watched.

Random view from the balcony of the store overlooking what we found to be an incredibly popular item amongst the young Japanese of Tokyo.

Crepes. Yup. Everywhere along the street and elsewhere that we found in Tokyo, crepes are a very popular item, there sure are enough people out there talking about it. I have no idea why but we adapted to the culture quite quickly and bought right into it by buying ourselves a couple of them. They were soft and tasty.

We stopped at Daiso (one of the biggest 100 yen stores) picked up some trinkets and some wraps for my toes (I predicted my feet to be destroyed with all this walking we were doing), and finished exploring the street.

Yay shopping.

At the end of the road we started our voyage to Shibuya and made a couple side stops.

Milk, which was featured by America's Next Top Model, and way out of our price range, and down the street from that is..

Condommania, which is about the size of a cubicle on the inside but it has a catchy looking outside.

Up the street we stopped at Kiddy Land, half a dozen floors of every possible Japanese toy imaginable, and these..

Fascinating.

They also had the import food row, for all of the rare and exotic foods not found in Japan.

Heh. Nothing like seeing all those cheap East Coast Pretzels on their fancy import rack, must be how they feel when they see their cheap Japanese beer being sold here at a premium.

I bought my first thing in Japan, a bubble wrap simulator.

Outside of the store we saw yet another crepe store and continued up the street.

We found a riceball place and stopped in.

The remaining portions of an octopus ball that I had. Quite tasty and also warmed up.

Along the way..

Many of dozens and dozens of vending machines we passed on our walk. The girl that is featured on all of the Coke Zero ads (and they are everywhere) is Namie Amuro, just in case you were wondering.

As we kept walking the neon grew in frequency and in the distance I could see the famed Shibuya Crossing, or at least see the masses of people scrambling across it. After stopping at a Barbie clothing store for humans we waited at the edge of the street and prepared to make our way across the street.

Woo. The video does not quite convey the craziness that is the Shibuya Crossings. Hundreds of people crossing every possible direction, all going at the same time. As sad as it may sound it was actually a bunch of fun to cross the street with them all.

From there we saw the final destination of today's trip, the place where all teen girls must voyage to once in their lives in order to be made complete.

Shibuya 109.

Imagine yourself in a 9 story dance club with blasting techno music and excited young people, but instead of dance floors you have 100s of stores. For a girl it would be one of the most amazing shopping places on Earth, for me it was a mind numbing "cultural" experience.

Out we went back onto the streets. We found a Sega arcade and stopped in.

Played some House of the Dead EX, which is a strange zombie love mini game compilation.

I know how to handle a gun.

We also saw a Typing of the Dead arcade cabinet, which I never knew existed outside of the home PC market, and even that I thought was a joke. It's a zombie shooting game mixed with a typing tutor.She played some more UFO catcher machines (won nothing).

We also had our first run in with the insanity that are Tokyo arcade photo booths. Unlike the little ones that you find on the boardwalk or at your local mall, the Japanese booths are taken to a whole new level. An entire floor of an arcade will be dedicated to them with girls arriving with entire suitcases filled with outfits to put on. They have clothing and wig rentals available as well. From what I gathered it's an insanity of flashing lights, music, post picture editing and doodling, and from what you see on that photo, no boys allowed unless they have a date. Wild stuff.

Before we went home we stopped for some ramen. They way many ramen places work in Japan (Tokyo at least) is that you put your money into a machine, select what you want from a large list, push the button, and you get a ticket printed. The ticket is then handed to the server and it's passed on to the cook, a few minutes later you get your food and you eat happily.

Best ramen I have ever had, ever, anywhere.

Afterwards we found a puppy store and looked around, went back to Ueno, climbed the hill to our hotel, and passed out.

Day5

Day 5 - If it's not fun, it's not Wish Club Party!

2009-04-10T05:20:00.017-07:00

It was another morning and another day with things to do. Today we were going to meet our first people in Japan and spend a little time with the locals.

While researching this trip I came across the Couchsurfing website, which is a place to find couches to stay on if you are backpacking across the world. From Couchsurfing I ran into a man named Mochan who runs a little thing called Wish Club. No one quite knows what Mochan does, he used to run a bar but from what we all gathered he sold that, got a house from his dad, and now spends all his time hosting travelers at his house and holding drinking parties in Tokyo. That's fine by us.

As close as we'd come to the Tokyo Tower during out Japanese trip. On Day 5 the plan was to meet the Wishclub folks for their Cherry Blossom viewing party at Shiba Park. Unfortunately the day was frigid and the sakura were still a bit in hiding, but once everyone gathered together there was a traditional Japanese fix for such things.

Sake, and lots of it. Up until this point in my life I was disgusted by sake. I had tried it many times here in the sates and each time I found it to be pretty terrible. But when I tasted the stuff in Japan I was shocked at how smooth and easy to drink it was. Flavorful too. I guess I have just been buying the wrong stuff. When I asked how expensive it was I was told simply "We got it at the gas station across the street." Wow.

The party kept going for a while. Many of the pictures can be found here, so click that if you want to check them all out.

We brought Tasty Cakes, a local treat from Philly, the girls loved them.

The party came to an end and we piled onto Mochan's bus and headed on a 3 hour tour to Shimizu

Along the way we stopped at a magical rest stop along some Japanese highway. It was bigger than any I had ever seen and it was complete with a whole double sided row of vendors selling Japanese treats.

Also a monster pork bun. What wonders Japan holds.

we'd spend the night drinking beer, eating a home cooked Japanese meal, and falling asleep in a room filled with 6 other people all on futons on the floor.

Mochan welcomes all comers.

Dinner.

The wall of travelers who have come to the Mochan house.

Day 6

Day 6 - Mt. Fuji and a train

2009-04-10T05:20:00.015-07:00

Ohayou gozaimasu!

Day 2 of our WishClub experience had begun with breakfast of some fresh fruit (something lacking in our travels so far), toast, and coffee.

Outside was a quite, regular, non neon infested street, quite a change from what we were used to in Tokyo. We took pictures, said goodbye to the two Japanese guys who came back with us, and headed off to our first destination of the day.

The Mariko-Shuku Hotel Village

Back before there were fancy things like paved roads, cars, and bullet trains the samurai who would travel between Edo, Kyoto, and other places would stop along the way in hotel villages. This is one of the few remaining that has not yet been knocked down (or burned down like everything in Japan) and rebuilt as something modern.

The homes are traditional the streets are tiny, just as they always have been.

A temple in the back of the village and a cemetery on the hill across from it.

Back in the bus and we were off.

As you drive around the Shizuoka you will notice these green strips everywhere you look. In case you did not know already they are tea leaves. Shizuoka is famous for it's tea and is exported all around the world (just one of the many teas available, but I like that site so I linked to them).

Our next stop was Gyokuro-no-Sato. It is a park and slight tourist attraction, not like the ones you find in Tokyo, but something much quieter and local. Today we were there for the tea ceremony, but since we had to wait for the tea master to be ready we spent some time feeding the carp.

The very hungry carp.

They don't care if it's fish food or your hand, they are furious with hunger and will consume anything that gets in their way.

Now while you can go for tea ceremonies all over the place this location is peaceful and quite, hours away from the busy streets of Tokyo or the over visited Kyoto. On the day we went we saw a few families, all Japanese, but all quite and respectful of where we were.

It was time to start.

Entering the tea room is accomplished by using this tiny door. The door is so small as it was once used as a way to make the samurai take off their katanas, with them still attached to their person they would be unable to fit.

Next was our "appetizer", that is not the right word at all to use in this situation but I cannot think of the proper term. It was a small light red bean bun, the tastiest I had ever eaten.

The tea master came in next and we watched her prepare the macha tea. A process rife with tradition, every movement having some sort of meaning.

We drank in the proper fashion, the cup is handed to you with the design facing and you spin it twice as to not mess it. We were all very quiet during the entire time in the room. Although it was used in tradition as a place to relax and converse with your peers we sat there and simply watched. Quite a good time.

Out of the room we went back onto the WishClub bus.

Next up was Lake Tanuki which would offer us a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. Just click that link and see what I mean.

Unfortunately the mountain lived up to it's nickname of The Shy Mountain as it hid from us amongst the clouds.

At least the area was pretty.

He came out to say goodbye as we were leaving.

Don't forget about the vending machines, this is Japan after all.

Down the hill we went to our final destination

The Shiratio Waterfalls. Now what were white folks doing here? That's what the people wanted to know. We were so far off of the standard tourist path that we had people talking to us about where we were from and us (handsome) guys in the group got a couple smiles and giggles from Japanese girls who never expected to see blond hair and blue eyes at the bottom of a local waterfall. ;)

It was at the bottom of these waterfalls that we ran into an ancient ancestor of modern Japan, an artifact forgotten by time, left to rot, unable to live in it's former splendor..

Onward we went, climbing a huge flight of stairs (it didn't seem so bad going down) to reach a small shopping area.

A girl preparing a local bean something snack on a grill. It tasted sweet and was incredibly sticky. In this area wasabi is everywhere as it is locally grown, what would cost me here in New Jersey 10,000 yen could be had for only a few 100 yen. Too bad importing vegetation is something customs do not take kindly too. But they did have wasabi soda, which turned out to be not very good, but that was expected.

Once again back onto the bus we went but this time it was to say goodbye. After we dropped a few people off at the local train station her and I were driven to one of the greatest things Japan has to offer

That's right. The bullet train.

The Shinkansen. I would eventually become obsessed with it but this was my first up close experience.

As we stood on the platform of the station waiting for our train to arrive we talked about the bullet train and how it's famous the world over.

"So how fast do these things go anyway?" she asked.

I didn't need to say a word as only a few seconds later this happened.

The video can hardly convey the speed that we witnessed as a Shinkansen rushed past us on it's tracks. It was awe inspiring, we could react in no other way than simply laughter of shock.

The train arrive exactly when it was supposed to. We took our seats and headed back to Tokyo to fall asleep before yet another day of adventure.

Day 7

Day 7 - Mr. Oka

2009-04-10T05:20:00.013-07:00

Safely back in Tokyo for what seemed like only a few hours after our WishClub extravaganza we were back awake, in our hotel lobby, and off on a walking tour of Tokyo with Mr. Oka with what he has named his Introductory Walk 2 of Tokyo. After hearing of Mr. Oka from someone I contacted online back when I was planning this trip we thought it would be a good way to see a lot of things in a short period of time from a local resident of Tokyo, and since it was not in a huge group we wouldn't have to worry about dozens of other people in a tour group.

Our first destination was back at the Imperial Palace, a place we had been back on our first full day of exploration. Mr. Oka pointed over to our right, past the moat, and told us to look at the buildings in that picture above. It's there on the left, the buildings with the dishes on top, the one with the red and white antenna, and the shorter one in front, that we found out that they were the buildings of the police, the prison, the court, and the equivalent of the FBI in Tokyo. It's there that the mastermind behind the sarin gas attack was held and interviewed, he never confessed to anything though. We also were told that due to the Japanese being so obsessed with work some people who had health problems due to the attack were actually fired for not working to their full potential. Talk about bad luck.

Next we headed down the street and we were told to look up. "Look up there, what do you see?" "Can you see it? Keep looking." After staring at a building for quite some time our eyes opened to a small structure of stone on the rooftop..

I bet you can't see it either in that small thumbnail. Click the picture and have a look for yourself and when you are in Tokyo just at the first light north of the Chidorigafuchi Park impress your friends when you can point it out to them. Here it is on a map if you want a cheat sheet.

Across the way we came to Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, a quite place tucked behind trees and a street.

There we saw the Japanese tomb of the unknown soldier, a small wooden box given as a gift from the emperor. While it's not possible to store all of the remains in it there is an underground area that holds many more.

There we also read a poem by the Showa Emperor, written for the cemetery's establishment to honor the fallen dead of the Japanese military. Translation can be found at the link above.

In the cemetery is also a small building where they have a shrine on the wall (left picture) of mother earth looking over all of the fallen soldiers represented by the pink pedals. Also on display is a small exhibit of artifacts found during the many wars Japan has fought, items found on the battlefield with no clear owner.

Out of the cemetery we walked along the inner moat of the palace.

While not yet in full bloom the mood was just as festive with people from all over the country coming to enjoy the sakura festivities and good weather.

I even took the time to enjoy a roasted .. something .. from a local vendor.

Down the street we came across the Yasukuni Jinja shrine, a controversial place in that it honors anyone who has died while fighting in battle for Japan, even war criminals, convicts, and other such people not liked in society. The shrine makes no distinction about how you led your life, if you died while serving the country in battle or related war efforts you are enshrined here after death. Because of that when anyone prays here, especially of note is the emperor, you are praying for everyone there. This has led to some international controversy as some nations do not like it when criminals against them are honored.

Across the way from this Mr. Oka pointed out a lighthouse, seemingly in the middle of the city.

"If you look down the hill you'll see buildings, but go back in time and they weren't around, you'd be on top of the hill by the palace looking down to where the less influential lived, and right beyond that, the ocean. But we can no longer see such things and the lighthouse sits unused."

From here we took a quick stroll through Japan's used book store center, Jimbocho,

past Meji University,

and ended up here, at an the main Eastern Orthodox Church of Japan, which as with everything in Japan, had been damaged by fire, destroyed in an earthquake, and rebuilt. Also, like any good Christian symbol the church was built right on the outer moat of the emperor's palace in plain sight of one of it's competitors..

Yushima Seido, a Confucian place of worship.

Confucius says..
All shrines must have their vending machines.

Then it was off for a whirlwind walk through Akihabara, the world famous electronics district.

That's about all we saw that day too, we did go through a few tiny alleyway streets that sold just about every component for any piece of electronics that you could think of, but it was all so fast and overwhelming that I took no pictures. We would return, though.
Oh, and maids everywhere you look. If you ever wanted to go to a cafe staffed by maids who will giggle and serve you tea, this is the place. Mr. Oka stops to get free tissues, a common promo tool all over Tokyo for just about every establishment. Good thing, too, as hay fever was in full swing.

..and now it was time for lunch.

Just as a warning, if you are squeamish to watching food being prepared (translate that to: killed) stop reading and click here to go on to the next day. But, if you are up to seeing some Japanese delicacies, keep on going.

The night before I had a little chat with Mr. Oka on the phone to confirm our plans.

"So, are you serious about your question that you sent me in email?"

"Which one is that?"

"That you want to try this style of food, getamono"

"Sure, I guess so"

"Okay I will make reservations"

and that was that, and now it was time to go to those reservations for a meal we'd remember.

Outside of this particular eating establishment somewhere south of Sensoji temple we saw a tank on our way in the door that would give us our first glimpse of the meal we would soon be eating.

Suppon, or as many of you would know it as, turtle.

Say cheese.

Little did she know that soon after this picture the following would take place.

Yup.

Soon after the shell is removed and the "yummy" morsels inside are taken out and prepared, but not before each person is first given the traditional..

How did it taste? Let's find out.

Next came the sushi.

From the left it's raw turtle meat, yellowish eggs as our turtle was female, a treat for us, then the three bits on the bottom were gizzards, and on the right was it's liver. I think. We ate it all up, carefully and with strange looks on our faces, and waited for the main course of this meal to be completed in front of us on our table.

Suppon soup. Once all off the fancy sushi bits are taken out of the turtle the rest, shell and all, is tossed into a bot along with some vegetables and seasonings, and boiled on your table on a portable stove. When it was ready we carefully dug through it and tried all of the different things that could be found.

Including this stuff, the fatty jelly stuff that supposedly is great for your skin, which is what makes suppon such a popular dish in Japan amongst young girls, accoridng to Mr. Oka.

At the end of the meal the bits left in the soup are removed, rice and egg is added, and the mush is eaten. That part was actually the tastiest to us westerners. For dessert we had a nice regular orange and we were on our way.

Ueno park is where we would be making our final stop of the day. That statue there is of Saigo Takamori. Who? Well do you know the film The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise? That movie was based off the history of Saigo Takamori, the real last samurai, just hollywooded up a whole lot and a big star thrown in for good measure. He's a hero amongst the Japanese and the statue in Ueno park with him and his dog is quite the iconic spot.

Ahead ws the grave site memorial of the fallen soldiers of Shogi Tai Soldiers. Click the tumbnail for an explination of what that's about.
Rodin says hello and thinks about the sakura.
The Tokyo National Museum

And then came the Sakura.

They were blooming a bit too.

It's what everyone was there for. We made a few turns and then boom.

Hanami row. My name for it anyway. A walkway in the park totally packed with sakura overhead.

And hanami parties covering every last centimeter of open ground.

Everywhere you looked the festivities were in full swing. Amongst all this we saw one of the rarest sites in Japan.
Garbage cans. Seriously. When you go, try to find one. They don't exist. You'll spend quite a bit of time wandering around whatever city it is you are in with garbage in tow, there is just no where to throw anything out. It's amazing how clean everything is given this.

It was party season in the park. Rows of food vendors all over the place, people drinking and eating, everyone in a good mood. We had come to Tokyo at this time of the year just for the sakura and here we were in the thick of it. Mission Acomplished.

It was just about time to say goodbye to Mr. Oka, our walk had taken us to places we never would have seen if we were on our own and allowed us to taste a few things we might not have otherwise. He did point out a few more things before he left us.
The signs outside the Koban. They indicate how many people have died in the city and how many have been injured.

"Today is a good day, no one has died" we were told.

"When you see these signs next to an entrance to a street, stay away, unless you are looking for trouble."

I tried to go back down them later on in the night. She was having none of it.

And thus we parted ways with Mr. Oka. On a street corner we said goodbye and watched him fade off into the crowd of people. It had been a long day and our feet were destroyed. But it was not yet over. After having turtle for lunch we needed a little something to calm our stomachs.

Yay McDonalds Japan! I got the thing on the left, the McDonalds Teritama.. burger? I think it was a sausage and then an egg, maybe, cooked in some kind of teriayaki sauce. Some people say it's an actual burger. Whatever it was it was good. She had the Shaka Shaka Chicken. Exciting stuff. Chicken in bag. Put powder in bag. SHAKA SHAKA! and you have a chicken coated in flavoring.

THEN we went to bed. and slept. for a long time.

Day 8

Day 8 - Maids, Hentai, and Hanami

2009-04-10T05:20:00.011-07:00

It was early morning and the maids were heading out to work.

Today we slept in to an astonishing 8am. We had our breakfast and headed straight out back into Tokyo. We might have still been in pain from the day before but that didn't matter, we'd have time to rest back home.

Instead of making a left out of our hotel today we went left and headed to a well known shrine that just happened to be a few blocks away.

The Yushima Tenjin.

We spent some time checking out the shrine buildings, statues, and garden, compared to many of the places we had been to thus far Yushima Tenjin was very quiet and set back a bit from the business we saw everywhere else in Tokyo.

Down the steps we went and we headed back to one of the stops we had made the day before with Mr. Oka. Akihabara.

No longer on any schedule we were free to wander around and absorb the sight and sounds of this neon electric area.

Maids and their cafe's were everywhere you looked, just about every corner had a girl or a guy dressed up in a maid or butler outfit trying to get people into their shops.

Arcades were 7 stories tall. Back in the USA we're lucky to find a single stand up machine at a movie theater, here in Japan they are a way of life.

There I found games like the one I filmed above. Nothing like this exists back home and I was fascinated each time I saw people playing. I am not sure how it works other than there is a flat card reading surface that players put down their purchased cards and they then become characters on the top screen. Things are wiggled around, buttons are pressed, and viola, fun happens. Unfortunately they are completely in Japanese and an outsider like me had no way of figuring them out. For the best, though, they looked fun and I can't afford to become a card game addict right now.

When you hear that electronics and anime are the focus of this area, you are hearing right. Game stores are huge with entire floors being dedicated to single console manufactures. The one pictured above is Super Potato. At only three floors it was one of the smaller shops we visited but it was jam packed with piles of old Nintendos, Sega systems of every type, and mountains of classic games. The top floor had a retro arcade, manga library, and cafe.

We stumbled upon the Linux Cafe.

Even the vending machines are all anime-ed up.

It was here in Akihabara that we ran into a destination I had been trying to go to for days now, except that each time I had seen it previously it was almost immediately after we had left someplace else that we had eaten at.

Mos Burger. I was to get the world famous, at least in my mind, rice burger (almost what is pictured above), where instead of using bread for a bun you get the middle bits served between two pressed fried rice patties.

Seto
It was pretty good. Never before having fried vegetables served between two fried rice patties I had no idea what to expect, but it was pretty decent. She had a cheeseburger and fries, which was also nice.

With that we traversed around Akihabara for a few more hours, saw some stores that shoudl never be spoken of in polite copany and headed back to the room for a short break.
Gloomy Bear decided to come back with us from the store and relax with a nice beer. That relaxing would be short lived as almost as soon as we had returned we were back out the door.

Back to Ueno park we went, but this time under cover of night to see what the hanami folks were up to once the sun went down.
It was a cool evening, only a light jacket required. The park was lit up and full with people.
The hanami from the afternoon were either still going or new ones had taken their place, there was hardly a difference between night and day with how many people we saw out in the park drinking and eating on their tarps under the sakura.

The street vendors we had only glimpsed the day before were still open and we headed right in to enjoy them for ourselves.

We found this paculiar sweet candy, at first we thought it was just a piece of fruit in an ice cube and some sprinkles on top, which was fine with us as we had been having hardly any fruit this whole trip and even a single frozen piece was a welcome sight, but when we got it we discovered that it was actually a piece of fruit encased in a sweet very thick syrup like substance placed in a small cone. It was so good that we returned a few days later for another.
One of the many carnival games found near the food stalls.

Benten-Do lit up at night across the pond.

As we continued walking through the park we came across yet another row of food stalls and places to eat. I found a woman making these Japanese egg bacon omelets.

With that it was time to head home and go to sleep. It would soon be time to go across the country to Kyoto.

Day 9

Day 9 - Woke up this morning and got myself a Maiko

2009-04-10T05:20:00.009-07:00

Did we actually get any rest from the day before? All I knew was that it was early in the morning and we were already in Tokyo station on the Nozomi platform waiting to get on the N700 bullet train and travel across the country to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan and one of the few cities not bombed during WWII.

There she was, waiting to take us across the country at 180 miles an hour. This was the top of the line rail transportation in Japan.

Riding quietly across the railways we passed through he Japanese countryside. The train was smooth, clean, quiet, and arrived at the station exactly when it was supposed to. If only we could get something like that here in the USA.

We arrived in Kyoto Station, Japan's second largest station, a place we would explore in the coming days, before noon and quickly went to our hotel, the Kyoto Plaza Hotel, to drop off our bags and head back out into the city.

We were quickly on the subway and headed to Yume Yakata, a Maiko / Geisha photo studio. Today we'd (her) be dressing up as a maiko, a geisha in training, and get a few pictures taken.

Konichiwa.
After an hour I was called up into the dressing room. She had gone through the complete makeover of a maiko and was ready for her photo shoot.

The studio was great, along with the pictures that you bought they let you take your own camera and take as many as you wanted, both in the photo room and afterward back in the dressing room with other props or with each other. Highly recommended for anyone looking to do this sort of thing in Kyoto.

We then headed off into Kyoto to do some sightseeing on our own. I wouldn't recommend the route that we took, though. From the photo studio we took the subway to Kitaoji and then proceeded to walk for an hour west. We got to see many local shops and small shrines along the way, but if your feet are not up for it then take a cab or figure out the bus system instead.

Along the way we passed vending machines, obviously, this is Japan after all, but one was quite unique, a battery vending machine. The second shot is of the inside of a vending machine. We finally got to see what makes them work. It was a rare site.

Kyoto is filled with temples and shrines. It seemed like around every corner there was something to see. Unlike Tokyo which is neon and crazy, Kyoto felt much more subdued and peaceful.

Up in the mountains we noticed a huge Kanji carved out. Ka, or fire. During the yearly Kyoto Fire Festival this symbol is set ablaze in the night in celebration.

We had finally arrived.

The Golden Pavilion.

The grounds were absolutely packed with Chinese tourists, after a quite stroll through Kyoto this was quite a change of pace. People arrived here by the busload.

Despite people yelling at their children and folks mucking about all over the place the grounds themselves (off the walkways) were soft and moss covered. It was like something out of a post card, maybe that's because this site is on many sold across the city.
As were leaving we came across yet another exciting vending machine. This one sold ramen, complete with hot water. Yet another reason why Japan is such a magical place.

We left the pavilion and set off to our next destination, the famous zen rock garden of Ryoan-ji.

Along the way we came across another temple set in from the road. Besides for us it was empty and silent.

We also passed another Mos Burger, home of the Mos Burger. We had to stop in and I had the one they were named after. Delicious, as expected.

As we continued down the street I saw a sign that pointed to the temple, except it said it was far to our East. After looking at our map and consulting with some local youths we discovered that we had taken a wrong turn out of the Golden Pavilion and now were quite a distance away from our intended destination. Shucks. But we made the most of it and went back to something we had passed along the way.

Yay Sakura!

Along whatever road it was we had been walking down was a large cherry blossom festival.
We found some food we had not seen in Tokyo so we tried it out.

Not sure what that was either. They were soft chewy balls of some kind covered in a sweet sauce and topped with powder.

Walking towards a subway station we passed a department store with dozens of bikes parked out front. All had only a simple lock on the back wheel, if anything at all. They weren't chained to a thing yet there they sat, not being stolen or knocked around. Trying pulling that one off here at home.

Back at Kyoto station we headed to the hotel, a short walk only about a block away. Our room was ready for us. We went to our floor, opened the door..

TINY ROOM!
But the toilet did have buttons on it, so that made it worth it.

Day 10

Day 10 - Communists in Kyoto

2009-04-10T05:20:00.007-07:00

It was another early start, this time in Kyoto. After spending the night in a room smaller than some walk in closets back at home we up and ready to go.

Note: While in Japan, at least in some smaller hotels, don't plug a hair iron and a hair dryer into the same outlet and have both going on full blast. That morning she ended up knocking the power out to the whole floor in the hotel. Whoops. Just don't tell anyone it was us.

We met our Goodwill Guide in the lobby of our hotel and were off. Unlike Mr. Oka a few days earlier in Japan this one was free and was doing it simply for the pleasure of showing off his city to travelers.

Off we went to learn how to use the Kyoto city bus system, which once explained is surprisingly easy. Just get an all day pass for a few hundred yen and you'll be on your way all day to explore the city.

It's also empty in the morning, so get out there while you can. In the afternoon the bus is packed and there will be a line to get on if you are at a stop in the middle of a route.

Walking up the hill to our first destination we noticed a heavy police presence in the area. There was a very large group of them walking to every corner along the road, leaving at least one person on each.

"Is this normal?"

"No, nothing like this, let's ask to see."

--some Japaneses spoken here--

"There is someone special coming to visit today, they are getting ready for him."

Only one last flight of stairs until we arrived.

We continued on, wondering who was coming.

The stone golems guarded the entrance.

We made it up to Kiyomizu-dera, the Pure Water Temple, named as such due to the healing powers the waters that flow down from the mountains into the waterfalls of the temple are purported to have.

We tried some for ourselves while cleaning before entering the grounds. At the very least it was refreshing.

High above the city in the mountains it was quite the site to look down on the bustling old capitol of Japan below.

While not in full bloom yet the sakura were peaking out.

Entering the temple you'll see this on display. Try to pick them up. They are the tools the monks use for their meditations. Not very comfortable looking shoes and large staffs that weigh more than I do. The small one I could move but the larger one wouldn't even budge. I don't think I would be cut out to be a mountain monk.

Offering plates and prayers placed by pilgrims to the temple, the monks will pray for them and their wishes. In the temple you will find many different places of prayer and offering. One of the more known are the two love stones.

(not my image, taken from The Sun Calling The Moon Bright blog, click on over and show some love. No idea why I did not take a picture myself)

With the stones stand at one, close your eyes, think of the person you love, and walk towards the other. If you can make it with out opening your eyes then you two are meant to be. Otherwise, well, just try again until you do make it.

Looking down at the line of people waiting to drink the water from the mountain. The wait was over a half hour. People come from all over the country to have it.

Heading outside we see the shot that is on all of the postcards and magnets (including the one we brought home for our fridge). It was here we were all of a sudden surrounded by Chinese secret service agents. They came in like a bulldozer, pushing everyone out of their way. I, somehow, was instead caught right in the middle of them.

The first thing I noticed was a rare site indeed, the head monk of the temple was out amongst the people, or at least out amongst the people surrounded by a huge amount of protection.
The second was this guy.

Li Changchun, the one on the left. Pretty swell, eh? That's my picture there, which I also stuck on Wikipedia. I wonder if I am on their watch list now. He is the 5th ranking member of the Communist party of China and the head of the propaganda arm of their government. At the time I had no idea who he was, but I figured he was important if he had that kind of protection around him. As he stood there a dozen different people in the entourage stood next to him for a photo opportunity. He was in town during a multi country tour, we just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

As he was swept away we headed down off the mountainside temple.

After the temple we headed down into the popular tourist souviner street and may our way through many different shops, all selling mostly the same basic things. There was a type of sweet that we loved and one of the more popular stores offered enough free samples to fill your entire stomach.

Coming down from the temple one of the first stores you'll pass (if you are headed northish) is the one pictured above. There you will be greeted with a glass of green tea to get you in, dance music playing, and Yatsuhashi, one of the most popular sweet souvineers to take home from Kyoto.

We continued on.

Through a garden found behind a store.

Down an old street with many Ryokan unchanged through the years.

We spotted the Ryozen Kannon Memorial off in the distance, we never got any closer though.

Along the way we made our way into yet another Sakura related party going on in a park.

It was bamboo season and we stopped for a snack of some of it fried and put on a stick. Tasty stuff.

We walked past another huge temple that had more stairs than we could handle. We were hungry and it was time to eat a real meal instead of just snack and vendor food.

We decided on this place, which was pretty much across the street from the temple just above.

Some shots of the grounds. It was a quiet escape from the bustling touristy streets we were just on. The restaurant specialized in local Kyoto food, Tofu Ryori.

We ate in a small Japanese style tatami room with the main table having a built in heater for the main dish.

We got quite a lot of food. Each was tofu based, the main course was a large hot pot containing different kinds of tofu cooked at our table. Dessert was sakura iced cream. Our guide was quite delighted by the meal, instead of the tourists he was showing around asking to be taken to McDonalds or other non Japanese food we treated him to a delicious tofu meal. Along with the food we ordered a local Kyoto sake and plumb wine. By the end everyone was feeling quite comfortable and we headed back out to the streets.

Our next stop was one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan, the Heian Shrine.

Walking through the entrance you enter a massive courtyard.

But the main attraction are the gardens.

One of the things you may recognize in the back gardens are the path of stones across the pond.

As you can see, they want you to be careful.

We somehow managed to survive the path of stones, we didn't even fall into the water.

As we left the shrine our day was not yet finished, we still had another stop.

It was almost closing time and we quickly made our way to..

Ginkakuji, The Silver Pavilion.

Unlike the Golden Pavilion, which is overly golden, this one is silver only in name, and is also under construction.

Sand sculptures created by the monks.

The grounds of The Silver Pavilion were moss covered and peaceful.

Unlike the Golden Pavilion, which was packed when we were there, the Silver Pavilion there were no crowds here, walking up and down the mountain paths through the gardens gave us a chance to unwind after a long and busy day.

Our guide said that each person has their favorite between the two gardens, either the openness of the Golden Pavilion or the shaded moss covered mountainside of the Silver Pavilion.

A look from the highest point of the gardens, down over the Pavilion, sand garden, and the city in the distance.

But don't try anything, they are always watching.

We we left the Pavilion and headed back towards the bus stop.

Along the way we took a side trip down the Path of Philosophy.

It was closing time and also time for us to finally end our day. We started the day on the bus and ended it there.

With one last look at the mountains we got onto the bus and headed back to Kyoto station. Our guide had to transfer somewhere before so we said our goodbyes to him and waved as the bus pulled away. We made it back to the station and were ready to fall asleep.

But the in the station she noticed that there was a huge underground shopping mall (not to be confused with the 11 or something story department store in another section of the station) called The Cube that we had left unexplored, so we ventured in. I spent my time leaning on walls trying not to collapse from exhaustion, for her the shopping gave her final boost of energy for the day.

Complete with a restaurant section that rivaled any seen in America. All enticed you with the standard Japanese plastic food displays on the outside and all looked wonderful.

But we'd have none of that, instead we picked up another strange item from McDonalds Japan, the McPork. It was quite good. With the excitement that the McRib sandwich gets when it comes here introducing this one would seem like a good idea.

She picked up a donut munchkin shaker thing. Like the Shaka Shaka chicken from a few days before they gave you a flavor packet to be added into the cup, then shaka shaka, and you have powder covered donuts.

I'll try not to do that. We passed out.

Day 11

Day 11 - Tokyo nightlife, for a few hours

2009-04-10T05:20:00.005-07:00

Our two day whirlwind tour of Kyoto was over, after an uneventful morning at the hotel (as in not blowing out the power again) we grabbed our bags and went to Kyoto Station to get the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. We needed a little breakfast to start our day.

Oh my goodness! Could it really be time to partake in the legendary McHotDog Japanese breakfast meal?

Yes it was! I wonder what wonders awaited under that wrapping.

Oh. Well then. Breakfast of Champions?

Mustard, ketchup, and relish underneath.

I had a conversation a few days later about the McHotDog with some Japanese collegues.

"We had the McHotDog a few days ago"
"Oh yes! That is the new breakfast at McDonalds."
"It was strange for us to have a hot dog for breakfast, is that normal here?"
"Yes, of course"
"Back at home we have them for lunch or maybe dinner"
"Oh really, that is strange"

Perhaps there was some jet lag involved when someone introduced the hot dog to either our country or theirs, 12 hour difference in both time and hot dogs.

With a few hours to kill before our train we explored the station some more.

The station goes up, and keeps going up for 10 floors. It's a monster.

And once you get to the top you can come back down again through a huge department store. On the bottom floor of the department store, as is standard with these Japanese institutions, you will find a complete food market.

One of our favorite bits was this all tempura station. Everything fried in that wonderful Japanese invention of tempura batter. I'm convinced that you could put a shoe in that stuff and it would taste good once it's cooked up.

But it was time to go. We found our way out of the stores and made our way to the gate. Once through the ticket machines we stopped for some more food.

Train station ramen. It hit the spot.

It was time to go, our 1 PM Nozomi Shinkansen to Tokyo was about to arrive and it was time for us to head back.

Mt. Fuji finally decided to come out in all of it's glory.

Malt liquor and rice balls, Nozomi meal of champions.

Tokyo Station. I think we go straight.

When we made it back to Ueno we stopped at a Freshness Burger for a quick bite to eat. I had a standard cheeseburger, which was just OK. I noticed after I had gotten the food that they had something called a Freshness Burger, which is something I will try next time I am in Japan. Someday...

This is the point in the story where things get a little dull. For the next few hours we sat around reading, doing laundry, and resting. Our dirty clothes pile had become a mountain, we had hardly done nothing since the moment we got to Japan, and by now the feet were destroyed.

But as I just said, that only lasted for a few hours.

It was Shibuya time! At night too. Coming out of the station we did the touristy thing and found Hachiko. We had to do it. From there we went out for a few hours, the subways stop at midnight and the cabs cost $75 bucks, so we had to get back sooner than later. Shibuya at night is amazing. seeing it must be like how some people feel the first time they see Times Square at night for the first time, except by now I no longer care about Times Square. Shibuya at night is something everyone must see when in Japan. With all of the neon, huge TV screens, moving images across the sides of buildings, its everything you'll ever need for that quintessential Tokyo neon experience. Anyway, time for food and drinks.

We stopped at Alcatraz ER, the medical themed resturant. The lobby was pretty creepy. Dark music, an ominious voice warning you about entering, the mummy corpse thing above, blood on the walls, the mood was being set for one hell of a creepy meal. We pushed the button and entered, and that's where the mood changed. Once you are inside you are treated to non stop disco music mixed in with Madonna and Michael Jacksoon. All of a sudden the mood goes from creepy to kooky. It was a bit of a let down.

You are then taken to your cell. Each table is behind bars and you are attended to by a nurse.

The drinks are fun and the food isn't bad. We had something called Russian Roulette Poppers. Five come out on a tray. One is ultra spicy. The catch is that they don't tell you which one it is. Oh what a surprise that is.

With that finished we headed across the street..

To the Christon Cafe. "The most premier restaurant in 100 years. Restaurant with the image of a church"
Unlike Alcatraz which promised one thing and gave you instead a strange 70s music trip, the Christon Cafe was laid back and the music was jazzy. The whole place is decked out in gothic Christian imagery.

We sat in a red lined booth, Jesus watched over us as we ate from one end of the table. The food was quite good, we had a shrimp pizza and garlic toast, drinks were a Blue Velvet (made with beer) and a sangria.

From there we headed out back to the streets, stopped at another Sega arcade, played more UFO catcher machines, and got on one of the last trains to Ueno.

When we hit the bed we fell asleep. Another packed day was ahead of us.

Day 12

Day 12 - Zed.

2009-04-10T05:20:00.003-07:00

Another early morning. By now we knew the routine. We wake up, eat breakfast at Hotel Edoya, get changed, and head right back out. This is what we did. With sleep and rest only getting in the way of seeing Tokyo we were back on the trains and off to our next location.

Tokyo Disney. We'd be skipping Tokyo Disneyland though, we've seen that here in the USA enough times. We decided to go to the park unique to Japan, Tokyo Disney Sea. To get there we took the train from Tokyo to Mahima station, about 20 or so minutes outside of Tokyo proper. Once there you get on the monorail and take it to the park of your choice. Warning! They charge you for the monorail. Just take it, don't bother trying to walk. We did, was a mistake, ended up simply wasting time and taking the monorail anyway.

Disney Sea is a theme park based on a nautical theme. Greeting you just beyond the ticket counter is the big spinning globe, a very popular photo stop.

We happened to be there during the 25th year celebration. All around the park were special themed souvenirs for this event.

Disney Sea is focused around a large lake with a mountain visible pretty much anywhere in the park.

The main entrance way also doubles as the Disney Sea Hotel MiraCosta.

Word of advice about Disney: get there early. The lines will break your soul. The line for the Indiana Jones ride was over three hours long.

Another word of advice: use the single rider lines when you can. We didn't care about sitting next to each other so instead of the three plus hour wait on Indy we jumped into the single rider line and instead waited about 4 minutes. They also have a free Fastpass reservation system like other Disney parks. Use that whenever possible.

A look into the Arabian Coast. They pump curry scent into the air here, if you're a fan you'll want to hunt down some tandoori chicken and naan as fast as possible, if you happen to not like curry then stay away, it's not possible to escape the smell of it.

The Nautilus, the theme ship sitting outside of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's not like that terrible one that used to be at Disney World, Florida.

One of her favorite spots was the Mermaid Lagoon, a Little Mermaid themed spot.

Going down under the sea you are in a cave with rides, a show, and a restaurant, all with the Mermaid theme.
Hooray for the gift box souvenir lunch set!

I'm not really sure what this ride is about other than I think it was guided by some sort of laser or light under each car reading a path right under the water. They took a seemingly random path with each person going off in a different direction.

Before we had to run off we also hit up Stormrider, which was a fun VR ride and Raging Spirits (has a single rider line), part of that pictures above, her first ever roller coaster that featured a loop. I made sure to not let her know that until she was on the ride, she came off yelling at how scary it was.

It was time to run now out of the park, back onto the monorail, and to our next appointment.
Cirque du Soleil's newest show, Zed.

Our seats, will need to zoom in a bit there if you care. Since no pictures or video are allowed you'll have to make due with the trailer.

All I can say is it was the most amazing Cirque show I have ever seen, and I have seen 10 of them. If you go to Disney in Tokyo make sure to see this.

Back on the monorail, by now it was getting late and the cars were empty, you'd think we'd be smart and go home instead of exhausting ourselves every more than we already had become.

It was cold, it was raining, we were tired, but we still had a ride to go on.

The Journey To the Center of the Earth. The big mountain from the picture above, the large on viable from the entire park also contained a ride. It ended up being my favorite of the day. Click the link for a detailed walk through of the entire ride.

Now it was finally time to go back to our hotel. By the time we got to Tokyo Station she could hardly walk and then when we made it to the hill outside of Hotel Edoya we both had to use everything we had to get up it. We stopped at Lawson for a late night snack (I Love Vegi!, it became a staple of my Japanese diet, after seeing the creepy Vegi Man on tv and in ads who couldn't say no?).

The we saw the futon. Then we passed out.

Day 13

Day 13 - The House that Totoro Built

2009-04-10T05:20:00.001-07:00

Totoro greeted us as he headed off to Mitaka for our first stop of day 13. Today we headed out to the Studio Ghibli Museum, tickets for which we had to reserve well in advance at a JTB travel agency back in the USA, luckily for us just happens to be right down the highway.

The Museum is designed to look like part of the nature around it, to celebrate the films of the greatest Japanese animation studio of all time. Disney:America::Ghibli:Japan, except they still do hand drawn art and haven't gone completely over to CG. In the USA Disney is the company that translates and releases their films.

Inside you will find original works of art from Hayao Miyazaki himself, be treated to one of a handful of exclusive Ghibli animations shown no where else but the museum, get an animation cell on your entrance ticket, and view the process of making animation and their films.

Once again in our story pictures were not allowed inside, so instead please watch this video tour.

Up on the roof, where you can use your camera, sits one of the iron monsters from Castle in the Sky.

We bought a Totoro doll (the girls in Japan ADORE him, carry around a Totoro doll and you'll have them talking to you no matter where you are). We said goodbye and headed back into the city.

Out next stop was Ikebukara where she hunted down her final Closet Child of the trip. We also stopped at a two story Hello Kitty store and an arcade where we found this:

A "casual frozen foods" vending machine. With the push of a button (and a wait of a minute or two) we had vending machine fries in our hand to eat. Brilliant!

As it was two days out from going home I started taking melatonin again to get myself ready for the 12 hours of jet lag I'd be facing. At this point of the day my body was ready to shut down, the pills were in full effect and I could hardly walk. A nap seemed to be in order.

NOPE! Instead we went to the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest shrine.

After passing the large red lantern you'll end up on the ultimate Tokyo tourist trap for cheap souvenirs to take home to people.

Aww yeah.

Here you'll find t-shirts, magnets, food stuffs, plastic junk made in China, and anything else you'd ever want for a "oh man I forgot to buy my friend something in Japan" shopping trip.

Walking down the street you'll past a housing place for the priests. The sakura were in full bloom on their grounds.

We headed back towards the subway station by taking a few of the side roads.

It was here I bought my other souvenir, a model Nozomi n700 train. The Shinkansen is the best.

We went back to Ueno to hopefully get some sleep.

Before we did that we went back into the park to try some more fair food. It was here we found magical gyoza the size of your head. They were one of the most wonderful things we ate in Japan. All the flavor of a delicious gyoza except in monster size. It was quite possibly the best tasting gyoza I have ever had. We had another one of those gel candy sweets from a few days ago, then a crepe from the main street in Ueno, and then finally back to the hotel to pass out.

Day 14

Day 14 - Can I T&E this trip now?

2009-04-10T03:55:00.000-07:00

Today we slept. Breakfast didn't even enter our minds. We had accomplished just about everything we had set out to do in Japan and for the first time we could sit and not move. Today we were going to take it easy.

My company has an office in Tokyo, I looked them up before I left, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to go out to some local place for lunch. We brought them some stuff from America, including a bottle of maple syrup (a hit with the guy's wife), Easter candy, and some oatmeal cream pies. Between the time we left for lunch and came back everyone had already started to dig into the foreign treats.

When they asked us if we had eaten yet our eyes lit up, "No! We have not but we wanted to!" "Great! Let's go!" was their response. Down the street we went to what is for them a plain old local lunch joint, but to us it was a great final meal to have in Japan.

After two weeks we're still happy. A bit tired, but put good food in front of us and we'll be happy campers.

After lunch we went back to the hotel and started to pack. Not long after we began we both fell asleep. Gasp! A nap! We awoke sometime after dark and decided to head to Odaiba for one last night out.

A view of the big ferris wheel taken from a window on the Yurikamome. Being that it was late we had one destination in mind to end our trip on.

Sega Joypolis.

It's a 3 floor VR arcade. Think sit down virtual reality motion rides, racing games where you sit in a full size mock up of a real car, shooting games that have you spinning in all sorts of angles, and rides. It's also where we got a chance to try this thing out

Storm-G. Little did we know that the game was released only a week or two before we arrived. It's a sit down arcade future bobsled racer where the entire sit down cabinet spins 360 degrees with the action on screen. It was a blast.

There are also prize games and ufo catchers. I won this little thing in a shooting range game, shoot enough pellets into the paper holding it up and it will drop onto a conveyor belt.

We spent a few hours here with the unlimited night pass. We were also one of the last people in the place. After it closed we headed back to our hotel for our final sleep in Tokyo.

Day 15

Day 15 - The Voyage Home

2009-04-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well that's about it. Our journey was over and all we had left to do was go to the airport and get on the plane.

The taxi came, we loaded up our bags, and headed off to the train station.

One final look at Tokyo in bloom. All of the cold and rain from the start of our trip was gone. The sakura were in full bloom and the sun was shining. A fine farewell by the city.

We brought a bag with us filled with stuff we gave away to the people we met. Now going home it was filled with items bought in Japan.

:(
Good bye Tokyo.

My final bite to eat in Japan. A rice ball with sausage. It was my favorite type during the whole trip, it was the last thing I wanted to have.

I (still) Love Veggi.