The bus took around 2 hours to arrive at Narita airport. Upon arriving and collecting our bags, the unthinkable happened. Delta counters were not even open, so we were forced to have to check Korean Airlines desk which was who delta had passed us over two due to the merger for our first flight anyway. They had told us that our itinerary was already flown and that we would have to wait until 12:15 when the delta desks had opened. Let me mention that our flight was leaving at 12:50 on the dot and we hadn’t been through security yet. The reason for the confusion was that we had been wait-listed for a direct flight that I previously removed on the 10th. it was now the 12th and they had taken us off of our original flights and posted us to the wait-listed flight unauthorized. Talk about frustrating. So we were make to wait from around 11 to 12:15 at the Korean Airlines desk waiting for the Delta reps to arrive. Delta told us the same story and that we would have to pay for another set of tickets… as you could imagine my blood was at the boiling point due to all of the mishaps on their end and tried to keep it reserved as I explained our plight. They ended up taking down my CC info and giving us both a boarding pass. Andrea and I, literally, full wind sprinted our way to the gait where they had been paging us over the loud speaker and even sent a small search party out to the commercial aspect of the terminal to find us. We got on the flight and were out of breath and sweating as we took our seats… just grateful to be on the flight.

Next stop, Incheon Airport, Seoul, South Korea. The airport was very upscale and new. It was so clean and well organized. I was very impressed. We took our 3 hour lay over and decided to check out the various shops and grab a bite to eat. I am a huge fan of Korean food so I had to find a place that made my favorite dish. Naeng Myun, which is cold buckwheat noodle soup. Thankfully, the airport terminal had such a place and Andrea and I took advantage of it. The story and frustration were once again on our heels as we apprached the gate to get our bording pass. The staff had our tickets but were looking for some sort of confirmation paper to let us on. Not having this paper provided a real inconvenience. So much so that we almost missed the flight, and we the absolute last people to board. We had to deal with a few stessed staff members and an apathetic counter manager who finally threw her hands up in defeat and decided to let us on after taking down all my contact information. Folk, please understand I really put the frustration and madness of this whole ordeal in a very consomable and short winder version. In actuality it was a nightmare. We were once again partially relived just to take our seats on the plane. The flight wasn’t all that bad, though again I didn’t really get to sleep at all. 14 fun filled hours later the plane touched down back in the good ole’ US of A and we we’re treated to our country’s amazing customs and declarations counters and que lines. About and hour and a half later we were finally re-admitted to the states and baggage claim where the family had been waiting. It’s hard to believe that 18 days came and went that fast. Over the span of the trip it felt a little fast and a litte slow at times, but was really once of the most enjoyable time I’ve ever had in my life. I will never forget the people and places I was able to meet and see. My travel partner Andrea and I had such an amazing time it’s almost indescribable. I want to thank all the people who followed us through the written account of everything and hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed living it out. I will post the remainder of the pictures and links shortly. This concludes the Journal Hope you enjoyed!

We decided to meet with him at the Lalaport Mall we had visited them at the first time around for some dinner. We chose another Okonomiyaki place this time each trying a different type and me and Sean ordered two round of Sake. It was delicious. After dinner, we were treated to dessert but Yumi and Sean at a dessert pancake type place. Andrea and I split the strawberry and creme one while Yumi and Sean shared a carmel and chocolate one. We sat for an hour at least and told stories and shared a few laughs from our experiences and had just a great evening hanging out together. We were about the last people to leave the mall I think! We said our goodbyes to Sean as he was heading to another station and the three of us took a bus back to the area where Yumi’s family lived. We got to meet Yumi’s father who kindly welcomed us to his home and we all got ready for bed. We decided it would be easiest to take a bus to the airport the following morning. Andrea and Yumi shared and room and I took Yumi’s older brothers room for the night. Since we had gotten in late, it was a short night since we had to walk up early for the bus.

The day was well spent, traveling the city streets of Osaka. There were once again many people, lights, and advertisements all over the place. It reminded me a lot of the massive displays and sights in Akihabara. Miyo was an excellent guide taking us all around the city. Our first stop was a multi-level building inside of which was a full rendition of the Osaka city streets around the time of the 1950′s. Everything for street side vendors, to sit down restaurants, gift shops, to people dressed in the attire of the times could be seen just as if you were actually there at that particular time. We had a chance to sample the food, atmosphere, and treats of Osaka from days past, some of which are still very popular today! Instead of eating a large meal we decided to take a more wide spread approach and sample some of the appetizers at the various places along the “streets”. Our first stop was a place famous for its Takoyaki. Lets visit wikipedia for an educational rundown shall we? –

“Takoyaki is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, konnyaku, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings), originating from Osaka. Making takoyaki requires a takoyaki pan, a special frying pan made of cast iron with hemispherical molds. There is a similarly named dish called ikayaki but it is a broiled whole squid and bears no resemblance. “Yaki” is derived from “yaku” (焼く, “yaku“^?) which simply means “to bake or grill” in the Japanese language, and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as teriyaki or sukiyaki.”

We actually got to make our own on the pans built into the table. It was an experience for sure and you will see some of the pictures in the side links of that adventure once I get them uploaded. So after trying first hand to cook the Takoyaki, we got to enjoy them! We washed them down with a Japanese soda-pop like beverage known for its interesting bottle with a marble in it! It is called Ramune. I will post some links for both the food and drink to the side as well.

After enjoying a few more side vendor streets, we got to watch a small musical production put on by the staff. The story was a comedic drama about feuding couple in old Osaka who always fought with each other. The audience was split up into two sides and qued into using a few famous Osakan phrases to coax the plot along on call. In the end the couple ended up happy again and after a few songs and dances it was over and we were free to roam around the rest of the shops and enjoy the rest of the intricate indoor city streets. One store was packed full of candies and treats fro the era, accompanied by many other of the popular candies and snack items popular today.

After leaving, we decided to go and visit a shrine known as the Taiko Shrine. Taiko referring to the famous Japanese drums– link provided on the side again as well. The reason for the naming goes a little like this: There is a bridge in the center of the grounds that is a very steep half circle. If you stand perpendicular across the pond on which the bridge traverses, the mirror image in the water itself completes the circle giving it an appearance of a said Taiko drum! A very creative and neat sight to behold. The grounds we’re beautiful as well. We all decided to make a wish and ask for luck(the first time in all the shrines we visited). We didn’t know that the coin amount you threw into asks for different things. Miyo was explaining that between the 10, 50, and 100¥ one was for health, one for luck, and the other for both. We talked about wondering about putting a 1¥ coin in and jokingly asked Miyo what that would mean, and she just laughed really hard and said that it wouldn’t be very good

After seeing the shrine we headed back to a mall complex we had walked through previously and found a great place to eat inside, recommended by Miyo of course. Though before heading to eat we took a walk around looking for some souvenir stores, and ended up wondering into an arcade where they had a really fun Taiko Drumming game in which you play against other person and try to play the rhythms to a song depicted by a line of icons that show you where and when to hit. We all had a go and both Japanese girls ended up being the victors. I think their success at video games is secretly ingrained in their DNA. After getting beaten in a game of Taiko Drumming and taking some classic photo booth pictures cuted up by the girls to remember our day by, we headed to the place I mentioned earlier. It is known for a dish called Okonomiyaki. It is a pan-fried batter cake. This is the style of okonomiyaki found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated yam, water, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion, meat (generally pork or bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette, pizza, or pancake, and may be referred to as “Japanese pizza” or “Japanese pancake”, or even “Osaka soul food”. –thanks wikipedia. The food was excellent and it was once again a great pick by Miyo. We treated them to dinner since Miyo had so kindly paid for our subway tickets, our visit to the Old Osaka Days attraction, and goody bags.

The night ended with everyone in great spirits(thats called being Genki in Japanese) and we were taken back to the station by Miyo and Yoshimi where we took a look at some of the traditional souvenir shops filled with Osakan delights. After saying our goodbyes, me and Andrea made our way back to the Hotel where we crashed. It was an amazing day in a place that had been so different then any other place in Japan we had seen yet. In fact I made refrence to it being similar to the Jersey pride that many people have from that area in the States. Osakan’s are quick to point out that the food, drink, and people are so much nicer and friendlier then in Tokyo or other big cities. Not just playing along here, but I will have to agree. We met some of the nicest most courtious people there who were soley intent on making sure we were happy and enjoying everything! What a great day!

Tuesday was another terrificly slow day. We had a delicious traditional japanese breakfast at 8:30am, but afterwards Andrew and I were still tired, probably from all that walking done yesteray in the blazing Asian heat. We went back to our room intending on a short nap, but that turned into an all day nap! Andrew says he woke up at noon and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around, and I managed to get up around 4:00 . . . God that sounds terrible. Let the record show it wasn’t solid, continuous sleep. I woke up a couple times along the way . . .

Then we headed back to downtown Kyoto with all of those snazzy restaurants, and ate dinner at a sushi conveyor belt counter. Only $1.37 a plate! This was preceded by (and followed by) an attempt to find an international ATM. Ok, I have to admit something. Yesterday, we had tried to find a working ATM at a 7-11, because they are famous for having international ATMs. And we had found one, but unbeknownst to me, I had been putting my card in the wrong way! >_< I had tried the correct way, but I guess I wasn’t pushing hard enough b/c it did’t go in, and and when I flipped the card it was accepted by the machine, only to be spat out with some crazy Japanese writing on the screen that I couldn’t understand. I naturally assumed it was my card’s fault, maybe it had been declined like Andrew’s had. It was at this second 7-11 after dinner that we thought to try again, and after my 2nd attempt, Andrew fiured out that I was putting the card in backwards. Straight A student, ladies and gentlemen, yet I can’t figure out how to properly work an ATM. Needless to say, we both had a good laugh, and I’m just relieved that we now have enough money to eat (and buy stuff).

At night, we took a night walk through the downtown area and passed rows and rows of streets lined with bars, clubs, and tiny ramen stands. Like most of Japan, the entire area glows from the lights of stores, signs, and paper lanterns. It was suprisingly crowded for a week night.

As for today, we started the day off with our third Japanese breakfast, this one of course had an extra special treat that makes Andrew gag just thinking about it. We had raw mini squids as a side dish, and we didn’t even know exactly what we eating because of their amorphous, dark purplish blob form. Andrew thought it was pudding. But no, pudding does not taste like warm salty metallic  . . . goodness. Andrew ate one, and I braved two of them. The second one had a nasty aftertaste.

Our next stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, famous as the founding or first of the Inari (Fox) shrines in Japan. The inari, or kitsune, or fox, is known for its cleverness and cunning, making it the prime spirit for bestowing wealth and good business. This shrine was also in Memoirs of a Geisha, with literally thousands of bright orange archways leading the way up and down the mountain. The trail is about 2.5 miles long, and we did the whole thing! We made it through the arch tunnel, up to the top at 233 meters in some of the worst heat and humidity we’ve seen thus far. We had to stop 3 different times along the way for drinks, which were overpriced. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a view at the top

But the whole way up – completely surrounded by thick forest and dotted by stone altars (we’re talking hundreds here), guarded heavily by statues of kitsune and chinese lions, and lined with smaller wooden shrines all along the way – was truly beautiful and peaceful. We also saw people praying at some of the smaller shrines, and could even hear some chanting prayers in Japanese. We were, however, better able to appreciate it on the way down! And on the side, Andrew got us lost on the way down! We came to a rest station, with a map and some signs in Japanese and arrows. We ended up taking a 15 minute detour because we took the wrong turn, and pretty much ended up in the outskirts of some forest on a “path” that you could tell had not been traveled much recently. That made us decide to turn around and go back, which was all uphill stairs. But we made it back in one piece, and did a little souvenier shoppingbefore heading back to the hotel.

That’s it for today so far. We have a fancy dinner planned at the hotel for 7:30, which may or may not be followed by another excursion to downtown Kyoto for a little taste of the nightlife. We’ll keep you posted!

P.S. Photo sets 9 and 10 are posted! Enjoy!

After saying our Goodbyes to Melissa, we hopped the train to the Shinkansen lines for a speedy ride to Kyoto. Once again the views on the way there were amazing. Even though the ground seemed to whirl and blur past at great speeds the distance viewing of the country side and mountains was stunning. It didn’t take us but an hour or so to reach Kyoto and we were pleasantly surprised to find there was an underground mall in Kyoto Station. We had taken down some directions, to our hotel from the station, before we had left. All that was left was to find our exit number in the mall and make our way down the narrow street to the Hotel Nishiyama. Approaching the Hotel was a pretty neat sight, the entrance had wooden sliding doors that yield to automatic ones. The lobby is decorated with elegant lighting, bamboo wishing lines, a glass window wall that displays a beautiful Japanese Garden and fountain, a seating area, and a welcoming front desk. We we’re checked in and escorted by a tiny Japanese woman in a Kimono to our room. She showed us to our room, around the hotel, and even poured us tea with a tradiational Kyoto sweet. It was a gummy rice square folded into a triangle containing Red Bean Azuki paste–very sweet and even had a cinnimon taste too.

Upon the parting of the kind Japanese woman from our newly acquired room, we both decided to take showers because the humidity here in Japan is really other worldly. I had heard before coming the the summer months here were really humid, but I assumed that those who informed me had never been tot he south. Unfortunately, I was wrong on this one. Good thing we don’t have to pay the water bill here

After we were settled in and took a cat nap or two we decided to head out for something to eat. We asked the lady at the front desk if she had any suggestions on places to eat for dinner. She pulled out and English friendly map and pointed us in a direction of a street that had “a great atmosphere at night and plenty of places to eat to choose from”. We were sold. The street was really well lit by lanterns that looked like the traditional type, yet the surroundings were very contemporary. It is really a great sight to see both era’s mixing to create something with really a great “atmosphere”. I picked out a trendy little contemporary pizzeria on the water which was great for our first night in. The place was fueled by a dome brick over put on display right as you walk in. Nice wood flooring, rustic dark stoned walls, and contemporary lighting illuminate the double sided seating area all the way tot he back of the restaurant. Andrea chose to get a chicken ceaser salad and some sort of tropical tea drink. I chose to soak in the surrondings with a Gin and Tonic(one of the best I’ve had) and a medium mozzarella, cherry tomato, and basil pizza. The food was delectible and the atmosphere was fantastic. I failed to mention the small bakery we passed on the way to where we ended up eating, but it goes without saying that we stopped in for a little dessert to take back to the room. All kinda of pasteries, danishes, rolls, breads, and treats were all layed out for the picked. –and we did just that. I think we ended up with 5 or so items from the bakery, plus another 2 ice creams from the 7-11. Since gormet food is kind of smaller we still had room left, of course We ate our dessert while watching the movie Jumper on my Mac, and then decided to call it a night.

This morning around 5 am our TV came on full blast shaking both of us out of sound sleeps. I am not sure whether it was just an odd random occurrence, but I have a feeling it was the evil concoction of the previous traveler who decided to set the tv timer for early in the morning to give the next in line a nice heart condition. We had set our breakfast time the night before for 8:30 and requested a wake up call around 7:30 so we knew we had time to get a little more sleep. Breakfast was wondeful because there was so much food! They gave us a pot of tea, white rice, tofu cubes and vegetables in a boiling broth, a slice a grapefruit, a slice of cooked tuna, a plate of pickled side dishes, two eggs served sushi-roll style(no, no fish just egg), and a bowl of miso soup! So after a very hearty breakfast we headed out to the station to meet up with a group tour called Johnnie Hillwalker’s Kyoto Walking Tour. This tour encompasses a 5 hour 300km walk through the back alleys, shrines, and various cultural POI’s the ancient capitol city has to offer.

(Andrea here, taking over for Andrew who is being a whiny pants) Johnnie Hillwalker (aka Hajime Hirouka) is just about the cutest old Japanese man you’ve ever seen. He’s short, got big glasses, crazy white hair, and was dressed in very appropriate brown grandpa clothes, even down to the suspenders. He’s been a tour guide for 50+ years, and I think he’s been doing this particular tour since 1996. We headed first to Higashi-Honganji Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Japan. This whole tour was off the beaten tourist path, per se, as we went to a lot of places not frequently visited by travellers. The temple was gargantuan and richly decorated in gold plus intricate wooden architecture. We were in the middle of listening to one of Johnnie’s many history lessons when we were interupted by the start of a death or mourning service. He explained that many influencial families from all over Japan come to this main temple to pray for their deceased ancenstors/relatives, and actually bring the ashes of the dead with them.

We stopped at a few more Buddhist Temples (as Johnnie explained, Japanese Buddhism is very different from Indian Buddhism and is mostly concerned with rituals for the dead) and Shinto Shrines (Shintoism revolves around multiple spirits who are able to grant things to the living, such as good health, fortune, protection, etc). He jokingly said that 99% of Japanese are Buddhists, and 99% are Shintoists, b/c the Japanese perform Buddhist rituals for the deceased but also pray at Shinto shrines for blessings for the living. No worries, folks, because Johnnie also explained that the spirits are friendly and both religions get along without fighting. Like a party, really.

Along the tour we stopped at a few houses where specialty items are handcrafted. he said that the craft has stayed with these specific families for generations! We saw the most beautiful paper fans, prayer beads, green tea holders, tatami mats, and pottery houses/stores. We were permitted to step inside and actually watch the people as they crafted their items! As a side note, I bought a really gorgeous ceramic jewelry bowl/box with a lid for the equivalent of 5 USD. There was a bunch of ceramic items on a shelf outside the pottery house, with a tin jar next to the items and no one watching. You could buy something by simply dropping money in the jar. How’s that for trustworthy? Later on, as Andrew and I were walking towards another shrine in a super heavy tourist area, we saw very similar pottery selling for 37 USD+

Johnnie bought the group individual vegetarian sushi (rice wrapped in tofu) and a yummy azuki pastry with tea as we neared the end of the tour. We also got a brief, 30 minute history lecture on geisha at the Kyoto Community Center. That was pretty much the end of the walking tour, so Johnnie highly recommended that we walk the additional 15 minutes to Kiyomizu Temple, the #1 tourist spot in Kyoto. I’m quite proud that we made the hike, considering that it was in the upper 90 degrees with greater than 75% humidity (via weather channel)! Kiyomizu Temple was gorgeous as well, consisting of multiple buldings, ranging from the small shrines to the humongous pagodas. The colors of the structures also ranged from deep dark wood to bright red and orange. There were just too many buildings to take pictures of, and that’s pretty impressive considering the cameraman!

We didn’t stick around the temple for too long because it was so ridiculously hot/humid out, and we had just spent 5 hours traipsing around kyoto, so Andrew and I took a taxi back to the station, and from there we hopped a few trains back to the hotel. After taking a few hours break, we headed back out on the town for dinner at this restaurant that looked kind of jungle-esc, but turned out to be a country skillet or grill imitation. Even though it wasn’t really traditional in the sense, our fried octopus cheese balls appetizer and the cheese and mushroom stuffed burgers with rice and radish salad were quite tasty. Once again, we stopped at the Sizuya Bakery for after dinner desserts, which we brought back to the hotel. We ate, and then came down to the lobby to check mail, post pictures, and write this blog. It’s late. I think that’s enough.

Oyasuminasai!

At 4pm, Melissa came home, and we had already agreed to meet some of her JET friends for dinner. In Japan, the JETs or English ALTs get paid monthly, so funds were tight for most of her friends considering they hadn’t been paid in a while. Instead of going out, we scrubbed together some pasta, garlic bread, and sodas/juices (Were you thinking alcohol? Come on people, it was a school night and these are teachers we’re talking about!), and prepared it all at Dani and Matt’s house. They’re a married JET couple, and boy is their apartment cute and tidy! ☺ We also met Aaron from Australia and Dave from England (I love accents!), watched some SNL Celebrity Jeopardy, and just had a generally good time. And that was a lot of typing for a pretty uneventful day . . . .

Now for today! We started the day with a delectable breakfast of scrambled eggs mixed with red peppers and toast with strawberry jam prepared by yours truly. Afterwards, we hopped a few trains over to Inuyama Castle, the oldest standing castle in Japan! The entrance is lined with bright red wooden gates along a path made of huge stone steps completely covered in the shade of leafy green trees. Stone statues of dogs and horses guard the way up, while a few small temple shrines and wishing walls add to the whole atmosphere. Wishing walls (okay, we can’t come up with the true Japanese name for them) are these large racks lined with hooks, where people can buy a wooden block/charm and write a wish on the back of the block. Attached to the charm is a piece of string, and you are supposed to hang your wish on the wall so it will come true!

Once you make it to the top of the path, the castle is truly breathtaking. It was Friday, meaning that there were hardly any people out and about that early in the afternoon. There were mostly elderly at the castle on a group tour, taking pictures and eating ice cream. Andrew and I had to take our shoes off to enter the castle, which is devoid of furniture. You simply have to appreciate the architecture of the times and the shear magnitude in size of the building. Inuyama Castle is 6 stories, 2 below ground and 4 above. The stairs are the steepest I have ever seen; definitely not for the weak of heart, but they lead up to a spectacular view of the nearby Kiso River. Very cool looking samurai armor and a few other artifacts were also on display. Our 5 USD tickets also gave us access to a Historical Artifact Museum and another exhibition dedicated to the floats and puppets of the Inuyama Festival. Don’t worry, Andrew took lots of unauthorized pictures!

On the way home, while waiting for our train on the platform, we were approached by two Japanese older women. One, whose name was Saiko, did most of the talking, as she had been studying English conversation for 6 years. Saiko asked us to call her “Twiggy” because her name in Japanese literally means ”little branch.” Although, she was quick to point out that she was too fat to be confused with the British Twiggy! The other woman was named Kazuko (?), and she only had 2 years of English study experience. They said that they wanted to practice their English, so Saiko asked us some basic questions about where we had been in Japan, what we had seen, why we were there, etc. Typical small chat, but it turned out we were getting on the same train and getting off at the same stop, so they politely asked us if we wouldn’t mind continuing our conversation at a coffee shop for one hour. It was 2:45, and Melissa wasn’t going to be home from work until 4:00. We had explained this to the women, and they understood, so Andrew and I thought we’d just walk a little bit to a nearby coffee shop and chat. We were definitely wrong.

As we were walking, they made mention of Kazuko’s car being close by. Car?! No one said anything about driving! Well, it was too late to decline the invitation since we already agreed. Personally, I was a little nervous about driving somewhere with complete strangers. They were little ladies to be sure, but the idea of them driving us into the woods and stealing our organs for the black market did cross my mind once or twice! We had been driving for a few minutes, when we DID leave the city and start driving out on the highway surrounded with lots of trees, and I was wondering exactly how far away this coffee shop was. Considering that I’m writing this now, you know we made it out in one piece. The two women ended up taking us about 20 minutes away to this famous Donburi (rice bowl) shaped building that specializes in ceramic pottery and has a cute café on the top floor. We all had iced coffees and talked some more. Saiko is a retired teacher (she taught home economics in Japan and Japanese culture in China and Vietnam) who has traveled to the USA and Canada for vacations. The two friends are actually planning a return trip to visit NYC in September. We wish them luck! Saiko, or Twiggy, has two married daughters and two grandchildren. As the time drew near (3:30), and the waitress still hadn’t brought our drinks, she yelled “Hurry up!” in English with the cutest Japanese accent.

It was 3:45 by the time we left, but we still had a 15-20 minute drive back, which Kazuko took like a champ. They knew we were in a rush, and we managed to make it back to Tokishi at 4:00. They dropped us off at the little grocery store near Melissa’s apt, and we hurried home from there. Saiko told us about “Ichi Go, Ichi En,” (I’m sure I butchered that, I’ll have to fix it later) which basically means One Chance/One Meeting. As in, any time you meet someone by chance, it’s the only time you’re going to meet those people under those same conditions, and you should make the most of it or take advantage of the situation when it presents itself. And that’s exactly what we did!

We got home before Melissa did, so she had to hang around until we got back in the sweltering, 90 degree plus heat (sorries!). We didn’t get time to do much else because we had planned to meet some of her other JET friends at Outback Steakhouse in Nagoya, which is a 40 minute train ride. The food was exactly like in America, only with a bilingual Japanese waitress. Hooray Bloomin’ Onion! Andrew and I sat on the edge of the table; there were 7 or 8 of us, so we didn’t really get to talk that much with Melissa’s friends, but they seemed like good people. Afterwards, we were all headed home in the same direction. We took the subway and then the train, only to be completely packed in like sardines on the last train home! I mean, this was bad. We were so cramped together that it was almost impossible to move your arms, let alone find space to grab an overhead handrail. And of course, Melissa’s friends were really outgoing, having no trouble at all making jokes and talking about . . . hmmm . . . less than appropriate things. Of course, we knew that most of the people on board couldn’t understand, and they talked a lot about the inappropriate things their Japanese students do . . it was really all in good fun and made the ride home a lot faster.

None of Melissa’s friends wanted to do karaoke with us, which turned out to work perfectly in our favor because it was some of the most fun I’ve had on the trip! The place was right near her house, so it didn’t matter that we hung out there for three hours until 1am. I should side note this – Andrew has a fantastic singing voice!! He’s way too embarrassed to admit it, or for some reason he thinks we’re making fun of him when we compliment him, but it’s really true! Melissa and I were definitely impressed with his performance once he had a beer or two! Haha.

On our second to last day in Yokohama, Andrea and I took it relatively easy. Yumi recommended that we check out Yokohama’s Chinatown, which is one of the largest Chinatown’s in the world.  It took about 20 minutes to get there on foot, but it was nice to see the city from a different perspective other than train/taxi/subway. Chinatown is full of narrow streets filled to the brim with steaming street side food vendors, shops bursting at the seams, and countless people on bikes and on foot. We ventured in under the first gate only to be reminded by our stomachs that we didn’t eat anything at all for the day. We decided to find a quick place for lunch, picking one of the first small corner eateries we came across. Upon sitting down, I noticed that the entire lunch menu was in Japanese and had no familiar English translation below the itemized lists. Andrea could only make out the Japanese used to write out foreign or borrowed words from other languages(Katakana). Seeing as only 2 of the menu items contained this particular form, the only two items we could identify contained Ramen or Wantons… wanting neither of those I decided to go brave and selected the most expensive item on the lunch menu confident that it would surely be the best. Boy was that a mistake. If you could imagine a half plate of white rice and the hottest Tabasco sauce on the planet with tofu cubes, you would be pretty spot on. I was red, sweating, and just generally unhappy… but I attempted to at least make a dent in it. Needless to say, the remaining walk around Chinatown was quite fun as it felt like I was storing lava in my stomach. We got to visit a wide variety of different shops, each with their own small specialty– Pandas, Olympic Advertisements, Chinese nik-naks and so much more.

We spent a few hours walking through the various alley ways rummaging in and out of the shops and just absorbing the surroundings and enjoying the sights and smells of a very busy Chinatown.
After returning we arranged to meet Yumi, Sean, and his siblings in a place called Lalaport, Yokohama. Lalaport is a very nice, upscale mall that is out of the more “touristy” area. We arrived a bit early and took that time to walk around and check out many of the shops that the mall had to offer. I ended up picking up a Japanese illustration/comic book to motivate myself to learn the language a bit faster. After meeting up with the group on the next floor down, we all made our way into the Buffet EX Blue. Basically, it was a very upscale sheik buffet that had about every different type of cuisine available. The dessert selections were out of this world as well. We all had a great time catching each other up on our plans, days, and trips over many trips back for refills ☺ As the night drew to an end, we made our way down to the courtyard in front of the mall to take some group pictures, which was really nice to have!

Next, we bring you to the last day we had in Yokohama. Andrea and I decided to go big on our last morning in town and order room service. We both got the royal breakfast, which was delicious and SO much food! Breakfast soup, salad, mixed fruits, eggs, bacon, potatoes, tea, orange juice, toast, and a whole lot more! Since check out was at 11 and we knew we would be still in the city til mid-afternoon, we checked our bags into the front desk to be held until we returned and headed out to one of Japan’s most famous Gardens. It took around 30 minutes to get there combining the trains and a bus, but it was well worth the trip. When we arrived we we’re surprised to see the park only cost around 5 USD to enter. We asked if picture taking was allowed and we were ensured that it was perfectly fine. Walking through the gaits you couldn’t help but feel a little awe struck at the beauty of the park. There was so much green; a pond with old wooden boats, people on little stools drawing pictures of the scenery, so many flowering plants, ancient pagodas nestled high on top of hills, beautiful over hangs with little rest areas to stop and view each little sight, little bridges and streams, and even some little waterfalls next to various statues from era’s long past. We took so many pictures that both of our cameras died in the process and really felt that this was a definite highlight of the trip. We stayed and walked all around as much of the park as we could and didn’t leave until a few hours later to return to the Hotel to pick up our bags.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the largest Ferris Wheel on the planet to check out the city view from up high and appreciate some of the sights we weren’t able to see from around the Landmark Tower area. Afterward, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we went back to the hotel to collect our bags. We still had 45 minutes to kill, so we paid a small admission fee to go to the Landmark Tower’s Observation Deck, aka the “Sky Garden.” It’s actually the tallest observation deck in Japan! The view was AMAZING, but Andrea was only able to get one picture off because of the dead/dying cameras. We also got a caricature drawing done by a super friendly artist named Azuma (maybe Azuna). She practiced some English and we practiced some Japanese, and together we were able to have a nice, 40 minute conversation while she drew cartoons of us. Kawaii (Cute!)!! Then, it was onto Nagoya!

Getting on the Shinkansen(Bullet Train) was really no trouble at all. We are at the point where navigating through the vast amount of people and signs is really much easier then before. So, we took the rapid transit all the way down to Nagoya, which took about an hour and a half. The bullet trains are very nice and reminded me very much of an airplane. The only difference being, that you get a really spectacular ground view and a bit more space for not just your legs, but your baggage as well. Before we knew it, the train had pulled into the station and all we needed was to jump to one last train to get us the last little bit to Toki station. This is where Andrea’s friend Melissa lives and teaches English.

After quite a few stops we finally arrived and were met by Melissa at the actual station exit. It’s funny because I think our spirits jump up a little when we know there will be someone to show us where things are and where to go, etc. Not that it isn’t kind of fun being lost or finding your own way via exploring, but both of us seem to perk up more when we have somewhat of a guide. I suppose it’s an added sense of security.

Nagoya, and more specifically Toki is a small residential town that is really off the beaten path so to speak, and by this I only mean well out of the way of the heavy tourism areas of Japan. It’s a quaint little town with smaller grocery stores, little convenience shops, gas station, and a good choice of sit down restaurants (and very little English). Our first night in, Melissa took us to a place called CoCo, which is a Japanese Curry diner. I am so glad Andrea gets to spend a few days with her school friend. This was the primary motivation for Andrea coming along to Japan; I suppose I came along at just the right time to be lucky enough to be asked to go with her. Melissa is such a fun person. She knows so much about things like videogames, animations, movies, and bits of culture trivia like I do that I think we all got a long really fast! We found out she teaches at a number of different schools and that each week for her is a different schedule among them. Se teaches anywhere from 1st year elementary school students all they up until junior high school. She is what is called an ALT in the Jet program. This means she usually has a primary teacher that makes the lesson plans and she is the aid. Though it seems that she is given control of the classroom much of the time and is even able to make her own lesson plans. It’s great to hear her stories because I was seriously considering JET before I knew the heavy commitments of DC, so it’s sort of like living vicariously through her great collection of tales

We spent the next day just hanging around Melissa’s apartment while she left to teach. Andrea and I walked down to the grocery store and picked up a healthy bit of produce and other foods so that we could make ourselves lunch. We got to see a lot of the residential district’s homes and people out and about, which was really a nice change of pace from the tiny stalls and swarms of people from the city. Everything here seems so much more relaxed! We took the day off to catch up on some much needed laundry and just a break in general to do some more planning. We even fit in a DVD movie too! Melissa arrived home from work around 4pm and we decided to head out to check out some of the shops here in Toki. Right now, I’ve been trying to track down some Japanese lesson type games from my Nintendo DS(Dual Screen– which is a small portable handheld videogaming console). Many people here use their DS for much more then gaming purposes. You can add on web browsers, contacts, dictionaries, lessons plans, maps, puzzles, date books, etc. So many people, especially in the city, carry theirs with them every day, as it has become a vital part of their planning. Without success in finding such a game, we made our way to one of Nagoya’s conveyor belt sushi restaurant. I was pretty excited to try one of these places out seeing as I had noticed them on some travel documentaries and such on TV. How it works is, the chef’s prepare all sort of sushi, side dishes, and special requests and all the food items are places on different color plates indicating the price. The pricing key is placed on each of the walls around you so you can always use it for quick reference. Anyway, they seat you along the belt and plates continually pass by, and all you have to do is grab the plate you want! I was pretty hungry so I decided to stay below the 3 dollar plate levels. After accumulating around 5 of those, I decided I should try some of the better cuts of fish to really enjoy the experience of having real Japanese sushi. Melissa and I decided to go for the best cut of fish, Toro, which was around 7 USD a plate. Andrea was already getting full and decided to save some room for dessert. The Toro was incredible, melt in your mouth good. As Melissa put it, “I don’t even like fish and this stuff is amazing!” I had to agree! After that we stopped at a place not to far down the street to have dessert. I got an Azuki sweet bean ice cream bowl along with Andrea, and Melissa decided to get the Mango one. We just took it easy the rest of the night and talked about anything and everything from school, to Japan, to stories we all had. We put in another movie and everyone more or less dozed off. So now we are presently in Toki, Nagoya having a nice and relaxing time enjoying a break from the city in a more quiet residential scene. I apologize again for the break in writing; we’ve both been pretty worn out the past few days. Stay tuned for another entry soon!

p.s. More photo sets have been added.

If you read the last post, you know that we spent Saturday night with Yumi and Sean and his siblings shopping/eating in hectic Shibuya. After an hour on the train, we got back to our hotel room around 1am and were asleep by 2am. I guess our last 3 days of running around and barely sleeping caught up with us, because we didn’t wake up until 11am today. Oh, and the SWEET room upgrades with ultra comfy beds didn’t help us want to get up early either! By the time we were ready to “start” the day, it was 1pm and raining pretty heavily. Luckily, the Yokohama Royal Park Hotel is located in the Landmark Tower, which also has a 5 floor mall and some other attractions. It wasn’t worth paying to go to the observation deck in this weather, so we hit the mall, walked around, ate lunch at a fairly respectable Italian restaurant (which had a lot of fantastic pictures/photographs/framed Life magazine covers from the 60s and played music from that era), took some pictures, and I bought a pair of ungodly over-priced GAP jeans. Frankly, I was in desperate need of a pair of pants that fit, so I reluctantly made the purchase. . . . I don’t want to tell you how much I paid.

I’d like to note that the Japanese shopping experience is unlike anything you could find elsewhere. The emphasis is all about pleasing/serving the customer, with lots of “Irashaimasei,” bowing, and smiling. When I went to try the pants on, a very genki (that’s cheerful/happy) saleswoman guided me down the hallway and led me to a dressing room, waited for me to go inside, and closed the curtain behind me. Not 3 minutes later, another saleswoman knocked on the curtain, asking, from what I could understand, if the sizes were okay and if there was anything she could get for me. Inside each dressing room is a button with English and Japanese writing, “Need another size? Have any questions? Push this button and we will be happy to help you.” As soon as I got out of the dressing room, someone came up to me to take the pants that I didn’t want, again with a smile and some words of thanks.In every store we’ve gone to, there have always been a greater ratio of workers/customers than in America. I think there were 4 or 5 workers in the dressing room alone. And almost EVERY time you pass a worker in a store, you get some kind of greeting.

After the mall excursion, we went back to our room to chill out. We both did some stuff on the computer and then watched a movie on Andrew’s computer. By then it was time for dinner, so we went back to the mall area and walked around until we found a place called Dragon Kalbi, which was absolutely unbelievable.

Dragon Kalbi is a Korean BBQ restaurant lined with 2 person tables/booths with a charcoal BBQ pit in the center of each table. The idea is that the customer grills his own meat and vegetables as they are brought out. Andrew and I decided to go big on this one, folks, so we ordered of one the best packages. The courses came out one at a time: delicious salad with some kind of homemade dressing; various kim-chi and Korean sprouts on one platter accompanying the beef tongue, chicken, and pork, which you grill and wrap in lettuce with peanut sauce and the sprouts; Shyabu-Shyabu, which is a meal of thin sheets of pork that you grill on your table and dip in a sweet & sour type of soy sauce (a personal fave); a third meat platter including sirloin steak and their famous Kobe beef cubes (aka Kobuton?); a tasty rice bowl containing some spices, a little chili powder, some sprouts, and an egg that is brought out in a piping hot stone bowl and the waiter mixes it all together in front of you; a bowl of seaweed soup; and finally dessert. Yes, we ate all of that, plus we each had a shotglass of plum sake that they brought out to us complementary at the beginning of the meal.

Like with shopping, eating in restaurants in Japan is all about customer service. Once again, you are greeted with “Irashaimasei,” and not just by one person, but by ALL of the staff members within ear shot. It’s almost like the hostess announces the arrival of the customer, and the cooks, hosts, and waiters (as long as the waiters are not already with another customer) shout irashaimasei. Speaking of which, we had 2 cool restaurant workers serve us tonight. The first was the hostess, who sounded like she had the worst cold/sore throat in history. Of course that didn’t stop her from yelling with her deep, scratchy voice. She took us to the table, and Andrew tried to order a beer with dinner. I think he asked for “Asahi,” to which she made some kind of buzzer noise like on a gameshow when you guess the wrong answer, then he said “Sapporo” and got the same buzz, and then she said “Kirin,” which is probably the only beer they had on tap, or it could be the beer that she thinks is best. I honestly don’t know, she seemed like the type that might have done that! But she was really cool, laid back and friendly, and did more shouting than a Wall Street stockbroker.

The other server was one of the waiters who spoke an impressive amount of English. I threw in some Japanese here and there, and he said my Japanese was “smart.” Again, very friendly and pleasant which just added onto the already amazing meal. He worked the register when we paid at the end, and in Japan they say what it costs, exactly how much you give them, what your change is, and then thank you profusely more tha once. On the way out, he said something else really loudly, like another annoucement that the customer is leaving, so all of the cooks near the front shouted some sort of goodbye and waved as we left. Overall, 5 stars.

Hopefully, we’ll have better luck waking up early tomorrow.

As our taxi pulled up, a bellhop quickly took our bags from the trunk and we were escorted inside to the front desk que line. Our bags were then transferred to another attendant who waited with us while we checked in. The whole process felt very royal, as if we were VIP’s or extra special guests. We were given our gold metal room key and then escorted once again through the lobby to the elevators. In the lobby they have some beautiful art work including a sculpture piece that cascades water down its surface. They had a harpist as well playing music which really set a light but elegant mood. We were taken directly into our room where our attendant put all of our luggage away into the closet. I was wow’ed at the moment I walked in the door, and you may have been too if you have seen the pictures! The view and the room itself are just stunning. Everything is newly renovated and really looks top notch. Out our windows to the right is the actual water itself and to the left city as for as the eye can see. We were left to ourselves to do the rest of our unpacking and to explore our new, very posh room. The bathrooms are straight out of a world class spa, the textures and fabrics are very vibrant and new, and the electronics and the rest of the lot are all top of the line. We get CNN and BBC here so now we can keep up with news on TV, as well as have something to watch when we are back late at night(that we can understand). I’ll admit that I still flip through the Japanese channels continually, just because the commercials and shows are all so animated!

After getting settled, I plugged up the computer and decided to purchase a Skype account, which for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a local phone over the internet. This is not a plug I promise, but it is very convenient. I am allowed to choose 3 local numbers from any country I wish and accept and place calls from them. This means that not only can we place calls to our parents and family in the states from a GA number, but also make calls to our friends cell phones here in Japan from a Japanese local number. Pretty high tech, huh? Only 12 bucks for a full month. I had initially thought the hotel provided free internet access, but found out that they do in fact charge. So big deal, 30 bucks for the 72 hours we are here, I don’t mind because it is just too convenient. So, once I had established the Skype account, I got a hold of my friend Yumi who side tracked her plans to come and see us and have some lunch. She took us across the street through the little amusement park, which by the way is filled with the biggest Ferris wheel you’ve ever seen, roller coasters, kids rides, and even boat rides through the front side of the port. Our main destination was the youth mall not 3 blocks away. It was really a nice mall filled with all kinda of lavish eateries, exclusive clothing stores, and really a lot of good looking people! The interesting thing about this mall is that on all of the floors there are no separate stores in the sense that in the States each store has it’s own room with walls and an entrance, etc. These were divided by really tall shelving on either side. So as long as you walked along the main walkway, it was a very easy entrance in and out of each store. I ended up buying a shirt from an African/Indian/Tibetian store. I was burning up in the dark shirt I had and I just wanted to find a simple, lighter t-shirt to wear for the rest of the evening. Yumi took us through and had us stop and eat at a Crepe (or, as the Japanese spell, Creap) place on the main level. We got to watch them make it and fold it up similar to an ice cream waffle cone and wrap it so you could eat it while on the go.

We ventured in and out of the stores looking for random things and gifts for people back home and just had a really good time. Since it was my first time meeting Yumi in real life we talked a bunch on our walk around about how we sounded and looked a little different the the photos and conversations shared over the internet. We all just walked around taking in the sights and got comfortable with one another. She had suggested we meet up with Sean(her boyfriend and my friend also) and his siblings(who have also come into town to visit, they’re from New Jersey) for dinner in Shibuya. Shibuya is the place were that massive intersection Tokyo is famous for is located. I put some pictures up in the links from the day before. So we walked with her through the train lines back to the place we had visited the day before. After finding our way through that same busy intersection and back through numerous side streets, we found the coffee shop Sean and his siblings were waiting at. I could see him through the second story window in red, hard to miss him since he has longer blonde curly hair too. Not many people around here with that profile. So he and his 2 sisters and brother met us downstairs and we all conversed about our trip in and chit-chatted while making our way through the crowded streets of Shibuya. They are the nicest people you’d ever meet and it was so nice of them to meet up with us and show us around town. We ended up visiting some of the most famous Tokyo fashion buildings where we also met up with Sean’s friend Yun Rui(which I hoped I spelled right), an international student doing a summer school program here in Japan. There were two major buildings, a men’s store and a women’s. The women’s building was FULL of adolescent girls buying tons and tons of outfits and accessories, in fact it was rare to see one of them without a bag. The noise again was very intense! With the workers of each store shouting “Irashaimasei! Please try on! Come in!”, the music on full blast, and the chatter of so many people; it was just an incredible experience!

Next we all decided that it was time to grab something to eat, as most of us had been without food since the early morning. Sean had recommended a good place in Shibuya known for its ShabuShabu and Sukiyaki called Mo-Mo Paradise(links to dishes on the links to the right). These dishes are very famous here in Japan and involve very thinly sliced pork and beef that you set into a boiling large bowl of broths. You can also throw in some sliced veggies, sprouts, tofu, and more and wait for them to cook. It’s communal eating so everyone puts in, then everyone takes out from the same boiling bowls. The restaurant was on the upper floors of a shopping building and since there were 8 of us in the party, we had to wait a little while for an area to clear up. When our name was called we were lead up a small set of stairs, where before hand the shoes had to be taken off, to a table set into the flooring. Imagine a table about 2 feet off the floor and the under side floor of it is all taken out. So essentially, you are sitting on a small ledge with the table over your lap and your feet hang down off underneath. Kind of hard to picture and describe. It was so delicious and we definitely got our money’s worth, sending the waiter back countless times for refills of rice, meat, and drinks. I tried a Japanese beer called Asahi Dry, way different then anything I have tried in the states. Also, Sean and Yun Rui had Soju, a type of rice wine that I wanted to try as well. We all chose to get white rice too, so as you can imagine we were all pretty full afterwords. Heading down stairs, we decided to cut the night a little short. Initially we wanted to go do Karaoke or walk around a bit more, but for fear of missing the last train(as it was approaching midnight) we decided that being the outsiders we were, leaving a little early would probably be in our best interests! So after saying goodnight to everyone, Yumi helped us back to the station and gave us the directions to get back. At this point we pushed and crowded our way like sardines in a can into the train cars… it seems that EVERYONE likes to take the late night train back when there are only a few left. So that was another great experience. Mind you every time we are in public we always get stared at from everyone, BUT as soon as you make eye contact the pretend like they had done no such thing. So knowing me, it’s fun game for me to play trying to surprise them but quickly turning my head to someone staring

We arrived back at the Yokohama Station around 12:40 am and walked through the foggy drizzle back to the hotel. We were both exhausted and we’re dozing off on the train multiple times, then again it seems like everyone does that. As you might imagine, we crashed the moment we got back to the room. We don’t remember who drew the shades closed, who turned off the tv, or when exactly when fell asleep but it was quick. It was a great day filled with meeting friends for the first time, excellent food, an imensly populated district of Tokyo, new friends, new experiences, and even more excitment for whats to come. Stay tuned

Note*** Pictures from set 3 have been updated! A video has also been added from our hotel room here in Yokohama. Please check them out! They are located in the Links on the right side.

After our first night’s crazy experience at Tokyo Station, we were obviously a little apprehensive about tackling the Tokyo Subway System, but it turned out to be a really great! The individual lines are color coordinated with signs that are bilingual and easily visible, and we had an English map from the hotel, so we (and by “we” I really mean me) navigated the subway system like a rockstar. Our first stop was Akihabara aka “The Electric Town,” where some kind gentleman noticed that we were having trouble locating the main shopping area (I think it was the confused looks, and us standing on a corner with my Tokyo guide book open) and approached us to ask if we needed help. That was really unexpected but super helpful!

Akihabara is well known for its HUGE duty free (tax free) stores packed with cellphones and every other desirable electronic device, video games, cheap souvenirs, clothes, bags, etc etc. And there are also arcades and anime stores, in which there was one particular incident of an accidental wandering into the hentai porn manga section by yours truly, and the look of shame coming from the men in the aisles as I quickly turned around and got the hell outta Dodge. My bad. >_< Oh, another incredible thing about Akihabara is the SOUND. Noises – men on loudspeakers inticing people into the stores, high pitched anime voices coming from TVs, store workers shouting Irashaimasen! (for those non-japanese speaking, it’s a “welcome customer/ welcome to our store” phrase that really doesn’t have an english equivialent), arcade games ringing and buzzing – sound is just coming at you from every angle imaginable.

We had lunch in Akihabara at a cute little restaurant/cafe where you ordered up front, they give you your drink on a tray and a numbered marker, and you find a seat among counters/couches/2 person tables; then they bring you your meal when it’s ready. After Akihabara, we took the subway to Asakusa, heading straight to Sensojji Temple.

Sensoji Temple is an amazing place with a truly uplifting atmosphere. There were so many people (and lots of foreigners) smiling and taking pictures! After crossing through the huge gate and bathing ourselves in smoke from incense, we entered the temple to see the wonderful ceiling paintings, get our fortunes (Andrew apparently has the “highest fortune,” I only a “small fortune,” but any fortune is better than bad luck!) and buy some souvenir charms. We had a brief conversation in English with a man who approached us at the Koi pond, asking us where we were from, where we were staying, and what we planned to do in Japan. It was nice, and I guess he wanted to practice his English. On the way out, I cleansed myself by the fountain as is traditional – take a ladle, pour water into one hand, then the other hand, then poor water into your hand and rinse your mouth, then spit it out. The only problem is that you’re supposed to cleanse yourself before entering the temple, not on the way out. . . . Eh, gaijin errors happen. Then we spent the better part of an hour or 2 in the side alleys around the temple, which are jam-packed with quaint shops and stalls.

At Asakusa Station, we couldn’t find the Asakusa Line to take us back to our hotel, so we got on the Ginza line intending to take a less direct route back, only to realize that we could ride the Ginza Line all the way to Shibuya. And that’s what we did. Shibuya is intense. People are EVERYWHERE and come in every fashion style possible. If you want to feel insignificant under massive skyscrapers teeming with bright lights and colorful advertisements in a crosswalk that contains more fast-walking people than you could ever fathom, then by all means come to Shibuya. Really, just look at the pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I’d like to say a brief word about what it costs to take a picture of the famous Shibuya crosswalk. 1: Pay $4.50 at Starbucks for an overpriced yet delicious chocolate coffee drink to gain access to the upstairs seating area directly above the crosswalk 2: Get scolded by a Starbucks waitress in front of everyone when she sees your camera. There are no pictures allowed! No pictures! 3: This one only applies to me, but I ordered that drink so we could get upstairs, only to remember that dairy and my stomach don’t play well together. . . . I probably won’t be able to eat dinner later

We walked up and down 2 streets after that, but we really didn’t have a plan, and like I said, the place is a little overwhelming, so we headed back shortly after. Today was fun and exciting. I’m glad we got to see a few of the key attractions/areas that help define Tokyo. And more is yet to come!