Japan Trip - Day 4

Today was mainly traveling. And lots of it. We went from Tokyo, finally, to Kyoto, which was about 2 hours or so. We actually made such good time because we were taking a Shinkansen, or Bullet Train, the entire way, and there weren't that many stops. It is a lot of fun taking the trains. Part of me likes the way they're set up over here because they seem like a better system than a ton of cars stuck in gridlock or buses stopped by that traffic. Just saying.

Once in Kyoto, it was a free day, because there really wasn't anything planned. So Eric, Ryan, Dylan, Kao, and me went looking for a couple swordshops for Dylan (he really wanted to get a authentic Japanese sword, or at least a good one). That was quite the adventure. To say the least, we walked around for three hours all around Kyoto.

We walked into one swordshop and took a look at the prices there. They were insane. A very good blade went up to around a couple thousand, which isn't really surprising, but sheesh.... So we continued to walk around the city, looking for the other swordshop Dylan googled back at the hotel. We ended up walking around two hours to no avail, but it wasn't that bad. We spent the entire time talking and having fun, perusing various shops, and eating. Oh, we stopped at a restaurant to get a quick bite to eat; Kao was 'just a little hungry.' We went in and he ate up not only the first meal he ordered, but went back for a separate second meal. I was hungry too, but not that 'little hungry.'

Once we got back to the hotel, after our exhausting day, we crashed.

Japan Trip - Day 3

Sorry I haven't been updating everything recently. I haven't had much internet access....

Today was supposed to be a fun filled trip throughout Yokohama, visiting all sorts of museums and whatnot. Well.... we kinda did that. To be honest, things didn't go according to plan....

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today our tour guides were Eric and Yoko, two people who were from the Prescott area that went to church with Hayashibara sensei. They were going to lead us around Yokohama and show us all the cool things to do there.

First off, we took a train down to Yokohama. This time, I made sure I was on it. I wasn't being left behind any more. That's not very fun.... So anyways, we went down to Yokohama to first visit the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. A whopping 296m (roughly 9ooft); talk about a fall. The elevator was also the fastest elevator in the world (I think), reaching speeds of up to 750 mph. Now that's a fast elevator. Once at the top, we took pictures of the entire city below, mainly buildings. After enjoying a little break high in the sky, we went down to go to the first museum on our list.

Wandering around for about thirty minutes yielded one thing; a closed sign. Apparently the museums were closed on Mondays, every Monday, and the Professor didn't know about it. Too bad he wasn't there to see for himself; he was with the EGR 399 students on a separate field trip. We wanderd around for another ten-twenty minutes and the next museum we went to, the Maritime Museum, was also closed. So now what were we to do? Well.....

We decided to run around and get lunch, which was delicious. I really wasn't paying attention when they were describing all of the selections in english, so I kinda chose at random. Either way, it was good. Then we went to an amusement park nearby to try the rides. After seeing the prices (per ride!), we decided against it. Too expensive! So we made a trip to a nearby mall complex.

That. Was. AWESOME! We went up to the top floor and all there was were games, movies. Everything that I could have wanted. Well, almost everything. In any event, there was a lot of fun to be had there, and we wandered around the store some more, mainly because it was a five story shopping complex. Found some interesting things, such as a shark-head backpack, a titanic-iceberg ice tray, and a set of 'man bags' on sale. There were just too many things going on that were so much fun. After the group got back together, Eric, Dylan, Kao, Ryan, and myself decided to go back to Akihabara and go shopping some more, go to a maid cafe, and just have fun. Before that we had to go back to the hotel.

Eric was a little tired, so we waited around till about 6:30PM before we headed out. Eric then offered to take us to Harajuku before we hit up Akihabara again, so of course we said yes; somewhere new. We wandered around and then made our way back to Akihabara. Too late though. All the shops that we wanted to hit up were closed and the Maid Cafe, which Ryan and myself hadn't been to, any really, was closed. Ugh. It was terrible. We practically missed everything that we wanted.... Zannen yo.

Japan Trip - Day 2

Today was weird/fun. I woke up at 5 (as I said before), mainly due to the fact I wake up around that time at home (actually home time: 9ish). So it was weird. Besides that, my day got started very quickly. I got up around 6:15AM and took a shower. My head wasn't that far from the ceiling and, being the idiot who left his toiletries in his *other* bag, used the ones provided, which weren't that terrible. Then Ryan and I went down to breakfast at 7AM and it was amazing. You know how we normally have a continental breakfast with pancakes and whatnot? Well, they had salmon, egg sandwiches, rice, sausages, everything. It was awesome. I should have taken a picture of the food.... Either way, that was great. I had miso soup, bacon (delicious!), salmon, potato wedges, eggs, and sausages. Everything was delicious, even the stuff that I normally could get at home. We finished up there and then went out to go shopping before we had to meet up with Hayashibara Sensei at 9AM. Well.... the stores were closed. The mall we were near wouldn't open until 10AM, which was weird, but I suppose it's fine. We ended up going back to the room and almost falling asleep (Maurer did.).

When we went down at 9, we had to do a temperature test, to make sure that we weren't contracting or had the swine flu (as mentioned before, with the whole biohazard suits and all). Well, normal body temp is around 36-37 degrees Celsius. My body temperature was 34 degrees. Which is way below. Either I'm slowly becoming the walking dead, or I'm just starting to freeze. In any event, I don't have the flu.

Our first stop of the day was at a sort of garden area (I forgot the name....) that was located in an area that a hundred years ago was beneath the ocean, which was a really fascinating and beautiful place. It had finished raining on me, so it looked even better, though everything was wet and making me wet.... We wandered around and I took pictures, tons of pictures, of the surroundings. I seriously took more pictures then than I had taken previously since I had gotten the camera, a year ago! It was nice, and very scenic. I can't really describe it in words....

After that we took a lunch break, splitting up to find whatever it was we wanted. Ryan and myself went around and got squid (ika) from a seafood shop and went to go sit down at a table. We were sitting there, mind our own business, when a lady told us no and *took* the table away from us. We headed back to the meeting place, early, and sat and waited.

After that, we headed over to Ginza where the two of us and our buddy Kao wandered around a toy store. Four floors or games and electronics and anything that was fun that you could play with. We were searching for Magic cards, but were highly unsuccessful. Tons of Yugioh, but no Magic....

Then we headed over to Akihabara and were introduced to all the cosplay and electronics that were there. Girls (mainly) dressed up as their favorite anime characters, walking around like it's nothing. Manga shops, electronic stores, all over the place. We visited a four story electronic store and a 7 story manga store. Only one of each. There were tons! All over the place. I wanted to look around everywhere, but we didn't have time. And we were terribly hungry again, around 4:30~5PM. We visited a restaurant with a fairly large group and had a kinda pancake style food. Basically, it was a whole bunch of seafood mixed into batter and cooked on a grill in front of you. Then, after it browned on both sides, it was covered in a kinda of barbecue sauce and their mayonase (which is better than American mayo) and served to us. It was delicious (I seem to enjoy that word right now). I wasn't filled, but it tied me over then.

We then headed over to Shibuya, which had the one of busiest crosswalks in the world. It had two going in the street like normal and then one that went diagonally through it. Traffic would go one way, then the other, and then stop, and all the people would cross *at the same time.* We're talking anywhere from 300 to 1000 people at once. (Side note: This is also where the famous story about Hachiko originated. I got to see the statue and everything.) We then wandered around there for a little bit, and finally started making our way back to the train station, our primary mode of transportation around Tokyo.

Here's where it was depressing. We were about to board the train, after waiting for it to unpack itself, and I was the last one in line. I was about to step into the train, when the doors closed on me. I tried sticking my hand through so that a sensor would let me through, but there were no sensors. I was stuck. The guys looked at me as the train left.... I waited for the next one, and, knowing my memory, tried to stick to what I knew and where I needed to go. At the next station or guide was waiting for me, so he hopped on the train and joined me. I found out that this had happened before on previous occasions, and that they were prepared and had a plan. Sure enough, the rest of the gang was waiting at our stop for the two of us. Apparently, when the doors closed on me I had an extremely depressed and sad look on my face (I kinda was, because I knew that this would only happen to me....).

We headed back to the room, dropped off our stuff, and I went out to get deodorant and toothpaste. No deodorant, so I got Axe (Grrr...). Well... here I am! The day was pretty long, basically like going to Disneyland without the rides; a lot of walking and a lot of browsing around.

Japan Trip - Day 1

Okay, so the first day was, well, boring. I woke up with the kids for school and started packing the rest of my stuff together. I tried to call you a couple of times, but I couldn't get a hold of you. My oya took me to the airport at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and I waited with them while Maurer made his way to LA. We met up at the Gate and then made our way on to the plane a couple hours later.

The plane ride was *boring.* I swear, I should have slept part of the way, but I just couldn't. I wanted to be up for the entire flight, so I stayed up. I played a bunch of Magic with Maurer, tried watching some DVDs, and ate some very good food. I haven't been on a flight before, but I have to say that the food they served on this flight was amazing. They had salmon, little dishes of fruit, nuts, and even served hot green tea. It was very nice.

Surprisingly, for me at least, I didn't need any dramamine or 

anything like that. I was fine from take off to touchdown. By the way, they're terrified of the swine flu. Everyone was wearing masks and everything. They even had people come on to the plane, practically in biohazard suits, to check up on us. It wasn't at all needed....

So far, we took several trains to get to our hotel (which was, by the way, very tiring), checked in, dropped our stuff off, and then went out to eat. I was very surprised that I was still adept at my Japanese. I was the only one at our table that could speak the language at all, but even I didn't know everything. I definitely could get around on my own.

We went back to the hotel afterwards and crashed. Literally. Ryan laid down on the bed and, in the middle of a conversation, was out. He didn't wake up until 10 minutes later before he realized that he conked out. I went to sleep soon after, and then woke up at 5AM (after going to bed at 11PM). I then realized that I left my toiletries in my big bag (which I shipped to the college). And my sweatshirt (it started raining when I woke up...). Nice day, ne?