Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Kyoto: Owari

Owari is Japanese for "the end".  Yeah, I speak Japanese now.  It was super easy to learn.  You just have to wave your hands around and point a lot.  And we're almost through with this epic trip recap!!

Fushimi Inari Shrine (I hate how Typepad washes photos out--this was actually a beautiful vibrant orange.)

After our late night of geisha-hunting, it was a struggle to drag ourselves out of bed the next day, and even more trying when we realized that it was a grey, misty morning.  We'd actually been incredibly lucky with the weather.  June is a time of year called, tsuyu, which means the rainy season.  Typically, it's incredibly hot and rainy every day, so we were fortunate that we had quite sunny skies almost every day.  Of course, the weather waited for the site-seeing adventure I was most excited about to rain on my parade.

We met Stephanie at the ryokan, then met our walking tour buddy, Michael, at the Starbucks across from Kyoto Station, then mutually decided to go ahead and brave the rain and head to the Fushimi Inari Shrine.  This is a beautiful and striking site that is most famous for the thousands of bright orange torii gates that wind up the mountain side with multiple temples and shrines along the way.  It is also famous for being the orange tunnel through which Chiyo runs as a little girl in Memoirs of a Geisha.  When we were there, it could more closely be likened to waterboarding.

It was a misting rain while we made our way to Inari, but by the time we got off the train, water was dumping from the heavens at an alarming capacity, and there was a rumble of thunder in the distance.  I made it about 100 yards into the tunnel, just enough to get the gist of things, then wussed out and headed to the shops to buy an umbrella and souvenirs.  I may or may not have had another little cry also.

Once we'd decided we'd had enough torment for the morning, we hauled our soggy butts back to the train and hunkered down at Kyoto Station to wait out the storm.  Don't feel too sorry for us though, because Kyoto Station is AMAZING!!  It is essentially a train station, restaurant central, and a massive mall all rolled into one strikingly futuristic 11-story building.  After lunch, Nicole and I found an incredible stationery shop where we were able to invest a good sum of money into paper products, and then, of course, we had to hit up the Cafe Du Monde on Bourbon Street (sure, why not), for some beignets.  I don't think I'll ever NOT think that Cafe Du Monde in Japan is the height of hilarity.

When the rain seemed to have let up a bit, we took a surprisingly successful cab ride over to Nijojo Castle, home to the Shogun when they were in power, to tour something aside from a religious structure.  It was a fairly interesting castle, definitely miles different from the massive European structures I'm used to, but the beautiful gardens were my favorite part.  Of course, the skies opened up while we were walking outside, so our enthusiasm was... dampened.  Yeah, I said it.

 

Despite the rain, we checked the map and decided that we were close enough to our hotel that we didn't need to waste money on a cab... an hour later, we made it there.  Sigh.  Oh, Japan.  We met Stephanie for dinner for the last time, then waved a sad goodbye to our travel buddy before catching the speedy train back to Tokyo for the night.  We had big plans to head to Harajuku for our final day in Tokyo, but of course, Japan and a lack of coin lockers in the train station conspired against us, and we ended up spending the day shopping at the airport instead.  Whatever, we saw enough crazy-ass fashion statements all over the rest of Japan, so I guess it wasn't a huge sartorial loss.

And y'all, that's it.  That was Japan.  I've tried to be as honest as possible in describing how I felt about the country, but I hope that doesn't stop you from traveling there yourself someday.  As much as I would never put it in my top five places to visit, I have absolutely no regrets about going.  I saw some truly beautiful sites that simply cannot compare to anything I've ever seen before, and even more meaningful to me, I met some awesome people.  Travel really isn't about what castles you tour and what temples you see, it's about the experiences you have from day to day.  And I can say, with no reservations, that Japan held some of the most fascinating and exotic experiences of my life and for that I say, arigatou gozaimasu.

The Pied Pipers of Kyoto

So, have I mentioned the part about how Japan is, like, really effing impossible to navigate?  I'm not sure I've driven that point home yet, so here, let me really emphasize the fact that JAPAN IS IMPOSSIBLE TO NAVIGATE.  And Japan will make you cry at at least one point.  And Japan will make you extremely grateful for the fact that your friend still puts up with you even after an epic hour-long pouting episode.

Still riding high on the rush of meeting a Real Live Geisha, Nicole and I recruited our new-found pal Stephanie to help us move from the peaceful relaxation of the ryokan to the always charming Super Hotel.  (Sarcasm.)  Our initial plan was to take a cab, but armed with some rather vague directions from our hostess and an even vaguer map drawing we set forth into the night to make the "easy seven minute walk" to the hotel.  I'm sure you see where this is going.  A set of directions from a non-English speaking restaurant host, directions gleaned from a group of business-suit-wearing iPad-toting Japanese men, directions from a shop girl, directions from another restaurant hostess, a failed cab ride, and over an hour later, we finally made it to the Super Hotel.  We slept really well that night.

L: Higashi Hoganji Temple, R: Surprisingly modern interior of the temple office

L: Artisans creating fans at the Kyosendo fan shop, R: The finished product

The next morning we got up bright and early for Johnnie Hillwalkers Walking Tour of Kyoto.  We spent about six hours walking at the pace of a lame tortoise, visiting temples including the Higashi-Hoganji Temple, an Inari shrine, a load of Kyoto craft shops including fan makers, prayer bead stringers, altar builders, and candy makers, and learned a lot of facts about Kyoto that were eventually debunked.  But Johnnie was adorable, so all misinformation has been forgiven.

We also got to sample some of the candy--a version of a rice cake with a bean paste filling--and vegetarian sushi that was surprisingly delicious.  We were instructed to be very careful not to drop our rice on the ground as we were in front of a Japanese public bath.  So of course, right before my final bite, rice exploded all over the ground.  Leave it to me to cause the most mundane international scandal imaginable.  See me next week on Locked Up Abroad: The Boring Edition.  We walked past the main geisha headquarters and a charmingly checkered tea house, fueling my geisha obsession further, and got to visit a charming cemetery.  Yes, really, it was charming!  See above:  Charming cemetery and adorable tour guide.  (I should also point out that it was approximately 4000 degrees with 200% humidity, and everyone in Japan dressed as though they were prepared for a Siberian winter.  Mystifying.)

While we were on the tour, we met another travel buddy whom we added to our ever growing collection, as well as a lovely lady from Amsterdam who joined us for lunch.  We invited our travel buddy to join us and Stephanie the next morning for a day trip to Fushimi Inari, and he accepted, so our threesome became a foursome.  After the walking tour, I was completely worn down, and we began making our way back to the hotel for a rest before meeting Stephanie for dinner.  But then I was distracted by a sight which had not passed before my eyes for almost an entire week.  An alarmingly good looking Japanese man!  And it just so happened that he was a calligrapher.  And it just so happened that I was in the market for calligraphy.  It was a match made in heaven, and Colby should be thanking his lucky stars that I didn't ditch him for a life of artistic abandon.  If you are single and considering a move to Japan, I recommend contacting this man and marrying him.  I'll send a lovely gift.

Yasaka Shrine

My day steadily improved from that point onward.  After dinner Nicole, Stephanie and I decided to stroll around Gion for a bit in search of dessert.  We ended up in a wine bar, where we added four friendly Russians to our posse, and then headed back out into the night.  As we were walking down Hanamichi, we passed a shiny black car with its motor running.  It was parked in front of a dark nondescript house, with just a red lantern and a curtain to distinguish it from any of the other buildings on the street.  Just as I began to look away, the curtain fluttered ever so slightly and I caught a flash of white.  Then the musical sound of laughter floated out into the night air.  I froze in my tracks and grabbed Nicole's arm, stabbing the air with a finger in the direction of the curtain and hissed one word:  "GEISHA!!!"  Yes, my friends, in search of chocolate and sake, we stumbled into the heart of the geisha district, and there was great hunting to be had.  Heartbreakingly, my camera battery had died when we stopped by the Yasaka Shrine (Oh, did I mention that?  Yeah, we saw another shrine.), but I've requested that Stephanie email me her photos when she downloads them, so you'd better believe I will share them with you as soon as I get them.  We scoured the streets, running up and down alleys, lurking outside doors, peeking behind curtains, and saw about 20 geisha or maiko over the course of the evening.  Next to actually meeting a geisha, that night was by far the highlight of the trip for me.

If we had known what was good for us, we would have quit while we were ahead, but there were still two more days to go, and we had such high hopes for our Japan finale.  But you know what they say, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans--that pithy little phrase works equally as well for Japan.  Stay tuned for the final installment!

Kyoto: Part Ichi

Since I began my Tokyo recaps with a pretty scathing review of Japan, I feel like it's only fair to begin my Kyoto recaps with a little more love for the country.  As much as I really never, ever want to return to Tokyo, I can envision myself going back to Kyoto during cherry blossom season and staying in a charming ryokan and really quite enjoying myself.  I think most of our frustration with Kyoto stemmed from the latent frustration we still felt from Tokyo, because it really was quite a lovely place.

I've already mentioned how kind the Japanese people were to us, but we were also so impressed by the care they took in every action they undertook.  We frequently felt like giant ogres smashing through their delicate country--shops were beautifully designed and laid out, flowers blossomed as though they were cultivated by magical gardening fairies, tea was prepared and served with such graciousness, almost all of our purchases were lovingly wrapped in lovely paper and tied with ribbons then placed in a bag and presented with a thankful bow.  It really is a beautiful country that has managed to retain so much of its unique and historic culture, even as they embrace modernization.

We left Tokyo early in the morning of June 30th and began the 3 hour journey toward Kyoto.  As tiny as everything else in Japan was, the trains were pretty universally spacious and incredibly clean.  When we got to Kyoto, we decided that based on our track record of getting where we wanted to go in Tokyo, we'd just get a cab to our ryokan.  Well... as much as tourists and locals don't know their way around cities, apparently, neither do the cab drivers.  Every time we attempted to get a cab to our ryokan, the cab drivers became dramatically flustered, stabbed at their GPS systems in desperation, and one time we just got out of the cab in the middle of the street and walked the rest of they way.  It was... ridiculous.

I'm going to pretty much photobomb you with pictures of our ryokan because it was by far, my most treasured experience of the trip.  For the most part, we planned all of our hotel stays on a pretty strict budget, but we decided to splurge for one night because we had heard that staying in a ryokan is such an essential experience.  It is basically a Japanese bed and breakfast, but if you stay at the right one, your hostess's mission for your entire stay is to make you feel like a queen or king.

Left: Our room set up for day time, Right: Our futons laid out for the night.

At the Shiraume Ryokan, we were greeted with cold green tea and cookies, our hostess sat with us and a map for about 30 minutes pointing out places we should visit and how to get there, we had tea and sweets again when we returned from our touring for the day, we had our own private garden, our room magically transitioned from night to day while we were out to dinner, and we just generally felt like the most important people in Kyoto.  Our hostess was stunningly beautiful and perfectly serene, and it seems as though her dinner room is one of the most premier places to be in the evenings as one evening a geisha was upstairs entertaining guests, and another evening the mayor and his aide were there for dinner.  It was a fantastic experience, and I'd highly recommend it if you are ever in Kyoto.

L: Nazen-ji Temple Sanmon Gate, R: Nazen-ji Temple

L: Interior of Nazen-ji Temple, R: Hojo (Abbot's Quarters) "Leaping Tigers" zen rock garden

We began our tourist experience in Kyoto with a walk out to the Nazen-ji Temple.  As we were staying in the Gion prefecture, we were pretty centrally located for most of the temples and some great shopping.  We were also in the geisha district, so we were constantly on high alert for that elusive white-painted face.  With a stop for lunch and plenty of window shopping along the way, it took a little over an hour to get to the temple, and then we spent an leisurely afternoon there, sitting in shady locations, strolling through a peaceful rock garden, sitting in more shady locations, and just enjoying the quiet that had been so hard to find in Tokyo.

We found plenty of shops along the way back to the ryokan where we were able to stock up on souvenirs for ourselves and others, then we took some time to relax and cool off in our room with air conditioning and tea before we headed out to Pontocho Alley for a wander and then dinner.

We began the next morning with a rare experience--A WESTERN BREAKFAST!!!  After inhaling several days worth of calories in fruit, eggs, sausage, bread and English tea, we set off for a day in Nara.  We met a great girl at breakfast that morning who was traveling alone, so we invited her along for the ride, and our twosome became a threesome... but not like that.  Nara was fabulous, but oh my heck, there was a ton of walking that day.  We were sadly uninformed about the fact that there was a shuttle bus from the station out to the Nara Park area, so instead we walked the nine million miles there and back. First we hit up the Kofukuji Temple and Five-Story Pagoda.

 

Two of the most entertaining experiences of the day involved ice cream and Japanese school children.  While we were taking our last photos of the Kofukuji Temple, we were approached by a hoard of Japanese children holding yellow notebooks.  As they giggled and shoved one another forward, two of the girls took the lead in asking if they could practice their English on us.  They mostly talked to our friend Stephanie, as Nicole and I chatted haltingly with a couple of the kids who were hanging back.  They had a list of questions about where we were from, what we had done in Japan, etc and they transcribed our answers very carefully before moving onto the next one.  We hung out with them for about 15 minutes and then we kept seeing them all over Nara for the rest of the day, and each time we'd all squeal and wave.  Now I not only want an Asian baby, I want an Asian teenager.  The other big excitement was trying out some green tea ice cream.  Less adorable than the 7th graders, but interesting nonetheless.

We wrapped up our time in Nara by hauling ourselves out to the Kasuga Shrine and the Todaiji Temple to see the great Buddha.  It was around this point that I began experiencing extreme temple exhaustion.  The same thing tends to happen when I'm in Europe with the cathedrals, but I honestly felt like if I saw another temple, I was going to scream.

Fortunately, we did have some distraction in the shape of the hallowed Nara Park deer.  There are about 1200-1300 of these deer scattered all around Nara Park, and they are carefully protected as it is believed in the Shinto faith that they are messengers of the gods.  Those were the most fearless deer I have ever seen.  They would brazenly walk up to any person who happened to be holding food--or not in some cases--and we even saw a couple of them going after clothing.  It was pretty funny, but I still opted to keep my distance.

Then, the absolute highlight of the day... when we returned to the ryokan to retrieve our luggage and move on to our next hotel, we had the absolute joy and pleasure of meeting a geisha.  It's not uncommon to see them on the streets in the evening as they make their way from one appointment to the next, but the geisha try to keep their distance from us mere mortals, so this was quite an honor.  As I mentioned earlier, she was entertaining at a dinner upstairs in our ryokan, and our hostess knew how interested we were in the geisha culture, so she brought her down for an introduction.  And once again, we got to feel like enormous ogres as she carefully arranged her kimono and we hulked over her for the photo op.  But it was so worth it, and from that point on, I was completely smitten with the geisha.

That wraps up the first half of our time in Kyoto, but please do return for the next installment, or deal with the wrath of...

GAIJIN SMASH!!!!

Tokyo Part Ni

When we last left our brave heroine, she had just gone to bed after her first full day in Tokyo.  We set our alarm for 7:30 the next morning, and things began poorly when the alarm didn't actually go off and we woke up around 8:30.  No biggie since we didn't have anything scheduled for the day, but we were starting off later than expected which was not such good news for all of our plans.

In front of the Tokyo SkyTree that is still in the process of being built.  It's gonna be freaking tall.

We decided to shuffle things around in an attempt to still fit everything in, and headed to Asakusa to go to the Hotel Okura for a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.  Except that the Hotel Okura isn't in Asakusa.  First mistake.  We'll take the blame for that one.  At this point it was already around 11, so we decided to reshuffle our plans and start the day with the Sumida River boat cruise from Asakusa to the Hama Rikyu Gardens.  That's all well and good except that our tour books only explained how to get to the boat tour going from the gardens to Asakusa.  We found a street map that seemed to indicate where the cruise began, so we just made our way down to the river and hunted for any signs of a cruise.

We did eventually find it, and boarded for the 40 minute ride through downtown Tokyo.  It was a nice way to see the city, and even nicer to have 40 whole minutes of not trying to figure out where we were going.  By the time we made it to the gardens, it was close to one o'clock, and we were starving, having only been able to find some pretty bad coffee shop pastries that morning, but we were still trying to make the tea ceremony before they closed for the day, so we strolled through the garden and then began our hunt.

And we hunted, hunted, and hunted.  We still don't know how it happened, and would love to place the blame on the map, but we later discovered that all of that walking and searching we did was in the wrong direction.

Tip #1:  BRING A COMPASS!!!  There are tons of maps of the city at train stations and in hotels, but the vast majority of them give you no indication of which way is north.  It's possible to orient yourself using landmarks or street names if you can find a damn street sign, but it's a rare day in Tokyo when you can figure out what street you're on.  Our little compass saved us much heartache when we actually remembered to bring it with us.

A lovely girl in traditional garb who was kind enough to be strolling through the Hama Rikyu garden at the same time as us.

Finally, virtually ready to pass out from starvation and exhaustion, we cried uncle around 3:30 and ducked into yet another coffee shop just to put something into our stomachs.  While we were there, we had our first experience with the friendliness of the Japanese.  While Nicole was in the bathroom, I was consulting my guidebook in the hopes that it would suddenly and magically provide some sort of helpful directions, and an adorable older Japanese gentleman struck up a conversation with me.  We ended up chatting with him and his wife for over 30 minutes, and when they found out that we were heading to Roppongi for the evening, they insisted on walking us to the train station. 

View of the Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills.  You can see that tower from everywhere!

And then, once we got to the station, they realized they had brought us to the wrong one!!  Even lifelong residents of the city can't get around!  They consulted the station map and we checked our metro book and we discovered that we could still make a connection and get where we needed to go.  They went to our first stop with us, got us on the correct train and then we parted ways.  It was a really lovely moment in a pretty crap day!

Roppongi Hills is a giant shopping, office, restaurant, museum complex in Roppongi that we were interested in checking out for its shopping.  It ended up being a pretty swanky joint, so we mostly window shopped, but I was able to find a few little souvenir items.  Once we had wandered for a while, we went to Paddy Foley's for dinner.  It was one of the most recommended restaurants between our friends and guide books, and it was pretty tasty, though much quieter than we'd expected.  In what became the trend for the trip, we were utterly exhausted after dinner around 9, and just decided to make our way back to the hotel to crash.

The next morning, we called the Hotel Okura and got very specific walking directions from the subway stop we were planning to use.  Once we exited into the sunshine from the depths of Tokyo, we began the hunt.  And once more hunted, and hunted and hunted.  We really, really wanted to do that stupid tea ceremony, or we would have given up much earlier.  Instead, we pulled over to the side of the walkway, pulled out our compass, all of our maps and began searching for street names.  When that didn't work, we attempted to match up the street shapes on our map that had the Hotel Okura marked with a map that we recognized where we were on it.  At this point, we realized that they had told us to turn right at the big building (you know, the ONE big building in Tokyo), when we should have turned left.

  So, we packed up our navigation tools, and began to trudge in the opposite direction.  And we hunted and hunted and hunted.  We pulled over once more once we hit the end of the next street, and I think sensing our utter confusion and desperation, and nice policeman approached us, and at last pointed us in the correct direction.

 

Once we got there, it all ended up being so worth it.  The tea ceremony room was cool and quiet.  Our hostess was gentle and serene.  The sound of trickling water and the view of the Japanese rooftop garden, soothed the angry beast that had taken up residence in my body.  The ceremony was a beautiful and soothing experience, each action and subtle movement loaded with meaning.  We experienced two ceremonies, the first a very old and traditional one including Japanese sweets and matcha--a thick, whisked powdered green tea drunk from a bowl--and the second a more relaxed experience on a tatami mat floored tea room with a steeped green tea.

Tokyo National Museum

Torii gates leading to a shrine in Ueno Park.

Once the ceremony was over, we made our way to Ueno Park to spend the afternoon in the Tokyo National Museum.  I highly recommend this museum--there was a fair amount of explanation in English and it gave a very good overview of Japanese history, religion, art, culture and more.  It was a really beautiful museum in a lovely park setting.

After the museum, we strolled through the garden, checking out a few of the shrines along the way.  When dusk started to fall, we noticed a number of homeless people were setting up a tent city amongst the trees of the park.  Up until this point, we had actually noted the lack of homeless people and beggars on the street.  It seems as though a lot of them take up residence in Ueno Park at night though.  It makes me curious about what the city does with these folks as you rarely see them during the day, and it didn't seem like there were all that many of them in the park.

For dinner we headed to Ebisu, to the really lovely Yebisu Place Garden.  This was another complex similar to Roppongi Hills, except instead of tall skyscrapers, there were a number of charming buildings spread out around various squares and gardens.  We ate at a surprisingly delicious Italian restaurant and then went back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our very early morning departure to Kyoto the next day.

Oh, Tokyo...

Here is my number one travel tip for Tokyo: Don't go to Tokyo.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Not really.

I don't know, I just didn't fall in love with Tokyo.  In fact, I have never fallen so not in love with a city.  Probably the closest experience I've had to this was Rome, but I was so in love with all of the history and sights to see that I was able to get past my initial dislike.  I never really got over it with Tokyo, and was so glad to see it whooshing into the distance from the train.

I can't even really put my finger on what it was that I didn't like.  Yes, it was a loud, bustling city.  But so is New York, and I love it there.  It was incredibly clean, though the lack of garbage cans was mystifying.  The metro was overwhelmingly extensive with somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 different lines that all got you where you needed to go with plenty of English language signs--unfortunately, it was rare that you had a clue as to where you needed to go.

There were plenty of sights to see, and yet I didn't feel that we saw very much that made the city special.  There was no awe-inducing moment like standing in the library of Trinity College in Dublin, seeing the Colosseum for the first time in Rome, standing on Tower Green at The Tower of London.  It felt like I could have been in Any City.

One thing that was surprising in a good way was the sheer amount of English spoken and written on signs.  The times when we got miserably and horribly lost had nothing to do with the language and everything to do with the absolutely abysmal address system and horrifically bad maps.  Even lifelong residents of Tokyo have trouble getting around, and asking for directions is an exercise in futility.  There was one day where it felt like we spent the entire day just trying and failing to get somewhere--ANYWHERE.  That was probably the source of most of our frustration and disillusionment with the city.

But as I said in my post yesterday, the people of Japan are just SO NICE.  They may be cursing you behind your back as you walk away, but to your face they are gracious, kind, and frequently amused.  They love any chance to practice their English, which led to a number of Lost in Translation moments based on my very limited knowledge of Japanese and their attempts at English combined with lots of Pointy-Talky.

Anyway, this is all just a preface to my trip report because I don't want to spend the next few posts harping on how much this or that sucked.  As the days pass between then and now, my memories are taking on a much more rosy glow and hopefully I'll grow to remember Tokyo with some sense of fondness.  I did have a wonderful time traveling with my super fantastic friend, Nicole, and if nothing else, I'll always treasure the fact that we got to share in this insane adventure together!

I arrived at Narita airport after a two hour delay in San Francisco that pushed my total travel time to nearly 20 hours.  That is a lot of freaking travel time, so I guess Tokyo and I kind of started off on the wrong foot.  The airport was very easy to navigate and I picked up my train pass and made it to my airport shuttle with no problems.

Tip #1: If you are traveling outside of Tokyo, I highly recommend that you get a JR Pass, if for no other reason than the ease of travel.  Similarly, if you will be in Tokyo for more than a day, get a SUICA card for the metro.  Once we had our train pass, all we had to do was reserve seats on the train we wanted to take and then walk through a manned gate showing our pass.  It was no hassle, and we didn't have to worry about figuring out train fares or buying tickets.  The SUICA is a reloadable card that you can use to ride the metro and even to buy food and drinks from certain vending machines and shops at the metro station.  It requires a 500 yen refundable deposit, and you just add as much money to it as you need.  At the end of your time in Tokyo, you just take it to a travel desk and they give you back any money that is still on your card.  Again, so much easier than figuring out fares and transfers.

I got to the Tokyo Metropolitan Hotel around 8 pm Tokyo time on June 26 after having left my house at 3:30 am Charleston time on June 25.  Once there, I met Nicole and one of her work friends, and we went out to dinner in the Ikebukuro metro station.  The place we picked had vending machines with pictures of all of your different food options.  You inserted your money, pushed the button next to the item you wanted, the machine spit out a ticket and you handed it to a cook.  Is that not just the most Japanese thing ever?  I really had no idea what I was ordering, but it turned out to be some sort of noodle, breaded chicken, and egg concoction. 

On our way back to the hotel, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Cafe Du Monde?!?  Of course, we had to stop in for beignets, and I was amazed at how big their menu was as compared to the one in New Orleans.  I will say though, New Orleans still wins the prize for most delicious beignets.  The ones in Tokyo were smaller--almost bite sized--and a little tough.  Still, it was a sight for travel weary eyes.

The next day, we woke up early in the morning to pack up and check out of the hotel, then meet our bus for our introductory tour of the city.

Tip #2: Plan as many organized bus and walking tours as possible.  in retrospect, our first day was by far our most successful and enjoyable day in Tokyo.  Because we didn't have to stress about where we were going, and we had a constant narrative as to what we were seeing, we were able to focus on the city and see something other than the inside of a subway car.  It may seem "inauthentic" to some people, but I really felt like that tour was the time when we saw the best side of the city.

After purifying my hands and mouth outside of the Meiji Jingu Shrine.  Yes, I put that water in my mouth.  Yes, I'm still a little afraid of dying from a Japanese parasite.

Wedding procession outside of the shrine.

Our tour took us first to the beautiful Meiji Jingu Shrine where we were lucky enough to see a traditional Japanese wedding procession.  Next was the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, which honestly, I wouldn't waste my time on if they weren't already part of an organized tour.  We did find ice cream there, which made for a delicious though certainly not terribly filling breakfast as we couldn't find a single eating establishment open prior to the tour.

Tip #3: Pack granola bars, or some sort of moderately healthful snack.  And LOTS OF THEM.  For a city filled with restaurants, there were a shocking number of times when we could not find a single thing to eat other than ice cream or candy.  There were plenty of moments where I seriously considered just eating a small child, I was so hungry.

\

Next up we hit Sensoji Temple to see the Thunder Gate and have our fortunes described to us inside the shrine.  Mine was... not good.  At least from what I can tell.  The English translation was loose at best.  Unfortunately, the main temple was completely covered in scaffolding, which was kind of a bummer, but at least the gate and nearby pagoda were impressive on their own.

We also drove through Harajuku and Roppongi, had some time to walk around Asakusa, and finished up the tour in Ginza.  We were meeting some of Nicole's international students for the afternoon in Ikebukuro, so we made our way back to that side of town and met them near the Sunshine City mall.  We hit the ground running with some major shopping and eating (welcome after our bodies had entered starvation mode for the morning) and then went for shabu-shabu at dinner.  Shabu-shabu, is similar to fondue cooking in that you have a large pot of boiling water at your table and you dip very thinly sliced beef and pork into the water to cook it.  There are also large plates of vegetables to add to the water for flavoring, and dipping sauces for the meat.  This was probably my favorite meal of the whole trip, so definitely try it if you get a chance!

Tip #4: Cash is the main method of payment in Japan, and it can make for some frustrating moments as the only place to withdraw money if you have a MasterCard, is the post office.  I believe if you have a Visa, you can use the ATM at 7-11, but there is currently some sort of dispute going on between them and MasterCard, so the post office is it.  Another note on money:  Tipping is not customary, and can actually be a bit embarrassing if pressed.  If your really feel that someone deserves a tip, have a stash of small gifts from home that you can give instead.

East Garden of the Imperial Palace

After dinner, we headed back to our first hotel to get our belongings from storage, and then transferred to the much less swank, yet still perfectly adequate Monterey Sanno.  That was the only night I felt any sort of jet lag as I was barely able to keep my eyes open after dinner.  The next day was when things started to go pear-shaped, so I'm glad I was at least able to get a good night's sleep...

Konnichiwa!

Well, here I am again!  That wasn't too bad, was it?

So, Japan was absolutely incredible.  There were so many moments of intense frustration, and I can honestly say I feel like I got my fill of the country, but there were also so many moments of absolute awe and breathtaking beauty.  The people of Japan are some of the kindest and most thoughtful I have ever met, and I'm going to miss that graciousness.  I have close to 800 photos to go through and so many stories to tell, but for now, I'll leave you with a few pictures of my adventures in the land of the rising sun.

Thanks for being so picturesque, swan.

But who needs a swan when you've got a face this gorgeous?

I'm not sure what the story is behind these houseboats on the Sumida River, but I want one.

I did a pretty good job of buying everything in Japan, but I just couldn't fit these lanterns in my suitcase.

Complete this comparison--Shrines:Japan what _____:England

a) Bad Teeth
b) Castles
c) Inbred monarchs
d) All of the above

How cute is he when he makes his scary face?

I've never been a big fan of orange, but it really works here.  I'm thinking of having the house painted like this to surprise Colby!

I don't know what these say, but they look pretty.

So, to recap, some moments like this:

But many more like this: