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July 30, 2009Tokyo back to SF!
May 28, 2009Tokyo, Japan Day 95 (May 5)
It’s been 3 months, 9 countries, and finally time to go home. Aside from a sore throat that picked up in the Philippines, we are feeling pretty good, and are ready for another three months. But, the pull of home is strong, and we are anxious to spread out, and clean through our funky stuff.
Unfortunately, Northwest Airlines determined that we changed our flight itinerary by not using the Beijing to Tokyo leg we originally purchased. As a result, they charged us $800 per person to reissue tickets for our flight home (with the Beijing leg removed). At least the nice lady at the airport waived the addition $250 per person fee for “changing” our tickets. Of all the places we’ve visited in the world, there is nothing more inconvenient or expensive than dealing with an airline, when you “change” something.
Arriving at home, we have a brief moment celebration, euphoric from our amazing trip; followed by a rather strange thought:
What are we going to do now?
Japan – Tokyo, Day 2
May 28, 2009Tokyo, Japan Day 94 (May 4)
Today we take the first subway into town at 4:45AM, and head to the largest fish market in the world; the famous Tsukiji fish market. When we arrive at 6AM, the line is already around the block for the sushi restaurants which open at 7AM. As tempting as sushi is for breakfast, we decide to spend a few hours walking around the massive seafood market.
Apparently, the fish arrive at 3AM, the wholesale auction is at 5:30AM, and the seafood market is open between 6AM and 8AM. There is tons of cool stuff to see. We especially enjoy watching the workers fillet huge fresh tuna, using 5 foot long samurai sword looking knives. There is also massive flash frozen tuna, which are cut into smaller pieces using a band saw.
After the market, we pass by the Sumo stadium, and visit a nearby sumo training stable where they are nice enough to let us watch them practice. The Sumo stable is so quiet during practice; you can hear every breath and grunt of the wrestlers, interrupted only by a massive smack when they collide at the beginning of a practice bout.
The practice is very ritualistic, with a detailed routine that ends at 10:30AM sharp. Based on the different wrestlers in the stable, it seems they first get very strong and fit, and then start a massive weight gain program; eating two massive meals a day (lunch and dinner) which are both followed by sleeping. We are very surprised at the end of the workout to see 300 pound wrestlers stretching in perfect splits; legs apart, and body face down on the floor.
In the evening. JieJie dressed Vana up in a summer Kimono. We did some last minute shopping, then head out for Indian food.
After several days walking all around Japan, my feet are done. I’ve been wearing socks and cheap beach sandals (bought in Bali) everywhere in Japan, since the infected blisters on the heels of my feet still haven’t healed since diving in Thailand. Every day when we get back to Dongli’s place, my complaint is the same; Tokyo is too big!
Thanks so much to Dong Li and Jia Yunjian for letting us stay and showing us around.
Japan – Tokyo Day 1
May 23, 2009Tokyo, Japan Day 93 (May 3)
Tokyo is a massive crazy place; although everything runs in a controlled orderly fashion. Imagine using the New York subway system to cover the central metropolis, and then multiply by ten for another rail system connecting the inner metropolis to the outer megapolis. I guess this is how they cram 40 million people inside an area just a bit smaller than the New York metropolitan, with its 19 million. To top it off, the bullet train connects Tokyo with other mega-cities, leaving Tokyo station every 10 minutes.
Tokyo is also a very trendy and fashionable place. Today, while we are sightseeing, Gege and Jiejie visit a new downtown coffee shop where people are lined up for several hours to sit down and have coffee. The idea of waiting so long for coffee is so crazy, people just can’t resist the buzz. According to their report; it was worth a 30 minute wait, but not 2 hours. Afterwards, they visit a new Forever 21 women’s clothing store which just opened, but the line is a kilometer long; wrapped around a large city block.
Vana and I head to Jingu-bashi to have pictures taken with the “costume play” vampy goth kids, who pose for tourists. They don’t want pictures taken unless you ask for permission, so they can do their special poses.
We visit the nearby temple; which turned out to be a waste after already visiting Kyoto. On the way out, the subway is packed like a rock concert.
Next, we take subway to the bustling youth-oriented shopping district of Shibuya, and visit the famous 109 building. The teens and twenty-something’s in this mall are decked out in $1,000 dollars worth of product and looking for more; hair, nails, make-up, shoes, bags, and clothes. I was thinking the US Federal Reserve should pass out free tickets to America in this mall, since these Japanese women look like they could pull the US out of recession in no time!
Aside from cheeky comments, the young women look really good, and are wearing the best looking clothes I’ve seen anywhere in the world. There is amazing variety of fashion; cartoon doll, goth, funky hippie, punk rocker, etc. We now see why they are the fashion trend setters for all of Asia, which by population makes them the fashion world’s leaders. It’s really amazing to see the incredible variety of outfits. But, after several hours walking around without a subway nap, the high heels, knee high socks, and short skirts all start to look the same.
We top the day off with a quick visit to Ginza, which is like the Park Ave of Tokyo. With its sparkling buildings and squeaky clean windows, you’d think they mix diamond powder in the city water.
We visit the Sony building to see their latest wares; but left un-impressed. Seems Sony is yesterday’s news with the Koreans at Samsung and LG cleaning their clock these days.
We take the elevator to the top floor of the Imperial Hotel for the view, but balk at the $300 dollar dinner buffet. Instead, we met GeiGei and JieJie for dinner at a sushi restaurant.
CLICK HERE to see rest of the pictures from this day.
Japan – Nara
May 23, 2009Nara, Japan Day 92 (May 2)
In the morning, we take the train to nearby Nara city, which is number 3 tourist attraction in Japan (below Kyoto and Tokyo). We walk around to visit the well known Isui-En garden.
After the garden, we visited Todai-ji temple (Eastern Great Temple). This temple is the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world’s largest statue of Buddha Vairocana, also listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism.
Today is a holiday and the temple is packed with festive atmosphere. The kids dressed in traditional costumes are really cute.
Kids climb through this hole, said to be the same size as the big Buddha’s nostril.
We head back to Kyoto by train, pick up our luggage at the hotel, and then bullet train back to Tokyo station. From Tokyo station, we subway back to Dongli’s house, and meet them again for some late night noodles. It’s pretty amazing to zoom around the middle of the country in a single day. From the experience, we perfect our train napping skills.
CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Isui-En garden
CLICK HERE to see more pictures from Todai-Ji temple