Visiting Japan

I’ve had mixed feelings about returning ever since the realization that my vacation was almost over hit me. On the one hand, all of my little habits and trinkets would be at my disposal again, for better or for worse. On the other hand, my vacation and the experience of living across the globe are over.

We almost missed our flight back home, much in the same way that we almost missed our flight to Japan. When we arrived at the check in desk for Delta and told them our flight number we were immediately rush processed and escorted by a Delta representative through the entire rest of the process. When I asked her why we were rushing even though the plane did not leave for another 30 minutes, she informed me that even though it did not leave until then, boarding closed in 10 minutes. She asked us if we could run and we said yes.

When we were back in the states again there were some immediate differences before even leaving the airport. First of all, Americans are by and large fat compared to the Japanese. On a related note, the foods offered were also strikingly different. Besides the French fries I ate at the Tokyo McDonalds, there were hardly any fried foods during our entire trip; the food court at Hartsfield consisted of nothing but. Also, I have come to appreciate the train system in Japan. I never relished the idea of traveling by anything other than car and plane in the US but if America had a train system on par of the one in Japan, I could see no reason to travel by anything else. It truly is a public transportation marvel. The other immediate difference that jumps out is that because of the limited space in Japan, everything is built vertically and when traveling through Texas and Oklahoma, it all seems so flat.

I plan on visiting Japan again, hopefully within the next year. I think I’ll be considerably better prepared, not only from the experiences I’ve gained on this journey, but also because of the fact that I will make a conscious effort to read, write, speak, and understand Japanese by that time.

Despite our set backs and the occasional wasted effort, I loved every minute of my time in Japan.

One of the things that I had expected to see a lot more of in Japan is anime. It’s obviously a staple of American ideology when it comes to the expectations of the land of the rising sun. Surprisingly enough though, anime really only makes a predominant presence while in Akihabara. That isn’t to say it is entirely absent in the rest of Tokyo or Japan, just that it is a relatively minor presence. I suppose the one area I expected to see it a lot more of in is advertising. Nevertheless, traditional advertising methods far exceed any with anime influence. As far as television goes, I can’t speak with much experience because the hotel we are in only provides basic cable service for a total of 10 channels. With this limited exposure though, I can say that anime did not have a large presence here either. While I don’t doubt that there ware channels with anime playing around the clock on extended cable, on basic cable it was limited to a single show in a single channel every few nights.

I was reading someone’s blog entry from sushicam.com and found an interesting comparison between Japanese and American culture. This is directly from their post and I think it explains itself:

“I’ve been asked a bunch of times “do they have hay fever where you come from?” that’s a surprising question. I thought it was pretty much universal, but in Japan, people seem to think it’s a Japanese phenomenon. when I tell them, yes, we have pollen allergies in America too, they’re usually surprised, and the next question is “so, you wear masks when you go outside?” Nope. In America, we just take drugs.”

On a more random note, it seems to be that cowboy boots are the latest fashion trend in Tokyo where at least 30% of the females seem to wear them, if not more. It was also fairly apparent even as we traveled out from Tokyo into the Nagano area.

I read an article that talked about labor laws and how they affect the productivity of a country. The article used Great Britain as a base line against Germany, France, the US, and Japan. Surprisingly Japan came in last, though I can not vouch for the validity of the article as I did not see any specific source listed. Nevertheless, with this article in mind I tried to understand the numbers because I always considered Japan to be a very busy country. If the article was true, I think I can pinpoint the number one reason why and it is best explained in an example. When traveling from the Grand Palace Hotel to Iidabashi Station you have to walk the length of Iidabashi Street. There was some construction being done on the side walk and there was a small path cleared off in the streets for pedestrians to walk around the work area. This path could not have been more than 30 feet long at the most. During this 30 feet span there were two gentlemen standing in the construction area to guide us to the other side. As absurd as this seems, on several other occasions where an area is being constructed on, there is a man on the opposite side of the barrier to ensure that no one crosses it. This, single handedly, could explain the lack of productivity in Japan, when men stand for 8 hours a day in one area to make sure no one accidentally walks into a construction zone.

One of the more disappointing things about Japan has been the food. While I certainly do no despise it, the Japanese dishes that I enjoy the most in the US are teppanyaki and sushi. Both of these dishes however are not every day meals for people and thus do not make up the majority of the food one would eat here. It seems that the vast majority of people’s diet in Tokyo is ramen. While I have nothing against ramen and I had the best ramen of my life here, it is so predominant that it becomes overbearing. Also, I have come to find out that I absolutely love rice balls, but not being able to read the label makes them a dangerous purchase. You could get the amazingly delicious tuna filling or you could get the lackluster leaks instead. There is also surprisingly little seafood being served, at least compared to what I expected. I say all this knowing that the majority of the reason I am having difficulty with the food is my own fault by not being able to read the native language. Perhaps the next time I come I will be better prepared.

On a final note, when Morgan Webb visited Japan she said that she loved everything except the excessive amount of porn. While I certainly can not dispute that claim in Akihabara, from her descriptions I expected it to be on every street corner which is not the case in the least. Seeing as how Akihabara in general is directed at a male audience, selling pornography there only makes fiscal sense. I suppose I can understand her disappointment but it certainly seems exaggerated.

I was planning on visiting the various museums in the Imperial Garden today but after another round of souvenir shopping in Harajuku, I barely have enough yen left to eat and pay for a train ticket back to Narita Airport. Oh well. As Steve said, it leaves that much more to do next time I visit.

Rather than going all the way back to Hakone, Shawn and I decided that we would try to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from the Tokyo Tower since it was an exceptionally clear day and it should be visible from up there. Shawn didn't come with me when I went with JR and this time JR did not come with me when I went with Shawn. So if nothing else, it would still be the first time Shawn saw the tower. We made it there with considerably less hassle than last time, mainly because we were not restricted to riding the JR lines now that our 10 day passes had expired.

It was two stops from our hotel to the station near Tokyo tower. Each stop cost us 160 yen, totaling 320 yen all together. Considering we traveled half the length of the city, this was not a bad price at all. It makes it difficult for me to understand why anyone would purchase a vehicle in Tokyo. Even if you spend 1000 yen a day in train tickets and you travel on all of your days off, this still is only 30,000 yen at the end of the month. In the US, most people's car payments are this much, which says nothing of the price of insurance and gas. Parking in Tokyo can also be very expensive with several of the lots I've seen asking 100 yen for 10 minutes. Fiscally speaking, there's no good reason to own a vehicle when Japan's rail system does such a phenomenal job of providing access anywhere you need to go.

When we reached the tower itself, Shawn and I were hungry, having not eaten yet that day. We decide to live dangerously and get a Japanese pizza at a food court inside the base of Tokyo Tower. It was surprisingly good and none of the horror stories of tuna and corn and mayonnaise were true, though I am sure they exist somewhere in the city.

At the observation deck of the tower, Mt. Fuji was still no where to be seen, despite the clarity of the sky. I'm starting to think it does not exist, and is simply a way for Japan to get tourists to spend unreasonable amounts of time and money trying to see it. I'm on to you Japan.

After that we made our way to Harajuku, which is supposed to be the shopping district of choice for Japanese teenagers. Being a Sunday, the streets were literally jam packed with people. When you exit Harajuku station and turn onto the major street near it, the street declines in elevation for a while before rising back up again. At the top of either side of the pseudo-valley you have a good view of a majority of the street. When Shawn and I looked down the street that Sunday, it was a literal carpet of people covering the sidewalk. Somehow in this jungle of limbs, there were several street performing bands which added a melodic tone to the sound of thousands of people walking and shopping. The majority of the shops were clothing stores that I had no personal interest in entering. We did make a stop at a place called Book Off which was three large floors comprised mostly of manga, some CDs and literature books. There was also a small section of DVDs that I browsed mostly just to amuse myself. I picked up one box set however, and saw a price tag of 950 yen. Shawn and I joke about buying it as a motivator to learn Japanese and I figure that for 950 yen, even if I never watch them, it isn't that bad. I wandered around and picked up a few manga because I had a genuine interest in learning haragana and these were only 350 yen a piece. There was even a twelve book box set of the Love Hina series for only 1250 yen, which could easily sell for over 100 dollars in English. I made my way to the check out counter and when the lady rang up all my stuff it came out to 13,500 yen. I look at the price again and think to myself that the comma is in the wrong spot, that there must be some mistake. Trying not to look like a tourist who doesn't know what he's doing and not being able to communicate my confusion in the first place, I simply pay for the items, thank the cashier, and leave. After a closer examination of what I had purchased, it turns out the DVD box set was actually 9500 yen; one of the zeros was printed on a darker part of the label that I missed at first glance. This should certainly help motivate me to make full use of the show I just bought and learn some Japanese. I suppose it was inevitable anyhow. After both JR and Shawn had been owned for their money, it was only fair that I get owned as well.

On several occasions now we had been trying to catch one of the most iconic symbols of Japan: Mt. Fuji. Our first attempt at from the top of Mt. Nokogiriyama. Our second attempt was from the top of the Tokyo Tower. Having met with no success either time, we decided to travel to Hakone on the last valid day of our JR East Rail Pass. Hakone is a relatively small tourist town whose biggest attractions are the onsen houses there, and its proximity to Mt. Fuji.

Our trip started off on a bad note. Shawn and I were both essentially out of yen and needed to get our US dollars exchanged. Our first try was with three banks near the train station by our hotel. Though there are many things I admire about Japan and the way they do business, their bank hours are not one of them; they are not open on weekends at all, period. Defeated we press on. The rail to Hakone leaves from Tokyo Central station and we assume that given the size and nature of the station there must be an exchange place there. While we were not incorrect in our assumption, we were incorrect in thinking that it was easily accessible. As is our habit, we wander around until something looks like what we need and we ended up at an information center after about 20 minutes. From here the lady tells us to go to the basement floor of the shopping center connected to the Tokyo Station. The shopping center was simple enough to locate but the layout of the floor was far from straightforward. Like a North Vietnamese war tunnel, the shopping center had more turns and branches than we could comprehend. After about another 20 minutes of wandering we locate another information center, this time for the shopping mall. Another helpful lady points us in the direction we need to go. We finally locate the office and get our currency exchanged. After that we take a short 5 minute walk back to the place where we began our 40 minute expedition from. We board the Tokaido Line and begin making our way south.

There was an informative guide at the Hakone station that showcased a “Hakone Freepass” which essentially entitles you to a tour of the area in the form of a bus ride, a boat ride, and a gondola ride all for the low low price of about 4100 yen. Wanting to capitalize on everything Hakone had to offer and being a personal fan of all inclusive passes, we decided to purchase the Hakone Freepass. That was at least until the man at the counter informed us that gondola was not running because of high winds. Given that the gondola ride was a third of the reason to buy the Hakone Freepass, we decided instead to simply purchase the bus and boat tickets, which after a round trip would come out to about 3000 yen. We boarded the bus and made our way to the harbor of Lake Ashi where we boarded the mock pirate boat. It was incredibly windy and it was easy to see why the man at the ticket both told us that the gondolas would not be running. Patiently we waited for the majesty of Mt. Fuji to appear around the bend of the lake as promised by our pamphlet. And we waited. And waited. The boat docked at the other side of the lake and still there was no Mt. Fuji to be seen. Apparently the air was so hazy that it was not clear enough to see Mt. Fuji from Lake Ashi. We exit the boat and briefly discuss if we should pay the extra money to take a bus closer to the mountain in hopes of catching a glimpse of the giant rock we had traveled so far to see. We decide against it because there was no guarantee of success and we had not purchased the unlimited access pass. We also noticed that the gondola that the man at the ticket booth claimed was not running appeared to be functioning fine as passengers boarded and exited it. We go back down towards the boat to return to the other side of the lake just in time to see the last boat of the day leave the dock. Our 1700 yen tickets have just become half useless. Disgruntled and downtrodden, we board a bus back to the Odawara station so we can head back to Tokyo, defeated in our quest. The ride back is about 80 minutes and to add insult to injury, the GBA I had brought for the train ride runs out of batteries five minutes after leaving the station.

The forecast says tomorrow is supposed to be clear. Dare we venture to Hakone again and risk the 5500 yen cost? If not, tomorrow will probably be when I go to Harajuku and begin souvenir shopping in earnest.

There were three rules going into Roppongi for the second time. 1)We all stay together in the same club so that no one can get lead away by bawds and get their money owned. 2)We don't go in with all of our money so that even in the worst case scenario we can't spend more than we take. 3)We limit our drinking and don't get entirely smashed.

In theory this plan was flawless, but as with any plan there is always a variable, in this case: alcohol. In truth, it was not nearly as disastrous as the previous Saturday, but that isn’t to say it was entirely without its faults. At some point during the night, for a reason he still can not remember, Shawn decided to leave the club and break the first rule. At this point he had already had more to drink than JR and myself combined which broke rule three, and unknown to us he had taken all of the money he had left with him, breaking rule two. When JR and I returned to the hotel Shawn still had not made it back and it wasn’t until several hours after we had already fallen asleep. When he did finally ring the door bell, it was the angriest Shawn I had ever seen. Apparently he had drank beyond consciousness and somewhere in the sea of black had spent or lost all but 5000 yen. I say spent or lost because, again, he could not remember what he even did after leaving the club. Combining this with the fact that he left the hotel with over 70000 yen, you can imagine his anger. This is why Roppongi always wins.

The following day, while Shawn nursed a headache at the hotel, JR and I went in search of the Tokyo Tower. We left the hotel at around 3 PM because I needed plenty of light so that my camera could take adequately good looking pictures from the observatory. As per the map of Tokyo I had, Hamamatsucho station was fairly close and a short walk should take us to the tower. The problem we ran into was that despite the fact that we were looking for a 333 meter tower, we were searching from the base of a street filled with skyscraper office buildings. Also, the majority of tourists make their way to the tower not by train but by bus so there was not giant sign to point us in the correct direction. As has been our game plan since day one in Japan, when all else fails, walk around randomly until you find it. For about an hour we walked the business section of Tokyo near the Toshiba building and through a park I don’t know the name of. Finally, the peak of the tower crept into view and we began making our way towards the edifice. At one point we wandered through a flower garden that I think might have been for private use as the exit was closed by a gate that we ended up climbing over to get out. Soon enough though we made it to the tower at about 5:30 PM. An hour train ride and an hour and a half of walking and we are there. JR and I purchase tickets to the “Special Observatory” which sit at 250 meters above the ground. The special observatory is basically just like the regular observatory, only higher and enough reason for them to charge you an extra 600 yen. Crowded as it was, the view was amazing, if slightly hazy from the weather. Unfortunately Mt. Fuji was not viewable. Once we descended the tower night had already begun and I took what I believe is the best picture I’ve taken in the history of my existence. The walk back to the station was considerably shorter now that we knew were we were going and we made it back to the hotel without incident.

Even though it is a very touristy spot, the Tokyo Tower is still definitely worth seeing.

There is a marketing campaign from the city of Nikko with the slogan "Nikko is Nippon" as their primary focus point. Nippon is the Japanese word for Japan and essentially the purpose of the slogan is to say that if you want to see Japanese culture, visit Nikko. Marketing aside, there is a section of the city that holds up to the promise.

The Toshogu Temple is the primary focus of a collection of four Buddhist and Shinto shrines and temples. There is also a walking garden that houses a collection of Japanese plants. Unfortunately it was raining slightly when we went and because of the time of year the majority of the plants were not in full bloom, but it was a pleasant walk nonetheless. While I'm sure that there is lots of history, culture, and information about the Toshogu Shrine, I personally know very little of it and will let the pictures speak for themselves. There was a small gift shop near the center of the four shrines where JR purchased a sword keychain trinket that he was immediately disappointed with. Nikko is also where we drank warm milk tea which was intriguing enough and hot enough to warrant each of us purchasing a can. Unastoundingly, it tastes exactly like milk and tea warmed up in a can which was less than delicious. While walking back to the train station from the shrines we passed a small shop where a young man sold his art. His only subject was dragons but he did an impressive job of painting them and the original art was only 2500 to 6000 yen so both Shawn and I picked up a picture. Nikko was also the first place that I saw a gas station as I was beginning to think that they did not exist in Japan. In Tokyo at least, they are well hidden.

The ride back to Tokyo was uneventful but I still somehow managed forget to take a picture of the shinkansen again.

Our first experience with the famous Shinkensen, or bullet trains, was relatively painless. We boarded the Nagano Shinkansen to Nagano of all places. It was in Nagano that we began to see that the further you get from Tokyo the further you get from romanji, which obviously makes traveling a bit more difficult. Once we made it all the way to the Yudanaka station in Yamanouchi Town, we were in almost exclusive kanji territory. The hotel I had booked the night for was only an eight minute walk from the train station but when you can't read the name of the streets or even the name of the hotel for that matter, it makes things difficult. We did manage to find a street sign that was in romanji and we followed it looking for the Shimayan Ryokan that I had reserved for us. It was absurdly cold in comparison to Tokyo and my hoodie was still being washed by the hotel from the Roppongi incident, as was Shawn's jacket. After standing aimlessly in the street for a short while we go into another hotel to ask for directions to our hotel. Surprisingly enough the hostess was incredibly friendly and because she couldn't communicate enough with us to give us directions, she walked us to the hotel. This, I think, is a prime example of Japanese hospitality.

Once we arrived at the ryokan the host immediately greeted us and started going on and on about the plans we had made for hiking and what we would like to eat, and a few other subjects in very broken English. I am quite confident when I say that this man was the friendliest man in all of Japan, and after our experience with the hostess, that is saying something. During our one night stay he constantly wanted to drive us everywhere. Each time we go to the door of the hotel he would ask "I drive you with my car?" At one point JR and I wanted to get a drink from a vending machine half a block down the road at about 8PM after all the lights in the ryokan were out and sure enough he greets us with a "I drive you with my car?"

The accomodations themselves were very traditional Japanese with tatami mats covering the main sleeping and living area. Downstairs was the onsen that was half of the reason we came to Yamanouchi Town in the first place. It was only an inside onsen, which are not nearly as awesome as outside onsen, but it was still extremely hot spring water in a large bath so that was good enough for us. Shawn soaked his knee with the hope that the heat would relieve what ever ailment had afflicted it. Unfortunately it did not.

The next day we ate a traditional Japanese breakfast at the ryokan. It was mainly a lot of side dishes with no particular main course though a piece of smoked salmon was the highlight. Though I slept relatively well, both JR and Shawn did not enjoy the sleeping mats and JR made the comment that the onsen's primary purpose was to heal you after sleeping here at night.

Our gracious host drove us to the entrance of the monkey park and told us to call him from the public phone at the park station and he would pick us up again. The trail to the park was pretty muddy from the melting snow and there was construction in several places to add concrete supports to the path which distracted from the scenic view the path offered. Once we made it to the monkey park we could immediately spot the animals running around. After years of human visitors the monkeys have grown accustomed to our presence and are comfortable lounging on the path or even tugging on a hiker's pants as they pass. The main hot spring had only a few monkeys in it though the majority of them were outside of the water, most likely because the temperature was not cold enough to warrant getting in.

We eventually made our way back to Tokyo on the shinkansen again. One notable feature of the shinkansen is that they come in and leave in the same direction rather than the local trains that essentially go in a large circle. Because of this, the seats in the shinkansen rotate after the passengers leave so that the seats are always facing the direction that they train is traveling.

That night we went to Shinjuku station which is the busiest train station in the world. We found an arcade and proceeded to get our asses handed to us in Street Fighter III: Third Strike. After that defeat we went to eat at a ramen shop. Though the ramen was 950 yen, it was the best ramen I've ever had in my life. Shawn and JR agree.

Next we visit Nikko, which is the site of several Buddhist temples and shrines as well as the location of the first train station Frank Lloyd Wright built in Japan.

As we entered the 1st of April, there was only one member of our three man group that was not doing well which was Shawn. The hike and subsequent search for the JR rail station at Nokogiriyama was not appreciated by his knees and ankles. JR and myself were sore but Shawn was damaged. We decided to take it easy and the itinerary I had created only had two stops for the day: the Meiji Shrine and the Tokyo Sword Museum.

Though I originally thought the sword museum would be one of the highlights of the trip, it was actually a big disappointment. There were no photos allowed in the gallery but there was not much to photograph to begin with. A few steel blades and a couple of sheaths was all the exhibit consisted of.

The Meiji Shrine on the other hand was considerably more impressive. Located just north of the Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine was built in dedication of Emperor Meiji who lead major reformations to bring Japan up to speed with the rest of the world. Though the shrine was destroyed in the bombings of World War II, it was rebuilt from private donations in the 1970's. The walk through the park is beautiful and there exists an interesting dichotomy between the tranquil mood of the park and the looming skyline of Tokyo in the background.

Having visited all of the tourist sites I had lined up for the day, we make a decision that would leave the remaining two members of the party that were not yet owned by Japan in dire straights. We were going to go visit Roppongi on a Saturday night.

Though what I had said about the majority of Japan not speaking English is true, this changes very quickly in Roppongi. Though I don't know how Roppongi originated, it now serves as a square block of dance clubs, bars and strip joints to lure in unsuspecting tourists. Because of the nature of its existence, the majority of the workers in Roppongi speak at least decent English.

My original intention when going there was to simply enjoy myself and try to ignore some of the pain in my muscles from the extensive walking we have done. To begin the night we had a few small drinks in our hotel consisting of a Japanese beer called Sapporo and some Sake from a store near our hotel. Once we arrived in Roppongi we were immediately accosted by what I have learned are called "bawds." These men make a living by getting people who are walking the streets of Roppongi to go into the club that they work for. Knowing nothing of this atmosphere or lifestyle myself, JR becomes our guide for the night. The next hour or so consisted of our going from bar to club while JR tried to haggle for free or cheap drinks. It was at the third club, one which I can't recall the name of, that I decided I had had enough to drink for the night because I was under severe influence of alcohol and Shawn was already throwing up on the bathroom and I had no desire to share that experience. Unfortunately there is a portion, or it may even be the entirety of, your brain that ceases to function once alcohol has taken over. Because of this, when JR lead me back to a club called GasPanic for the second time, I had immediately forgotten my recent resolution. Shawn at this point was in no shape for anything and simply sat in a hallway outside of the door trying to sober up. Time at this point things begin to blur and I have no clue what exactly went on for about three hours while we were at GasPanic. There were tequila shots going around every thirty minutes or so which could have a lot to do with the haze that involves that timeframe. At some point JR decides that we've been there long enough and leads me out of GasPanic.

From what he told me the following day, Shawn was sitting in the hallway until he felt well enough to begin walking again. Though we were in the club that he was sitting next to, he felt the need to go looking for us because he could not remember where we had gone. One of the bawds was gracious enough to inform him that we were in a club right this way. Though we were in fact not there, an Egyptian woman was who took interest in Shawn.

Because of this, when JR led me out of GasPanic there was no Shawn to be found. I decide that we should probably try to get back to the hotel before the rail lines stop running which is around 1AM. This decision comes despite the fact that I have absolutely no clue what time it is or even how to get back to the rail station. JR and I walk the streets for a while, the blind leading the blind, until we come to a set of stairs that goes down below the street. Normally, what this means is that there is a train station below. Following this logic I proceed to descend the stairs and walk the hallway that the stairs lead me to. At this point I don't know if JR was still following me or not. At the end of the hallway was another set of stairs leading back up again. Seeing no other course of action, I walk up these stairs only to end up at the street level again. Confused I walk back down, through the hallway, and back up the stairs again only to find the street once more. Too tired continue walking and too incoherent to understand that this was not a subway station I fell asleep on the stairs leading to the hallway with more stairs. I wake up and it is considerably lighter outside than it was when I went to bed. I can rationale that this is not a subway station now and get up to try and find one. JR is no where to be seen. Though I can't recall how I managed to find a subway, I did make it to a station and I do remember ordering a ticket to Shinjuku so that I could transfer to a line that would take me to Kudanshita station. Still inebriated and going on what could not have been more than three hours of sleep, I somehow manage to do this. I fall asleep briefly on the train to Shinjuku but manage to wake up in time to exit there. I somehow find the train to Kudanshita and exit at the station right outside of the hotel. I make it to our room in hopes that my companions had managed to somehow find there way back as well and I ring the doorbell. Shawn answers and asks me where JR is. I tell him I don't know, worry for a minute that he might be lost somewhere, and then promptly fall asleep.

A while later JR rings the door bell and begins rambling as soon as he enters the room. All I can make out is that he lost all of his money and that he only has 50 yen (about 40 cents)to his name. I realize I'm extremely thirsty and get up to get a drink from the bathroom. The cold water feels nice and I go back to bed. For several hours I randomly wake up to a really bad stomach ache and continue to drink the cold water from the faucet. It is somewhere around 1PM and I get up to shower so I can go eat because my stomach will not stop hurting and I figure it is because I am hungry. I take a shower but realize I'm still in no mood or shape to walk and go back to bed again. I wake up as Shawn does and ask him to accept a quest for food. Being the awesome friend he is, he agrees to go look for bread products to settle my stomach. As he's showering I start to feel really ill and stumble into the bathroom to tell him I think I have to throw up. Sure enough I was right and the majority of the water I had drunk came back up again. I vocalize my decision to never, in the course of my life, drink that much alcohol again. Feeling considerably better but still ill I go back to bed. Shawn wakes me up and tells me to only drink room temperature water and hands me a package of little bread balls. I eat them slowly and drink only a little bit and fall asleep again. My body decides that even this very moderated amount of foreign substance was too much and I make another run to the bathroom. I go back to bed and wake up randomly off and on until about midnight. Today was the day we were supposed to go see Kamakura I think to myself. My stomach actually feels like it can handle food again and so Shawn and I eat at a place called Jonathan's which is Japan's attempt at a Denny's. They do a considerably better job than we do. I drink the best ginger ale I've ever had in my life and we go back up to our room again.

So in the course of three days Japan has ruined Shawn's knees and ankles, JR's wallet, and my stomach.

Tomorrow we go to Nagano to see monkeys bath in hot springs.

In preparation of visiting Japan I reviewed a lot of information about etiquette and what the proper process for doing X, Y, and Z event was. After only two days in the country I've realized that the majority of what I had read was fairly untrue. Perhaps that is unfair of me as I could see the rules being different for those visiting the country for business purposes, as a tourist the interactions I've had and the interactions I've witnessed between natives have all been very casual.

These are some of the things I have noticed:
1. People do wear the doctor's mask looking thing as they travel around the city, but it isn't out of fear of some SARS epidemic. It is used to stop the spreading of germs and worn mainly by those who are sick.
2. People are not constantly bowing at each other as a greeting. So far the only person that I have seen do it at all was a lady that greeted us when we exited the gondola in Nokogiriyama.
3. People are very polite and you will constantly hear the words please in thank you (in Japanese of course).
4. There is very little pollution in the streets. Even in the heart of Tokyo the streets are immaculate.
5. Japan is not absurdly expensive. In fact, there are several items cheaper in Tokyo than they are even in Oklahoma. The McDonalds here has a 100 yen menu instead of a dollar menu. 100 yen equals about 80 cents. Even the 7-11 had drinks and ramen for a dollar. Yes, there are restaurants with meals for 84,000 yen (about $80) but that's to be said for any major city.
6. Not everyone knows English. In fact, very few people know English. Even the people at the front counter of our hotel that caters to foreigners can only speak very slight conversational English. Case in point: I needed an adapter for my laptop because our room only had two prong electrical plugs and my AC adapter is three prong. I call the front desk to ask of they have an adapter for me to convert the prongs and the lady kept asking me if I needed a doctor. I wasn't able to get the adapter until I went to the front desk with my plug in hand.
7. Despite the lack of a common language, if you visit only greater Tokyo and have at least a small bit of critical thinking skills you will be able to travel and function with little difficulty. Everything important on the rails is in English.

Some things are quite different and some things are as expected.

I've created a photo album on my Seatortoise.com website which will store all of the pictures I take here in Japan. There are folders for each day so you can associate the pictures with the journal entry. You can access the photo album at http://www.seatortoise.com/album/

There's a ramen shop near our hotel that we decided should be our first real place to eat at in Japan. Walking into the shop you see a counter that runs the length of the room with a cook behind it. Patrons take their sets around the bar to order their food. Thankfully the shop was fairly empty and we managed to get the cook's attention and point at pictures on a menu on the wall. He steps around the counter and pointed at a machine below the menu. As it turns out, to order food you simply put money into the machine and select the corresponding number that matches the item you want from the menu. The machine spits out a ticket and appropriate change. You then sit at the bar and simply hand the cook your ticket, at which point he provides the meal. When you are done you simply get up and walk out. Though obviously foreign to me at first, I love the idea of the system. We're going back tomorrow in hopes of a slightly smoother transaction.

I've read that it is a good idea to learn a little bit of Kanji so that you will not be entirely lost while traveling through Japan. While I'm sure the advice was intended to be helpful, it was a lie. There are but two simple roman letters that will save you regardless of where you are: JR. JR is the company that owns the majority of the rail in the country of Japan and our 10 day JR East rail passes allow us unlimited use of the JR East lines. This becomes very important during our trip to visit the largest Buddha statue in Japan.

Our goal was Kurihama so that we could take a ferry ride across the bay of Tokyo to a town called Nokogiriyama. We kept our Japan tradition and managed to take wrong rail line to the Tokyo station, though I say with pride that we have yet to be fully lost. It was about a two hour rail ride until we finally reached Kurihama. I should mention that this entire journey today was inspired by a Wikitravel article that stated to get to the Buddha statue simply take the ferry from Kurihama to Nokogiriyama. Upon exiting the Kurihama station there was no water, much less bay in sight. Having come too far to simply turn around now we walk the streets of Kurihama until a road sign points us in the direction of the Tokyowan Ferry. We reached the ferry and managed to purchase tickets and get a map to the Buddha statue across the bay despite the fact that the only English word spoken from anyone other than ourselves was "walk" in reference to the time it takes from the ferry landing to the gondola at the base of the mountain.

Though it is only a 2 minute gondola ride to the top of Nokogiriyama, it was about two hours before we reached the bottom of the other side. At the beginning of our decent we playfully mocked the people walking back up towards the gondola for their lack of breath and energy. We soon felt the full effect of karma as we were stumbling and panting by the time we had decended to the giant Buddha statue. A pamphlet promised a JR rail station at the base so we decided finishing the hike down would be better than going back up again. On the way down we ran into several small shrines, gardens, and statues but there was no JR rail station to be found. A sign pointed back towards the ferry landing and said 3 kilometers. Exhausted and ready to head home we began the trek back only to be stopped by a tunnel with enough room for traffic, but not pedestrians. We were entirely lost and without a plan until we happened upon a bus stop that had a small map of the town we had ended up in with the two most magical letters in Japan on it: JR. The journey to the train station could not have been more than 2 kilometers but after the three of us had finished our hike we were in no shape for additional walking, especially Shawn who said it felt like all of the cartilage in his knees and ankles had disappeared. We managed to finally make it to the JR Hota station which had a train that we could ride all the way back to Chiba station in Tokyo.

To save others from our fate, I updated the Wikitravel article to reflect the long walk at the base of Nokogiriyama and provided slightly better directions to the ferry from the JR rail station. Exhausted from a long day of hiking we simply ate ramen in our room from a local 7-11 and watched TV in a language we couldn't understand.

Today was actually two days for me. It's currently 10 PM in Tokyo (7AM CST) and I've been "up" since, well I don't really remember when. I guess you could call it since the 28th but that would be cheating. I've managed to catch an hour or two here and there to make what feels like a full night's rest...kinda. We left Dallas at 4:30 in the morning there to board a plane to Atlanta. It was in Atlanta that we actually had our first subway/tram experience that I thought would not come until we reached Japan. On portion of the airport looked more like a subway station than a hub between terminals. In Atlanta we thought we had an hour and a half between flights before we realized the difference in time zones. Luckily we boarded the plane on time but I feel a bit nauseated each time I think about the fact that we caught our plane to Tokyo with only five minutes before departure.

The flight from Atlanta to Tokyo was hell if you ask either Shawn or JR. Shawn had taken some type of medicine from his mom and slept for 10 hours of the 14 hour flight so I'm not sure why it bothered him so much. JR on the other hand could not fall asleep for one reason or another and continuously commented on the space available for his legs and feet. I managed to grab an hour here and there between the onboard showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Zathura. The televisions also had continuously updated data about the flight itself available.

Once we landed at Narita airport in Japan we made our way through immigration. Though I had heard other people's horror stories, the process was entire unpainful and quite easy despite having not been prepared for it in the least or speaking the native language. From the Narita airport we boarded the Narita Express train to Tokyo Station, which is the central hub for all train traffic in the greater Tokyo area. Along the way to Tokyo Station we passed a surprising amount of farm land. Though never out of eyesight of a cluster of urban sprawl, the farm land looked eager for spring to be in full effect so they could began growing in earnest.

As expected the subway system did prove to be more than us gaijin could handle, though after a bit of effort we managed to find the hotel without having lost our baggage or sanity. Though wiser men would have settled into the hotel for the night, our spirits were invigorated by the Tokyo skyline from our hotel room so we decided to wander through a festival we had seen while searching for our hotel. While I can't confirm it with any certainty, I believe it was to celebrate the blossoming of the Sakura trees. There was a wide array of native food from whole fish to octopus to what ever it is that I ended up purchasing. I also picked up what I thought was a Grapefruit soda but turned out to be alcoholic. Oops. The festival took place under beautiful Sakura trees and near a gigantic cement Torii gate. People ate in booths like you would see at any Oktoberfest, but there was also a surprising amount of people gathered on large blankets taking part in a community picnic. There was even a man wearing some type of swan hat.

Once we had completed our meals we took a brief walk down Iidabachi, the road in front of our hotel, to see if we could locate any interesting stores to visit in the future. Unsurprisingly there was an array of sushi shops, but there were also many other types of restaurants and even a 7-11 of all things. Too tired to continue we made our way back to the hotel for a full nights rest in a real bed. Tomorrow promises just as many new experiences.

It's currently 11:30 at night and I've been up for a little over 26 hours. My lack of sleep, while due in no small part to excitement, was caused mainly by my lack of preparation. Even as I type this I should be packing. But this journey must be well documented and if I only pack 6 pairs of socks instead of 7, I'll simply consider it suffering for my art. The biggest cause for concern today was acquiring the JR Rail Pass that allows a tourist to travel around Japan for free on the JR train lines. For about $250 you get 10 days of free travel. Having waited until the day before my plane leaves, the Houston office of JalPak informs me that they will need to send the train passes overnight. Hurray for procrastination. Unfortunately the lady from JalPak named Kuniko informed me today that she accidentally sent the tickets 2 day air instead of overnight. By the time the passes were to arrive at my house I would already be in Tokyo. Though the woman went out of her way to send me the tickets without the normal 2 day processing fee to begin with, she felt so bad about incorrectly sending the passes that she had a courier service bring the tickets to Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City. At about 20 hours without sleep I make my way to the airport with Steve as a passenger. Once the passes are in hand I call Kuniko to tell her the good news. She sounds so happy she almost cries. After feeling so bad for sending out the passes incorrectly she drove in the rain for 4 hours to get to the Houston airport. First task upon my return: send Kuniko a thank you card.