So Long Farwell ... Japan - March 24th

Took at taxi from Bryan's apartment to the bus pickup on base. It cost about 1000 Yen extra than train hopping in between taxi's. The straight shot was well worth it, as it has been raining all day. After getting a number, I headed over to Starbuck's and McDonald's to get ready for the trip. It was absolutely pouring when I was going around base. When the bus pulled up I was in the right position to be the first person on the bus. The bus was very foggy so no good pictures where to be had to day.

The computers for United decided that today was an excellent day to take a vacation. It took just about an hour to get checked in. For the most part I am an ocean of patience, but with the thought of the United Red Carpet Lounge just on the other side of customs I got a little perturbed. Which the woman at the counter sensed and got me through before some other folks. It also didn't hurt that I was easily a head taller than everyone else in line.

The loading time is about an hour away and I am enjoying the lounge, hard not to.

So long Japan - March 24th

Kyoto Trip End - March 23rd

We decided to get in a walk around an area that we had not gone yet. The most interesting thing we saw was the original Nintendo Playing Cards company building. We had lunch at the first place we had eaten in Kyoto. The Ramen was still good. We got to the platform about 30 minutes before the shinkansen departed. During the ride we saw about the bottom third of Mount Fuji. We got on a packed train from Shin-Yokohama back to Bryan's apartment which was an interesting experience trying to balance three bags while not falling over or bumping into anyone. After dropping off the bags we went to back to Yokosuka for Nirvana dinner.

Kyoto End - March 23rd

Kyoto Day Four - March 22nd

The first stop after eating breakfast was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Which you reach by taking the JR Kobe line two stops. The shrine entrance is directly outside the station. This Shrine is open all the time and it is free. Dawn to Dusk are the normal hours that people visit. There was more Torii gates in this small area than I have ever seen combined. Each one was sponsored by someone, from the largest to the smallest. You could get a small one for 4000 Yen. The large amount of foxes can be attributed to them being the messengers of the Shinto god of rice Inari. There were many people running/hiking it is about a two hour loop to complete. After seeing pretty much half of the path we headed back to Kyoto.

We walked from JR Kyoto station to the Imperial Palace garden. That took around an hour with a pitstop at the Starbucks Concept store. The Sakura look like they are within a week of blooming. The plum trees were in bloom as you can see in the series of photos of people taking photos of flowers. We even got into the fun of it. It was pretty funny to see people with lens worth several thousands dollars taking pictures of flowers.

After walking back to the city hall area and getting lunch it was a quick walk through Gion. This area is the most famous area in Japan for Geisha. Our quick walk did not find any, but I do like to keep a steady pace. We then headed through the area we had walked through on Friday night.

The next stop on the fast walking tour was Heian Shrine. This shrine is made to look like the Imperial Palace of the Heian era. It was built in 1895 to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of the time that Kyoto had become the capital of Japan. There were two very cool washing stations on the grounds. One I will say it looked like a cougar and the other a dragon.

From the Heian shrine we walked towards the Path of Philosophy. The path is next to a small river and is covered by various types of trees. At the head of the path is Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) which is not actually covered in silver. It was built as a complement to the Gold Temple on the other side of Kyoto. The funding never came together to make the outside silver. One reason may be that it is a 2 hour walk from Kyoto station. The grounds were very well kept and it was my first time to see a Zen pebble garden. The flan shaped object was about 4 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. We headed out to the hotel after that, it was a half hour walk to the subway station. For dinner we went back to the city hall arcade. I did some long shutter time shots with my camera near the station.

By rough estimate we walked 12 miles today. I will be feeling it tomorrow for sure. The shinkansen leaves at 1400 so we can get in a little more of Kyoto in the morning.

Kyoto Day 4 - March 22nd

Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto - March 21st

Osaka:
We left Kyoto around 752 on a limited express train bound for Osaka. At the same exact time a Special Express left. It was very strange because both trains arrived at around the same time at JR Osaka station, but were making different stops. The trip took around 33 minutes to complete. Once outside the station we found a information station and got a map. We also asked where the closest MontBell was, which resulted in about five minutes of the guys in the information area saying Mont Bello before realizing it was right next to the station. Being in Japan nothing opens early so we had some time to burn.

The only major thing we did in Osaka was go to the Umeda Sky Building. There is a path to get from the station to this building, but there is no English instructions. That is one thing that we noticed in Osaka, there was very little in English. At 1000 we went to the 32 floor in a glass elevator. There was a woman in the elevator who was saying scary in Japanese and had her eyes closed the entire time. The final five floors is a ride up an escalator the next five floors. The escalator is in between the to buildings and you can see out and up. This activity is not suggested for those who do not like heights. They let you on top of the building it was very windy and cloudy so I didn't get too many shots. Later in the day it became very nice, so timing was a little off. If you are in Osaka and it is a clear day be sure to check this out.

We stopped at a Starbuck's to buy an Osaka city mug and then it was off to Kobe for lunch.

Kobe:
The train ride to Kobe was interesting. We got on the first train that was on the correct platform and headed the correct direction. We soon realized that it was the type of train you need a ticket to ride, so we hopped out at the next station. Did not want to run into a "No Ticket" situation Once in Kobe we spent 10 minutes looking for an information station before deciding just to head up to lunch. It was just one station on the subway line to the Ana Crowne Plaza hotel where the restaurant was located. We stopped in the restaurant and were told that it would be around a 30 minute wait. So we decided to try and find the Starbucks Concept Store in Kobe.

Kobe was the first sister city to Seattle back in 1957, so it is only fitting that it should have an awesome Starbuck's. It is located inside a house that was constructed at the turn of the last century. The house was destroyed in the 1995 earthquake that killed 6000. The American owner donated it to the city after the earthquake. The building has since been rebuilt and reinforced to prevent destruction by earthquake again. After picking up a city mug it was time for Kobe in Kobe.

Kobe steak is something between extreme excess and an art form. When you walk into the restaurant you will see posted by the door the different grades of beef available that day. With each grade you will also get a number, which can be entered into a Japanese Beef Lineage website. This way you can know exactly where the cow was raised and slaughtered at. The cows for Kobe beef are feed only the choice grain, Sake, and massaged many times a day. It is said the meat is so tender you could cut it with chopsticks.

Well it wasn't that tender but you didn't need to chew it. It was both the most expensive meal I have ever had (13,700 Yen) but also the best steak. For obvious reasons of pocketbook and health you couldn't do this too often, but for an experience it was awesome. The steak is presented to you to verify that is what you want and then the chef cooks it right in front of you. It worked out to be a 7 coarse meal. It was back to Kyoto after lunch.

Kyoto:
We got to the JR Sannomiya station at got on the 1610 train bound for Maibara. In the scrolling Kanji I figured that the train would stop at Kyoto so we were good to sit the whole way. We arrived at the JR Kyoto station at 1730. Quick stop at the room and it was back to the festival of lights area. The stop tonight was
Kiyomizudera (Pure Water Temple). It is famous for the fact that it is built on scaffolding. I finally figured out how to control the shutter speed and brought the tripod so great shots were had. After spending an hour of so we headed back to the hotel room after grabbing so McDonald's for dinner. Tomorrow is the last full day in Kyoto so time to recharge once more.

Osaka Kobe Kyoto March 21st

Kyoto Day Two / Nara - March 20th

We headed out this morning around 700. Getting going took a little more effort than preparing for one of my Tokyo trips. I attribute it to the running around we did after getting in last night. After having breakfast at Starbucks at the base of Kyoto tower to was off to Ni Joo-Joo. To get there we bought a one day pass for 1200 Yen, they also sell a two day pass for 2000 Yen. The one day pass gets you access to most buses in the city and all subway lines.

Ni Joo-Joo:
This is the castle that is just north of Kyoto station. It was built in 1603 for a shogun Ieyasu. The interior floors were made to make noise as an alarm system (nightingale floors). It was interesting walking around hearing the floor constantly squeaking. The interior was fairly large, no photography was allowed inside. There are striking similarities to the castle design here and what I saw in the UK. After finishing up we decided to go check out the Kinkaku-Ji.

Kinkaku-Ji (Golden Temple):
To get to the Golden temple we got on a bus right outside of Ni Joo-Joo. On the approach to the entrance there is a hill off to the right where the Kanji for big was. They lite it on fire at night, this is a ways away from where we are staying so I doubt I will be getting a picture of it on this trip. The Golden Temple was in a very good place for picture taking. The lake that it sits on was still so there are a few very nice reflection shots. There was a good amount of walking around this area. The next stop was lunch.

Okonomi-Yaki:
We found an Okonomi-Yaki place in the mall right next to the city hall. This is an interesting dish and this was the first time I had it prepared at the table we ate at. It is mostly cabbage with batter and then fish flakes. It took a little longer than I had thought to eat, but it was a decent meal for a good price. After we were fueled up it was off to Nara.

Nara:
If you want to travel from Kyoto to Nara there are two different train lines you can take. We decided on the JR line. This was mostly based on the fact that I have a Suica and it is really easy to get around. The express train takes 44 minutes from Kyoto to Nara.

Nara is celebrating its 1300 year anniversary right now. So if you see a crazy deer human thing in my pictures it is the symbol for Nara and it is everywhere for the celebration. From the station it is a 15 minute walk to the area with most of the sites to see. The first thing was stopped and got pictures of was a five story pagoda. While walking to our next stop we got into the deer park. There are over 1000 deer living in this area of Nara. For 150 Yen you can buy a deer biscuit. This is not to eat but to give to the deer. They were everywhere, we saw an unsuspecting guy leave his hand down with a biscuit and he got nibbled by the deer. He ran away from the deer heading straight for us and basically hiding behind us. I supposed just head for the scary white guys and the deer will know not to step. They did have someone shoot a deer last week with an arrow. That was the third deer that has been shot in the last 10 years. Two with arrows and one with a harpoon interestingly enough. I don't believe that anyone accepts deer as land whales. One of the deer was trying to cross the street and almost got hit by a taxi. I am guessing if you do that very stiff penalties will be enforced. The next stop was the largest wooden building in the world which holds the largest bronze Daibutsu (Giant Buddha) in Japan. Toodai-Ji is very awesome in person, it is hard to believe that the original casting of the Daibutsu was done in 746. After checking this area out we headed to one more stop before going back to Kyoto. The last thing in Nara was Kasuga Taisha. There are hundreds of lanterns spread throughout the approach and inside the shrine.

Kyoto:
We basically ran back to the train station in an attempt to make it on the express. Which we found we had enough time for and it was delayed an additional 4 minutes. The majority of the track in between Nara and Kyoto is only one rail, so if you miss your time you will wait along the way. We got to the second station and were in a holding pattern for 10 minutes. The train was nice and warm with several miles walked already I found myself falling asleep I woke up about 10 minutes before getting to Kyoto. The train had filled up in that time. We had dinner at a Katsu place in the covered arcade area by city hall. It was really awesome once you got inside. It was pretty strange they had a large table which seated 16, so it was like eating at home with a bunch of strange people. I got a custard dish that I thought was going to be a desert. Well I was wrong. It had shrimp, pork, and fish hot dog. I need to quickly cleanse the pallet after that experience so 100 Yen well spent on a soft cream from McDonald's did that job. We walked back to the hotel from that area which took around 40 minutes. We got back just in time because as the forecast had promised rain has arrived. Time to get some sleep to recharge for tomorrows trip to Osaka and Kobe.

Kyoto Day Two Nara - March 20th

Kyoto Day One - March 19th

I walked a lot today, as is testified by the pictures. Before arriving in Kyoto I maybe walked 4 blocks. After I got packed up in the morning I headed to Shiori station and went to Yokosuka Chuo to get Starbucks. After reading up on Kyoto in my Lonely Planet Guidebook I headed back to Yokosuka Chuo. Bryan had left work at 930 and the train was leaving at 952. He arrived at the station out of breath at 948. It takes a little longer than 15 minutes to walk from work to the station. He realized this and ran most of the way. As that was the biggest thing that happened today, it was a pretty good day.

We road the Limited Express to Yokohama and transferred to the JR Yokohama line and road it 3 stops to Shin-Yokohama. It is a much smaller station than I had thought, it just services Shinkansen, Subway, and JR Yokohama line. As we got to the gate we got the tickets out. We inserted them and they came back out with an alarming chime and the wicket gate shutting. After observing a few people go through you needed to use your Suica/Pasmo to get through the gate. After we got on the platform we got ready for the "Bullet Train" which arrived and we had barely gotten to our seats when that train started rolling.

Overall the train ride was extremely smooth. The only times where it got a little turbulent was when the train would pass through a tunnel at the same time another train was going the other way. Fluid dynamics always works. The train was a 300 Series Shinkansen capable of speeds of around 170 MPH. To get the 16 cars moving that fast it takes 25 kV at 60 Hz. The train also stops quickly, without passing scenery you would not know that you were going that fast. It took 2 hours 20 minutes to get from Shin-Yokohama to Kyoto. There were 5 stops along the way. A guy came through the train checking tickets, I was hoping for a "No Ticket" moment but everyone was good on that account.

After we got to Kyoto station we set out to find the hotel which took us around 20 minutes. As we now know it takes 4 minutes to walk from the other side of the station to the hotel. Check-in was 15 minutes after we arrived, so we headed out to get something to eat. We ended up in a mall on the North side of the station. And found a Ramen place that was excellent. We both went with Gyoza sets, I got the soy sauce ramen and Bryan went with the Miso variety.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and got into the room. The hotel is very nice and has a good location near Kyoto station. If you are going to visit Kyoto the New Miyako is not a bad place to be. We headed out to the visitors center in the station, and got Maps for the bus system and Kyoto. Kyoto has a light festival right now so we also received a map for that.

The next stop was going to Kyoto Tower to get our bearings set. It was 770 Yen to go to the top. The one thing that sticks out to me about Kyoto is how low all the buildings are. The roads are wider and there are a lot more bikes on the road. I got some nice shots from the Tower and then headed to the Starbucks that is in the ground floor of the same building. We then decided on a plan to head North and go up to an Arcade and then hit an Irish Pub for dinner.

On the way up we stopped at a large temple just north of Kyoto tower. The grounds were very large and they had coy swimming around in the exterior moat. One thing I have noticed is that there are pidgins at every temple. The birds know where the food is so it is not surprising. After the temple we found the Kyoto Starbucks Concept store and another temple. It was then time to try out the local public transportation. We found out that for the subway system in Kyoto Suica/Pasmo are not accepted, so we got to buy a ticket.

The arcade was really cool and had many interesting shops. My favorite was an wood block print store, that had a lot of traditional Japanese artwork created using the old method. After walking through two more Arcades it was dinner time. The staff was in the process of taking down all of the Saint Patricks day decorations, seems a little late to me. I went with Bangers and Mash for dinner, Bryn had an Irish Stew. Both were excellent.

After dinner with crossed the river and headed up to the light festival and almost ran into many Japanese people carrying tripods and cameras. It was extremely busy, this coming Monday is a Japanese national holiday to celebrate the spring equinox. It also signals the start of Japanese spring break. It was refreshing to walk around and see non-Japanese people who were not speaking English. In Tokyo almost everyone you see who is Western is speaking Ego-Ga. About a third of the way through the path I noticed that I was down to 1 bar on my camera so I had to ration out the pictures. Tomorrow I will have my spare battery on hand and charged up.

We headed back to the hotel and transferred at one station to a JR line. Bryan found out the Pasmo does not work for JR West trains. At 2320 you can still hear the trains going strong at the station, but they will soon quit. Time to recharge for another day.

Kyoto Day 1 - March 19th

Thursday March 18th

After the last day of work on this trip I met up with some coworkers for dinner. None of them had been to Za Watami. We tried the horse tar tar, which was pretty good. After dinner we tried to go get "Japanese Pancakes" filled with custard but they were all sold out, so we got ice cream instead. After getting desert I walked around and showed them where my favorite spots in the Yokosuka Chuo area were. Then it was back on base looking for Bose QC15 noise canceling headphones. Which the NEX did not have in stock, well something to look forward to for my next trip.

I spent the rest of the evening packing for tomorrow.

Thursday - March 18th

Wednesday March 17th

Top of the Morning to you all. Or from whatever time zone you are viewing this hello. Happy St. Patrick's Day. After work I introduced Nick to the pizza place on base at Club Alliance. They were serving shepherds pie, So I had to get some of that. As I was wearing green I got my soda for free. Talk about luck of the Irish. One more day of work before vacation.

Wednesday March 17th

Tuesday - March 16th

After work I walked around Mikasa park and got some decent shots. Then headed back on base for dinner and more work. Two more days until vacation. Not that I would be counting or anything of the sort.

Tuesday - March 16th

Monday - March 15th

Tonight I introduced Nick to Yakitori. The place that I normally to go was not open tonight, so we went to the one just down the street. It had even less space, but it was cool to eat Yakitori while watching Sumo.

March 15th

Kamakura to Tokyo - March 14th

This morning we set out to head to Kamakura and Enoshima. After getting to Kamakura we went to the Starbucks Concept store and planned the day. We first headed up to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-Gu which is the shrine at the end of the major avenue in Kamakura. As we approached we saw that a crane was being used to do something near the stairs. The tree which was rumored to be 800 years old had fallen over during the large wind storms that we have been having. They were attempted to get it set right again.

We decided to go to the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) next. Just as we got to the train station Bryan called and said he wanted to go the the Mega Web in Odaiba. I had wanted to got there so we changed plans and headed back to Yokosuka and then onto Tokyo.

After a quick stop at the hotel we hopped on the Keikyu line from Shiori and headed to Yokosuka Chuo. The timing was perfect as we got to the platform heading to Shinagawa just before the train pulled in. Six stops later we were in Tokyo. To get to Odaiba you have to ride the Yurikamome line which starts at Shimbashi. If you stay on the Keikyu line the train will turn into a Toei line car. This was a green car today so it was better suited for the Toei. Four stops on the Asakusa Toei line we were at Shimbashi.

As we were leaving the station we followed the signs to the Yurikamome line, if I had been paying better attention I would have realized that we were walking to the second station in the line. So after a 10 minute walk we got on the Yurikamome line and head to Odaiba. Lunch time was fast approaching so we got some grub at the Hawaiian burger restaurant in the mall.

After that we headed to Toyota Mega Web effectively the largest Toyota showroom in the world. After looking around the cars we hopped on the Ferris Wheel and got some more shots of the Tokyo Sky Tree. Toyota was showing off some Segway lights, they were pretty cool, just big enough to stand on. After we had seen what we were going to see we got back on the Yurikamome line and headed back to Shimbashi. This time we headed the correct direction and got on the train headed to Yokohama.

We got off at Yokohama and headed to the Nissan world headquarters which also has a showroom. It was about a 15 minute walk from the train station. We looked at the various cars and each took turns sitting in the GT-R that was on the floor. It was a fingerprint magnet and one of the women working on the floor kept wiping them off as each group cleared out.

Headed back to Yokosuka and got dinner at Nirvana, portion sizes are smaller than other alternatives for Indian food in Yokosuka but the Garlic Nan cannot be beat.

Kamakura Tokyo - March 14th

Tokyo Again - March 13th

After breakfast this morning we went to Shiori and hopped on the first train that pulled through, which happened to be a Limited Express. It was a decent ride up to Shinagawa, not too packed. The first destination was Asakusa, the Keikyu-Line turns into the Asakusa Toei line at Shinagawa. The Limited express train had two doors for each car and a rows of four seats between the two doors. This style of train does not work for a subway situation. So as I had expected everyone got off the train at Shinagawa, we waited a couple of minutes and another train came in and we got on that. It is 12 stops to Asakusa from Shinagawa which took around 15 minutes.

Asakusa:
One of my standard stops for showing people on their first trip to Tokyo. It has a good selection of shops with souvenirs and has a unique temple and shrine. The Tokyo Sky Tree is in the process of being constructed, it currently stands at around 300 Meters tall, which is taller than Landmark Tower. We crossed the Sumida-Gawa (River) and got some good pictures from the Asahi Brewery complex. Which also seemed to be home to several homeless people and dogs. There were a lot of people handing out the watchtower around the entrance to Asakusa. After we crossed back across the river we had to stop at Starbucks. We walked around the grounds of Senso-Ji which is the temple for the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kannon. The temple is still being refinished. They are using solid modeling CAD to help in the restoration. The ceilings of the building had some very nice murals. After walking through the Nakamise-Dori (Avenue) shopping area it was back on the train.

Ueno:
A quick change of plans resulted in us hopping off the train at Ueno. I had never been there and I had heard many good things about the park. We spent around an hour walking around the park area. We found the entrance to the zoo and a Totum pole, which was fun. A few plum trees were in bloom Ume, the cherry trees still have yet to blossom into Sakura. This is a great area to go when the Sakura are out, or at least in spring it should be nice.

Akihabara:
Back on track we had to hit Electric Town. We stopped and had Doughnut Plant doughnuts before heading into Yodobashi, I had a berry doughnut this time. It was decent but it does not compare to the "Black-Out" anyone who has an opportunity to try a Doughnut Plant doughnut, make the Black-Out your first stop. I finally picked up a polarizing filter for my Nikon. I spent the rest of the daylight hours playing with it. It is awesome, I am still trying to get the hang of it, but it is another tool to use.

Tokyo:
In another change of direction I decided to walk around the Imperil palace area. It is about a 10 minute walk from Tokyo Station. The day could not have been nicer, clear blue skies. Which worked for the runners who were running around the Imperial palace grounds. This was my second time to visit the area and both times I have seen a lot of runners. The area does have a good deal of elevation change and decently wide paths. After taking some pictures of the guards it was back to Tokyo Station.

Roppongi:
A quick tour around the Roppongi Hills area. I did find something out this time, there is an exit that makes it very quick to get over to the complex. I had been walking 10 minutes to get there, but if you use the correct exit from the station you pop right into the complex. As it was extremely windy I had no desire to go to the top of the building today. We hit lunch at the Hard Rock, with the 15 percent discount we get it is a pretty good deal. I had a chicken club sandwich. They did have a themed meal for the coming holiday. Not sure who would really want Corned Beef and Cabbage, the 25% of me that would care about such things was overruled by the rest of my heritage.

Shibuya:
The last stop of the tour today was the mass crossing. It was decently busy, but nothing like it is at night.

Dinner was Za-Watami. Tomorrow should have more walking so it was an early night in preparation of the fun.

Saturday March 13th

Friday March 12th

Took it easy today in preparation of the two long trips this weekend. Went to the place refereed to as 12 frogs for dinner. Korean BBQ style food. Rode the train back from the Yokosuka Chuo station to Shiori to cut down on the travel time.

Friday March 12th

Back to Minatomirai - March 11th

Now that Nick has had a few days under his belt to digest what it is like to be in Japan it was time for Train riding 101. The ride from the airport does not count because of the semi awake state that one experiences while traveling. The one from Shiori to the outlet mall counts as a 98 level course because it is pretty simple and does not have the traffic that heading into the big city has.

Yesterday we swung by the JR Yokosuka station after work to pick up a Suica card. This is a card which you can put money on for train travel. You pass the card over a section on the wicket gate and travel through. When you leave the next station you perform the same action and it deducts the difference between the station you entered and exited. This is an extremely fast way to get through the train system here.

So after we got off work we headed back the hotel and then headed to Shiori and hopped on the next train. Which was awesome because it was an Rapid Express meaning it was 5 stops to Yokohama. After three stops you can transfer to a Limited Express, but this does not gain you anything because it is two stops from there to Yokohama. At Yokohama station we exited the Keikyu line and transferred to the Minatomirai line.

After arriving at Minatomirai we walked around the area for about half an hour. Taking loads of pictures as you can see below. Then we headed into the Landmark Plaza Mall. I made a stop at a shop that has many things from Studio Ghibli films. Then it was to the ground floor of the mall to eat some Okinomiyaki, which is really good. I will allow those interested to Wiki item themselves. After words we went and got some Coldstone. As they were preparing our Ice Cream they sung. I rewarded them with a tip which resulted in much bowing and another song. Nick was bright red at the experience, but I was not too many shades off myself. As we walked out a group of Americans were in line and one of them said to me, "You must have tipped them."

We then headed back to Yokohama station and got on the platform to head back to Yokosuka. The green train pulled up and 30 people got off, it was still pretty packed when we got in. Being a Limited Express it was three stops back to Yokosuka Chuo. It is about a 15 minute walk from that station to our hotel. We could have taken a local back to Shiori, but it was a good experience for Nick to see how the stations were related.

Back to Minatomirai

Wednesday - March 10th

After work Nick and I spent an hour or so wandering around the Yokosuka Chuo area. We visited the 100 Yen store in The Prime. For dinner we went to Pepper Lunch. It is a good place to take people to get good fast food, and to introduce them to the vending machine concept.

Wednesday - March 10th

Hail Tuesday - March 9th

Have to love the weather in Japan right now. The cold weather has continued, unlike yesterday where the sun made brief but full appearance it was hidden all day. Hidden by large rain clouds. These particular rain clouds where moving very fast driven by the high wind. All told not the best day to be working outside.

For dinner Nick and I met up with a guy that I had hung out with last year Eric. His wife could not make it to dinner, but we ventured out and tried a new Indian restaurant on Highway 16. I had the Chicken masala Curry super spicy. It was very spicy, during the meal I had to order a Mango Lassi to quench the fire. A fire which was burning in my throat, and demonstrated in water coming from my eyes.

After dinner I went to meet up with Bryan to plan our trip down to Kyoto at the end of next week. On the way there I started to feel like sharp pains on my face and hands. I then realized that I was walking on hail. It is a good ten minute walk from the restaurant to where we met and by the time I got inside I had to go put my hands under water to warm them up. On the way in I noted that the temperature was 34, very cold. A nice white chocolate mocha warmed me up for the journey back to my hotel, but it does feel good to be back inside.

Hail Tuesday

Back in the Groove - March 8th

I am staying at a different hotel this time in Yokosuka. The breakfast is awesome, buffet style and the view is not to be missed in the morning. The weather during the day changed cloudy to sunny. When it was sunny it was okay to be outside, when the clouds rolled back in it got cold. The forecast looks like it is going to warm up Thursday, which would be nice. Tokyo is an awesome place to wander around, but the experience is much better when it is 10 degrees over freezing.

After work Nick and I headed out to the Yokohama Marina Outlet Mall. It was a good experience to teach him how to use the train with tickets. It is important to start with the basics. The Integrated Circuit cards make life very easy, but it is important to understand how and what your card is being charged. I tried a Sakura Steamer when we got to the mall. Not my cup of tea as it turned out. It was sweet and floral, too much so on both counts.

We got back into Yokosuka and headed out to get some food. I asked Nick to name a type of food he wanted. Noodles was the reply, so I then asked Ramen, Soba, or Udon. Ramen won out so we went to a place that also served Gyoza. I went with the Hot Spicy Ramen, a dish which lived up to both of the adjectives. Many glass of water had to be consumed to quench the fire.

March 8th

A very long travel day March 6th and 7th

My coworker arrived at the terminal about 2 hours prior to boarding. We hung out in the Red Carpet Club for an hour. Enjoying such treats as trail mix and yogurt. By the time we got back to the gate they had started boarding seating group number 2. As I was in one I went in and got settled.

All told the flight went extremely smoothly, just a few rough patches of turbulence. Once we had crossed the IDL we were pushing against 130 MPH headwinds. So the total flight time took 10 hours 15 minutes, which happens to be about an hour longer than I like being in an enclosed space. The landing was rough due to high winds and a lack of visibility. As always it is extremely reassuring to have the front of the plane drop in its time after the rear wheels have touched. It just took one bounce before the rear wheels were on the ground.

As the flight was longer than was expected we arrived in Customs at the same time as 7 other flights, it was extremely busy. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that I was able to get through Immigration without waiting. When we came out of customs we were met by a guy from work who informed us that we had missed the 1730 bus to base. This is something I knew. So the options was to either wait for 2 hours for the next bus or ride the train.

The train won out on the fact that on the way to the train is a Starbucks, and with being awake for 18 hours I was starting to fade. I informed the guy that I would be able to get my coworker and myself to the right place. He was relieved as he lives in Yokohama and it would have been very time consuming to travel down to Yokosuka and then back. Taking the train also proved to be the perfect opportunity to use the NEX Narita Express. It used to take three hours to get from Narita to Yokosuka. It took two and a half hours today with about a 20 minute delay at one station.

The one thing I failed to account for was how could it was going to be, it was 38 when we got in. Sitting on the platform waiting for the train to come, it got pretty cold. The luggage did not bother me like I thought it might have, but we were traveling at a lower demand time.

We arrived at the hotel at 2200 local time, 500 pacific. The check in process was a breeze, after getting set in the room. We went out for a walk around town. There is nothing like a hot curry to warm you up on a cold day. So we ate at Nirvanas, I had the Spinach Chicken Curry and Garlic Nan as always.

As I am posting this I opened my luggage to discover a nice not from the TSA about searching my bag. Everything is there, it is packed a littler better than I had managed. I should have known not to put a bag of 10 yen coins wrapped around my tripod with some wires. I can only imagine what it must have looked like. It is the slightest bit reassuring that they checked it.

Here are some photos

Travel Day

Trip Number 7 Begins

Well it is that time once more to enjoy another Journey to Japan. Long flight and lack of sleep always start off one of these trips. I am enjoying the quiet of the Red Carpet Lounge at SEATAC while waiting for a coworker to arrive. This will be his first trip to Japan. I always find it enjoyable to introduce someone to life in Japan as a Gaijin. The easy part of the trip is completed, now for the fun part.

The hardest decision today will be deciding where to eat dinner.