Blogzilla!!

Alright everyone this is the blog (and then some) that you have been waiting for...

As most of you know I went with Paul to Japan for our holiday break. We were gone from the 25th to the 2nd/3rd. I am going to recap it all as best as I can and as quickly as well.

We started our trip with a minor mishap that proved to be no big deal. We got up on the morning of the 25th to commence our journey to the land of the rising sun, gathered our things, and made our way to the bus for the airport. After a little while on the bus, Paul looked up from his ipod and screamed an expletive. I asked him what was wrong and he said he forgot his passport. He knew exactly where it was and why it was there so I said it is no big deal we will just get to the airport and see if we can push our flight back, go back to your place to get it, and come back to the airport. Long story short it all worked out pretty painlessly. After our incredibly short flight from Gimpo to Kansai, Osaka we grabbed a bus to Osaka station. From there we hopped a bus overnight to Tokyo. While it seemed as though a night bus was going to be cool and we might see some of Japan's countryside in the nighttime...we did not. We both got placed in aisle seats and all of the curtains were shut so there was nothing else to do but catch some Zs. We arrived in Tokyo sometime after 7am and figured our way to the area we were staying in. After a few hours of stumbling around Takadanobaba, Tokyo we finally got to check into the Tenten guesthouse. This was a place for travelers if we had ever seen one. There were a few rooms close to the size of a large studio apartment and each was equipped with numerous bunk beds with the lower bed just being on the floor. There were tiny kitchen areas and a small bathroom. Our bathroom had a squatting toilet and no shower so we had to use one of the other rooms' bathrooms if we wanted to have a proper elimination or shower. There were various travelers there and even Japanese guys who were living in there to save money. We met a nice guy named Tai (sp?) who was awake at odd hours and always wanted to know where we were going or if we were hungry. When we finally had a chance to do anything with him...he had left for good.

Our days in Tokyo at the start were on the rough side because we apparently came ill prepared. We quickly found out that most places in Tokyo do not take credit cards and it is a cash only city!! We each had ventured there with an allotted amount of cash but available cards expecting to be able to use them, so this spelled trouble. My father suggested that we go to a bank and see if they could help us and while that was a good idea; the banks were closed because it was the weekend. I naturally, overly stressed out about this and caused myself to not be able to enjoy a lot of what we did because of it. The problem did get solved on the following Monday but my stress didn't dissipate. On our first day we met up with Roy, a Japanese friend from college, and he took us around to Shibuya and Shinjuku, and then we went to a traditional Japanese bath house. We had some fun there until we found out that I could not go into the actual bath area because of my tattoos. The Japanese are fairly conservative on tattoos and believe that if you have them that you are or were a member of the Yakuza organized crime gang. This in fact, and obviously, is not true for me, but I respect their beliefs and policies so I made sure to stay away and told Paul to go in.

The following couple days were spent roaming around Tokyo to such areas as Asakusa, Tsukiji, Akihibara, Roppongi, Harajuku, and a few other places. Asakusa had a really cool traditional gateway, Tsukiji is the major port so we got sushi there, Akihibara is the main area for anime and video game stuffs, Roppongi is full of bars, and Harajuku was most similar to Wicker Park at home with lots of fashion places and such. We went to most of these places with Roy as our guide and we cannot thank him enough for showing us around and helping us with finding things. Oddly enough Paul and I picked up a lot of Japanese while we were there, even faster than we have picked up any Korean in the 6-7 months we have both been here.

On the last day or two we ended up heading toward the Imperial Palace only to find that it was closed for the holidays but we snagged a few pics from its exterior so it wasn't too big of a disappointment. Post palace we made our way by foot to Tokyo Tower where we found a mascot that looks remarkably similar to a dog's penis...no joke it was disgusting. We had some fun in the Tower but only went halfway up since it was so crowded. On our last night in Tokyo we met up with another Japanese friend from school; Buntaro. He took us to Harajuku to show us the area and then to Roppongi where we went to the same bar we had been at the previous night with Roy. On the next day we hopped five different local trains to get from Tokyo to Osaka and that took the whole day and took the wind out of us. We did, however, get to see Mt. Fuji from the train and it was surrounded in the most spectacular cloud cover that made it look as though the clouds were eating the mountain.

In Osaka we got to meet up with our third Japanese friend from college; Hiro. Hiro, Roy, Paul, and I all hung around the next day and ventured a little around Osaka. We then parted ways for a few hours and later re met up with Roy to go to his house for a traditional New Years!! We went with Roy to the house he grew up in to have dinner and celebrate the new year with his parents. His parents were amazing. His mom made us an amazing dinner complete with sushi and Soba (sp?) which is soup and noodles. Then his dad got out this kendo fighting armor and put it on Paul and showed us some cool things. We watched some Japanese tv up until the time to ring in the new year. When it came time the news anchors bowed to each other and said happy new year in Japanese, but there was no countdown so it was a little surprising and strange to Paul and I. After that we thanked Roy's parents and left with Roy to go to a Japanese temple to see what they do there for new years. New Years in Japan is treated as Christmas is in the States, QED its a big deal. At said temple it is decked out as though it were a carnival complete with game booths, food booths, and booths that sell all sorts of trinkets including Magic cards and Nintendo Wiis. We hung around there for a bit and went up to the temple where you throw in a coin of any denomination and pray for a happy and healthy new year. We then bought some fortunes that were to keep us safe for the whole year so those are pretty cool.

The next day in Osaka Paul and I pretty much hung around our accommodation. He ventured out more than I did because I was having some stomach issues and was still uber stressed out for no good reason and knew that I was not fully enjoying the trip. That night I decided that I would leave Japan a day early due to my health and lack of enthusiasm. I had a fleeting and uncontrollable need to leave and even though I love Japan and will go back someday I had to get out of there and return to my temporary home in Korea. The next day Paul headed to Kyoto and I went to Kobe for one last thing...Gigantor!! Kobe, Japan is where Gigantor (Tetsujin 28) was created and they had within the past six months erected a life size statue of the mammoth anime robot that I love so much so I had to go see him. I got loads upon loads of pics of that mechanical masterpiece. Then I bought a few gigantor things and headed towards Kansai Int. Airport to get outta there. Paul stayed the extra night as planned and came back the next day. In retrospect I had a great time but I just didn't allow myself to have the fun I wanted to and there really is no good reason why. Maybe this was one of the lessons I needed to learn while I am over here. I guess we can say lesson learned.

All in all Japan was really cool and I would love to do it again, but next time with more time and money and maybe different places in Japan as well like Hiroshima, Sapporo, Okinawa, and Matsue.

Blog shout outs: Paul for helping to make the trip possible and for being able to enjoy it with me in a cranky and sick state of being.
Roy, Hiro, and Buntaro for being awesome friends and showing us around Japan and for showing us a great time!!