Tokyo sized update

I'm writing this sitting cross legged on a seat cushion on a tatamai floor. eating rice balls. watching TV and drinking an Asahi beer from the vending machine outside. Ok not very traditional but granted not much is traditional about Tokyo these days. I'm back to my favorite spot to stay in Japan, Ryokan Kangetsu. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to take pictures during the day so don't really have much showing the place... when I leave tomorrow I'll take a few to show how unique it is. LOTS of other pictures for you to peruse tho... If your looking for pictures of "old school" Japan there's not much to find here yet, should get more of that once I leave Tokyo.

Yesterday seems like forever ago... took the train to Tokyo and finally unloaded my big backpack and explored a bit of Tokyo. Went to Shibuya to see if it's still as insane as it was before... YUP! Took some pics of the crowds there, unbelievable. Retired early though since the heat / humidity is crazy here... even with the rain today it didn't do anything to help cool things down. There's a typhoon warning... for Southern Japan so I'm not affected at all, which is nice I didn't realize it was that time of year... oh well.

Anyways there's a group of girls from France or something here that kept giggling and laughing until like 1am, they've obviously never stayed in a Ryokan before, the walls are literally paper thin.. well almost literally. Between that noise keeping me up and the rain I never made it to the Sumo Tournament... shame but not the end of the world. Instead I decided to chill here in Tokyo. Man I forgot what an awesome city this is. It's not as beautiful as Kyoto but there's so much to see. Fancy cars, crazy lights, high end stores, beautiful women, what more could one ask for hah! I spent about half of the day in "central" Tokyo, mostly around Ginza avenue. Sadly no Lamborghini's or Ferrari's driving down the street this time, but there was a few luxury vehicles with chauffeurs driving about. Checked out the International Forum, something I missed the first time and I'm glad I caught this time, the architecture as you can see is unbelievable. From there went to the main Gaijin (semi-derogatory term for us foreigners) hideout, Roppangi Hills. It's basically a mini-metropolis of it's own. Had Japanese style pork chops, thankfully I remembered how to eat them from last time so knew what to mix with what sauce for the proper effect. Finished the day with a quick stop over at Shinjuku Ave.

Another early night tho... the heat wears me out pretty quickly, plus I have a 10 hour Shinkansen (Bullet train) trip tomorrow at 9am. 2 transfers but oddly enough it didn't cost me anything extra, because of the Seikan Tunnel going under the sea at one point there's supposed to be an additional expense... maybe they'll hit me up at one of the transfers.

I have noticed a few changes.. WAY more Starbucks here. Also two very important things to remember if you ever come to Japan:

Bring a handkerchief or something since there's no hand towels anywhere. And never ever travel without your Passport. While sitting in Narita Airport I had security stop me and had to give them it for them to write down who knows what. They were nice though, mentioned I'm going to Shikoku Island and turns out one of them is from there too. Oh did I mention customs here requires you giving two finger prints and a picture of your face? Plus everywhere you stop to sleep they are required to write down your Passport info, I'll probably know that number better then my PIN number by the time I leave here.

Next time I write I'll be in Sapporo, a whole new city for me on a new island, should be interesting.

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