We left about 9 am this morning and were dropped off at the local train station. We took a local train to chiba, changed trains and finally on to Tokyo central station. I asked Amanda’s mom when the last time she was in Tokyo and she said it was something like 27 years ago! Once we got there we turned in our rail pass vouchers and decided to just stash our stuff in a coin locker and start wandering around the nice air conditioned mall. All malls here are underground. The weather is pretty humid, but it’s not as bad as [View Full Entry]

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We're here! So here goes our first entry...we've finally got internet in our hostel in Asakusa, so I'm going to have backtrack to yesterday and our time in Yachimata-machi. The plane ride was actually not that bad. Aside from the crazy crackling lady behind us and her husband who sounded like he was trying to cough up a lung...eww. since we were flying Korean Airlines, we got to try some interesting Korean food - "bim bim bop" I believe is actually the proper name for it. Not bad for plane food! and I think we drank more juice than we ever [View Full Entry]

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After two years, we're finally going back again to Japan! Older, wiser and with less stuff, this time around we're planning on conquering Fuji-san as well as visiting some roads less traveled in Yachimata and possibly Kujukuri. We'll be there from July 14th to 31st...more to come as the travel date approaches! [View Full Entry]

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Well were all packed up this morning, just using the computers here at the hostel one last time (they charge $10 per person after check out). Then were going to do some last minute shopping and head for the airport afternoon. Some of our closing thoughts: Japan is very clean for the most part, though there are some dirty places, just like any densly populated country I like riding the subway and trains, Im not looking forward to driving everywhere when I get home. I like riding bikes without fear that Im going to get plowed by a semi. Trees grow [View Full Entry]

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It's been raining all day, the drizzly, miserable, warm kind of rain. This morning we went to the Ghibli Museum (where Totoro lives). Sadly they didn't allow photographs inside...it was sooo cool!! We got to see a short film and seet all these neat sketches and figurines. The entire building was built like a fantasy kid's house, with little doors here and there and winding staircases and miniature toilets for the children. They also had a claymation exhibit where they had life-size Wallace and Gromit scenes and the actual set they used during the movie. Since it was a rainy Sunday [View Full Entry]

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This morning we had sushi for breakfast...yummy! We also tried some horse sushi...interesting. Kind of like really raw, oily beef. Chewy too. Then we headed to a street near Asakusa that is lined with kitchen tools, and restaurant supplies. They even had the fake food you see in the store windows! Those can get really really expensive, but it looks absolutely real! A fake bowl of ramen is about $100, and a fake hunk of beef can be upwards of $1500!!! Then we started picking spots out of the guidebook: Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza....mostly filled with department stores and restaurants. [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, live from Tokyo. We left Shizuoka early this morning. It has been raining for most of the day with some pretty darn blustery winds too. My umbrella I brought with me couldn't hack it and broke within 5 minutes of stepping our of our hotel. We managed to get a pair of good sturdy umbrellas though, for only 200 yen a piece!! Taking full advantage of our Rail Pass,we got back on the bullet train and headed to Tokyo to drop our bags off. Then we headed to Shin-Yokohama, back to the darn Ramen Museum so Robert could get [View Full Entry]

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We got up and out of bed at about 10 and went to Kyoto Station. We found the Vie De France bakery and loaded up on bread. Everyone else was getting one or two pieces we got like 5. We would run across peach buns, and then they would bring out some chocolate thing and I would have to have one while they were warm. Needless to say we looked like pigs, but whatever. We have been walking an average of 8 miles a day. I can eat all the damn bread I want. So from there we went to Inari [View Full Entry]

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We havent been kidnapped! Internet has been hard to come by so we havent had a chance to update in a few days. Well be in Tokyo soon (in our two days) where our hostel will have internet. Right now were in the Kyoto Tourist center and using their computer here to check up on stuff real quick and I thought Id leave a message here. More to come! Amanda and Robert [View Full Entry]

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We awoke this morning and got the hell out of Osaka. The old Manjiu man wasn’t up yet so we left with empty bellies and sad hearts. We plan to return someday and visit him again if he haven’t smoked and drank himself to death. We took the train to Kyoto and dropped our stuff off at the Ryokan we were staying at. From Their we went to Nara to visit this big Buddha and some see some sights. We were able to get the rapid express to Nara (this will make some more sense in a minute) and get their [View Full Entry]

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