1st Oriental Day (oo is that PC anymore?)

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So, for those of you reading this, you may notice a bit of lag time on my entries. That is, they will probably be covering events that happened a few days ago. It will probably be like this until the end of August when I have regular internet access in Shanghai. Until then, my apologies.

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So, we left the house at 7am this morning for our 14 hr direct flight to Tokyo Narita. There isn't really any way to describe such a long flight except that it is sort of dream-like. That is, it leaves you absolutely devoid of any real sense of time (especially since it was daylight the entire way), such that 4 hours left seems like "oh, that's all?" I slept for maybe 30 minutes and talked for a bit of the way to a guy sitting next to me who was an US Air Force MP on his way to Guam. Interestingly, he said he wouldn't see his family again for 2 years. Sad...

Landing in Tokyo, I was oddly un-tired and we waited around for Kyle to pick us up. When he did, we took the train into Tokyo and lugged our bags through Ueno Park to our decidedly nice digs. It was a condo owned by one of Kyle's friend's parents and was done in a very cool Japanese style, with traditional Tatami floor mats, futon sleeping, and a hilarious "super toilet" with heated seat and bidet. It was nice to get out of the heat as Tokyo is suprisingly/ridiculously hot this time of year. It's like Atlanta, but super humid so you are constantly sweating. Looking around, though, you wouldn't know as all the Japanese are wearing business suits, etc and not even breaking a sweat. hmmmm, tricky....

Early on (bcz we were so tired), we went to eat at an "Izakaya," a sort of Japanese tapas bar/drinking hole. It was a very cool experience. You just press a button and a waiter comes to get you whatever you want. We shared grilled squid, salmon carpaccio, gyoza, seaweed salad, grilled mackerel, and other great dishes over a couple (or three) pints of Kirin. Kyle, my Dad, and I were all left a little tipsy, which (combined with sleep deprivation) made our wandering down these neon-soaked alleyways packed with video game and ultra-loud pachinko parlors all the more disorienting. The sound, the crowds, the smoke, and the lights all made for an almost trippy experience as I played this hilariously cute Taiko drum video game with my dad while eating this fantastic pineapple stick food we bought from a street vendor. Before heading home, we stopped in one of the myriad video game parlors and had our entire family crammed into one of those hyper-asian photobooths where pictures of us waving the peace sign while covered in cartoon bears and speckled with stars were made (you can see one of the results on my facebook).

My head still spinning from 28 hours of no sleep and too much beer, we walked home, meandering through the paper lanterns that lit the path of the antique market in Ueno park. After that Kyle took us to the 40th floor (roof) of our building, where I saw one of the most beautiful skylines I've ever seen. With the moon high over the Tokyo lights, we all rinsed off in the shower, rolled out the futons, slid closed the paper door, and headed off to a severely overdue rest.

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Photos

Harumph harumph
I don't know why I put this picture in here. I'm in the middle of spinning my umbrella around and look really angry, but I thought the background was nice. I'll find a better pic when I get one...