When we arrived at Kyoto, I noticed that the colors of the buildings were gray or brown. There were no bright colors. The season made the trees leafless. They were all looked gray. I felt that the city was calm and cold.

Even the journey was not too long from Kansai to Kyoto, but some of us had an urge to go to the toilet, including me. So we stopped at Nishi Hongan-ji Temple. It was a huge temple. I went straight to the toilet. The toilet was not in a building. It was not totally closed. There was a ventilation so the air from outside could get in. What happened next was my first experience in a winter. As I sat on the toilet, suddenly I started to tremble. The toilet was so cold. I felt it spread to all parts of my body. So, I made it quick and went out of the toilet.

Before we boarded to the bus again, we took some pictures. In front of the temple, accross the street, there were many people. It seemed that there was a bazaar or something. Then, we continued to the place where we would have lunch.

We had lunch at New Hankyu Hotel. That was our first experience dine in Japan. Since they served pork and we as moslems didn't eat pork, Ibu Miyo helped us to identify which food that we could eat and which ones we couldn't. The food labels were in Japanese and we were illiterate. They served European food. For me it was okay. I saw that everybody was okay except one, Bapak Abdul Mutholib.

After having lunch, we checked in the hotel. We stayed at Karasuma Hotel. Since from Jakarta, I thought that I would share a room with Ibu Halimah because only us were women. I was totally wrong. Each of us had one room. I felt doubt inside. I was in a strange situation, away from home and I had to be alone by myself. But, I was shy to admit that I was afraid and I was sure that MOFA had arranged that, so I accepted the key without saying anything. Ibu Halimah changed her room so her room could be next to mine.

The room was not too large but I liked it enough. What might be a surprise for me was the toilet. The toilet seat was warm and completed with an electric buttons. One of the buttons was the one that could make sound of flush, so our room mate couldn't hear if we urinated. I was really amazed.

After we took rest for a while, we were gathered in a small meeting room. We were introduced to Mr Daisuke Hasegawa. He was from MOFA. He was the one that would accompany us during our visit. He spoke English but not Indonesian. We were briefed again and he called our names one by one. He reminded me that I had to do a presentation in front of students in Tokyo. Yes, I had prepared that before I leaved.

We went to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It was very beautiful. The gate was red and shining reflecting the afternoon sun. From the temple we could see the city. It was made of wood. We met some girls wearing kimono. So, I asked them to take a picture together.

That day, we had our dinner at Isetan. It was a mall integrated with a railway station. When we went out from the bus, it was so cold. It was windy. Ibu Miyo guessed it was about 3 degree. In the mall, I saw that Japanese people especially the young ones were fashionable. We went to the seventh floor. There were many restaurants. I noticed that every restaurant displayed the food dummies behind the glass windows and put the menu in front. We had to wait for a while because the restaurant we chose was full. While we were waiting, we chose the food that we wanted from the menu provided in front of the restaurant. And, if we wanted to know how it looked like, we could see the dummies.

At last we had the seats. I ordered soba something... I didn't remember. I sat with Ibu Halimah. Now, I started to get in trouble. For Indonesian tounge, Japanese food was tasteless. I needed chilly sauce. I tried to find it on the table, but I couldn't. Ibu Miyo was not closed to us. So, I had to call the waitress by myself. From that time and so on during my stay in Japan, the important word to be remembered was "sumimasen", meant "excuse me". I called the waitress by saying "sumimasen" and asked for chilly sauce. She took it from the kitchen. The soba was so so for me. I prefered something fried to something boiled.

After we dined, we went back to the hotel by taxis. The bus only dropped us. It was only rented until afternoon. One taxi were allowed to bring 4 passengers only. It was different with Indonesia, one taxi could bring as many passengers as it could. The fare was 600 yen for one trip.

Before going to bed, I took a warm shower. It was so relaxing. Then I was ready for bed, nighty night... 

After 7 hours flight and transit at Ngurah Rai Airport at Denpasar, I arrived at Kansai Airport. I came with other 11 leaders from Islamic schools in Indonesia, 10 men and 2 women (including me). We were invited by MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affair) for comparison study in education. Before we departed, we had been briefed by 4 attaches from the Embassy of Japan at Soekarno Hatta Airport about our visit. We would stay for 2 weeks and visit some schools and temples.

To tell the truth, I was nervous. It was my first time to go abroad (besides going for Hajj). Even I came with 11 other people and one of them was our leader, but I cannot speak, read, and write Japanese. So, I was potentially to be lost. When I proceeded the immigration, I had to write how much money that I brought. I didn't bring much. But, they didn't do anything to me because I wrote that I was invited by MOFA. So, I thought they were sure that I would be fine with little US dollars and yens.

The airport was amazing. I regreted that I didn't take the picture of the interior because I was afraid that it was forbidden. At last, we met our guide, Ms. Miyo Furusawa. She could speak Indonesian because she was retired from MOFA and had been assigned in Indonesia for several years. Then, we called her Ibu Miyo (Ibu = Ms in Indonesian).

The airport was very modern. I was amazed. From the place that the plane landed, we were transfered to the main airport by an electric small train. The train door was opened only for a few minutes so we had to board in a hurry if we didn't want to be left by.

It was cold outside the airport because it was winter. We had prepared ourselves by wearing coats. When we boarded into the bus, it warm inside. On the bus we had a chat with Ibu Miyo. Some of us took a nap, some looked at the view through the windows. I tried to remember my friends one by one. All of us didn't know each other except our leader and his assistant. Our leader was Bapak Abuddin, a professor in a wellknown Islamic university in Jakarta (Universitas Islam Negri Syarif Hidayatullah). His assistant was Bapak Jajang, a researcher from PPIM.

The first one that I knew of course another woman of the group, Ibu Halimah. She was from Lampung.

So... we went to Kyoto.   

Maybe I should start the whole story from the end... Right now it`s about 3am and I`m staying at an internet cafe for next 3 hours. Yes, I missed the last subway `cause I was having too much fun with all the TravBuddies :D

Arrived to Osaka late in the afternoon, checked in my hotel and got ready for the BIG NIGHT!
Of course I had to get lost in the Umeda station, why does it have to be so freakin` huge? Aaaah, too many shops and stuff! When I finally found the gate I was suppose to go out I asked this one guy did he know where the adress I was looking for was. Even though he didn`t know and probably was in a hurry to catch the subway, he was kind enough to actually call the izakaya, ask for directions and escort me to the main entrance. That was so sweet of him and I really tried to be as nice as possible and talk to him in my best Japanese but when I saw the busy streets of Umeda at night (Kyoto is nothing compared to it! I honestly felt like I just came to the big city from the countryside!) it was quite hard to keep my focus.

Finally got the place and who was the first person I saw? YASUYO! :D We screamed and huged eachother (forget whatever yu hear about Japanese keeping distance and not willing to interact, that was a totally different case). She loocked sooo cute in her yukata, even better than in the pictures on her TB profile.

Come to think of it, considering how many adventurs in Japan I had by now, I seriously believe I have more luck than common sense :P

My husband came home from work one day talking about this new obstacle course that had opened somewhere on the island.  He was excited to find this new place and try it out.  While I was at Ticket & Tours getting the last of my information for my Mt Fuji climbed i saw a picture of something rather interesting.  As i looked closer i realized this must be the place my husband was talking about.  I asked if there were any tours and presto!  I booked us 2 seats for the coming Saturday!  I was sooo excited about this surprise date i had booked for my honey bunny and i!  I kept it a secret for a couple of days and than i couldn't keep it a secret any longer and told him about the little adventure we were going on!  I decided to take the bus with MCCS for our first time there.  Glad i did!  It was wonderful to have someone make the reservations and drive us up there for our first time!  This place is a European Park and everything is in Japanese and English.  We also had an english speaking guide to explain how everything works!  She was awesome and added to our fun!  It was about a 30 minute drive from our home on Camp Foster, up north on the 58 before turning off towards Meida Point.  You begin at the main office to sign the release forms and use the last western style toilet.  From there you are transported to the actual park out in the middle of a jungle.  From there you begin walking UP towards to base camp area.  This is where you are issued your harnesses and shown how to get buckled in.  A member of the crew also does a final safety ceck to ensure that you are locked into your harness.  From this point you walk down to the first station on the obstacle course.  Your guide will than demonstrate how your harness works and the importance of always being clipped to the cable!  Most of the zip lines are 120 feet up and the bridges, ladders, and ropes are not close to the ground either.  This is a VERY important part of the adventure!  After the demonstration that each person goes individually up and accross and down the first mini zip line to make sure the guide feels confident sending you on your way.  Once you leave the first obstacle, you are on your own!  There are guides throughout the park and at all the zip landings if needed, but you are your own actual supervisor on the trek!  Ed and i did our little practice run and than we were off!!  It was a very hot black flag Saturday morning, but we were having sooo much fun we didn't even realize the sun was ablazin' down on us!   It was an amazing feeling to be on the zip lines 120 feet and racing over the tree tops!  It was exhilerating to say the least!!!  My husband was grins from ear to ear!  He was as happy as a little boy playing in the world series!!!  The Chinese Bridge was fun to cross and of course Ed was ahead of me and fun shaking the bridge as i was making my way accross!  There were all kinds of ladders to climb.  They were mostly rope style, so they swayed as you were climbing up.  There were also nets to climb.  The hardest part for me was the Tarazan Swing!  I almost called it quits, but i couldn't stand the thought of not finishing so i did this crazy part!  You actually drop off a ledge and the zip line flings you out and you grab onto this huge net and than pull yourself up to finish out the rest of the course.  After i dropped and did this part, it was the part of the course that i wanted to come back to and do again and again!!!  It was just that much fun!!!  The end of the course was all sorts of crossings.  There were rings, log bridges, wood plank bridges, and swinging bridges.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to finish.  We were a giggles and grins and can't wait to go back!  It was one of our funnest dates ever!

The cost is 3500 Yen, about $35.00 American Dollars for adults.  The tour was $50 per adult.  You need to call ahead of time to make reservations so the course is not over crowded.  The last western stlye toilet is at the main office before the little bus takes you up to the course, after that, it is only squattie potties.  There is no food to purchase up there.  However, there is water and soda for 100 yen to purchase at the base camp area.  There are not areas to buy drinks on the course.  If it is hot, hydrate or wear a camel back!  If your sunglasses, hat, wallet, etc. fall out of your pocket on the course, they are gone gone gone, 120 feet down in the jungle gone!!!  Wear something with zipper pockets and have your important stuff stowed safe!  There are also little lockers at the base camp that you can put those items in if needed!  Ed and i passed the camera back and forth and took turns taking pictures and videos of each other.  We know next time to  bring 2 cameras and each just take photos and videos so we can get everything in.  I will also bungi strap my camera on like my underwater camera so i can video while on the zip lines but still have hands free when it is time to land.  Ha!  Yes, the landings were fun.  I think you have a definate advantage if your short.  You come down from the zip lines very fast and when you hit the ground there is not much time before you hit the stopper on the cable.  I only landed on my behind once and that was because i was playing on the zip line and began turning and came in backwards, not recomended, but funny to watch!  LOL!  The rest of my landings were PEEERRRRFFFEEECCCTTT!!!  However, my 6 foot 4 husband had wipe outs just about everytime!  Soo, if you are tall, you will probably be landing like you are sliding into home plate!  Don't forget Sunscreen!  The views are beautiful!!!  You have the lush green jungle below you and the beautiful crystal blue East China Sea next to you!  Quite breathtaking!    

There is a weight limit or i think 285 pounds, there is also a heighth requirement if you are taking children.  If you do bring along younger children, have your family go last on the first obstacle so the rest of the adults can begin the course instead of standing in the hot sun watching you child panick and stall and hold up the group.  Just something to consider if you are bringing younger children. 

Year passes are avialable to purchase.  This is definately worth the year pass for my husband and i.  Our 16 year old son is doing this for his birthday this year with his friends.  A perfect activity for teenage boys!!  Ha!

Hope this is helpful if you decide to go!  We had a blast and can't wait to go back!!  Contact me if you have any questions!  Have fun and don't forget to let go of the cable on the zip line so you can feel like you are flying over the tree tops!!!

Talk about immersing yourself in the local culture! We had booked a morning tour of Tokyo through Sunrise Tours, and the meeting place was at the Hamamatsucho bus terminal at 9 am. As soon as we ate breakfast, we headed over to the monorail to get to the Maihama Station. The slight problem of not being able to read any Japanese prevented us from using the machines to buy our tickets, knowing we would have to switch lines and wanted to see if there was an all-day pass available. After speaking with the woman behind the counter, (more like pointing and nodding since she did not speak much English), we bought our day passes for the JR and went to wait for the train. Now, the concierge at the hotel had given us approximate times for the trains and had warned us that it would be during rush hour, but we were completely unprepared for what happened next.

As the train pulled into the station, we saw that it was crowded and that there was not room in any of the cars. Being used to "NY rush hour", there was no way that we could walk to the far ends of the train in time to try to find a less crowded car and get on the train before the doors closed, so we decided to wait for the next train. If anyone has ever ridden the subway in Manhattan during rush hour, or taken the LIRR on a Saturday night/Sunday morning "last train" ride, you know how crowded it gets. Let's just say that those trains were empty in comparison to the trains in Tokyo. My friend and I actually managed to squeeze ourself into the next train (after taking a deep breath and jumping into unknown crowded waters). We quickly learned the ways of riding the JR - get in the door, turn around 180 degrees, and back up. We were so crammed in, we did not have room to move our arms. Fortunately my arms were facing my body, or I surely would have been grabbing some poor gentleman's rear end! We kept getting moved further and further back into the car as more and more people kept piling in. It is an experience that no one can truly understand unless you have experienced it yourself! Afterwards, my friend and I kept cracking up about it every time we thought about the ride in to Tokyo.

We started off the day with a complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Boy, I heard that the portions were small in Japan, but I wasn't expecting to see EVERYTHING in a bite-size portion! I did help myself to some Japanese rice and ham, along with kiwi yogurt, some eggs and sausage patties, and a small box of their version of Cocoa Krispies. I was like a kid in a candy shop at the breakfast buffet.

Since we were staying at the Hilton Tokyo Bay Resort Hotel, which was on Disney property, we were granted early entry access to the park. It was pretty funny how we figured it out - we were given a slip of paper with all Japanese character writing on it except for two words: Early Entry. We inquired at the front desk and were happy to show them our Disney tickets in order to receive the special Early Entry ticket.

After breakfast we headed over to the Disney Resort Line station so we could buy our monorail passes for the next two days. We decided that we would spend the majority of the day at DisneySea, and spend the night at Tokyo DisneyLand, considering that half of the rides in TDL were the same or similar to those at DisneyWorld in Florida, where Chris works.  We waited on line for the gates to open in the park, and to our amazement, once the gates opened, the guests were literally SPRINTING into and through the park. I've seen people run once the park opens, but these people looked like they were going to try out for Japan's track and field team at the Olympics!

The rides at DisneySea were pretty good, but I think my favorite part was watching the show "The Legend of Mythica". It was awesome - like a parade on water, there were floats, dancers, waterworks, kites, fire, and fireworks, and of course the Disney characters too. The show was about 45 minutes long, and not once did I feel bored or thought that it was just another cheesy Disney parade. This is definitely a show to see when you are there, and it only happens once a day. Even if you forget, you will have to notice how the park seems to empty out around showtime, and everyone is gathered around the lake in the middle, waiting for the show to begin.

We left DisneySea after 5 and made our way over to TDL by monorail. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were allowed access to the park (we bought the "after 6" discount tickets) The first thing we did was head towards Tokyo's version of Adventureland, and went on Pirates of the Caribbean. My friend Chris (who works in the Adventureland section at DisneyWorld) took a lot of pictures for comparison purposes, and he even posed with the girl who was working the treehouse. We continued through the park and went on almost everything before the park closed. We definitely accomplished a lot more than we had planned on. 

We headed back to the hotel, and mapped out the next day's route before crashing out for the night.

Every once in awhile, you need to treat yourself to an easygoing, relaxing day while you travel. This gives your body the chance to catch up on much-needed rest, and the opportunity for everything to catch up to you and for you to appreciate everything. Today was one of those days. We decided to take it easy for our last day in Kyoto. We actually slept in until about 9, and took our time getting our stuff together for checkout. When we checked out, we asked the concierge if there was a luggage room we could leave our suitcases in until the evening, and thankfully there was. We walked over to the train station to get lunch, and wandered around for awhile. We went back to the hotel and decided to hang out in the lobby until it was time to be picked up for our afternoon "Authentic Kyoto Tour".

To begin with, we took a stroll down Philosopher's Walk for about 15 minutes or so, and then we attended a traditional tea ceremony. We had green tea (yummy!) with this confectionary (yuck!) that had some sort of red bean filling. I tried to eat it all, I really did, but I just couldn't take the taste of the red bean paste. We watched as the girl went through all of the steps in preparing the tea for us, and afterwards she explained some of the utensils and decorations that were around.

We were taken to the Gion district  and visited a former geisha house, where maiko girls were brought up. Here we saw some of the instruments and accessories that were used by the maiko girls. All of the ladies in the group were even invited to try on an authentic kimono. Here we also has tea time, but this time we had a roasted tea with sugar candies. Later, we went by the largest temple gate in Kyoto, where Tom Cruise filmed part of the Last  Samurai. At the conclusion of the tour, Chris and I decided to spend some time walking through eastern Kyoto  as we made our way back to the hotel.At night, we took the train to Osaka and checked into our hotel around 9pm.

Leaving Kyoto for our afternoon trip to Nara, we  passed two of the tallest pagodas in Japan. About an hour after we left Kyoto, we arrived in Nara. The first stop on our agenda was to visit the Todai-ji Temple and Deer Park. The Todai-ji temple is a Buddhist temple  made of wood, and it is said to be the tallest wooden building in the world. Inside of the temple is a statue of the Great Buddha Daibutsu, almost 15 meters tall! It is very impressive. Although it looks large in pictures, one cannot truly understand how immense the statue is unless  you are either there to see it for yourself or you have something to compare it to. Fortunately, right before we left, I noticed a man extinguishing some candles at the base of the Buddha, and was able to take a picture with him in the foreground and the Buddha in the background. The base of Buddha is taller than the man, who is of average height. We also saw some statues of guardians of the Buddha, two of which were in its entirety, and two other statues whose heads only were displayed. The original Buddha was created in the 700s and was made of bronze. Throughout time, parts of it has been restored, most recently being the head in the 1700s.

As you exit the temple, you are walking on the grounds of Deer Park, where hundreds of deer roam freely. While some of the deer chose to rest nonchalantly in the shade, most of the deer decided to greet their visitors in hopes of getting treats. We saw one man being surrounded by at least 5 or 6 deer, and another kid with a cookie in his hand who was being followed by young deer. The sika deer (think Bambi) are said to be sacred.

On the outskirts of Nara Park is the Kasuga Shrine. This Shinto shrine is known for its many lanterns. There are over a thousand stone lanterns that line the path to the various shrines and tori-i on the property. The lanterns are lit during major Shinto ceremonies, and the neighboring forest is said to have a spiritual sense about it. What was really cool was that there was an old tree trunk that had a young tree growing in the middle of it. It reminds us that there truly is a circle of life, and everything old is new again!

When we returned to Kyoto after our trip to Nara, Chris and I decided to visit the Kyoto Tower. We went up at an ideal time - we were able to watch the beginning of sunset over the mountains. We took some pictutes, had our picture taken with the Kyoto Tower mascot, and headed into the mall at the train station to find food for dinner. Although I wanted to have a noodle dish or some other authentic cuisine, Chris wanted something more familiar, so we finally agreed to eat at an italian restaurant in the mall. When we finished eating, we walked around the mall for awhile and then decided to return to the hotel room early and relax for the remainder of the evening.

Through Sunrise Tours, we had booked a 3 day excursion from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji and Hakone, ending in Kyoto. Today was the second day of the tour, and our destinations today were to visit parts of Kyoto in the morning, and in the afternoon take a trip to nearby Nara. The morning tour began with a visit to the Nijo Castle, where the Shogun lived. We had the opportunity to see inside some of the rooms and to experience the "nightingale floors". These were floorboards located near the entrance of the castle that would sing like a bird whenever someone walked on the floor. It was explained to us that iron boards rubbing against iron nails caused the sound, and it was designed as an alarm system for intruders.

Our second stop was at the Golden Pavilion. This was quite a remarkable sight to see - it was very beautiful! The pavilion stood on a lake, and it was encased in gold leaves, and with the sun hitting it just right - what a sight! We walked around the property for awhile and enjoyed being outside in nature. As we were leaving, we passed what looked like an indentation of a star in the side of the mountain, and the tour guide explained that it was used for the ceremony on the Day of the Dead. The area was used to burn wood in memory of those who had passed. I tried to get a picture of it from the bus, but it was  next to impossible to get a clear shot. Oh well.

Our third stop was to visit part of the Imperial Palace. I say part because they are very strict and you only have a certain amount of time to walk around, and they tell you what path to take. They also yell at you if you "linger" too long at any area, they want you in and out of the place as quickly as possible. We even had to enter the palace grounds in four straight lines, after they counted us and confirmed the number of people that were in our  group. It was quite an interesting experience, that's for sure! The morning part of the tour ended with a buffet lunch at the Kyoto Handicraft Center, where I was ecstatic to be able to purchase a kimono for my friend. I was very tempted to purchase one for myself, but I took so long in choosing one for my friend that I hardly had enough time to pay for the kimono and get back for the afternoon tour to Nara.

When we arrived in Hakone, we were taken to Lake Ashi, where we boarded a boat and took a 15 minute cruise around the lake. We rode on the Mt. Komagatake Aerial Cableway, which took us from the lake all the way up the side of a mountain. By this time, it was beginning to get really cloudy, so although we were not able to see Mt. Fuji from the stop at the top of the mountain, we were able to experience "flying" through clouds via cableway. It was almost like standing in a thick fog (although that's what fog is, is a cloud at ground level!)

At the end of the cable ride, we took the bus to Odawara and waited for our Shinkansen, which was scheduled to depart around 7pm. In the meantime, we ate a "healthy" dinner at the train station - I ate a bacon and spinach quiche and a bag of BBQ chips for dinner, had some orange tea to drink, and treated myself to a Crunky bar for dessert! :)

We finally boarded the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we got off (and I waved to Gloria's town) to transfer to a Kyoto bound bullet train. We arrived in Kyoto around 11pm, and the four of us that were staying at the Rihga Royal Hotel decided that we would rather walk around the block to the hotel than pay for a taxi to take us there!

After our sardines in a can experience yesterday morning, Chris and I opted to take a taxi to the bus terminal this morning because we were honestly a little intimidated as to how we were going to get our luggage onto the JR train if it was going to be that crowded! We got to the bus terminal about an hour early, but fortunately we were able to check in at the counter and leave our luggage with the tour company. We then took a walk around the World Trade Center ( a little ironic, being a NYer), and tried to blend in with the morning pedestrian rush hour. I saw a 7-11 type store and said we had to stop there. Personally, one of the best parts about going to a foreign country is seeing the food. We walked up and down the aisles, laughing at funny pictures or types of food that was available. I saw a Crunky chocolate bar, and was determined to try one at some point during the trip. To us, "getting crunky" has a completely different meaning than getting a chocolate bar. (If you don't know and want to, PM me and I'll explain!)

Eventually, we made our way back inside to wait for the boarding call. We got on the bus and away we went, driving through the outskirts of Tokyo and making our way to Mt. Fuji. Along the way, we passed the Fuji-Q park and stopped at the Fuji Visitor Center for about 15 minutes. Then, we drove halfway  up Mr. Fuji to the 5th station, where we were given plenty of "leisure time". We visited the shrine, took lots of pictures of Mt. Fuji, and browsed the five gift shops that were there. We were fortunate enough to get several glimpses of the top of Mt. Fuji as the clouds passed by.

When we left the 5th station, we headed to the Hotel Highland Resort for our Japanese style lunch. The lunch included beef, chicken, fish, and many traditional sides, such as lotus, rice, vegetables, etc. We were also given tea (of course) and dessert. While we waited to board the bus, we walked around Highland and Fuji-Q and took pictures. Chris, the coaster enthusiast, couldn't believe that he was standing under a roller coaster that he could not ride (we didn't have time plus it was closed for repairs). After we boarded the bus, we drove to the foot of Mt. Fuji to a town called Hakone.

Long trip now time to recover!

1. Japanese people are super, super stylish. I think the women look and dress BETTER as they get older. And the guys all look like they just stepped out of a GQ magazine. Our office was in Shibuya, and every guy who went to work in that area wore a suit that looked like it was painted on them. I mean, pretty girls are everywhere in every country...but I think in Japan, the guys know style better than the girls. Makes me never want to come to Japan anymore since I don't stand a chance!

2. The food is bland. Everything tasted bland, light, and the same. It was hot over the weekend when I was walking around taking pictures...and I must have had 10 or 15 bottles of ice tea, juice, etc. They all tasted the same. Other nice places we went to eat (that was "japanese cuisine) all had very light soups, vegetables, light broths. This is probably why everyone is very skinny in Japan.

3. The Japanese are very proudful. No one spoke English. It's like being in USA. Come to our country, respect our customs, speak our language! We stayed at the Westin in Ebisu, and the floor manager in the resturant spoke little English. I also stayed at the Sheraton, and the front desk clerk had trouble with "where's the fish market?"! And Hostesses in nice resturants around Ebisu could not understand "How long is the wait?".

I actually really liked this. I mean, everything is so stylish and clean and well kept...it was like they were the "Cool Club" and I didn't have a membership. The onus is on me to learn Japanese and get into their club. I will learn some Japanese for next time. * Oh, and I wasn't let into a "Japanese Only" Club...because I could only speak Chinese. That was pretty cool.

4. Japanese people really live their lives to the fullest extent. At nights, really nice resturants are populated by Japanese people. The tourist places I went to were populated by JAPANESE people. Even the hotels usually were full of JAPANESE people. It was like Japanese people really enjoyed their lifestyle. That was pretty cool.

5. When you're hungry, follow the well dressed Japanese female: I was told time and time again that to find good food, just look for well dressed Japanese women. They always know where to eat, and where the best food was. One night, my colleague and I went into a Thai/Japanese fusion place because we saw some pretty girls sitting in the outside tables. After we sat down, I looked around and whispered over with shock and amazement..."this place has 23 well dressed women sitting at various tables and just one guy who looks like he was forced to come"...not even kidding. 23 women eating together and 1 guy. Scoreboard!

And I also think that the 23 women were all taken. Just that their bfs or husbands were still at the office paying for their Thai/Japanese fushion meal.

6. I still think Taipei has the best nightlife in Asia...maybe it's because I know it better. But, definitely one thing is for certain. Taipei nightlife centers around women under 30, while Japanese nightlife centers around women over 30. If you walk around the 101 district in Taipei on Friday/Saturdy nights, you'll see mostly 20ish to 30ish girls in pretty skimpy clothing. If you walk around Roppongi Hills on Friday/Saturday night, you'll see a lot of well dressed older women in gowns, kimonos, dresses alongside super sharp looking men. There are still the younger crowds, but there are definitely more older, sophisticated men/women as well.

7. And there are no trash cans in Japan. Nowhere. Not even in the public restrooms. I think people just internally combust their trash.

More to come...

- Ginza

- Kabuki-za

- Coffee shop scene

- Upscale shopping

- Trip to Saty with Yasu.

- I lost my bag in the store for two hours and amazingly no one stole it!

The next day we woke up bright and early in order to arrive at the train station on time. We were heading off to Kyoto for a few days so that we could visit this city that was known for being a traditional, cultural hub. I had made this visit to Kyoto a priority while planning our trip to Japan after having read "Memoirs of a Geisha" and familiarizing myself with the sector of city in which much of the story took place, Gion. I researched Kyoto and found that a visit there would be necessary in order to gain a complete, balanced perspective of Japan instead of solely walking away with memories of Tokyo. I did not want to base my experience on just one facet of a country that is so complex. The excursion to Kyoto would provide me with a more complete picture of both urban and rural Japan, as well as a closer look into the struggle of modernity and technology with traditional and spiritual Japanese culture.

Things I will write about later:

1- We took the bullet train and stayed in Kyoto for a couple of days. We saw geishas and hung out with other young tourists we met randomly in Gion and had a fun night of drinking and exploring the city at night. We also went to the Golden Pavillion, Nijo Castle and the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

2. We were able to experience the extremely impressive Todai'ji temple in Nara and the Kasuga Shrine. I also tried petting the deer in the infamous Deer Park, who seemed to be practically smothering all of the other tourists, but didnt like me for some reason. Oh well!!