Tuesday, September 5, 2006

   So Japan . . .
. . . was amazing. For those that have been you might remember that craziness that is time travel. It all began with that.

Plane Trip: When going to Japan (depending on where you live) you almost always loose a day. For me I left at 3:15pm on the 16th and arrived 26hours later (in world time) at 5:15pm the 17th. The flight is only 9 hours though. Not too bad. Whats really wierd is that the sun never moves in the sky. I would look out the window and as I was going there the sun stayed put. WEIRD

Airport/Hotel: When arriving I immediately was to look for my friend who speaks Japanese and lives there to help me out. Of course he wasn't there. My girlfriend and I were actually meeting another friend too who arrived about an hour earlier than we did too. He wasn't around either. So there we were in the middle Narita Airport non-japanese speakers in a strange land.

Long story short our friend who lives in Japan was stuck on the JR line getting from West Toyko or Machida for those who know Toyko area. Eventually we found then and our other friend and got out to the hotel.

Now in my limited United States understanding of hotels I thought that business hotel was a great idea. Like a Best Western. But Business Hotel in Japan means small single room tiny tiny bathroom and a coin accepting TV with nothing but Porn. Needless to say our first day was rather disappointing.

Day 2: Much better. Our party, Me, my Girlfriend, our two friends from Japan, and our friend from Boston went to the Toyko dome. There is a huge theme park and shopping mall there. We hit the rides and did some small shopping but most importantly we got a new hotel in Shinagawa which is in a Southern district of Toyko. This hotel was Incredible . . .

Day 3: . . . we spent the most part of the day transfering hotels and getting our stuff in the right place. But our new hotel was amazing. It had an Imax Theater, 80 lane bowling alley, regular theater, 15 restaruants, 39 floors and 3 towers. It was like a resort!!!! We met our party (same crew as before) in our room for some drinks and to share our gorgous view from the 22nd floor overlooking Southern Toyko.

Day 4: Shopping! We went to the regular places. Akiahabara (or the electric district) and the Ginza shopping district. I didn't get much because I just ordered a new computer that I am going to build tomorrow but it was so hard not to buy stuff. That night we went to a beer only bar to try 100% Belgium Monk crafted beer. AMAZING.

Day 5: Shrine day, my favorite. We went down to Takagawa? I think thats right. We saw the worlds second largest budda and hit up all the common tourists shrine spots. But what was really cool was that we went and hiked up into the hills through the hardly upkept paths to visit the really cool shines. That night we went back to the appt that our friends have there and there is an AMAZING anime store out there. In machida there are alot of more subburbish style stores. Anyway at this store I bought TONS of stuff. It was all so cheap compared to the Anime conventions.

Day 6: China town and Yokohama. I was sick this day I don't know why. It just passed around our party I guess. Anyway we were in the largest China town outside of China and ate dinner there and shopped around. Then in Yokohama we went to the tallest building in Japan and saw the most amazing view of Tokyo. That night we wrapped up our day with a trip to the Karokee bar. I was nervous as I am not much of a singer but it was soo much fun.

Day 7: Back out to Akihabara for some window shopping and fun anime shopping. After that my Girlfriend and I had our night together without our friends. We went up to the top of our hotel and had a drink and went out to dinner and all that. But the coolest thing ever happened to me that day. See when I was there Superman Returns had just come out in Japan. It was a big thing around the hotel considering that we had an Imax and all. but Since my GF and I were going out I dressed up in a suit and Tie. I have glasses too and my shirt I was wearing was blue so I happened to have my Superman Shirt on underneath my suit. Anyway these Japanese girls get on our elevator and they look at me and say look "Supermnan" I got so excited that they thought I looked like Superman I unbuttoned my shirt and exposed my Superman Shirt underneath. They got so excited. This meant even more to me too because I am a huge Superman fan, Superman and Anime like tie for me.

Day 8: Was all traveling back home. This time the sun rose and set in 4 hours. That was so cool.

Thats just about my Japan break down. I have to say this post is pretty short for giving all the crazy details of Japan but its also pretty long for sheer length.

I know I promised pictures too but As some of you may know I just got done with a big move so I am actually at work with no internet at home. So when that gets fixed I will have pics up for viewing.

Thanks for indulging me and this mega-post. If you manage to make it all the way through it or just want to leave a comment please do. I would love to hear about other peoples trips to Japan or fun trip stories in general. Ok well talk to you all later. Thanks.

~Space Cowboy~
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