Japan

We spent the second weekend of March 2008 in Japan. It was an incredibly fun whirlwind of a weekend! We flew into Narita on Friday evening and took a bus to Yokohama to stay. On arrival in Yokohama we walked around Yokohama Station - it was very late and loads of people were walking the streets completely inebriated. Their stumbling about provided for many laughs as we looked for an open restaurant but since it was so late we could only find one place open. We figured it was probably the Japanese equivalent of a Denny's. It was here we had our first taste of natto! (Be sure to watch our Cutest Videos Ever - Funniest English #1- for a hilarious Japanese description of natto!) On Saturday we headed into Tokyo by train and went straight away to the Omote-Sando district to see Meiji-jingu, Tokyo's most magnificent Shinto shrine, where we witnessed an enthralling wedding procession. Just prior to entering the shrine grounds we saw a couple of girls at Harajuku Station in cos-play outfits – it was a glimpse of Japanese sub-culture that is inexplicably bizarre and cute at the same time. It would have been interesting to see more people in cos-play - it is apparent that they can be incredibly outlandish. Unfortunately we didn't get to see more than just a few because we were there early on a Saturday morning - according to the tour books the Harajuku cos-play kids come out on Sundays - seems like a fun and wacky way to spend a Sunday! After visiting Meiji-jingu we walked down Takashitadori and shopped at some outrageously cool stores. Eventually we stopped for lunch and had some udon, tempura, sake and Sapporo beer. After lunch we hopped back on the subway and headed to the Asuksa area to see the beautiful Senso-ji temple. We walked down Nakamisedori shopping street towards the temple. It was here that we tried sweet sake and each bought pairs of geta. We continued to the temple where we purified ourselves with dips of water from the fountain and incense smoke, saw the second highest pagoda in Japan and got our omikuji - which were bad!- so we promptly tied them on to the nearby cords in order to let the wind disperse our bad fortunes. We then jumped back on the train and headed to the Ginza district - to do a little window shopping - since that is all we could afford to do there! We stopped in a little place next to the famous Kabuki-za and had some wine and cheese - after all of the walking we needed to cool our heels! Then we hopped in a taxi and headed to Tokyo Station to make our way back to Yokohama. When we arrived in Yokohama we headed out to a fabulous restaurant where we grilled delicious beef and prawns and had miso soup and sake. Along the way we poked into a pachinko parlor - it was the singularly loudest game room we have ever been in. We wouldn't be surprised if going deaf was a side-effect of playing the game. It was very interesting though - they had huge bowls of tiny metal balls beneath their chairs - much like Americans might have cups of coins after winning at the slots. After eating we headed over to Yodobashi electronics market for a little shopping. This place is extraordinary and has the greatest number and the most high tech and innovative electronics that we have ever seen in one place! Combine B&H Photo, BestBuy, Circuit City, RadioShack and some high-end place with vacuum tube stereos and $5000.00 vinyl record players and you couldn't even come close to the 8 floors of extraordinary shopping that is Yodobashi!!! After shopping till we dropped and buying very little we turned in. We rose the next morning, had a Japanese breakfast of pork cutlet and rice and then headed back to the bus terminal to get off to the airport. Along the way we saw two stunning geisha dancing with parasols - unfortunately we had to run so we didn’t miss the flight so we have no photos of them... maybe next time - because we will definitely be going back!

Japan!