HI! I kind of dropped of the blog map there, I know. A couple of posts are on their way. First, here are some photos to go with the post on day 1 in Tokyo. I am having issues creating groups in Flickr, so here is a link to the first photo from Tokyo. Just keep clicking "next photo" to see them all in order. Click here to start.

Hi all. I am blogging from Gate 70F at Narita International Airport waiting for my flight to Beijing. It has been a whirlwind two days here in Tokyo, and while I enjoyed my time here, I am happy to going on to China. When I last blogged, I was getting ready to take my shinkansen (bullet train) from Naoetsu back to Tokyo. That process all went very smoothly, thanks to Maria, who helped me buy tickets and got me to the station on time. Thanks again Maria for a great visit and for the great place to stay!

I got to Tokyo unscathed and proceeded to the Tokyo Metro, where a short ride took me to the Juyoh Hotel. I wasn't sure what to expect out of this place, which I had found via the Lonely Planet message board. The website had seemed promising and...they had a COUPON! It was only 2980 yen a night (about $28 a night), which is a steal in Tokyo. My room wasn't ready when I got there but the pleasant elderly man held my bags and gestured to return at 3 pm.

So, I was off to explore Tokyo. I took the metro down to Ginza, which is one of the most famous and tony shopping districts in the city. This is the Fifth Avenue of Tokyo, home to expensive boutiques, huge department stores and all variety of food options. Immediately across from the Ginza station, I found the Sony Building, which doubles a giant showroom for all Sony products. There were some really neat things on display, which they allowed visitors to play with. I especially enjoyed playing with the electronic dog, Aibo! This may be my kind of dog - it plays with you, if you get sick of it, you can turn it off and it doesn't make a mess. Then again, it does cost about $2000! Maybe not. I also really liked the huge HDTV plasma screens that they had all over the place. They even featured their professional TV cameras for HD, which I know my father would have enjoyed seeing. I went then to the Citibank to get some more yen, which unfortunately seems to flow like water in this country. On my way, I discovered the Yamaha music store - 5 stories of instruments, sheet music and more. The bank geek in me came out and I had to go look. They had some beautiful instruments on sale and even drum corps posters! It was pretty cool. I wish I could have afforded one of their beautiful flutes, but unfortuantely, they are no cheaper in Japan than they are at home!

For lunch, I once again venture to Yoshinoya for my second beef bowl of trip. This time, I went for a large. MMMMM!

Next, I decided to go up to the Tokyo Station area and wander around the Imperial Gardens. The current Imperial Palace is closed to visitors except for 2 days a year, since it serves as the home fo the current emperor and empress. However, the gardens are open to the public, and they were very quiet. Not very elaborate, but peaceful and I needed a rest! I kept walking and after passiing through the national gardens, I came upon one of the most controversial places in the whole world: the Yasukuni shrine. For those of you not familiar with Asian history, Yasukuni is the official shrine for Japanese war heroes - including a number of individuals classified as class-A war criminals during World War II. The current prime minister of Japan, Junchiro Koizumi, has made a habit of visiting here on occassion to "honor the war dead" and shore up his right wing base of support. In fact, while I have been here, he has been hinting at going again. However, these visits are met with much anger by China, which is still upset that Japan has not fully apologies for the crimes committed against thousands of Chinese during the war. "Honoring" those individuals, especially when done by Japan's leader, is very insulting to the Chinese. Interestingly, I did not find the shrine to be much to look at architecturally. It was very plain, and while there were vistors there, I saw no sign of protestors of any controversy at all. If you didn't know the history, you would not have known what you had just walked into.

I took the metro back up to my hotel where I checked in . I found a very nice (and small) 3 tatami room, with futon, TV and A/C. It was a great stepup from the "campsite." I was also right next to the shower, which was very convenient. I was wiped out, so I took a nap. When I woke, I decided to make my way over to Shinkjuku, which is sort of the Times Square of Tokyo.

This is where the story gets to the "highs and lows." Some of you may know that I am big fan of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, which takes place in Tokyo. I wanted to go to the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel, where it was filmed, and have a drink in the rooftop bar - a setting where Bill Murray's character first meets Scarlett Johansen's character. I knew it would be expensive - this is the top hotel in the city - but I had to do this just for me. Being there was eerie. It was really like being in the movie. In the elevator, I heard the bell make the echo it makes in the film and I found myself giving the other elevator passengers the kind of glances that Bill Murray does. The bar at the top was just like in the film - a tremendous view from the 51st floor out over Shinjuku, with live jazz and expensive drinks (and a cover charge). I won't even tell you how much I spent but I had a good time and kept expecting someone to ask me if it was "Suntory time." (For you LiT buffs, I sat at the bar where the two American businessmen accost Bill Murray in the early scenes of the film.)

So, the bar was the high. Now comes the low. As I exited the hotel, I decided to take a picture of the tower. As I was standing there, I slipped and dropped my digital camera. Well, this was one hard drop and we all know that I am bad on electronics, especially cameras. In fact, this camera already had a broken battery cover. Well - this was the last straw. It's dead. I was so mad at myself. As I tried to fix it, I missed a step up and tripped again! Yes, I am the clumsiest man in the world. Anyhow - that's why there are no photos on this blog yet. Luckily, thanks to Maria, everything is saved on the memory card, and after I get my replacement camera in Beijing this weekend., I will post what I have. I also brought a regular camera and bought film to take photos the next day - so be on the look out for those too.

My flight is about to board so I am going to cut it short here. I will add more about my second Tokyo day and my arrival in Beijing shortly. Miss you all! Sayonara from Narita!

Blogging was non-existent for the past several days while Maria and I traveled to the city of Kyoto, one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world. For those of you who may not know, Kyoto was the long-standing capital city of Japan and thus it is home to some of the oldest and most important historical sites in the country.

Luckily for me, Maria has a car and so we were able to drive to Kyoto, which saved us money from having to take the shinkansen. Actually, it did not save us that much because gas and TOLLS in this country are really expensive. Actually, the gas wasn't horrible given how gas prices in the US are trending, but the tolls were crazy. For a four hour drive from Joetsu to Kyoto, the tolll was 7000 yen, which is about $70! Yikes. Still, that was cheaper than the bullet train and we got to see some nice scenery, including some of the Sea of Japan coastline and a lot of rice paddies. On the way, Maria and I listened to some of her Japanese pop songs, including a big hit by Utada called "Easy Breezy," in which she sings that "You're easy breezy and I'm Japaneezy." Ha! Maria has decided to call quintessentially Japanese customs or phrases "Japaneezy," like her floppy hat that she wore in Kyoto. Very Japaneezy.

(BTW, I was able to fix the photos below by migrating over to Flickr. I will probably still insert photos into the blog now and then, but for this trip...there are tons. Feel free to link over to my Kyoto album on Flickr to see them...I will add captions soon.Kyoto and Nara Album)

In Kyoto, we visited the modern Kyoto station and had lunch at a little sandwich restaurant which served expensive food. (Well, all of Japan is expensive, so I guess it really wasn't. But, I'm po.) Then we checked into the Uno House guesthouse, which Maria likes to call the "Campsite." It does sort of resemble a campsite, with random bathrooms, strangely connected buildings, wood and carpet in weird places. In fact the room was the least weird part of the campsite...a three-tatami mat room with futons. Actually, not too bad, especially for only 4000 yen for two nights. We dropped off our crap at the Campsite, and then we were off to see the Imperial Gardens. The palace was closed but I have learned that it is actually not the most impressive site in Kyoto, as opposed to say the Forbidden City in Beijing. The gardens were nice and large...Maria called it "the Vastness."

Then we decided to wander around some of the Kyoto shopping districts, enjoying some of the badly translated signs and interesting wares being offered. Our favorite was a "hip-hop" clothing store called the "Ill Store," which said it was the "Extra Dope Wear Select Shop." Hilarious. I took a picture of it, which was the first picture I took on my new memory card that I bought here. Maria pointed out that I was a picture-crazy freak and without a memory card, I would fill up my digital camera memory in a second. Luckily, Japan is home to cheap electronics, and I got a deal on a 128 MB card for around 3400 yen. Not bad!

The cool thing about Kyoto is that they have preserved a ton of the old shrines and temples even as they developed the modern city. Even in what basically a shopping mall, we came upon tons of little shrines right next to or between the shops. They were really beautiful and I got some neat photos of them.

Then Maria and I found a "photo club" place. This is a very Japaneezy thing to do - kind of like a souped up photo booth where you go in and take pictures in front of different backgrounds that are superimposed behind you. Then you can add icons, drawings and writings to the pictures you take before they print out - all while crazy electronic music plays! Needless to say, we were really silly and got some hilarious pictures which I will try to scan at some point.

We had dinner at a place called "The Garlic Station," which wasn't that great. We tried to see a movie but we kept missing the show times and we were also trying to be PO and not pay 1800 yen ($18) to see a movie! EXPENSIVE. We called it a night since we were getting up early the next day.

On Sunday, we decided to get up pretty early and go see the major sites of Kyoto. We first went to the Kenkakuji (Golden) Temple, which I believe was a former shogun's house that he asked to be converted to a temple after his death. It is beautiful and the pictures turned out great. See my Flickr album for more. Then we went to the Ryoanji temple, which was home to a famous Zen rock garden. It was really neat, but with a lot of tourists. It also had a beautiful pond where some people from Massachusetts took our pictures. Next, it was off to the Ninnaji temple which was bigger and very peaceful. We sat in the rock garden there for a bit and just enjoyed the quiet.

For lunch, we had Yoshinoya. I mean, I had to have Beef Bowl in Japan! It's so much nicer here too. You get it in a real bowl and the interiors are much more attractive, not ugly pinks and whites.

After lunch, we went over to the Nijo-jo Castle, which was where the Tokugawa shoguns basically ran Japan for many years. It was pretty impressive, a lot of neat wood structures and great reception area where the shogun would intimidate his underling feudal lords. I thought it was a very different kind of intimidating than the Forbidden City, but it was still impressive. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures inside the palace. I enjoyed the nightingale floors there, which were specifically designed to squeak so that the warriors could hear if someone was trying to sneak in. It was also fun to walk around all of these temples in my socks, since there were no shoes allowed inside!

We tried to find another temple, but failed to get there in time before it closed. So, we went to go find a 100 yen store to buy towels, since we forgot to bring them with us. Then we had dinner at Wendy's. Yes, Wendy's! Sorry, no fingers in the chili in Japan... We again attempted a move and promptly struck out, so we went to the Hub, which is a "gaijin" bar that is supposed to be like an English pub. We had "American Lemonade" drinks there - which I had never heard of. I think it was like wine and lemonade mixed together!

On Monday, we woke up and had Starbucks and then drove to the Fushimi-Inari shrine, which I am now calling the Original Gates. Remember the Gates project in Central Park this winter? Well, I have determined that Christo and Jeann-Claude stole it from Japan. This shrine is made up of hundreds of orange gates, one after the another, along paths in the natural setting of a mountain park. Sound familiar? Of course, these are torii gates in the traditional Japanese style, but basically the same thing. Copiers! I loved this shrine. It was very peaceful and it was fun to walk among the gates in the mountains. Lots of good exercise too!

It took us forever to find the place because the maps we all had sucked and Japanese street names keep changing. We figured it was a good test of our ability to compete on the Amazing Race!

After the shrine, we drove down to Nara, which was the original capital of Japan and is also home to some of the most important sites in the country. There are tame deer all over Nara who just come up to you and lick your hand. They were very sweet and vendors were everywhere selling deer food. I got some good pictures of them.

The highlight was the Todaiji temple, which is a center of certain Buddhist strain and the home to a huge gold and iron Buddha statue. (See photos)... There is also a part of the temple where there is a small hole in the base of a column. It is said that it is the same size as one of the Buddha's nostrils and anyone who can fit through it will achieve enlightenment. All of these little kids were getting through and some smaller Japanese women, but Maria really thought I could do it. We decided it was another of our "Amazing Race" challenges. It was quite a show when the foreigner (me) crammed himself into the hole. I totally thought I was stuck at one point and would become a new tourist attraction - Dumb Gaijin in a Hole! But, somehow I squeezed through and Maria got a picture which I will post. I guess I am destined for enlightenement. After I made it through, I saw that a large crowd had gathered to watch and they all APPLAUDED when I got through! Crazy!

We walked a few kilometers around Nara to a number of different temples, which you can see in the pictures. There were quite a few tourists there, including a lot of junior high students. Maria said that all junior high students usually take a trip to Kyoto and Nara. I thought the other temples were nice, but I liked Taido-ji best. Maybe that's because I became enlightened there!

On the way back to Maria's house, we stopped at a rest stop along the highway. We decided to eat at this sitdown restaurant - kind of a Denny's-like establishment. I ordered a small plate of food, because I wasn't that hungry, and it was cheap. The waitress gave me a funny look and said something in Japanese when I ordered it but I assured her that's what I wanted. Well, it turns out it was the kid's meal, which came on a plastic plate with a little cup and pictures of ducks and cats! So embarassing! We just laughed the whole time we sat there. They must have thought we were high or something. It made for a lot of fun though!

Today, we just chilled in town and FINALLY saw a movie - Million Dollar Baby. Yes, I hadn't seen it yet. It was very good. Tonight we are making sushi rolls here at home and then I am off to Tokyo tomorrow on the shinkansen. Check out my photos here and thanks to all who have commented and emailed!

I can't tell if the photos I am uploading are coming through or not. Can you guys see them when you read the page? Email me or comment below with what you get. If you can't see the photos, I got a Webshots album and you can go to that. Here is the link: Webshots

Thanks!

Hello all. Well, this is my first attempt at blogging, so let's see how it goes.

I arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday night after the longest flight of my life. Well, not really, but usually I can sleep on planes. This time, I was awake almost the entire time, though I did get to watch all of The Phantom of the Opera and Spanglish, plus eat some of the best airline food I've ever had. Still, it would have been nice to sleep! I think the fact that I was crammed into an aisle seat in the middle section was the problem...I always prefer the window.



Anyhow, I landed at Narita and got through passport control in record time. Unfortunately, my luggage took a long time to get delivered so I lost time there. When it finally arrived, I got some yen out of the Citibank ATM and then dumped my huge bags at luggage storage. Expensive, but I was not about to lug my huge bags around Japan for nine days. I will get them at the airport before I go to Beijing next Friday.

Then, I got on the Keisei train to Ueno station in Tokyo. After an hour train, I got to Ueno, where I had to change stations and find the ticket office for the bullet train (shinkansen). Ueno station is quite big and full of people everywhere. I found the ticket office and stood in a long line, all the time worried that I would be unable to purchase the tickets with my lack of Japanese. Also, I was concerned because my cell phone didn't work in Japan and I had wanted to call home to tell everyone that I had made it safely. That would have to wait. I finally got to the ticket counter and told the gentleman that I wanted to go to Naoetsu. He seemed to understand and asked, "Now?" And I said, "Yes! Now." Multiple tickets printed and I was off after charging my card.

In the JR rail system, the gates are apparently smarter than humans. I did not realize that you are just supposed to put your many tickets in the slot at one time, and it figures out which ones to take and which to keep. It took me a little while to figure out how to work the gate, but eventually I made it in and saw the sign toward Shinkansen departures. Once there, I called my friend Maria to tell her I was on my way, but the phone did not work for international calls, so that was out of the question.

I rode the bullet train to Echigo-Yuzawa, where I changed to a nonbullet train to Naoetsu, where Maria lives. For a while, I worried I was lost because the second train was nearly abandoned and it was pitch dark outside. Maria lives in a fairly rural area, so I learned that there is not much to see out the window.




Maria picked me up at Naoetsu and I was off to her apartment. Finally, some sleep!!!

The next day, she went to work as a teacher on the JET program and I got over jet lag. I took a walk in her neighborhood and perused some shops and restaurants, as well as some cute little houses.





Last night, Maria and I had sushi at the best sushi place in Naoestu! So GOOD! I had eel (unagi) for the first tme, and it was great. Then, we ran some errands and went to the international supermarket and her version of the 99 cent store, the 100 yen store, which is the nicest "po" store I have ever seen. Then we came back and watched a download of the last season's Amazing Race premiere before we were off to her adult English class, where I was the guest surprise. Her class is so cute - mostly middle-aged Japanese women. They really seem to have fun trying to learn English. Some of their skills are better than others, but they all learned that I went to Princeton and that I was working for the US government in Beijing this summer. We talked about Japan, food and played the "proverb game." It was hard trying to explain English proverbs like "There is more than one way to skin a cat," a phrase which I don't even quite understand (is there really more than one way to skin a cat?) but they had a lot of fun. Since one of our phrases was, "A picture is worth a 1000 words," here you go:



We took this picture after class and having cake and tea. This is the traditional altar in the house of the place where we had class. Very traditional, beautiful Japanese house, including the altar to the ancestors (pictured on the wall, along with the emperor and empress). We sat on mats at a low table and all the walls were sliding screens. I really liked it. They were so sweet and nice. I told them I wish I could come next time, but I will be in China. They said, anytime!

Anyhow, now I am blogging and then I am off to explore some more while Maria works. Then we are going to a dinner party tonight and off to Kyoto tomorrow. Thus end blogging attempt #1. Please feel free to post comments, email me at rcjinprc@yahoo.com or send this link on to others. Miss you all!

I am testing different blog servers. Let's see how this looks.