Day 6 - Kyoto

Thanks to the overnight rain, our next day in Kyoto would be blessed with excellent weather.  Our accommodations included a lavish continental breakfast spread, a mix of western and eastern breakfast foods.  After enjoying a hearty breakfast, we met our guide for the day, Mr. Takeshi Suzuki.  As the day went on, we learned Mr. Suzuki was a former English teacher and had many years of experience under his belt.  After discussing the various places we wanted to see today, we hailed a cab and set out on our adventures.

The first stop of the day: the Imperial Palace grounds in downtown Kyoto.  Upon arrival, we had to apply for a permit, as only the first 100 guests can attend one of the few daily tours of the grounds.  As we met up with our tour group, we wandered throughout the southern part of the grounds, and got to see much of the restored archictecture, as some of the older buildings had been destroyed by fire and rebuild (other buildings had been actually removed from the grounds).

Next up, we would grab a taxi to Nijo Castle.  This castle was a residence used by the Shogun in feudal Japan, both as living quarters and as a place to meet guests to conduct business.  The exterior gate was being renovated, and is expected to be completed in a few years.

From Nijo Castle, we would walk to the Golden Temple, a Buddhist temple built by the Shogun.  We learned quite a few interesting details about the grounds and what would transpire there.

In very short order, it was time for lunch.  We walked a few blocks from the temple and found a good noodle shop.  While awaiting our order, we were seated next to a group of middle school students.  They seemed unusually excited to be seated next to foreigners, and in a few moments we learned why.  Apparently, they had an assignment to practice their English and ask foreigners some questions.  We were only too happy to oblige them!  In return, Ramona also asked them a few questions and introduced herself in Japanese (with some timely corrections from Mr. Suzuki!).  To end our time with our excited students, Ramona gave them her business card.  They genuinely seemed to treasure the card as they thanked us as they left.

With a good lunch behind us, we were once again on our walk.  This time, we would cut through the grounds of Ritsumekan University, a private university in Kyoto.  We hadn't seen much of the college system in Japan and this was a good opportunity for us.  The buildings didn't seem very different from the college campuses we were familiar with, right down to the comically messy professor's office we peeked into.

Exiting campus, we continued on our way to another nearby shrine.  This was another Buddhist temple, famous for its zen rock garden.  After discarding our shoes at the door, we walked to the perimeter of the garden.  The stones were arranged in a particular pattern of significance to the Buddhist faith.  To us, the challenge was to view all 15 stones in the garden at once.  Unfortunately, one stone was always obscured by another.  Suzuki-san indicated the lesson was "to strive for perfection, but know that perfection was unobtainable".

From the temple, we caught a train to the West of Kyoto and headed for the Bamboo grove.  This was an area adjacent to temple, set aside for growing Bamboo.  And grow it did!  The Bamboo stalks here grew well over 15m high.  Suzuki-san told us that new Bamboo grow to over 12 feet in less than six months!  At the end of the grove, we circled back to an outdoor shopping mall strip, across from the train station.  We ended our day with Mr. Suzuki, getting a few details for the locations we would visit tomorrow.

Through the wonders of Facebook, Karl had stayed in touch with friends from his Japanese class at Eastern Michigan University.  One of his friends, Danielle Alexander, had moved to Japan after college, and was teaching at a school between Kyoto and Osaka.  As luck would have it, she finished her work day early and was available to meet us!  We took the train back to Kyoto Station, looking to meet Dani in the central atrium.  Sure enough, we met her soon after reaching the atrium.

We chatted and caught up on things as we exited the station.  Across the street, the Kyoto Tower and it's 360-degree view of Kyoto beckoned.  Atop the tower, we talked as Dani pointed out many of the sights of downtown Kyoto.  In the clear light of the evening, we could see all the way to the mountain ranges and snapped pictures of many of the sights we wouldn't have time to see.

After leaving the tower, we crisscrossed the adjacent streets, in search of dinner.  We happened across a restaurant with a large grill for cooking okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake/omelette, filled with all kinds of awesome things.  Grabbing a seat at the grill, Dani quickly ordered for us in Japanese.  After living here for nearly a decade, her Japanese was more than up to the task.  Dani filled us in her upcoming wedding plans, the house she and her fiance had bought, and many details about her upcoming trips.  As the last of the okonomiyaki was eaten, it was time to find a place for dessert!

Heading back to Kyoto Station, we knew the fashionable food merchants in the basement would have awesome desserts for us.  Karl chose a strawberry shortcake and Dani chose a Japanese green tea cake.  As we had discovered consistenly across Japan, finding a place to sit nearby was next to impossible.  Dani suggested we try the roof.  Sure enough, we found a place there to sit and enjoy our desserts.

The hours seem to fly by.  Before too long, it was time to share our goodbyes and put Dani on a train for home.  Unlike us, she had to actually work in the morning!  As she disappeared through the subway gates for her train, we set our sights on our hotel - and bed.

Day 5 - Hakone to Kyoto

The began like many others had: in search of coffee!  Our ryokan had a coffee machine in the lobby, so we availed ourselves of a cup to start the day.  We had a myriad of things to do, and a short timetable, so we skipped the breakfast offering from the ryokan and worked on packing up for the next leg of our journey.  After assembling our luggage, we bid farewell to the friendly staff at the front desk and climbed the hill to the bus stop.  In just a few moments, the Touzan bus appeared and carried us to Odawari station, where we would board a high-speed (Shinkansen) train from Odawari to Kyoto.

Arriving at the platform a few minutes before the train was scheduled to arrive, Karl hoped to get a picture or video of the trains speeding through the station.  Sadly, he missed two opportunitties, due to the trains' sudden, yet almost silent appearance.  When our train quietly "whooshed" not the station, we took our seats and found ourselves hurtling through the countryside.  As this was a "short" route with several stops, the Shinkansen was not scheduled to exceed 150mph, not that we could tell the difference between 120mph and 150mph....

Until today, the weather in Japan had been warm and sunny.  Today's forecast included rain for the region, which was sure to add a little complexity to the execution of the day's plans.  Still, the rain was probably welcome to the locals, as it had only rained a few days in the few weeks Karl had been watching the weather.

In just over two hours, we traveled the 240miles from Hakone to Kyoto.  Kyoto, once the old capital of Japan, is known as the most popular tourist location in Japan.  In just a few short moments, we saw considerably more foreigners than we'd seen in Tokyo.  Moreover, we saw many large groups of middle school students, most likely on a school excursion to Kyoto.

Our tour company booked a Japanese tea ceremony with an English-speaking guide for us at a specific time, so we made our way from the train station to our hotel.  While we could take a bus or the subway, we opted for a taxi, to ensure we'd have plenty of time.  In contrast to the classic ryokan we left, our driver delivered us to the front door of the modern Kasamura Kyoto hotel, which could easily pass for an American Hyatt or Westin Hotel.

With a quick change in wardrobe, we were out the door and headed to the subway stop, also conveniently located 20 feet from the hotel lobby.  We took the train to Higashiyama station, just a few blocks from the tea house.  After a short walk, we arrived at our destination.  Our hostess greeted us and led us to a tatami mat-lined room.  The air smelled faintly of incense, from an  stick burning near the door.  We were invited to join a few other guests (a pair of 20-something girls from Switzerland) sitting on the floor.  After a few minutes, our hostess discussed the various preparations for hosting a Japanese tea ceremony, including items such as the fan, tea cups, and so on.  After the introduction, another younger hostess performed the movements of the tea ceremony, gracefully drawing water, heating it, pouring the tea powder, whisking the tea with water and serving it.  Afterwards, she discussed the movements themselves.  After taking a quick picture of her and the arrangements, we concluded our visit to the En Tea House and were back on the rainy street.

We walked back across town to our hotel, and could see Kyoto Tower illuminated in the evening sky.  The tower was adjacent to Kyoto Station and made it easy to enter the malls and shops at the base of the tower, which connected to the shops beneath the station itself.  In the basement of Kyoto Station, the grocers had many upscale food shops.  Delicate tea cakes, ornate box lunches and all manner of foods were available.  Since we couldn't find a seating place to eat, we opted to try the restaurants on the 11th floor.  There, we found an Italian restaurant that served a variety of Italian dishes.

After our meal of spaghetti and steak, we were certainly ready for bed.  Returning home on the subway, we were soon fast asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows!

Day 4 - All About Hakone

Monday morning came all-to-early, waking at just after 4:30AM local time.  After putting away our futon (bed rolls), we enjoyed some hot tea overlooking the small mountain stream that runs behind the ryokan.  Once we were ready for the day, we opted to walk down the hill to a local 7-11.  The sun was up, so we could easily navigate the narrow street (though Karl was always a footstep away from standing in the street to be hit by a car!) and watch people s they went about starting their day.  The town was quite hilly, so we could often see the lush, green scenery around us. 

A little over a half mile away, we found ourselves at our destination.  Japan is a very cash-based society, even though ATMs and even tap-to-pay with cards and now phones have been around for over 20 years.  We would easily find ourselves in places that would only accept cash, so the ATMs at 7-11 are a good bet - other than (most) banks, Japanese ATMs almost never accept foreign ATMs, except for Visa.  As our credit and  cards are MasterCard, this was a safe bet. 

After getting cash and coffee, we returned to our hotel for breakfast.  And what a breakfast it was!  The ryokan put forth a lavish spread of miso soup, pickled vegetables and a soft-boiled egg, which we cooked in the sterno-fired pots at our table that kept the miso soup hot.  Also a first for us, we were served a large, broiled mackerel for breakfast.  That was certainly different!  It took a little work to eat with chopsticks, but we polished it off just fine.  After our meal, we returned to our room, then headed out for the day. 

First up the day's itinerary: visiting Hakone National Park.  At nearly 300 sq. kilometers, Hakone National Park features many hiking trails, museums, cultural tours, camp grounds, exposition and craft halls,  and Lake Ashi, a large freshwater lake over 20km in circumference.  We took the mountain  car to the Gora stop, where we could take a mountain cable car over the mountains to the other side.  The railway included many switchbacks, as the single rails serviced several routes in both directions.  When we reached Goza, signs indicated the mountain cable cars were closed, due to recent increased volcanic activity (don't worry - there was no chance of eruption, only increased out-gassing from the mountains, which hampered visibility).  The local bus would get us where we wanted to go, so Karl stopped in to the Travel Information counter near the train station.  The station attendant indicated the other passenger at the counter was headed the same way (an elderly woman, traveling alone), and we could follow her all the way to Lake Ashi.  The elderly woman even had hand-written notes from the attendant, which made sure  she had the transfer points between busses.

After boarding our bus, we traveled through Hakone, passing many museums and cultural stops.  The bus finally arrived at Togendai station, at the north of Lake Ashi.  We could see the silent cable cars and their lines stretching over the mountains, dutifully waiting to resume operation some day.  Lake Aisha features a Pirate Ship tour of the lake, North to South, so we boarded with many other passengers, several of them from many different foreign countries.  As the boat cruised south, many passengers clamored about the deck, getting pictures of one another and taking incessant selfies.  A few minutes out from the dock, Mt. Fuji itself came into view between the neighboring mountains.  Of course, everyone sprang to various corners of the deck, snapping pictures of the mountain.  We, too, snagged a few pictures of ourselves with the majestic mountain in view.  

As the boat docked at the south of Lake Ashi, we stayed aboard while it would continue to the East dock at Motohakone. 

As we put it to the lively port, Ramona saw a cafe she'd seen in one of our tour books.  We stopped for a quick bite of specialty breads, and took advantage of their interesting outdoor seating.  The patio was lined with chairs underneath a long, marble table, 30 or so feet long.  We couldn't pull out the chairs and suddenly noticed that the foot area was a long foot-soaking trough.  We slipped off our shoes and joined the other patrons in soaking our feet in the hot water.  What a surprise!

To start our journey in the park, we stopped at nearby 7-11 (Oh! Thank heaven for 7-11: meals, cash, water and snacks!) and loaded up on water and other necessities. While watching The Amazing Race, one of the challenges included opening traditional Japanese wooden puzzle boxes.  This area is known for its woodworking, so we hoped to find some of these boxes. Our first stop was a short bus ride to the Hatajuku Wooden Handicraft center.  At the center, the shop owner handed us an English sign, inviting us to assemble wooden puzzle pieces into a souvenir we could glue together and take home.  As we labored over or wooden puzzle pieces, other customers came and went, buying various wooden boxes, trinkets and such.  With our new treasures carefully glued together on a plastic background, we purchased a wooden puzzle box and studied our maps for our next destination.  The shop keeper pointed out the bus would be arriving soon, so we said our goodbyes and stepped out, just in time to meet the next bus.

The bus returned us to our starting point, Motohakone, where we could now visit a different area of the park.  Our next visit would be to Yunessun (pronounced "unison"), a popular water park.  Thankfully, Ramona packed our  suits, so we could enjoy a visit like this!  The bus wound it's way across the park to Kowakidani station and stopped right at the water park. The travel pass we used for the busses and trains in the area also gave us discount in the park, which our cashier explained in excellent English.  After changing in the locker rooms, we entered the indoor portion of the water park.  It featured an Olympic swimming pool-sized central  area.  As it was Monday, the park was largely unoccupied, so largely had the place to ourselves.  We soaked inside for a few, then went to the water slides outside.

One of the attractions of Yunessun includes several themed spa tubs, including a Wine Bath, Coffee Bath, Sake Bath and a Green Tea Bath.  Of course, none of the baths were for drinking, but it added a fun element to the day.  We enjoyed many of the above baths, then had a pair of ice cream cones.  Another attraction of Yunessun is "Dr. Fish", a pool where you can dip your feet in water with tiny fish that nibble at exfoliated skin.  It's a strange sensation - a combination of being rubbed by tiny little sponges, and little things nipping at your toes!  Still, it was a fun experience and we had quite the laugh.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to Hakone National Park, taking the bus back to our ryokan.  We changed into yukata, Japanese cotton robes commonly worn in summer months and at ryokan, and headed up to the dining room for dinner.  Tonight's dinner was by far the most lavished.  We had another sterno-fired pot on the table, this one featuring cabbage, chicken and pork.  As our pot cooked, the waitstaff brought rice and pickled vegetables.  As we began to finish the pot, a large dish arrived with a large red snapper.  By the time it was all over, we'd had a Huge meal!

Back in our rooms after dinner, there was just enough time to pull out our futons, before falling asleep.

Day 3 - Tokyo to Hakone

Waking in our hotel, we prepared for the day and headed down to the complimentary continental breakfast.  Like yesterday, we were offered rice, onigiri (rice balls), beans, tea, coffee and sweet bread. After forwarding our luggage to Hakone, Mona loaded up her Starbucks Via (which worked great with the induction hot water heater in our room), then set out for adventure!

Today's location was Odaiba, a Japanese waterfront areathat's a mix of  Navy Pier, a gigantic shopping mall, Atlanta's CNN Center and a small California beach, all rolled into one.  We took the train from Akasuka to Odaiba, getting off just after crossing over the bridge from the major portion of the city.  We walked through an area called DECKS, a large pavillion arranged like the decks of a sailing ships, filled with a collection of sea-level restaurants.  Some random sights included a 60-ft tall replica of the Statue of Liberty.  It was surrounded by tourists, snapping pictures and capturing selfies with the replica.

We continued onward to the next area, the FUJI TV building, one of the major broadcasters in Japan.  The outdoor pavillion had signs for some attractions, including a concert, but we opted to continue onward.  We crossed a bridge and continued along.  Next up: Tokyo Beach, a pleasant space with water sports and jet ski rentals.  Just beyond, we entered a mall called "Diver City".  The mall featured an impressive collection of expensive restaurants and shops, as well an amazing collection of confections and sweets.  For Karl, our goal was on the opposite side: GUNDAM Front.  This plaza holds a 46-foot statute of the iconic RX-78-2 Mobile Suit (read: giant robot).  At night, the statue is illuminated and many of the lights on the robot are turned on as well.  

After numerous pictures were taken, we continued on through another pavillion called MegaWeb, a showcase of Toyota vehicles.  On the other side was the Pallette Town ferris wheel, where we stopped to take a brief ride.  From its great height, we could see much of Tokyo's waterfront, and much of the city itself.

Our next stop was another shopping mall, this one called Venus Fort.  As we strolled along, you can imagine it looks much like the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, without the waterways along the path.  The soft lighting and overhead sky painted on the ceiling made for a relaxing atmosphere.  Before making our return journey to Toyko, we paused for a photo-op outside a train station entrance called "Tokyo Teleport Station".  While having nothing to do with teleportation, this station is often a running joke about the future of transportation in Japan.

Pictures in hand, we chose to return to Asakusa by way of a water bus, an enclosed glass top water taxi.  The ride would slowly take us along the river, and let us see much of the waterway.  After boarding the taxi, we had a quick snack - Ramona had tortillas and salsa, while Karl had a beer.  Seated next to us on the bus was a young Japanese family, a husband, wife and two children.  The wife asked where we were from (in very good English) and took a picture with us.  We had a short, but pleasant, conversation with them, and Ramona gave them her business card.

The Asakusa water port was bustling with activity, thanks to the wonderful weather.  We worked our way back to our hotel, stopped by a nearby tourist information center.  We would later come to rely on these information centers throughout our trip as a handy means of figuring out what to see and do and how to obtain what we needed. The tourist information center attendant spoke excellent English, and told us that we could get excellent food at the basement of the department stores.  We crossed the street to a department store, and found an excellent store in the basement.  After collecting a mix of foods for lunch, we returned to our hotel for lunch. 

Stuffed to the gills, we grabbed our luggage and headed for the train station. A short while later, we were in the Hakone area.  We changed from the long-distance JR train to the local subway. After getting toTonosawa, we had a brief mixup in trains.  Oops!  After getting sorted out, we were on our way to again!

The mountainous area were we in was quite different than the dense, urban Tokyo we'd come to know.  We exited our train and meandered down a long stairwell to the narrow city streets.  Turned from the station, we soon arrived at to our ryokan, full of friendly staff.  After checking in, we inspected our room to find it included a private onset bath.  After a quick dip, it wasn't long before dinner, a three-course meal of rice, cooked meats and vegetables and a small sherbet for desert!

After a long day of activity, it wasn't long before we pulled out futon to sleep atop the woven tatami mats on the floor and were fast asleep.

Day Two - Tokyo

After another restful night, it was up-and-at-'em all-to-early!  As directed by our travel company, we'd shipped ahead our large suitcase to our next location.  For the next two days, we'd live out of our backpacks and smaller bag.  It would be an interesting change, to see how we'd fare!

Breakfast began as the previous day had begun, with a simple breakfast of onigiri (a traditional Japanese rice ball, made of rice and seaweed), coffee and bread.  We were on our own today, so we wanted to get an early start and get to our first destination, the Studio Ghibli  museum.  Karl is a long-time fan of Japanese animation, and Studio Ghibli is one of the oldest companies in that space.  Sadly, famed Director Hayao Miyazaki, the principal creator of many Studio Ghibli films retired a few years ago, and it seems like Studio Ghibli may soon close its doors.

Today would be the first day we would use our JR rail passes, a system different from the Manaca IC cards we'd used on the Tokyo  system.  Instead of swiping at the turnstyle, we merely flash the pass like a badge and cross to the train platform.  We needed to get to our specified platform and train in time to use the tickets we'd purchased yesterday with our tour guide, David.  However, navigating the maze of  stations and routes got us to the platform after our train had left.  However, the station attendant was quite helpful, and quickly replaced our ticket with a new one for our destination.

Aboard a new train, we were now bound for Mitaka, the location of the Studio Ghibli museum!  Our admission tickets were timed, so once we were in Mataka, we took a taxi to quickly get to the museum.  Once inside, we found the entire building festooned in the style of the many films they've produced.  We passed from exhibit to exhibit, highlighting the many works of Hayao Miyazaki and director Takahata.  As a Ghibli fan, it was overwhelming to see so much Ghibli in such a small place!

After enjoying Studio Ghibli, we walked through the quiet town of Mitaka, headed back to our train station.  Returning to Tokyo on the JR line, we switched to the subway system and headed to Ogikubo station.  David pointed out an excellent  noodle place with a purple banner called Harukiya during our day with him, so headed out from Ogikubo in search of it!  The area around Ogikubo is famous for its many, popular noodle shops.  After a friendly policewoman pointed us in the right direction, we found the shop.  A line had already formed in front, so we joined the queue and waited our turn.  The host brought an English menu to us, and we selected different  dishes to try.  After a few minutes, we were next up and were quickly directed to a bench.  Soon after, our  dishes arrived, piping hot, but just cool enough to successfully eat.  As we slurped our noodles, we were quite happy with our food choice!

After finishing our meal, we were back on the subway and headed to Akihabara, the "Electric Town" of Tokyo.  As we left the station, we were suddenly surrounded by youth and tourists, some of the youths (or perhaps the tourists?) dressed in trendy, Gothic "lolita" outfits, per the fashion trend.  A block from the station, we passed the Gundam Cafe, inspired by the TV show that kicked off the "giant robot" phase in Japanese animation.  Next door to it, the AKB48 Cafe, dedicated to the singing pop group.  Further along the street, we reached the heart of Electric Town, the Yodobashi Camera building, an eighth story building, filled with everything from electronics and appliances, to clothing, stationery and other retailiers.   We combed the store, in search of a good deal for a new camera.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a great model for $60 less than the best price on Amazon in the US!  We combed other areas of the store, finding a flat iron and watch for Mona.  After our shopping excursion, we treated ourselves to massages (feet for Mona, back for Karl).

Our shopping done, we turned our attention to navigating the subway back from Akihabara to our hotel.  At a nearby 7-11, we found a variety of salads, fresh fruits and an unending variety of unhealthy treats.  We chose a salad and headed back to the hotel to eat in our room.  Thanks to the massage, Mona was quickly asleep after eating, and Karl wasn't far behind.  You'd think falling asleep at 8PM would be difficult, but sunset in Japan is around 6PM - it's positively dark at 8PM.

Day One - Tokyo

Day One began well before 5AM (for Karl). The hotel we were staying in housed many Japanese tourists, as evidenced by the lobby full of other tourists.  Karl was able to get his traditional Japanese breakfast of onigiri  (Japanese rice ball), coffee and sweetened bread.  After a quick meal, we walked down to the waterfront.  We walked to the nearby convenience store to stock up on water and snacks for the day, followed by a brief trip to McDonald's for breakfast (hey!  Some days you just need an Egg McMuffin). 

Back at our hotel, we met our private guide for the day, David.  David has lived in several countries, before deciding to make Japan his home.  His knowledge and love of Japanese culture was quite evident when he gave us many tips and tricks for getting the right trains we'd need thought our trip.  David took us to the Tsukiji Fish Market, the busiest of its kind in the world.  Each day, thousands of pounds of fish pass through the market for wholesale to local restaurants or ship out across the globe.  We visited the merchant part of the fish market for a quick sushi snack, consisting of yellow tail and fatty tuna.

David took us on an excursion through Tokyo via train, before stopping in Roppongi, a hip, trendy area in the Northeast of Tokyo.  The Mori  tower hosted a Star Wars exhibit, featuring a large collection of costumes, props and artwork.  Further up the tower, high atop the Sky Deck at Mori Tower in Roppongi, we were afforded a beautiful, 360-degree view of toyko.  From there, David took to us an upscale grocery nearby, where we picked out lunch and ate at a park in midtown Tokyo.

From Roppongi, we headed to Nagano Broadway, to visit a four-story collectibles mall.  This building is home to Mandrake, a large collectibles company.  In fact, there are three Mandrake stores, including the original, each featuring different types and varieties of collectible items.  In one store we visited, old toy robots from classic 60s science fiction shows were over $1000 US!  The area near Nagano Broadway, the West side of Tokyo, is home to the origins of anime  and Manga culture in Japan.  Some of the oldest conventions and fan circles (groups of anime lovers who share art and sell fan-produced artworks) hosted the first conventions in this area.

From there, we walked a few blocks to the Kuroneko Kitchen maid cafe, a sign of Internet culture!  After Karl's Japanese wasn't quite up-to-par  for conversation, David was quick to help keep the conversation flowing.  David walked us through a small street called Memory Lane, an eclectic collection of small, open air bars and restaurants.  Their colorful banners and signs were similar to those featured in films and television.  David also showed us how to reserve our Japan Rail (JR) seats with our two-week JR passes, an important skill, as we would be seeing much of the country via long-distance trains.  These long-distance trains are a valuable link to us, getting us from one side of the country to the other.

David took us to BIC Camera, a six-story electronics boutique, showcasing every electronic gadget known to man.  As we said goodbye to our tour guide, we walked back to Memory Lane, finding a small shop to purchase yakitori, small skewers of meat, cooked over an open flame.  We had chicken and pork skewers before walking back to BIC Camera.  After a little bit of hunting through the digital cameras, Karl chose  to upgrade his camera with a better model, saving $65 over Amazon's price in the US!  From there, it was back to Shinjuku station, one of the busiest train stations in the world.  We stopped for a quick treat, a gourmet bakery cake at Takayano, a small shop in the station.  We stopped next store for a green tea soft serve ice cream.  It wasn't quite as tasty as the cake, but was still pretty nice.

From there, our next stop was Ginza, the fashionable shopping district.  The streets were lined with more upscale shops than Rodeo Drive and the Magnificent Mile combined.  From our vantage point on the street we could see Bulova, Bulgari, Gucci  and even an upscale Hello Kitty! store.  Our Top Ten Tokyo guide recommended a small, local restaurant called Little Okinawa.  We meandered the streets trying to find it, and a few locals attempted to help us.  However, instead of finding the one we were looking for, we stopped in a different one by mistake!  The menu was completely in Japanese, but we were able to eat a wonderful pork dish.  Before we left, we showed the guide book entry for the restaurant we were looking for, when we discovered we had the wrong location!

After taking the train back from Ginza, we were a few short blocks from the hotel when we were scolded by a policeman on a bicycle for trying to cross the empty street against the traffic.  Oops!  Upon our return, we shipped our luggage to our next stop and turned in for the night.  What a busy first day!

Steps for the day: 27,688

Day Zero - Off to the Far East!

In early 2014, Ramona used the miles we'd accrued on Delta Airlines to purchase two round-trip ticket to Japan.  Over the course of the year, Ramona investigate several travel companies, before deciding on Inside Japan Tours.  They assembled a personalized travel package for us, mixing private guided tours with group-led tours to some of the most interesting locations in Japan.

To start our trip, we would fly from Detroit to Atlanta, then on to Seoul, Korea, before landing in Japan, a little over 20 hours of flight and layover.  We spent "Day 0" of our trip driving from Kalamazoo to Ann Arbor (stopping off at IKEA of Canton!) before spending the night near Detroit Metro.

However, when our plane pushed back from the gate, mechanical issues brought it back to the gate.  Knowing our trip depended on two connections, we asked Delta to get us reassigned to another flight.  Not only were they able to accommodate us, they got us on a flight that would arrive six hours earlier!

As a consequence of the earlier flight, however, our checked bags were "trapped" on the later flight, and would not be able to reach us until the next day in Japan.  On the plus side, the shortened flight got us to Japan earlier enough to see a little bit more of the country, as it would have been late in the evening when we arrived on our original itinierary.  Once we found the right subway train to take us from the airport to our hotel, we arrived in plenty of time to settle into our room and tour the local area.

We wandered around a bit and eventually settled down to a small establishment to order dinner.  With a quick meal under our belts, it was lights out - our first full day in Japan was going to be extrememly busy!

Steps for the day: 9872