The Land of the Rising Sun and Delicious Convenience Store Food

Happy selfie!

This post officially puts our blog out of order. We are 2 years behind on updating this :( I am skipping about 10 posts for now, because I wrote most of this blog during the trip. The other posts will come in time, I hope. Enjoy...



We got a week off of work for the fall moon festival or something like that.... Vacation!!!!

We decided to do a quick 8-Day tour of Japan. Our first stop was Tokyo and it really was just as cool as I hoped it would be. We both felt that we could live there someday, and we've only said that about a few of the places we've seen. We absolutely loved Tokyo!

bicycle cop

The Funny Thing About Yen

Japanese Yen is quite a strange currency to me. The exchange rate is about 120 Yen to $1 USD.  The highest bill we saw for Yen was 10,000 and the most common bill we saw was 1,000. That's about $85 and $8.  So I would have five 1,000 Yen bills on me and feel like I had no money at all, because I was only carrying 5 bills. But really, I had over $40 USD, which is plenty to buy food and whatnot.  In Vietnam, the highest bill was worth about $25, and that's what I'm used to now. In Japan, it's worth $85, so I really felt like I had to be careful. Several times, I thought I had very little money, then, converted it and realized I had hundreds of dollars in my wallet.

Motorcycle cops

Now the coins... In the states, when you have coins in your pocket, you probably have less than or about $1.  In Japan, they have commonly use coins worth about $0.83 and another coin worth over $4.00.  So my point is that you could easily have about $20 worth of coins in your pocket and not notice it at all, whereas, if you had $20 worth of US coins in your pocket, your pants would be too heavy to wear without a strong belt. I just find this really amusing. :)

Do you Hello Kitty much?

7 Eleven and Lawsons

In the United States, I have never considered eating convenience store food. You see it rotating in the case and you wonder, "How many days has that hotdog been in there?" 7 Eleven is very different in Japan. It's pristine. It's spotless. The food actually tastes amazing. I ate fried chicken from 7 Eleven almost every day I was there, because a friend suggested it. At first, I thought he was crazy, but I really had no idea what I was missing.

The Journey

We flew from Shanghai to Haneda airport, 30 minutes outside Tokyo, on Springairlines. I would advise everyone to avoid this airline. It was pretty bad, and the seats don't recline at all :(

The airport was clean and efficient. We got through immigration, picked up our bags, and went through customs in no time.

After that, we boarded a train to Tokyo City. It was late and hard to stay awake during the ride. Jenni fell asleep on my shoulder. I was so jealous! We arrived at Shinjuku station. We knew our hotel was close, but we didn't have GPS on our phones and didn't want to get lost in the middle of the night while carrying our luggage around. We've done that a few times, and we usually wish we had just taken a cab.

Tokyo

Then, we hopped in a cab, and went to our hotel. It was late, and usually when more of the dirtbag taxi drivers come out, so I was dreading getting in the cab. Then, something weird happened; the driver spoke some English, was polite, didn't yell on a cell phone, didn't drive like a maniac, did stop at red lights, didn't almost hit anyone, did use turn signals, didn't spit, didn't smoke, and strangest of all... he asked me to put on my seatbelt!!!! Where am I?! He took us directly to our hotel and didn't try any shady tactics at all. When Jenni and I got out, I looked at her with surprise and said,"That was a nice ride. He was really nice." I have never in my life spoken of a taxi driver that way. I typically believe them to be the scum of the earth for the most part. This was a great start for Tokyo. (Now, the cabs are very expensive, but every driver we had while there was honest and polite.)

We got our room and went to bed.

Day 1 Tokyo: 

This place is awesome!!! We began our day trying to get to know our neighborhood, Shinjuku, by walking around. As we walked, we saw construction workers passing metal equipment up a scaffold by hand. It was a human elevator, and looked pretty dangerous.

Naturally, we decided to walk down that same street, because there were lots a lights and it looked interesting. I'm a moth, what can I say? I just kept a close eye on the workers so I could jump out of the way if they dropped something. We went into a little CVS-type store to get mouth wash and such. Then, we wandered into a DVD store, but we couldn't read anything else on the sign. To our surprise, it turned out to be an anime porn (and other stuff) store, so we carefully backed out the door... completely embarrassed.

Do Not Enter!!!

Next, we found a claw/crane machine arcade. The whole arcade had nothing but exotic- looking claw machines. Jenni snagged two dolls with one grab, and I snagged a Jack Skellington figurine!

We spent the some of the evening figuring out how to get tickets to the final day of the Sumo Championships. They were sold out, so we had to go off to this obscure place to get them.  It was some travel startup company that was run out some peoples apartment. It was easy enough to find, but way off the beaten path. We got our tickets, no problem and headed out for a night on the town.

We went to the Shibuya Scramble, the busiest pedestrian crosswalk in the world.  All 4 lights turn red and people walk from all 4 corners at the same time. They also walk diagonally across the intersection. It was interesting enough. We walked it a couple of times just for fun.... dorks, I know.

He's wearing my shirt :)

Then, we went to an unusual restaurant called Alcatraz ER.  You walked in the dark, haunted house-looking place, they immediately handcuff you and take you through a dark hallway. Then, they give you a jail cell to sit in. When you want to order food or drinks, you have to beat on the bars of the cell. The jailers are dressed as janitors, doctors and nurses... all of which have a Halloween costume feel.

People in the area had interesting taste in fashion :)

I don't know, but we had to take a picture of it..

We can't help it... we don't like buying over-priced drinks when we can just bring our own :)

After looking at the sign outside of Alcatraz E.R., I could tell I was going to need to drink a little before entering.

We were intermediately handcuffed.... 

Locked Up Abroad :(

Your table is a prison cell, and the "nurses" are your waitresses.

What am I doing here?!!

The menu is.... well it's disgusting! Someone tried really hard to make normal food sound perverted!

No, I don't want any more meds!

But, really , she was nice to us...

...unless we were too loud!

My drink

The doctor is in..

To lighten the mood, Jenni found a bath of rubber duckies outside :)

Day 2 Tokyo:

 It was Septemer 27th, Jenni's birthday! It also just happened to be the final day of the Grand Sumo Championships... oh yeah! Jenni was possibly more excited than me about this.

It took a little time to figure out where the stadium was, but we made it just as the last "semi pro" match finished. We sat down in our "box" seats. Really, you had a square bordered off by metal poles and sat on seat cushions on the floor. It was different, but that just added to the fun of it all.

We watched in awe as these giants did their rituals, smashed their fat bodies together, and snapped each other to the ground. It was by far one of the coolest experiences we had in Japan.

There was a Japanese family (dad, mom and toddler girl) sitting in the box with us. As the mom and dad cheered for their favorite behemoth, the toddler girl would shriek out the same cheer with all her might. It was hilarious!

At the end of the event, only two Sumo remained in the tournament. The crowd was going crazy the whole time. It turned out to be a long match for sumo, and finally, one man fell. The crowd lost it, and started throwing their seat cushions across the stadium in celebration. There were cushions flying everywhere!

Here is a video of the tourney that I cut. Enjoy!

Our "box" seats :) We sat on cushions in a boxed off area we shared with a young Japanese family .

....when worlds collide!

A Band waited to play for all the Fighters exiting the stadium.

Jenni was lucky enough to meet one of these guys during an intermission, and he was nice enough to take a picture with her.

These guys are treated like super heroes. They are literally larger than life and are well respected by the community. I didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't expecting it to be like that. 

After sumo, we had a romantic little cruise in Tokyo Bay. It was Jenni's birthday, so we had to do something a little more romantic than just watch superhuman blobs collide on salty dirt :) We went on a relaxing cruise through Tokyo Bay and enjoyed the cityscape. That, and the all-you-can-drink bar buffet.

Last Day in Tokyo:

A trip to Mt. Fuji!!!

We had a guided tour of Mt. Fuji.

We stopped at the 5th station.

Sending postcards to family

Had a Japanese meal with the tour

The cable car was a little crowded.

The clouds would roll in constantly at this altitude.

Kyoto

Day 1 in Kyoto: 

We got in the town in the late evening, went out for food and drinks, and had some jolly good fun! Our hotel had a public bath, but we didn't really know what it was. Well, it's a public bath. A bunch of people get naked and bathe in the same giant tub... a little weird for me, but whatever... when in Rome. jk. We planned on going to a hot springs bath in Osaka, anyway. 

Train to Kyoto

This guy cooks food in the back of his van.

I found a look-a-like of my friend, Taka!

Day 2 in Kyoto

We planned to go to the bamboo forest in far west Kyoto, Arashiyama, and then go to see a real geisha show at night.

We picked up some quick 7-11 chicken on the way to the station. Once we got to Kyoto station, we spent 10 minutes figuring out what train we needed on what line. There were only 2 minutes until the train was leaving when we finally solved the riddle, so yet again, we ran through another major public transportation hub! As we were running, we saw other people running towards our train , so we ran even faster. I approached the conductor of the near-capacity train and blurted out Saga-Arashiyama? He nodded and the doors closed right behind us as we entered. We were on our way to the bamboo forest... piece of cake ;)

We accidentally missed our stop and got off at the next station to turn around. And I'm glad we did! The station was a bridge between two mountains. Tunnels were dug through the two mountains, so everything looked wild and mostly untouched. Below was a stream running down the valley. It was beautiful scenery for sure!

We doubled back to Saga Arashiyama and began our stroll to the forest. The neighborhood was filled with pretty little houses on clean little streets. It wasn't long before were cane upon the forest. 

Massive shoots of bamboo all around the place created a picturesque canopy overhead. The pictures speak for themselves.

Okay, okay... we took way too many bamboo selfies, but WHATEVER! THIS PLACE A FREAKIN' COOL!!!

Afterwards, we walked around the town some more on our way back to Saga Arashiyama.

Later that night, we headed to Gion Corner for the geisha show... and let's just say, that's when I found a lot of time to write this blog. It started out with an old lady pretending she was making tea, then some old men playing music badly, but then it picked up a bit.. not a lot, but a bit. It was actually interesting when geisha came out to dance, but I didn't get the feeling these people were highly skilled artisans. 

Ultimately, it was just a tourist trap. I'm glad we went to find out for ourselves, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Osaka

Osaka Day 1: 

Take me out to the ballgame! The first thing we did when we got to our hotel was figure out how to get to the baseball game for that night. Baseball is huge in Osaka! 

It was the American game with some Japanese twists. It was like baseball meets Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

The away team fans all sat in the same section and danced the entire time their team was up to bat. The home team fans had little "traditions" they did each time certain players went up to bat. For example, Otoi was a big deal, so the fans all waved a certain flag when he approached the plate. Another player brought about towel-twirling. I probably didn't notice some other things. For the 7th inning stretch, all the home fans blew up blue balloons and released them at the 3rd out. They slowly released the air to make the annoying balloon whistle to heckle the opposing batter. Then, at the end of the game, they blew up pink balloons and released them on the last out of the game. Hundreds of balloons released at the same time! Check out the videos below.

At games in the U.S., we have NEVER been on the Jumbotron, but in Osaka, we were on the Jumbotron not once, not twice, but thrice! I predict theses are the following reasons why we got so much attention; I was wearing a really brightly colored shirt, we were some of the only non-Asian people in the crowd, and we were the only people that knew how to dance to YMCA :) 3 times! That's crazy. It was a fun game.

Day 2: 

We went shopping. I almost bought a real katana sword, but I didn't know enough about them to know if I was getting ripped off. I decided that if I want one, I'll have it made just for me.

I don't know, but it kinda looks like Tina from Bob's Burgers...

And a bit of shopping...

We made plans to go to a hot springs bath, but that fell through, so we just went out for convenient store food, then a real Japanese restaurant , and then to a bar for drinks.

Last day: 

Our last day in Japan was bitter-sweet, ordinary, exciting, frightening, dramatic, and exhausting. Allow me to explain.

We decided to have an easy day, do some shopping, sightseeing, and eat before leaving the Land of the Rising Sun for the Land of Slow and Frustrating Internet Connections....aka Shanghai. 

We got all that stuff out of system and headed for the airport, following the directions our hotel gave us. An hour later, we arrived at the airport with 2 hours to check in, go through immigration, security, exchange money, and board the plane... that should be plenty of time.

However, when we got to the airport, they informed us that we were at the wrong airport. And the right airport was 1.5 hours away..., $200 by taxi!!!! WTF?!!! The hotel sent us to the wrong airport... hello trip advisor!

We calmed down and started asking questions. We found out there was a shuttle to that airport in a few minutes. We got tickets, got on the bus and prayed for mercy!

There was very little traffic, luckily, so it only took about 1.25 hours. And yes, once again, we ran through another major public transportation hub! We were the last people to check in for the flight. That took about 10 minutes. The immigration line was tiny, so we got through there in about 10 minutes. The security line didn't really exist, so that only took maybe 5 minutes. We were actually ready at the gate 5 minutes before they started boarding!!! It was a God Dan Bing miracle!!!!  (sorry, my Shanghai peeps will understand that one)

I even had time to exchange my Yen back to USD before having a pleasant flight back to China. What a freaking way to end a vacation :) We are so grateful we made it. It was the last flight back for the rest of the day, and we would have been stuck in Japan another day... which doesn't sound that bad when I think about it.