At last...

I think we have all figured out by now that I am incapable of updating quickly and efficiently.
It doesn't help that I have continuously had camera/video issues, computer issues, and school sucks the very life from me like a giant, ruler-wielding leech.

First: VIDEO UPDATE WHOOHOO


We arrived back from Tokyo via the dreaded night bus (8 hours of hell) the morning that I had to check into the dorms, pay all my fees, and register for classes.

Since that fateful day, I've been busy with school and all-important socializing with my peers, of course. But I made some time to make another video, and I know I will make yet another this week so hopefully updates will pick up. For me, simply making the video is only half the battle. It has taken me a week to complete this one if that is any indication of my tendency to fail.

Alas, how did our Nagoya/Tokyo trip go? Rather than painstakingly posting all the pictures on here (especially since our dorm internet connection is TERRIBLE and it would take roughly 265 hours to load them all), I am just going to provide a link to my facebook and anyone interested can check them out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=329325&id=769294881&l=17186c8d63

Here is my commentary to go along with it. We decided to try to hitch-hike at a main highway leading north, that would eventually lead east towards Nagoya. We walked 30 minutes to a four-way intersection where the cars stopped at a light could see our sign and hopeful thumb, and right behind us was a Lawson's where they could pull into if they decided to take us for a ride.

Well, an hour and a half and a lot of laughing faces and pointing fingers later, we realized it wasn't going to work. We walked further and further north and kept trying new places, but hundreds of cars passed us with no sign of help. So we walked to the nearest train station (another 30 minutes) and by the time we got on the train we were tired, cold, and annoyed.

We decided to go by local trains all the way to Nagoya, which took maybe 5 hours, though we stopped in Kyoto briefly to eat.

We arrived in Nagoya around 9 pm and our couch-surfing hosts met us and took us to an izakaya where we got to meet some of their friends. It was a welcome after a long day of traveling, and they were English teachers at the same school, so had some interesting stories.

Nagoya didn't have a whole lot to do, but we saw the main attraction areas, the Nagoya Castle and a samurai show. Let me just say, when I heard that there were a samurai show, I didn't expect what it ended up actually being- a bit of talking and some choreographed dancing that I doubt was historically derived.

We stayed two nights in Nagoya and tried hitch-hiking again the next day, but once again failed. And it started snowing. Yuki was being a Debbie Downer so for the second time, we gave up.

We splurged and took the Shinkansen until we got to Fuzuoka, then took some local trains until we found a stop where we could have a nice view of Mt. Fuji. We walked around the town and took some nice pictures of the mountains. I really wish we'd had time to get closer to the mountain, but it looked beautiful from where we were.

3 hours of local trains later, we arrived in Tokyo! Once there we found our next couch surfing hosts and they welcomed us with some delicious yakisoba. There were three roommates here, a japanese man and woman, and a french guy. They were all freelancers (I think) and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. It was also interesting that one of the jobs of the French guy was to talk over the phone with students in Italy who were learning french. It's crazy what jobs technology makes available today. A French man in Japan teaching students in Italy french.

In over two days in Tokyo we visited, in no particular order, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, a Korean town (can't remember the area >_<), Asakusa, Ueno Park (the zoo and a museum being two stops), Tokyo Dome City, Akihabara, and Tokyo Tower. The Tokyo Tower had some entertaining features, like a haunted house, a rock-music store, and a wax museum on the inside. How random is that?

Notable things:
At Tokyo Dome City we were excited about the rollercoasters and other rides, but they were all closed when we arrived and we couldn't figure out why. Fortunately, we saw a sign advertising a light show, so we went back after dark to view it (you can see in the pictures). We found out later that night from one of our hosts that the rides were closed because two days previously, a man had died on one of the rides. ;___; Though I have looked it up and he died on a ride I probably wouldn't have gone on, it is still freaky to think about.

The areas of Harajuku and Akihabara were a bit different from what I imagined. Of course Harajuku had lots of interesting shopping (though I could not buy anything since I am indefinitely poor), but I thought I would see more people dressed up with crazy looks than I did. I think it was probably because it was a Monday afternoon and things were a bit tame, I guess that everybody cosplays in that area on Sundays so we missed it. Akihabara was also tamer than I thought it would be since it is notoriously otaku land. There were still interesting things to be seen of course, don't get me wrong- though we didn't have much time to really walk around and enjoy the sights. If only we had more than 2 days, damn you Kansai Gaidai for making me return early!


My two favorite sights in Tokyo would have to be the metropolitan building in Shinjuku and the area of Asakusa. The metropolitan building has two high viewing towers that are free to the public, and the view of Tokyo is amazing. We went during the day then stopped back at night. Asakusa was just a nice 'old Tokyo' area with some great shopping, in my opinion (here I did actually spend some money and had to hold myself back from buying more. Definitely a great place for souvenirs). And though I've seen quite a few temples in Kyoto, the Sensoji temple was beautiful.

If anyone is interested in traveling around Tokyo, there are some great one-day pass deals. There is a 1000 yen (roughly 11 dollars) and a 700 yen one. You just have to be careful about which trains you plan to take, as the 700 yen one didn't allow us to take the JR line. But the passes are well worth their money if you plan to travel a lot like we did.

On that note, the Tokyo train system is kind of twisted and can be complicated, but if you get a map and aren't afraid to ask the ever-helpful train attendants, you will be fine. One of the train attendants circled every place we wanted to go and it's stop on a train map, and then told us how much it would cost to get there and if our pass would help us. Granted, I had Yuki to speak in Japanese to him, but just say the name of the place you want to go to them and I think they would understand just fine.


I would really like to stay in Tokyo for an extended stay sometime, I feel like I simply didn't have enough time. There were a lot of places I still didn't get to see, and the others I wish I could have explored more.

Alas, I doubt I will get another chance to go this year, but you never know what might happen. And hopefully...next month I can go to Korea!

P.S.

Me and Yuki got into an argument over an incident that took place on the night bus, so if anyone has an opinion or wants to pick my side, please leave a comment. This is what transpired:

Everyone had assigned seats on the bus, but after all the riders were sitting, I noticed that diagonal to our seats were two empty seats.  After a half-hour ride, we picked up a few more people, but the seats were still empty. The thought briefly crossed my mind that perhaps I could move to the empty seats so me and Yuki could have more room. But I didn't do it because I figured Yuki wouldn't like it. (How right I was.) A few minutes later a different foreigner took my idea and laid down in the seats and quickly fell asleep.

To me, his biggest transgression (though grudgingly not his fault) was his loud and annoying snores. I listened to music but Yuki was driven crazy. Although the bus windows were all covered and it was fairly dark, it was nearly impossible to sleep on the uncomfortable seats, and the snores didn't help. But that guy was certainly having a nice sleep.

Yuki became very irritated and expressed his annoyance to me that that guy dared to move from his assigned seat. After the bus ride was over and we were both tired, aching, and crabby, Yuki started complaining about how f'n rude that foreigner was, and was quite angry about it. I took the foreigner's side: why did it matter that he laid in the seats? No one was using those seats, and he didn't disturb anyone else by asking them to move just so he could lay in them.

But perhaps this is a prime example of the different thinking between Americans and Japanese. Yuki was absolutely incredulous and further annoyed that I was agreeing with the foreigner's side. He claimed that since we all paid the same prices for the seats, and that all of us couldn't lay down, then the foreigner shouldn't have gotten to lay down. It was unfair. I told him he sounded childish, but he made the same claim right back at me.

Who was right? Maybe we both were, in a way. We just looked at it with two completely different points of view. To me, I was jealous the guy got to lay down and get a good sleep, but since the seats weren't being used anyway I couldn't really blame him or be mad at him for doing it (after all, I wanted to do it myself). And for Yuki, the guy was completely selfish, rude, and thoughtless to everyone else.

What do you think?

(But let's be honest- I was totally more right than him.^_^)