Okinawa!

I have made it. It is my last stop on the vacation called Japan. I got in a couple of days ago, but haven't been online. I've been out doing stuff like going to aquariums, getting horrendously drunk and playing video games. All the things you expect from a vacation.

I am now out on Brett's tiny little island of 700 people. It is relaxing. Today I headed over to the beach and just chilled out. I jumped in the water and then sat around some more. I hiked up and around a mountain and now I am freshly de-salted and ready for some more video games. All in all, a good day.

Okay, that's it for me from Japan. I will post something when I get back to Chicago, which is in like 3 days, I think. Its hard to look that far into the future when surrounded by so much gorgeous island.

Cheers everybody!

Double Post Day!

Because I still can't read Kanji

So I can't figure out how to get blogger to show up in English. Most sites have a helpful, 'Click here if you don't speak the local crazy words!' link. Not blogger or any google properties that I can tell. So, I just click on stuff on and hope.

Note to self: its the ORANGE button with the crazy marks on it that posts entries.

Today was relaxing. I swung over to a man-made pond that is of the Chinese style, or something. All I know is that it was very calming. Then I, uh, well, that was about it. Oh, I swung by the Raumen Stadium again and once again, came away utterly stuffed. I attempted to vote today, but alas, kanji on the ballot.

Tomorrow I trek to Okinawa for fun in the sun and beaches! Oh, and meeting up with some friend of mine named Brett. I hear he's down there still.

One more week and I no longer face the threat of deportation for major cultural snafus! Which, while good for me not being incarcerated, means the vacation is almost done. Le-sigh.

Fukuoka

The awakening!

What has awakened? I have no idea. It just seemed like a good subtitle. Or, really, maybe I have. I am now not worried in the SLIGHTEST about rolling into a town completely unannounced and being able to acquire reasonable housing within 30 minutes of exiting the train station. Heh, good thing this is the last time I'll have to do that on this trip. Hoo-ray for a skill I won't need until it is rusty with disuse!

After securing a Ryokan where I will rest my tired body this evening, I headed over to Canal City which is a gigantic COMPLEX of buildings that create one giant super mall. It is a work of, well, commercialism I guess. But in the center building on the fifth floor is the Ramen Fight Ring. As mentioned before, this is where makers of ramen go to determine their worth. You are either exalted on high and given a proper shop on a busy street selling to the salary men, or you are cast down to make burgers and fries at McDonald's all the while moaning in pain and agony each time grease kicks up from the deep fryer and you think to yourself, 'these hands of mine had the power for such good, and they are but charred rememnants of crappy fries and flavorless meat pods. WHY GODS! Why have you cursed me so!'

Needless to say, I approached with due trepidation that my choice would be deciding the fates of men and women for DECADES to come!

Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit there, but there actually are 8 restaurants which specialize in noodles from different parts of Japan and the East Coast of the mainland, ie, China and Korea. I hit up a Chinese Ramen noodle stand I think. I am not totally sure because the signs, you see, they are written in Japanese. And I still don't speak Japanese. It was very tasty and after I eat lunch tomorrow I will cast a vote at random. Hee... I am a capricious god!

Afterwards I ambled over to the folk museum where I saw a bunch of stuff about the history of the Fukuoka/Hakata area. Crazy stuff. They used to make POTS! Next door was an old house that had been rebuilt and had an old tradional loom being operated by, at first glance, what appeared to be someone from 300 years ago. Turns out, he was only 80-ish! He was trying to make something, but the loom was being very, very bitchy.

After that was another temple (le shock!) and now I am hanging about online dorking around with photographs, blogs, emails and other things which are done on the interweb. Tomorrow will be another big park, some asian art and then, I dunno, maybe a game of murder-death-kill with the dude next to me who thinks I should be able to clearly hear his video game.

EDIT
Updated photos and added a new video from Harajuku. It was too big before to upload. Oh, and the photo link should be straigtened out now.

Hiroshima - day 2

The day of drawings.

Not by me, and not even just drawings. I was wandering around a park in Hiroshima when I stumbled upon the museum of contemporary art. I do not understand modern art usually because I am an idiot. Much like I do not understand most literature or the appropriate times to belch. I am a simple man and I do not get complicated things. So I was not planning on going in. However, there was an exhibit called 'I.Toon' Now sufficiently intrigued, I went in.

There is a man named Yuichi Ito, I believe, who founded a studio named I.Toon. They do animation and claymation for full films, shorts and advertisements. I had never heard of this guy or this studio before but I was very impressed with the work. I suggest you all swing around and check this guy out. Specifically his fantastic shorts 'Beanut Brothers.' They are in English and they are hilarious.

Afterwards, I wandered over to the manga library where I saw a bunch of nerds standing and sitting around reading manga. The place was huge. None of it in English that I saw, but a cool thing none the less.

Afterwards, a quick trip to another beautiful garden and I was done for the day. I think I am at my travelling end. I slept for like 10 hours last night and was groggy and tired all day. I can not wait for Okinawa and the beach-y life that will bring.

And my photo sharing is on hold, again. The wonderful people over there need to explain why AFTER I sent them money they have banned my email address. I have no idea if you can still get in over there, but you can try.

Tomorrow I leave for Fukuoka where I will eat so many noodles it will be phenomenal. They have a ramen noodle floor in a department store with noodles from all over Japan. After your meal(s), you vote for your favorite! I can't wait.

Noodles, noodles, noodles...

Hiroshima - day one

No attempt at a funny subtitle today. It was a rather somber day.

I spent most of today walking around the Peace Park and Peace Museum. These were created to honor the people that died on August 6th, 1945, when the Enola Gay dropped the bomb on them. It was very moving.

I am not going to attempt to say more then that about it except that if you do ever come to Japan, I strongly recommend spending a day here doing just that, wandering around the Peace Park and Peace Museum.

I also walked over the reconstructed Hiroshima Castle. It is quite large and houses a museum of historical bits and bobs from the Hiroshima area.

There will also be tons and tons of new pictures, I finally found a computer that will let me plug in. Finally.

EDIT
Photos uploaded, about 150 in 4 new folders: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Hiroshima. Photos are not all named, I will finish it later when my eyes don't feel like bleeding.

Osaka

Where stuff is boring.

I have done no sightseeing in Osaka and do not plan to before I leave tomorrow to head to Hiroshima. Partly, this is due to timing. I got in later yesterday then I expected, I woke up late today and it has also rained all day and tomorrow I am leaving at 11 am. The second reason is that there isn't much to see here. Nothing significant at all, really. I asked some natives I met here yesterday what I have to see, then eventually suggested a castle that is 1.5 hours away from here, Himeji. Looks quite nice, but its forever away.

I am also starting to loathe weekends here. Typically, on saturdays and sundays, I wake up late and then lounge around for awhile before scaring up food somehow. But I can not do that here. Well, not in my boxers as I usually do. Most coffee shops demand pants. So I am having this weird inversion of what portion of the week I like. I now like the 'work week' portion more then the weekend.

I ended up in a bar called Murphy's last night and drank Guiness, green-dyed Sapporo and I think Jager. I am not entirely certain what the shot was, I was entirely too busy flirting. There may be a trend there. I tend to drink Jager accidentaly, or unintentionally is the better word there, when flirting. I wonder why. Maybe the black licorice taste makes me think I am more attractive? Possibly that the same black licorice taste will make kissing more enjoyable then, say, tasting like an ashtray? I am not sure, but I will investigate this more later.

And of course I went home alone. I have only vague ideas of what to say to people in attempts to endear my self as a friend and someone who's company should be tolerated for a few hours in a bar, to say nothing of how to convice a girl that yes, I am an attractive option for makeouts. I thought my isolation and lack of social skills was bad in Chicago, hah, nothing to make you self concious and unable to form cogent thoughts like not speaking for days at a time. And then when you do, having other native english speakers congratulate you on your 'Engrish.' Really, quite fun.

I think I am going to get a coffee, some food and then go to bed. I have bought a spy novel because that feels like the proper thing to read when staying in a capsule hotel. Yes, I am sleeping in a very spacious coffin that has a tv. Its awesome.

Nara

I took a day-trip to Nara yesterday with a touch of the hangover. I met some cool dudes from Germany, Sweden and England. We found a good British pub and had a Guiness fight. This means that as long as we are drinking, it must be Guiness. Guiness, while exceedinly tasty, does lose some appeal when you are utterly full and have several Guiness in you already. It was a tie anyway.

Nara was very pretty, but it was pouring rain the whole time. That did not deter me though! I am intrepid! I saw the biggest buddha ever, which is also the largest bronze statue in the world. This guy was gigantic to the tune of 35 feet or something. HUGE!

The deer in Nara are very used to humans so they just walk up to you and start GOING THROUGH YOUR POCKETS looking for food. Or possibly cash to go buy food. They might be smarter then we think. I saw several people who had bought some deer crackers being absolutely hounded by deer after they were out of crackers. One dude in a suit had to actually run away to be free. His friends laughed like crazy.

Nara is a very beautiful town outside of Kyoto and was possibly prettier because it was raining. Good fun, some good pictures and seriously, that Buddha is huge.

I leave Kyoto for Osaka today. There will be green beer and much sloshing of Guiness for it is St. Patrick's day! I am excited! I am also going to try to get a room or 'pod' in a capsule hotel. Although I am claustrophobic, I gotta try this once.

Kyoto - day 2

Things went well today. I was able to read maps, determine north from the location of the sun and there was no snowing or precipitating. Even better, I am now sitting in a net-cafe listening to Koop play softly on the overhead speakers. I am almost totally relaxed. Just a little knot where my backpack sits on my shoulders.

I got a later-then expected start today at 9ish. But I found my way to a couple of cool temples and some highly overrated monkies. I was also at the awesomest Zen temple because they just let me wander around the place. Most temples are all roped off and force you to walk how they want you to walk. Boooring. This one? This one rocked the house. Its name: Kennin-ji. With a subtitle of 'This shit is awesome.'

There will be picutres one day, I swear. But that day is probably saturday when I am in Osaka. The only other places I have found for intertroning in Kyoto are a kinko's which costs waaay too much and a campus center which also doesn't have usb ports. Tomorrow is Nara with the super-friendly dear and the biggest Buddha in the land. Then partying in Osaka! Wait, I mean, more culturally significant traipsing about and being in bed by 10.

No boozy plans over here.

Kyoto!

And did I ever sleep.

I went to my hostel yesterday at 4.05 pm. Took a shower and hopped in bed for some reading and a 'little' nap at 5pm. I awoke groggy and stupid at 10pm, rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up today at 7.30 am. Heh, I guess I was a little run down.

This morning I wandered around a couple of gorgeous temples in Central Kyoto. They were quite large and temple-y. I don't have much else to say about them except I had a lot of fun hiking around them. I am not shinto or buddhist, so I don't have any particular spiritual gain from these places, just historical gain. And even then, not much. I guess I just like 'em cause they're purty.

This afternoon was the most ginormous temple ground ever. Its called Fushimi Inari Taisha and it is the 'temple of legends.' You know, the one with like 50,000 temple markers? The temple marker is the two vertical posts on either side of the path and two horizontal posts across the top, one above the other. I would post a picture, but I am in the same net-cafe as yesterday, so, no usb port. But they are orange and literaly thousands and thousands of them.

Unfortunatley for me, I'm an idiot. While I was approx. 5 miles away from the main shrine, and my train station, I ended up in a portion of trail where it was impossible to put up markers because right next to the path on one side was a creek. So I happily wandered along with only a couple of shrine marker things. Then none because the creek was still there and getting biggish, but still a creek.

After 20 minutes of no temple signs, I realized the creek wasn't next to me anymore and I was out in the middle of nowhere. Now, did I turn back and cower under the protective gaze of the shrine thingys? No, good sir, I pressed on. I almost had to hop a fence into someone's backyard. I did cut through it, but there was an open gate-ish thing. I'm not really sure. Then I wandered around a very old portion of town. It was quite nice. I have a picture or two. Then I got sick of being lost and hungry and asked a dude for directions. He lovingly provided them in Japanese and I loved it when he started using hand motions because now I could use them. Words aren't needed in this world, really. They only cause problems.

Then back into town for the internet and not being on my feet. They were very, very angry that I walked around from 7.30am until 5pm. Not happy at all.

Okay, time for me to head off to my hostel to try and find someone to have dinner with. I haven't had a conversation longer then 5 minutes since I left Tokyo, I'm forgetting my own language!

So, you want to go to Kyoto...

Please learn how to read.

After a fun and eventful night spend in the boring and cold Kanazawa train station, I hopped on my super stupid limited express train for Kyoto. I was actually hoping that some of the bums, or even just one, would show some crazy so I would have something to do other then be cold, shiver and slowly read my magazine. It was decisively in the 'don't do again' pile of experiences.

I arrived in Kyoto at 6.30 am after grabbing a very worthless 2 hrs of sleep on the train ride in. After some humping of the bag around the train station, Mr. Duffel found a new home in a locker. I then went in search of food and the name of the hostel I had booked a room at. As stated previously, I am an idiot. So when I tell you that I forgot the name of my hostel and how to get there, please do not be surprised. I know most of you won't be, but some will.

//Special note to the parents
Mom, Dad,
Don't worry. I am getting better. I swear.

Pat
//end

I went to the Kyoto Castle and surrounding grounds this morning. Very beautiful area, although the snow didn't really help. But, joy of joys!, the Cherry Trees have started to blossom. I was hoping I would be in Kyoto for this and it looks like I may catch the beginning of the cherry blossom festivals here. They are supposed to be very traditional.

In Kanazawa last night, I saw a group of 12-15 boys hanging out on a corner. Every time the 'all-walk' singal went green, they would run out into the street with one of them only wearing underwear. It was like 1 Celsius at the time. Then they would toss him into the air for most of the walk signal. Then they ran back. I have no idea why they did this, but it happened. If Andy or Mandy, the people who lived there, would care to chime in, that would be spectacular.

This afternoon is gonna be a nap, then a dinner, then lotsa sleep. I have a metric ton of walking to do tomorrow and I can not wait. This is Kyoto, the mother lode of historical Japanese anything. Kenshin fought his most important battles here. It was the capital of Japan for 1100 years!

I am awfully excited for being so tired. And no new pictures today. I can not find the USB plugs on this computer because it is older then dirt. I think that is a note from Noah on how to reset the dimms...

Konnichiwa Kanazawa

Holy crap, when will I learn?

Everyone in life makes mistakes. Most people even make carefully planned mistakes. Okay, maybe not 'carefully' planned, but planned nonetheless. But, they do not make them again. Me? If only.

I have been saying for years that I should never be a travel agent. Almost seven, I think. It was spring break of my freshman year in college and I went to Baltimore and Boston in one week. By trains, planes and cars. It was lots of fun, but very, very stupid to do it how I did. And I have planned vacations since then. Last April I went to Denver and DC in the same week. Again, what the fsck am I thinking?

Why I do these things is a conversation for another time, but I have done it again. I am currently in Kanazawa in an internet cafe because my train to Kyoto doesn't leave until 3 am. I won't be here until then because I have no idea when the busses run to, but I will be here awhile. Now, I got into Kanazawa yesterday at 6.30 am. Really, most people would look at overnight train-hostel-overnight train as too much travelling. Me? Dial it up.

And oh, that hostel? Closed. Has been for who knows how long. I asked a lady for directions to it and she laughed at me. Thank you guide book. Blech.

I am currently tired, bored and I can't go outside because it is snowing. Yes, snow. Why are you snowing? Weather? Toss me a bone here. And if it is precipitating anything in Kyoto you and me are going a couple of rounds.

Oh, and since my Japanese is crap I am having a helluva time getting my ferry to Okinawa sorted out. I finally knuckled under on booking that myself today and went to a travel agent. Oh lord, that was hilarious. We spoke terrible Japanese and then when I didn't understand something I had to go look up 'I do not understand.' Like she couldn't tell.

And no, I didn't actually get a ferry ticket, the ferry ticket people were closed. It is Sunday. Who still pays attention to days of the week? Craziness I tell you.

It was raining earlier, so I didn't get to do anything as walking in the pouring rain is something akin to awful. No Japanese print museum, Kanazawa Spring and shrine or the ninja shrine. Shrine made by ninjas, not a shrine to ninjas. At least I made it the national garden yesterday. It was gorgeous.

*Sidebar to my mom*
You totally have to come here. I could have spent days in this garden and nothing was in bloom and it was gorgeous! You not being here is actually a crime.
*End sidebar*

Kanazawa pictures up. My dirty, nasty travelling beard shaved. Oh lord do I look like crap with a beard. Ugh. Its all patchy and fugly on my cheeks still. Yep, 24 and I can not grow a beard. But I have to shave everyday. Hoo-ray for no fun!

You may be interested...

I have created a feed for this thing. I have no idea what that means, exactly. But there is a link on the right. I think its an RSS thing, but I am a luddite, so who knows what it actually is. For all I know, its a goddamned zombie spawn point.

Careful! That link may EAT YOUR BRAINS!!

I really doubt it, but we live in a quantum world and all things are possible, though most things, like me not being single, are very, very improbable.

Photos and Ghibli

Uploaded the photos from Kamakura. They are still the default names from the camera because naming them 'temple/shrine' one through whatever would be boring and make me want to shoot you. Yes, you, dear reader.

Jimm and I headed over to the Ghibli museum today for some old fashioned animated history and fun. It was fun going through and seeing all the stuff they have done and realizing how much of their work I have missed. Which means there is much animation I need to watch upon my return. I love Miyazaki. How did I miss like 3500 of his movies?

The gift shop was like the worst thing ever. Hello nice statuettes. Hello 800 to 9000 dollar price tag. No, none were bought. And they were behind glass so I couldn't knick any either. They would have been shocked if I had tried. There is no crime here, as near as I can tell.

In Chicago, you can tell good neighborhoods from bad neighborhoods by if residents have giant security doors on their front doors. In Japan, its bikes unlocked and just LAYING AROUND or bikes with a token small chain through the back wheel but not locked to anything. Which means all neighborhoods are good, I guess.

Today and tomorrow are lazy days for I am burned out on Tokyo. It is intensely overwhelming. I think I want to come back again later, but not for awhile. This town moves at 300 miles an hour and around every corner is another mega-shopping section. The classic shot of Shinjuku or Ginza with the brightly lit signs that stretch up the sides of a building for 6 or 7 floors are everywhere. It is impossible to navigate by them. I have been soundly thumped by this city. I long for a quieter life, a slower life. Like maybe New York, or London. You know, only 10 to 15 million people instead of 30.

Back to the comics...

Temples round 2!

Of 4000...

Jimm and I went down to Kamakura today for some hiking and a lot of temple viewing. We woke up early for us, 9.30, and hit the road by 10. A noonish arrival at the first temple was ours. A very spacious temple area with a large path from the train up through the the belltower and in to the main worshipping area. I dutifully threw in my coin and made my prayers to the local gods enshrined there.

After that was the 'lunch soba noodles' race. Jimm told me that he has sat down in a noodle place, gotten his food and then while waiting for it to cool, a local has come in, ordered and eaten before Jimm even starts. I barely beat Jimm in the race today, so its not like he can't handle hot food, locals just destroy their noodles.

Then we went on a 3 mile hiking trip through the gorgeous Kamakuran woods. We got lost, found a shrine, jumped over stuff and had a good time clambering up mudhills. Of course the local guy behind us laughed as he walked two feet to the right and then up the stairs, but we had more fun getting dirty.

And then the Daibutsu. The Daibutsu is the second largest Buddha in Japan. Dude is like 20 feet tall and that is while sitting! Or meditating. Or getting ready to float. Or whatever he is doing. He is large. Otherwise, the Daibutsu area was kinda boring. Luckily, we had one more temple to go.

The Last temple of note had a 9 headed buddha. There was one normal head, and then a crown of heads, then another group of heads above and inside the crown. It was very, very strange. But cool. There is a story to this buddha. It is made of wood and washed upon the shore in Kamakura like 1500 years ago or something. The locals, thinking this a random act of the gods, praised the heavens and erected the absolutley magnificent temple in which this buddha is housed. Eventually times pass, seasons change and communication increases. Turns out, there is an identical buddha in Kyoto. There was a buddha maker down there who made two, enshrined one and sent the other into the sea, where it washed up in Kamakura.

Then a quick train ride to an island in the bay where we saw a bunch of closing shops, a guy saying the evening prayers in the temple and got down on the some rocks by the sea. Then a very pleasent cup of coffee on a deck in the setting sun with the sea right next to us. Very relaxing after a hard day of climbing up and down hills.

Some of you are, I am sure, wondering why I am not abusing photos as I have been. There is a good reason for this. I tried to plug in my camera and do some computerized magic. However, when I plugged said camera in, it crashed the machine. So, no pictures today, but I assure you, they are quite good.

Tommorow is the Ghibli museum where I get look at animated, dorky and possibly small stuff and then Friday is just bummnig around Tokyo until I hop on the sleeper car to Kanazawa. And just when I had a basic idea of how to get around Tokyo on the trains. Oh well, onward I march.

Park Hyatt

Yes, that Park Hyatt.


Jimm and I started the day at Asakusa for temple viewing. It is a large, nice temple with a long line of shops leading up to it. Very traditional, I guess. But the real temple viewing is gonna be in Kyoto. Which happens next week.






After that it was on to the city of the future: Odaiba. This place has it all man, monorails, science museums, cafes that know your order BEFORE YOU WALK IN. Okay, that last one was a lie. This island was the Japanese government's attempt at creating a future city with the above mentioned fruit. It is seen as a very large version of our own millenium park. Its not done yet, its had billions of dollars in overruns and, well, its just really dorky. Which is fine by me. I hope the future is dorkier then the present. It will only make me far more of the archtype for man.


After a gorgeous nighttime ride on the monorail over the rainbow bridge, we headed over to the Park Hyatt's New York Grill Bar. It is the bar from the movie Lost in Translation. Although expensive to get in, and an even pricier whisky, it was worth it to do a purely touristy thing. Oh, and there was good live jazz which always makes the 20 dollar single neat 17 year Hibiki whisky go down smoother. Heh, I am a connisuer of dork and expensive booze, I think that's a damn good combo.

Also, every time there is a new post, there will be new pictures. I should probably start organising them.

EDIT: organization has begun.

Pictures-info

I am taking a lot more photos them I am going to be putting in the blog. But I am uploading all of them to the internet so I can clear them off of my memory stick. Link is on the right.

So far its mainly cityscapes, me, Jimm and then a ton of stuff from my trip to harajuku today. I will write that up later, but it was mainly me walking around this giant park taking pictures.

Hint: if you like cosplaying or ninjas, I suggest taking a look at the photos.

Akihabara

This area of town is also called 'Electric Town.' And it lives up to its name. There are tons of used computer stores and gadget festivals and arcades. And, obviously, some net cafes. And tons and tons of porn. Entire buildings of it. I am trying to find art books and all I can see are boobs. Very odd.

My dad would love this place as it also doubles as a flea market. With shady back alleys of gear that probably "Fell off the back of a truck." I wanted to take a picture to prove this, but I didn't want to "fall off the back of a truck" myself. Dangerous and exciting things, those backs of trucks.

I made it to the cosplaying cafe for lunch yesterday with Jimm. It was very, very hard to find and was not really worth it. There were two sections to eat at though: regular tables or school desks. As we were quite tired and the menu did not have english subtitles, we chose the tables. We didn't want to get detention, you see.

Otherwise, this is just a giant, cut-rate tiger electronics crossed with a DVD store with a fighting game, or 200, in the corner. Fun place for an afternoon, not entertaining enough for a full day.

Next time I will payattention when the guide book lists things as "small and dorky."

Akihabara by night












Akihabara by day.

I left roppongi?

Oh wait, no I didn't.

Jimm and I stayed too long at the internet cafe we were/are at and missed the last train back to his place. Really now, what self respecting train system completely shuts down at 12.30pm? That's just ridiculous.

So, like Andy before me, I am spending a night at an internet cafe. Now, he lived in one of these for a week, but I'm trying to staying true to the life that has been shown to me and giving it a go. I mean, hey, it is my first night in Japan. What could be better then staying at an internet cafe with my stuff in a locker a half hour away, the place I am supposed to be sleeping at 90 minutes away and me half drunk writing a blog post?

Actually, I can not think of anything else better. I wanted adventure. I wanted to live the Japanese life. This is it.

And I just threw in my friend Sunil's album that he wrote when he was in China. I am, in fact, rocking this country.

Landed...

And broke my backpack.

Nothing major, just a tab thingy on the strap. And it is my day pack, so no real harm. I just felt like an idiot taking off the duffel and exploding this piece of plastic while buying a train ticket. Great first impression, right?

So far things are good. I met up with Jimm with no difficulties and we have been walking around Tokyo since. Got some food, got some sightseeing and I have learned that this is the most complicated train system ever. Really, there are like 6 different train companies and they all take different tickets and they do not show the competitions train lines on their maps and all trains are in the same station.

If I did not have Jimm showing me around I would probably have ended up back at Narita Airport twice attempting to figure this out. Or given up and grabbed a cab. Then shown just how useless my four words in Japanese are. I can not think of any reason why knowing the Japanese words for room, knife, to be and I along with the ability to count from 1 to 10,000 or so, would allow me to properly convey a location. And Jimm just told me the addresses here are useless anyway. Why do they have them? I am not sure.

And I am not currently able to use apostrophes. I see it on the keyboard. But I do not know how to get the fourth character on a key to show up on the screen. Luckily I did figure out how to stop writing in katana. If I had not this would be a very silly blog entry.

Tommorow is the first World Baseball Classic game! Jimm and I are going to see Korea play Taiwan at the Tokyo dome. He described it as 'Yankee Stadium + the Astrodome + your mob' or something. It sounds quite impressive. All I know is I am excited and I figured out how to make this mark: '. Hah! Contractions are mine again!

So, uh, I guess I haven't gotten enough sleep lately. But it is okay. I am in Tokyo. Hello adventure, good bye knowing what people are saying.

I think its Shinjuku.