We can’t believe how quickly the Japan portion of our trip has flown by.  10 days with Jason and Kelly has been awesome, from summiting Mt. Fuji, to staying in a Ryokan, to eating some of the freshest sushi, to watching Japanese baseball history being made.  Definitely not an experience we will ever forget.

The transition to the next chapter of our journey is something I had been looking forward to since booking the 4 hour flight several months ago. United / ANA flight NH1255 aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Our takeoff was delayed first due to “cabin preparation,” second due to “flight preparation,” and lastly due to a “cargo door issue.” I chose to downplay the fact that the last battery fire incident was aboard an ANA Dreamliner.

Aside from these minor issues, he Haneda airport and ANA service was simply awesome. The service representative to traveler ratio seemed >> 1 which was a real treat for us deprived westerners. Even on this short 4 hour flight, we got the choice of western or Japanese meal. Nicole noticed that the stewardesses would regularly re-enter the bathroom to fold the TP ends into triangles.

The sky was clear at take-off and we got some impressive views of sprawling Tokyo with Mt. Fuji in the background.

[ Video with Mt. Fuji available, but too big ]

With the carbon fiber construction, the wings seemed to flex a lot more during flight — perhaps providing better shock absorption? It was a very smooth ride although the interior was not as revolutionary an upgrade as we were expecting. The seats were still firm and mildly uncomfortable. The ambient lighting was nice. The large electronically dimmable windows were very cool. The bathroom was incredible: it had a window, enough room to walk around, a “western-style” toilet, full length mirror, and auto-sensing flush / faucets…

If you travel with a plethora of gadgets like JJM (and me), you would be happy. Each seat had an 8″ widescreen touchscreen monitor with all sorts of interactive programs, maps, flight tracking, seat to seat messaging, USB interface to charge and play your own electronic media, and a universal power plug for those of us that don’t carry around a cigarette lighter adapter any longer (that was the only option our AA 777 flight had from the states to Japan). I appreciate the courtesy our pilots extended by deviating from the ideal flight path which would have taken us over P’yongyang.

Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

I can’t believe our time in Japan has already come to an end!  We had a blast and will definitely miss travelling with Jason and Kelly.  If you guys want to meet us anywhere else on our trip in the next three months, we’d love to have you join!

Here is a list of some observations and unrelated comments about Japan, with input from Ryan, Kelly, and Jason.

• All the taxi cabs have white lace seat covers.  Odd, and sort of uncomfortable when the taxi picked up our dirty selves after hiking Mount Fuji.  The taxis are also all square looking Toyota models we have never heard of; Super Deluxe, Royal Extra, and Crown.
• Everyone is extremely kind and helpful.  We (when I say ‘we’, I mean mostly Kelly) stopped random people in trains and on the streets to ask for directions.  All of them helped, many going out of their way to show us the path.  We also had people coming up to us in stations asking if we needed help.
• Japanese people are all rather slim.
• Japan appears to be rather polite and orderly.  Everyone stands in line to board the subway, waiting for passengers to disembark before getting on.  This is a big contrast to Beijing (where we are now), but I’ll write more on that later.
• As enthusiastic as Japan is about baseball, no one boos at baseball games.
• Japanese pears are delicious!  Much better than pears we get in the U.S.
• The ‘salary men’ all wear the ‘uniform’, dark slacks and a white shirt.  Reminds us of old Big Blue attire.
• When leaving a store or restaurant, everyone working there yells ‘Thank you very much’, similar to a sushi restaurant in the U.S.  It’s nice.
• I don’t remember what day it was, but Ryan was buying subway tickets and the machine said ‘Error’.  A man opened a little window above the machine and stuck out his head and hand, said something to Ryan, and pushed a button on the machine.  It was a hysterical!  Jason and Ryan compared it to 1) the wizard of Oz and 2) the orange juice commercials where the man sticks his hand out of the orange groves to give the customer O.J.

Ryan and I got up at the crack of dawn to get to the Tokyo Tsukiji fish market on Tuesday. Jason was not feeling well, with some sinus issues and a fever, so he and Kelly slept in. All spots for the tuna auction were already gone when we arrived at 4:30am. Supposedly people were lined up at 3am! We still got to walk around a bit and see some of the fish and vegetable stands and get in line early at Sushi Dai, meaning the wait was only 45 minutes. The sushi was delicious and all the people working there were all very friendly. It really does look like a hole in the wall, with maybe a total of 15 stools around a small sushi bar. Here are some pictures of Ryan eating sushi he would never eat at home (salmon roe and sea urchin).
      

After sushi, we headed back to the hotel to nap and do laundry. Ryan watched an awesome YouTube video on operating a Japanese washing machine in order to figure out which buttons to push. Gotta love YouTube! The four of us then headed out to the Meiji-Jingu Shrine and gardens, where we cleansed our hands and mouths before entering, as is the tradition.  The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shokan.  They were both forward thinking leaders, introducing Japan to Western cultures and technology, and taking an interest in national welfare and world affairs.

We walked down to Shibuya, the crazy people crossing, which was not as crazy as I had expected (I think it was probably off-peak hours), where we met Chen for another delicious meal of sushi!

      
     

The morning after the baseball game, we departed Chen’s place for a hotel — in the middle of typhoon No. 18.  We encountered a little driving rain and a lot of wind on our walk to the train station. As always, we thank the brave photo journalists would value getting “the good shot” over their own personal safety

Video of Typhoon No. 18

The weather turned beautiful later in the day, and we attended some of the “big” matches during day 2 of the 15 day Sumo Grand Tournament.  These were the best wrestlers (no weight classes exist).  There’s a lot of ritual that went into each match, about 4-10 minutes, while the match usually only lasts about 5-10 seconds.  Here are some highlights:

Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena:

The “pros” circling in a ceremony:

A wrestler bending over to get some chalk: 

Oddly enough, physics did not govern the result of this match:

Physics did govern the results of this match:

After an exhausting afternoon watching the Sumo tournament (eating french fries, ice cream, some cheesy doughy things…), we ventured out to find a Shabu-Shabu restaurant as suggested by a few of our friends who have been: Nicoleo, Emily, Peter, and RDB, and I think John and Shelley?.  It took a while but Kelly found the right stranger to ask on the street for a recommendation, who subsequently guided us over to Nabezo, a 4th floor shabu-shabu gem!  (the locals are so friendly)

Similar to a Fondue restaurant, you cook your own thinly sliced meats in a communal pot of simmering broth (and veggies too).  Then you dip it in soy sauce and consume.  VERY TASTY!  I think a place like this would do well in downtown Austin.

(Note: restaurants are packed into many street front buildings and multiple stories making them difficult to find sometimes.  For this reason, I think, there were lots of people approaching us at the train station pitching their restaurant, and getting us to follow them there.  Creepy.)

On the Sunday night that we got back to Tokyo, we met Chen and headed out to a baseball game: Hanshin Tigers @ Yakult Swallows.  Before leaving on our trip, JJM informed us that a player on the Swallows, Wladimir Balentien (from Curacao / Netherlands), was on pace to break the Japanese baseball single season HR record (I don’t know how he knows this stuff!?).  Well, guess what: he did it at the game we were at, and even added another in a 9-0 shutout against the Tigers!  Here are some pictures from the game (I’ve got the video of his at bat, but too big…)

The rest of the game was good fun.  Maybe 33% of the stadium were rooting for the away team.  Every player had their own well-coordinated cheers coming from the stands.  The Swallows had a cheer that involved small umbrellas that nearly everyone in the stadium had.  Kudos to Chen for scoring us tickets to the game!!

For the Sushi Zushi crowd, guess which one I had?

– The correct answer is both.  I normally would only have the Sapporo, but after seeing this portable keg backpack contraption, I had to try the Kirin as well.  Although I should note, Asahi probably has the soft drink / beer market in Japan, and their Super Dry is a damn good beer

On the exotic food note… Since meeting Edwin on Nicole’s trip to Argentina, she has not stopped talking about the chance to eat Takoyaki.  Octopus balls.  No, they are just a deep fried dough ball with a piece of octopus in the center.  She finally had them…and they were “delicious!”

It was bound to happen eventually, and it finally did.  We got on public transportation going the wrong way and took a scenic tour of the eastern part of Kyoto.  Ooops   The roads on Saturday were relatively congested, so between that and the slight detour, it took us about one and a half hours to get from our hotel to Kyoto Station for the train ride to Osaka.

Once in Osaka, we headed straight to the Aquarium, which houses giant salamanders, penguins, dolphins (we saw a feeding time show), a ring-tailed coati, huge whale sharks, loggerhead turtles, and ocean sunfish.  For any Argentina CSC people reading this blog, remember the picture that A.J. had of some un-identifiable raccoon looking creature with an ant-eater like nose?  Guess I had to go to Osaka to find out it was a coati, which is a cousin of the raccoon.
      

Ryan and I took a spin on the neighboring ferris wheel, with a view of Osaka from 112.5 meters high, and then met back up with Jason and Kelly for a tasty dinner of Japanese tapas and some french fries in what looked to be a local hangout.  Dad, you would appreciate that people here eat french fries and potato chips with chopsticks.
     

We hopped the train to the train to the bus back to Kyoto and checked into a traditional ryoken for the night.  The traditional room had no shower or toilet; the only showers available were the washing areas in the onsen.  Ryan and Jason had no choice this time!

On the way back from the Imperial Palace, Kelly and I followed very loud music to an elementary school. About 50 kids were in the courtyard, presumably in gym class or recess, participating in choreographed stretching to music. They were all laying down on the ground, which appeared to be dirt, and it was probably about 90 degrees in the sun.  I was impressed that all the kids were doing it, and they were very flexible.

After a quick lunch, Kelly and I realized we were running a bit late for the afternoon/evening activities, resulting in an even quicker shower and change of clothes. The four of us headed off to learn about the important traditions of Japanese culture at a tea ceremony and a cultural show in the Gion district. These two activities are the first times we have been somewhere with a higher tourist to Japanese ratio, but I guess that is to be expected with English activities educating guests about Japanese culture.

Highlight of the evening: Kelly saw a real Geisha! Like we had read, she was moving fast to get somewhere and was definitely not stopping for any photos.

P.S. Happy Birthday Kris!!

Friday began with a very early morning trip to the Kyoto Wholesale Food Market. This is similar to the well-known Tokyo Tsukiji market, but on a slightly smaller scale. There were lots of fish and seafood of all kinds, enormous tuna, fish auctions on-going, and fork-lifts and people with hand carts zooming all around. I’m fairly certain that we were the ONLY tourists there, but it was definitely an interesting experience. We mostly tried to stay out of the way and not get run over. Ryan and Jason were given the universal sign for ‘No’ by one of the workers when they tried to take a few pictures.

After the fish market, it was all temples and palaces. Jason, Kelly, Ryan, and I headed to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion Temple, where we enjoyed the sites and spoke with groups of children practicing their English. They introduced themselves and asked us questions about where we lived, our favorite foods and sports. We then quizzed the kids about how to say things in Japanese. A win-win for all parties!
     

We stopped in a few small shops on the way back to the bus. One of them was selling Japanese fans with tags that said ‘Made in China’!

Next up on the day of temples was Daitoku-ji Temple, really a complex of temples, each with their own beautiful gardens. Ryan and I toured the Zuiho-in Temple, with calming raked rock Zen gardens. This was followed by the Koto-in Temple, known for its tea house, with a green garden and lots of mosquitos, where I confirmed that ‘natural’ bug repellent does not work. DEET it is from now on.
      
     

Continuing on the palace/temple trend, we caught a bus over to the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Gardens. Ryan and Jason, melting in the hot weather, headed back towards the hotel. Kelly and I missed the last tour of the palace, but still wandered around the gardens, a huge park with lots of trees and shrines.

On a side note, the Kyoto day bus card totally paid off for us. The bus system in Kyoto is very good, and relatively easy to navigate, a welcome change from some slightly confusing rail lines.

I have been looking forward to trying lots of interesting food on this trip. In general, Japanese food in Japan is about what we know of Japanese food in the U.S. However, I have been able to find some rather unique items.

The first was a mini octopus on a stick, with a quail egg stuffed head, in the Nishiki market. It tasted a whole lot more normal than it looked, but still makes for a good picture.

Next was a delicious sushi dinner at the sushi train restaurant, Mushashi, across from our hotel in Kyoto. In general, the sushi was typical; fatty salmon, scallops, and the salmon rolls got good reviews from our group. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of the ‘horse and mane’ sushi I tried. It came with two pieces, a red piece that looked like beef, and a yellow piece almost the color of tamago. The red piece was tender, tasted like a very mild beef. The yellow piece was hard and tough, almost like grizzly steak, and tasted very gamey. It would be very interesting to know what exactly that sushi was.

For dinner one night, Ryan enjoyed delicious ramen at an always packed hole-in-the-wall looking place right near our hotel. In keeping with our notion of Japanese food, he said it was relatively similar to the ramen at Tatsuya, marinated egg, pork, and all.

Ice cream, more specifically green tea ice cream, is all over the place here. Every other store has soft serve, and the 7-Elevens and mini-marts all have green tea ice cream in their freezers. I could definitely get used to this. And green tea is good for me, right?

Our exploration of Kyoto started with a trip to the post office for an international ATM, much to Ryan’s relief. It turns out that while MasterCards are generally accepted credit cards in Japan, they are NOT generally excepted in most international ATMs, only a select few. Ryan and I were both happy to be able to stop relying on Kelly and Jason for all our ‘cash only’ expenditures.

We then perused and ate our way through Nishiki market, sampling lots of pickled vegetables, dried fruit, some wine, and a few other interesting items. The Nishiki market is a fascinating experience that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto.
          
    

In the afternoon, we hopped a train to Arashiyama and rented bikes to get around the town. First stop was the Iwatayama Monkey Park, inhabited by over 170 Japanese macaque monkeys. We were very excited to climb up the small mountain to the monkey viewing area, because we have definitely not been getting enough exercise on this trip (please note the sarcasm). We all took turns feeding the monkeys. One thing I don’t understand is why the monkeys stay on the mountain and do not travel down to the town below.
            
     

I took the quick way down part of the mountain.

We crossed back over the Togetsukyo Bridge, Arashiyama’s landmark, and headed into the famous bamboo grove. What a sight!
      

Bamboo groves were followed by a fast walk to where we had parked the bikes and a furious ride to get them back to the rental company by the required return time. All that hard work required a beer for the guys, while Kelly and I wandered around some shops and the grounds of the Tenryuji Temple, a World Heritage site.