Thursday, July 4th 2013 - Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jog

We got up early this morning to see the R family off to work/daycare. R and his family were excellent hosts. Although my friend R can come off at first as a little stand-offish and tough, he is really kind and thoughtful and both he and his wife went out of their way to make sure that we had everything we needed, helped us find things, and spent as much time with us as they could. And of course his daughter is 1000% adorable (she should really be on TV). R has created a wonderful home for himself and he should be very proud of his family and life in Japan.

We watched this program nearly every morning of our trip and I may never get the song out of my head . . .

After the R family left, we showered and ate breakfast (R - we restocked your frosted flakes, sorry about filling up your trash). Then we dashed out to do some last minute shopping at the shopping center near their aparto. We wanted to be out the door and on our way to the airport at 11:30am, so we figured that we'd leave early and hit the grocery store first (as clearly that would be open first) and then off to the other shops. Also, because I had been saying the night before that despite it being the rainy season, we've really only had 3 days of rain, it had started raining, so we made excellent time. Good thing since everything was closed. Nothing opened until 10:00am, including the grocery store and the bakery (how does a bakery stay in business if it doesn't open early in the morning?!?!) So that ate into our carefully planned last-minute-shopping time.

By the time we finishes shopping and got all our bags frantically repacked, it was noon, so we were only running a tad behind. We stopped in at Lawsons for our last conbini lunch for the train ride back to Narita Airport, which was a touch sad. We stocked up on curry pan (for the plane) and then I found a yummy chahan (fried rice) onigiri (rice ball), Mc got a tray of yakisoba (fried noodles that you often get at festivals), we got Red chicken (5 spicy chicken nuggets that are delicious!) and cheese chicken (same, only not good), Mc got macaroni salad in a pouch (he used the chopsticks they gave us, but I think you could probably just squeeze it into your mouth, like macaroni salad Gogurt), I got chocopan and he got a ring cake. (Eating this was spread out over waiting for the first train, then on the second super long train, then on the plane, lest you think we're ridiculous with our conbini feast.)

This was on the train platform to the airport. I wonder if the lear section is next to the women's car . . .

Finally at the airport, we cashed in our Suica cards (you can return the train pass cards and they will give you back the remaining balance plus 290¥ of the 500¥ you paid to purchase the card, TOTALLY worth it for the convenience of not having to figure out individual train tickets) and returned our rented phone (this took 8 seconds, we handed them the phone and pouch of accessories, they found our name on a list and highlighted it, and we were off) and went to the 4th floor for our last-last minute shopping.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - Utilize the airport. If you ask one of your friends where you can find some specific thing in Japan, it is likely that they will say, "You can probably just get that at the airport." And they are right. The 4th and 5th floors of Narita airport have souvenir shops that carry many traditional items as well as fancy omiyage (snacks you bring home for people) and humorous items too. Whatever it is you are looking for, you will likely find it here (although maybe not as much variety - for example, if you want a tea set, you might only find 2-3 different ones, so if you see one you like while you're traveling, get it). And here is the astonishing part - you will find it for reasonable prices! I know, madness. So, if at the last moment you realized you forgot to pick up a present for someone, just get to the airport early! Just don't go through security, once you're through, there are only a very few shops and they are PACKED.

Mc and I finished our shopping, checked in, and made it to our gate just as it started boarding. Now I am freezing on the airplane, sitting next to my love, another unforgettable trip added to the list. Sayonara, Japan! Maybe again in another 10 years, ne?

Wednesday, July 3rd 2013 - Last Minute Everything

Wednesday was our last full day in Japan and, not to brag, but we actually did all of the activities we set out to do and saw the sights we wanted to see. This was awesome because that left Wednesday to go back and explore anything we wanted to see more of. The hotel had a brochure about things to do around Tokyo and Mc went through it to make sure we didn't miss anything. We decided to hit one more shrine in Ikebukuro, see the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Offices, then geek out in Akihabara and be back at R's for dinner. This was perhaps a bit ambitious when we didn't leave the hotel till 11am. And have no real grasp of the train system.

Takayamafudoson temple in Ikebukuro was a "short walk from the station" (most directions sound like this in guides) and despite this, we actually found it, largely by chance since we seemed to arrive by the side entrance. It was definitely a local shrine, which was nice because there was no admission fee. There were a few locals gathered there - groups of men just hanging out and a couple of mothers with kids. There was also a shack selling snacks and a cat asleep on the counter amidst the goods, which was probably my favorite part. Oh, and an 800 year old gingko tree that was pretty cool.

Cats make terrible shop keepers . . .

800 year old gingko tree

Then off to an office building! If you go to the super boring part of Shinjuku, you will find the Tokyo Metropolitan Office Building, just a "short walk from the station" (except this one was clearly mistranslated, they meant "super long"). Why would you want to find this office, you ask? Because it is one of the tallest buildings in the area and you can go up to the observation platform and see a beautiful 180 degree view of Tokyo for free. Or you can pay more than 2,000¥ per person to go up the Tokyo Sky Tree or the Tokyo Tower which are approximately the same height (and which you can see from the office building). We chose the office building. Since it was Wednesday, it wasn't very crowded and we were able to take pictures without having to wait. I recommend going on a weekday (check the hours before you trek out there because it's far and there's nothing else there to see). I also recommend going to the south tower. It has a longer line, but it also has a view of the Skytree, Tokyo Tower, and Mt. Fuji, when he isn't hiding behind his ninja screen (which he was).

You can see the Tokyo Sky Tree on the left, the tall needly looking one

This was in the bathroom

Then back to Akihabara. It took us a little time to figure out where the majority of the toy shops and arcades were since the audio tour we had taken before wound around and IB had been leading and we'd had a map. Despite the lack of these aids, going around Akihabara was great fun - Mc found an awesome Tokyo original design Star Wars t-shirt (in American sizes) and a Star Wars blind box, we lost money playing the impossible claw games, and I beat the gacha gacha system. You see, there was a certain Nyanko-sensei charm that I wanted, and even though this machine was apparently very popular and there were many of them around, not one was willing to give that charm up. So, what many of the used/collectible toy shops have done is they have all the charms and toys from the gacha machines for a slightly inflated price. Even then, I didn't find him till the very last toy shop we visited, but he was worth the extra 100¥. So if you find yourself suffering from Chaser Fever (chaser = the one toy that there is a limited number of and so is very hard to get), fear not, there's a way to cheat in Akihabara.

Apparently, we only have train troubles when we have a set meeting time with someone. Those of you who know me might wonder how this can be, since you know me to be a meticulous planner, and there are many reasons even though by this time we were pretty good at the trains. Firstly, the train map is not to scale, and so things that look very close together are actually a 40 min. train ride. Secondly, we ended up smack dab in the middle of rush hour, which, ironically, means we were frequently stuck behind masses of people not rushing. Third, I have no idea why, but sometimes a train will stop at a station for a full 5 min. Usually you have to run up the stairs and hope to leap onto the train without losing a foot or hand in the closing doors. But when you are in a hurry to get somewhere and are already on the train, then it will hang out in the Harajuku station forever. Lastly, we just didn't manage our time well, we got cocky with our train skills and should have left Akihabara earlier. Anyway, we were supposed to meet R's family at 7pm and we got there at about 8:30pm. So, sadly, Mc and I went to Coco's Curry on our own.

If you like Japanese curry, you should definitely try the chain Coco's. The menus are on the table, but you can ask for an English menu. However, if you want to try the current special, you'll have to just look at the pictures in the Japanese menu and be brave. This is what Mc did and he ended up with curry udon noodles, which worked out because Mc loves noodles and curry. Coco's claim to fame is that you can order your curry as spicy as you like it. (Japanese curry is generally pretty mild.) Being a complete idiot, I didn't look at the English menu and ordered a spice level of 1, thinking that on a scale where 10 is the highest, 1 would be the lowest. I know better than to make assumptions like that, so I shouldn't have been surprised when my curry was too spicy for me to eat. Their system goes Mild, then Medium, then you get to Level 1. (Before I scare you away from trying Coco's, I should mention that Mc got a 3 and wished he'd gotten a 4, and R usually gets the 2, so apparently I'm a huge curry weeny.) It was no problem though, I just ate what I could, gave the rest to Mc, and then got conbini ice cream on the way home. Win.

We chatted with R's family until bedtime and then, because I was exhausted and I knew I had a big day of last minute rushing around and packing, I laid awake for hours.

Tuesday, July 2nd 2013 - Relaxing in Tokyo

This morning we had absolutely no schedule, a beautiful hotel room, and some lovely sunshine. After we finally decided to get up, we went downstairs to the lobby where the hotel prepared breakfast. You could have either Japanese-style (fish, rice, soup, natto) or western-style (weird sandwich, murdock salad, french fries, broccoli soup, and plain yogurt, just like you have everyday back home). We felt that since we had the Japanese-style breakfast in Nikko, we could get the western-style without guilt. In addition to this, they had a buffet that was open to all with waffles and granola and vinegar fruit juice and a coffee machine. There was enough good mixed in with the weird to make for a satisfying, culinarily adventurous breakfast.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - We love the Dormy Inn! 

After breakfast and a shower, we set out towards Shibuya (thank you IB for showing us the way, otherwise we totally would have walked back to Harajuku station and taken the train to Shibuya) to do some shopping. Now, those of you that know me know that I'm not much of a shopper. However, this is Japan and it can be a lot of fun wandering through shops and finding all the crazy, fun, extremely useful items they have. We started out in Loft which is like . . . um, well, it's set up like a department store, but it has more home supplies sort of like Target, so I guess picture Target if each department was a different floor and there was no clothing. We got a few things and I asked the cashier if there was a 100¥ shop nearby. She consulted another lady for a moment, then pulled out a street map that was just handily stored next to the cash register and pointed out a store called Can Do, which was exceptionally helpful and on the way to Tokyu Hands, where we were going next anyway.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - 100¥ shops (basically dollar stores) in Japan are awesome and you can find some amazing things there. I highly recommend checking them out for souvenirs and mementos. 3 coin stores (which basically means 300¥ stores) can also be interesting, but often have less of a selection.

The 100¥ shop had some great stuff, but no AC in the basement level store, so we tried to get out as quickly as possible. A note about AC - I kept worrying about needing a jacket for things like the Robot Restaurant or the department stores, but the AC was set quite comfortably low (for me, I think Mc was dying on a regular basis). IB said that they used to blast the AC, but since the big earthquake they have reduced AC use as part of energy conservation. Anyway, next was Tokyu Hands. Tokyu Hands is a huge store with a crazy amount of crazy things. You can find tools and bath stools and crafts and heated toilet seats and party equipment and horse masks and summer wind chimes and pet goods and it is just a generally cool store to visit. And if you exhaust yourself looking, there is a reasonably-priced cafe on the top floor (2 sandwich sets with fries and tea/coffee came to about 1,500¥, plus because he ordered the ginger pork sandwich, Mc got a free gift -  a tiny plastic pig). On our way back to the hotel from Tokyu Hands, Mc saw Manadrake and if you are a retro super-nerd, you should go to this shop! It was way, way down a very dark stairwell with flashing overhead lights that was vaguely reminiscent of the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse game, but when we finally went through the door, instead of a murder trap, we found a huge basement room jam-packed with collectibles - manga, comics, character goods, blind box figures, stuff dating all the way back to the original Godzilla days. And while you might not speak Japanese, Nerd is a common tongue. Just make an effort to pronounce your favorite series in a Japanese fashion and the helpful staff will direct you to the correct aisle of treasures! (Don't try to say the name in Japanese, I asked the staff about Final Fantasy VII, but I used the Japanese word for 7, which was silly because they call it FF7.)

Because we wanted to make the most of our lovely hotel, we decided to head back around 4pm. We picked up some snacks from Family Mart (brie flavored jagarico, good, but strange . . . ) to tide us over until the free late night soba bar opened up in the lobby and headed back to the room to chill. We also did something I have never done before - scheduled a hotel massage! After walking around Japan on unforgiving concrete for hours and hours each day for 17 days, we were starting to get very achy feet and the hotel had an offer for a 20 min. foot massage for 2,000¥ that sounded very reasonable and very tempting. So the plan was for a late night of relaxation - soba bar at 9:30pm, massages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm, and then a soak in the hotel onsen before passing out completely.

Nyanko-sensei coveting our snacks

*SuperNova Travel Tip - It really does help to know a little of the language to wherever you are traveling. Even though the front desk people at our hotel speak great English, the masseuse had a little more trouble when I called to make the reservation. For example, I told him I wanted the foot massage and he asked "total body massage?" and I said "ie, ashi" which simply means "no, foot" but got the message across perfectly. Also, I gave the times I wanted in Japanese so that there would be no confusion (although he's probably not as busy on a Tuesday night). So, you have 3 options:
   1. Learn a little Japanese. You don't have to go blow a month's salary on Rosetta Stone, there are lots of language CDs at the library as well as language books, there's even a great series for kids called Let's Learn . . . for Spanish, Japanese, French, etc. that teaches through children's songs, which is great for learning basic vocabulary in an earworm type of way.
   2. Find someone who speaks Japanese. It's easier than you think; for example, in this situation I could have asked the front desk to make the reservation for me.
   3. Make the reservation in person. When you are communicating in person, you can use gestures and facial expressions and I cannot express enough how effective these two things are! For example, with the mix-up I had, I could have just pointed to my foot if I had been there in person.

Anyway, the foot massage was excellent. It was different than any I'd had before - it was much more pressure point focused, but it felt very good. Afterwards, I went into the hotel onsen. I'm not sure if you can officially call it an onsen if it's not actually natural hot springs, but it was a fancy area where you publicly bathe, so onsen is the word I will use. The Dormy Inn onsen's claim to fame is that they use super soft water. I know this because the sign in the onsen was in English. Apparently they remove the metallic ions and take the hardness as close to zero as possible, whatever that means. The effect is that the water makes your skin and hair super soft, it almost feels as if you didn't get all the soap off. My hair the next day was super shiny. I give soft water a thumbs up. The soaking pool also had around 50 oranges in it, for decoration perhaps, or maybe the oils in the peel. There was only one other person in the soaking pool since it was so late, which was nice, and we quietly sat not looking at each other. After the soak, I tried all the products in the dressing area (although even after trying it, I still have no idea what face water is), and then went back to the room and watched Japanese commercials and I fell asleep until Mc returned from his side of the onsen.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - If you are traveling for a long time, don't forget to relax. You will enjoy your trip so much more if you are not in pain and take the time to do an activity that allows you to de-stress. 

Monday, July 1st 2013 - Harajuku & Onsen

Back in the day, Harajuku was my absolute favorite place in Tokyo (you know, that place in that song by Gwen Stefani when she was briefly interested in Japan). It was where all the weirdos got to let their freak flag fly. There is a bridge with a sort of courtyard where Japanese people, generally young people, would get together and dress up. There was a group of guys who dressed like Elvis and danced to 50's music. There were elaborate video game/manga outfits. There were a lot of young girls dressed like frilly maids. When I was there, the popular thing was to wear a wedding dress with fake blood on it. And because of all of this, no one stared at me there. I could walk around being totally foreign looking and no one cared because that guy had horns and monster claws. I also really liked the atmosphere of Harajuku. In a country where everyone looks the same (I am not being racist here - there are uniforms in school that include a requirement that all hair must be black, all the grown ups wear suits, and when it comes to causal clothes it's often difficult to differentiate between men's and women's; they are actually striving to look the same), I thought it was awesome that there was a place for people to go to express themselves if they wanted to. I also loved Harajuku because it had a really cool shopping street, my favorite 4-story toy shop, and a Gap (the only store that carried pants in my enormous American size at the time).

Needless to say, I was super excited to take Mc here. What I didn't think about was making sure he saw it on a weekend. We went on a Monday and there were no freak flags flying. IB actually told us that doesn't happen as much there anymore, which made me sad. So Mc missed out on the Japanese youth culture, but you can't catch everything, so shoganai (it can't be helped).

IB's cousin was in town for one day and he joined us in Harajuku. This was fun because he was very enthusiastic about seeing everything and trying everything and buying everything that he could in one day. First we went to Takeshita Dori, the awesome shopping street. When you go through the East Harajuku Station exit, cross the street and head left and you'll see it on the right almost right away. It has a little archway over it and if it's a weekend you'll see roughly a billion people there. There are a lot of trendy and funky clothing shops, a huge hiyaku yen shop (100 yen = dollar store), food stands, and you'll often see something bizarre strolling along (last time I was there, it was someone dressed in a giant Gloomy the Bear costume). A few store employees were dressed up in some odd costumes and Cousin wanted to take pictures of everything, but he was polite and asked first. You'd think that someone who spent all the time to put together a costume, from eye lashes to socks, and then wore it in public would love to have their picture taken, and some did, but others were still the extremely shy Japanese and had no desire to be photographed.

A new addition to the street since I'd been here last was a Calbee shop. Calbee is a glorious company that makes a number of delicious snacks, most notably jagarico, a potato snack that resembles french fries and tastes like salty wonderful and comes in a cup reminiscent of a cup of noodles . In the shop you could buy gift boxes of small packets of jagarico (mentaiko flavor? curry flavor? yes please, we have people at home who definitely need to try these . . . ) or you could step up to their food counter and order fresh made jagarico OR if you were particularly daring you could get the jagarico sundae with the potato sticks under ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. I highly recommend stopping by the shop, you'll recognize it because "Calbee" is always spelled in romanji (roman letters) and their mascot is a giraffe family, because everyone knows giraffes love potato snacks.

Interesting flavors of jagarico

*SuperNova Travel Tip: If you see something crazy in an awesome way and you want it, get it. You don't know when you'll see it again and, I'm trying to think here, but I'm pretty sure that I haven't regretted buying anything that made it home from a foreign country. Of course, this is not permission to spend all of your allotted money on potato snacks, but ask yourself - Do I mind carrying this for the rest of the day? - and if the answer is "no," get it. If you wait till the end of the trip to buy mementos "just in case" you find the perfect thing later, then you'll spend your last days frantically trying to find the one thing you fell in love with and never saw again (see: Ghost Scroll Stand from the Kyoto posts). Buy it, enjoy it, and if you decide you don't actually want it then that's one more souvenir for someone at home.

After Takeshita Dori, we looped around to the toy store, Kiddy Land. So, if you were leaving straight from the East Harajuku Station exit, instead of crossing the street and going left to the shopping street, you cross the street and keep going straight along the main road. You'll actually need to cross the street again as Kiddy Land is on the right side of the street and it's a ways down the road. You'll know you're getting close when you see Shakey's Pizza.

On my last week living in Japan, my friends and I went to Harajuku to take pictures and I thought that it would be fun if we each picked out a toy to include in our pictures with us since characters are such a big part of the Japanese pop culture.When we went into Kiddy Land, there was a table on the main floor piled high with a stuffed bear. He was tan with yellow ears and paws and a white tummy and he had a small zippered pocket in his back. He was so soft and squeezable that I fell in love immediately and picked him out. I learned later that his name was Rilakkuma (a combination of the English word "relax" and the Japanese word for bear, "kuma") and he stood for everything I believed in, namely, trying to sleep the day away. He loves pancakes and, because everything in Japan has to have an extremely weird twist, his made-up back story is that he's actually a man in a bear suit (hence the zipper in the back) who wandered into a lady's home and fell asleep there and never left.

When we returned to Kiddy Land, they were having a 10th Anniversary for Rilakkuma. I felt extremely validated that I, in all my excellent consumer taste, had picked a character that has gone the distance. Rilakkuma is so popular in Japan now that he is 2nd only to Hello Kitty. I imagine it's similar to what those people who care about popular music feel when they pick out a band to love and support before they hit it big. So, like all the Japanese girls in the store, I took my picture with the giant plastic anniversary Rilakkuma.

Note that they changed his story a little, I guess to be less creepy since he's popular with young girls. WHY DON'T YOU FEEL RELAXED BY THEM?!

Kiddy Land is actually a lot of fun if you like toys at all. Mc and Cousin both commented on how many actual adults were there (there were, in fact, very few children). There are sections on each of the floors for all tastes, from Star Wars to Miyazaki to the latest trend (stupid Nameko) to Legos and Nanoblocks to oldies like Moomin or Snoopy. Oh, and Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty has like a wing. We each got something there (except IB who isn't really into toys and characters but is maybe the most patient and easy-going person in the world since he didn't complain once about spending his day off in a toy store), I got a small stuffed Nyanko-sensei. Mc got a version of a blind box, but instead of a box there's a bath bomb with a mystery Domo toy inside. Cousin got a miniature shaved ice machine from a gacha-gacha machine that had a tiny pencil-sharpener sized blade and even came with ridiculously tiny fancy bowls to put your miniature dessert in.

After Kiddy Land, we started wandering (there are a lot of cool streets in Harajuku) and we encountered a takoyaki stand. Neither IB or I like takoyaki (hilariously translated as "octopus balls," meaning that there is a tiny chunk of octopus in a sphere of fried dough, you usually get six or eight in a tray covered in mayonaise and bonito/fish flakes), but it's uniquely Japanese and Mc had been wanted to try it, but not a whole serving. This was a perfect opportunity because Cousin was willing to try anything, so they got an order and decided to split it. The takoyaki lady was amazing, flipping the spheres of dough in their takoyaki mold with what appeared to be an ice pick with lighting speed. When the order was ready, the boys grabbed a toothpick (have I mentioned that you eat a lot of food in Japan with a toothpick?) and dug in. And scalded their entire digestive system. They were not quite done and the molten dough inside nearly killed them both.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: If you buy takoyaki, make sure it's cooled all the way. 

IB had wanted to take Mc and Cousin to a quality ramen shop for lunch. I was not terribly excited about this lunch prospect because I do not like ramen (I know, alert the villagers and light the torches; apparently disliking ramen is some sort of punishable offense). We eventually came upon a ramen shop called Ichiran and I will recommend to you for a 2 reasons. First, it was delicious - using a combination of an ordering vending machine and a little card you fill out with your preferences (English on the back), you could get your ramen made to taste with extra spice or garlic or adding a boiled egg. Second, it was set up like it was a fetish shop. There was a long row of stools along a counter and on either side of each place setting were privacy dividers so you couldn't see the face of the person next to you. Then, instead of being able to see the cooks busily working behind the counter you were sitting at, there was also a screen in front of you, lowered to allow just enough room to slide a bowl of ramen. It seemed very much like a place where you go to enjoy the most shameful of fetishes or illegal substances. Mc actually asked IB if there was some sort of shame in liking ramen in Japan. (There's not.) Anyway, lunch was very good, if not extremely mysterious, and that's saying a lot since I don't actually like ramen.

After lunch, I, rather forcefully, demanded that we go get crepes. In Japan there are a number of small stands and food-trucks selling crepes. They make a HUGE crepe on a hot griddle right in front of you and then they use that crepe like a soft, delicious ice cream cone and fill it with wonderfulness. The crepe place we found had approximately 8 billion flavor combinations to chose from. Mc got something like cheesecake tiramisu. I got vanilla ice cream with strawberries and chocolate syrup and whipped cream. If you go to Japan, try a crepe, though if they don't have an option with ice cream, don't even bother. All the crepe places are about the same (but since I used to get crepes in Harajuku, that's where I wanted to get one for Mc).

After all that, we went to Meiji Shrine. We had to force this on Cousin, who was more interested in pop culture, but we insisted that if he wanted the true Japan experience, he had to go to a shrine. Starting from East Harajuku station, you walk up the hill to the intersection, but instead of crossing the street you turn right and Meiji Shrine is sort of behind the station. It a beautiful shrine way back in a large green space and one of the things that I love about this particular shrine is that it's all white and natural wood stains. There's none of the bright vermillion colors here, it seems very much like a calm shrine in the woods. If you want to see a shrine but won't be getting out of the city, this one is a good choice.

Woods around Meiji Shrine

The day was slipping away and we still had to onsen, so off we went. IB was taking us to the 2nd highest rated onsen on the internet (since Mc got us kicked out of the highest rated one) and it turned out to be part of Tokyo Dome City (where we saw the baseball game). For those just tuning in, an onsen is a natural hot spring. You go with your friends or family and soak together. It's a super old tradition in Japan and widely accepted and enjoyed to this day. The onsen we went to was LaQua and I don't really need to tell you how to get there because all you do is walk towards the main complex of the Tokyo Dome and you'll see it, the sign is immense. It's just past the roller coaster.

This time, the boys were smart and covered their tattoos with large adhesive bandages (yes, the Japanese are fine with open sores, but NOT TATTOOS) and we got in no problem. This was a much fancier onsen than any I had been to.  It cost 2,600¥ each and there were extra charges for a variety of things, but the base fee covers the main experience so don't worry too much about the extras. You walk up to the front desk where they give you the run down and a stretchy bracelet with a magical waterproof doohickey that will open your locker. Men and women bathe separately, so I can only describe my experience. I walked down a long hall to another desk where 2 ladies brought out a brochure and asked which outfit I'd like. I chose outfit B, a top with pants, and guessed at a size. I was given a bag and directed to the locker room. I held my doohickey to my locker and it unlocked. I got undressed, held onto my towel, and headed in search of the shower room. In Japan, you must shower before bathing. No soap in the bath. (People think that's weird, but it's like a hot tub; you wouldn't want to see someone shampooing in the hot tub, right?) I found the shower room which was divided into lots of short, open stalls with a stool, rinsing bowl, telephone shower, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and scrubby towel. It was warm and beautifully lit. After getting quite clean, I went into the main bath area. There were a number of baths to choose from. There was the hot bath, the bubbly bath to massage your back, the fizzy bath for just your feet, the cold bath, the sauna, and the super crazy hot bath outside. I soaked and wandered and soaked and then when it got close to the time I was supposed to meet the boys, I went back to my locker, put on outfit B, and went to the lounge where rows of vanities were set up with mystery hair and face products (since I don't read Japanese and not all of them have English on the front, there's a lot of sniffing and testing on my hand to make sure I don't put moisturizer in my hair). There are complimentary combs and brushes and hair ties and cotton squares, you really don't need to bring anything to the onsen. When I finally met up with the boys and started to compare notes, it turns out that the men's side of LaQua is far more amazing than the women's side, with more pool choices and whatnot. So LaQua is very relaxing and fancy, but especially for boys.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Americans have huge hang ups about nakedness. I am not an exception to this. In fact, in the 2 years I lived there I managed to avoid onsens almost the entire time because it was my solid belief that if I went with my coworkers (yes, this was a regular invite) it would be an hour of trying to see what the foreigner looks like naked. However, I was not able to avoid it forever and now I'm glad that I went. If you decide to be brave, and you definitely should because it's an incredible, unique to Japan, relaxing experience, then keep these things in mind. 1. They (the Japanese people) don't care. At all. They've been going to the onsen for as long as they can remember and don't think anything of the nakedness. 2. You will be left alone. The Japanese are all about personal space, and the onsen is for relaxing. It's very quiet, no one is really talking at all. 3. You don't actually get stared at. If you don't stare at anyone, they won't stare back. Or at least you won't know if they're staring because you're looking at a very specific space on the floor or wall. 4. Watch out for getting overheated. Even if you want to be in the water because water is better than nothing covering your parts, be careful because it's very hot and will raise your core body temperature. Sit on the side of the tub or visit the cold bath. If you don't want to get stared at in the onsen, don't pass out in the onsen. 5. You'll get over the nerves very quickly. Once you realize that everyone is naked and that no one cares but you, and you find a bath you like and close your eyes, you'll get over it. It's an excellent experience I highly recommend. According to all my experienced friends, the best natural onsens are actually in the mountains, so if you find yourself in the mountains, that's the ideal time to hunt for an onsen. Otherwise, try what's available. Do it. I won't look.

Mc and I had a hotel booked for that night (in large part to give our kind friends a break from hosting us) and so, after the onsen, we hurried (as well as you can hurry when your bones and muscles have been melted) back to IB's aparto to get our luggage and head to our hotel. We ran inside (and up 4 flights of stairs) and started re-packing while Cousin dumped his day's haul of Japanese souvenirs and opened a most revolting snack of pink and yellow crunchy things that were supposed to taste like potato and ham. Then our amazing host looked at our hotel location and the directions Mc had written down, decided on a faster, better way, and then took us all the way to our hotel. Our hotel, the Dormy Inn, was pretty much equidistant between Harajuku and Shibuya and was a 15 min. walk from either station. We arrived, checked in, and then decided that we should probably find a good sushi restaurant for Mc and Cousin to try. 

The sushi restaurant IB found was on a tiny street in Shibuya called Sushi Hyoue. It was very late and their top redeeming feature to us was that they were still open. We went in and sat at the bar (sushi bar) and there was only one other small group of people there, at the other end of the bar, enjoying quite a few bottles of sake. The sushi restaurant was having a special where you could get a sushi set (a lot of food comes in a "set," or meal, in Japan) for 1,000¥ or the super good quality fish on the same set for 1,500¥. That seemed incredibly cheap to us, so weren't expecting much. Which was silly. The sushi plate that came out was gorgeous. The fish was clean and bright and fresh, there was a wide variety of types, and each one was expertly hand crafted. I will note here that I don't actually like raw fish (tastes fine, the texture is decidedly . . . well, raw) which is why I don't usually go to true sushi restaurants as that is pretty much all they have, but I definitely wanted Mc to get to try a real sushi restaurant since he loves sushi and we were, if I haven't mentioned, in Japan. I ordered an ebi (steamed shrimp) and tamago (egg). Mc also let me have bites of his sushi, and while I still don't much care for the texture, the flavor was amazing. Mc also got an uni (sea urchin; most foreigners don't like this one because it is very slimy) to split with Cousin and it was the best he'd ever had. Halfway through, I ordered another tamago and the sushi chef decided that to brighten my sad dinner, he'd make one normal (small ball of rice, rectangle of egg on top) and one inside out (rectangle of egg slit and stuffed with a small ball of rice) which was beautiful and delicious. While we were eating, a very drunk Japanese man at the other end of the table kept cheerfully shouting at us with "hellos" and "cheers" and as he was leaving, bought two bottles of sake for us. 

*SuperNova Travel Tip: In general (there are always exceptions to rules) drunk Japanese people are the most friendly, fun Japanese people. When Japanese people drink, suddenly their English becomes amazing and the reserved, stand-offishness disappears. If you have the opportunity, drink with Japanese people. But be careful, they will pour you alcohol till you don't remember your name.

Inside-out tamago

We finally said good-bye to our amazing host and interpreter, IB, and Cousin and headed back through the warm Tokyo night to our hotel.

I leave you with hilariously awesome Engrish we saw around Harajuku:

It should be noted that this store was filled with modest, middle-aged woman looking clothes

Sunday, June 30 2013 - Akihabara

Since we stayed up so late rockin' out, we were able to sleep in pretty late this morning. By the time we were all showered and in search of breakfast, it was 11:30am. However, this is our vacation and we can eat breakfast whenever the hell we want to. Fortunately, IB feels the same way. He took us down a very cute shopping street near his aparto in Hiroo and we had breakfast at an adorable bakery called Sawa Mura.

After breakfast we took the train to Akihabara, "Electric Town." Akihabara (or Akiba for short if you are a super nerd) is the part of Tokyo famous for having electronics and collectable toys and porn. It used to be the only place where you could get the latest in electronics, however now that you can get the latest just about anywhere thanks to the internet, the otaku (nerd) influence has really taken over Akihabara. IB had an audio tour of Akihabara that we decided to follow called Tokyo Realtime (really good, you should pick it up if you can find it, they also made one for Kabukicho) that walks you through some really interesting spots you might otherwise miss just wandering, like Super Potato (a small, dark, smoky floor of a building full of retro arcade games). We also went to lots of shops selling toys and figurines from popular manga/cartoons/video games, a 5 story sex shop, a huge electronics store, and got tissues from a girl dressed in a French maid's outfit advertising a Maid Cafe (a cafe where you can pay a lot of money to have girls dressed up in cute maid costumes chat with you). At around 4pm we stopped for lunch at a small curry shop called Mammoth Curry where you could buy a variety of curries in small, regular, large or mammoth size (which was 1,000 grams/2.2 lbs). It was quite tasty and I recommend it, particularly if you find yourself lamenting the fact that you never seem to be able find curry by the pound. 

Maid Cafe in Akihabara

Akihabara is generally a favorite part of Tokyo for guys, and while I definitely wanted Mc to see it I didn't think we would be there for very long since neither of us are much into gadgets. However, with the tour and all the fun toy shops selling character goods, we spent essentially the whole day there. My favorite new character is Nyanko-sensei (he is a character from the manga Natsume's Book of Friends/Natsume Yuujincho, but the back story is not important. He's a cat teacher, I like cats and am a teacher, and he's adorable, so I love him).

My favorite part of Akihabara was Gachapon Kaikan which was a huge shop full of gacha gacha machines, floor to ceiling. Gacha gacha machines are like egg machines at home - the ones where you put in a quarter and get a plastic egg with a random toy inside (or a sticker of Michael Jackson if you're me in the 80's) - except in Japan they cost anywhere from 200-500¥ and the much higher quality toy is inside a little plastic ball instead of an egg. Each machine has a theme, most with popular characters like Nameko (an ugly mushroom character from the most boring game I've ever played where you literally wait for mushrooms to grow on a log) or Hello Kitty or Rilakkuma on a keitai strap (cell phone charm) or pin or puzzle, etc. Of course there was a Nyanko Sensei machine, so I spent way too much money there.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - In Japan, they have coins for 50¥, 100¥, and 500¥. The first paper bill you will encounter is 1,000¥ (about $10). This can be dangerous because a lot of things cost about 100¥ and as an American you don't really even think about spending it because it's a coin and our coins are worth so little. Our brain often decides to think of them as quarters, and they are used a lot like quarters here (like in toy machines). But it's important to remember that they are dollars and they add up quickly.

IB had looked up onsens in Tokyo and found one that we should try. An onsen is a Japanese hot spring where you go to relax. Naked, with all your friends and family. But most are separated by gender. Anyway, it's a very Japanese thing to do and Mc needed the full experience, so off we went. Unfortunately, Mc was wearing shorts and his tattoo was in full view. IB said that the lady at the desk was giving us ick-face from the moment we walked in. You see, tattoos are not seen as rebellious but cool expressions of art or self in Japan. In Japan, tattoos are seen as marks of the criminal underworld and are not allowed in onsens. IB has a small tattoo under his arm and has never had any trouble, likely because they don't see it till he's already inside. They saw Mc's from the door and even though IB tried to explain that it was just a birthmark, they denied us access. So we had no choice but to head out and Mc got to feel wildly indignant about discrimination.

After Akihabara, we headed back to IB's aparto and decided to order pizza. Apparently, you can order pizza online from Pizza-la here now, and since IB is fluent in Japanese, it was here in under an hour. Since pizza is expensive here (3,600¥ for a large) we didn't get a weird one for Mc (like one with potato or seafood or egg and mayonaise), instead we got the Get's pizza which was pretty normal except the corn and cheddar cheese (they will put anything on a pizza here).

Tomorrow is a visit to Harajuku and then another onsen, if Mc doesn't get rejected again . . .

Saturday, June 29th 2013 - Shibuya

Saturday was lovely because we were back in Tokyo at a friend's aparto with nothing in particular to rush off and do. We slept in and then got to do our laundry, which was really nice. Once we were up and showered, we headed out to Shibuya, which is IB's stomping grounds.

We were able to walk to Shibuya from IB's aparto in Ebisu and the weather was really nice; warm and clear with a nice breeze. On the way we stopped to get a drink at a conbini and Mc decided to try blue Skal which turned out to be a fizzy pop drink that tasted like bubble gum. Once we arrived, the first thing we wanted to show Mc was The Scramble. The Scramble is a famous crossing in Shibuya (maybe only in Japan can you find a famous crosswalk), just outside the Hachiko exit. If you want to see the stereotypical massive crush of Japanese people, go here. This is where 5 streets converge and instead of having the crosswalks take turns and go with the traffic, all the cars are stopped and all the pedestrians get to go at once in every direction imaginable for 20 frenzied seconds. If you are going to lose the people you are traveling with, it's going to be here. Across the street from the Hachiko exit is a building with a Starbucks a few stories up, which is super popular because it overlooks the Scramble crossing and you get a great view of the madness from above. It is usually packed, but we got to Starbucks early so we were able to get seats and watch for a while.

Famous Hachiko statue outside the Hachiko exit

After a bit, IB led us away from Starbucks through the streets of Shibuya to a completely different coffee experience. We found ourselves in the Love Hotel district in Maruyama-cho, where IB led us through an old-fashioned doorway and back in time. We left the hot, bustling streets of Shibuya and entered a huge, dark room that was cool and calm. There was a complete absence of noise except for the classical music gently filling our ears. We were led upstairs to a small table in the loft, overlooking an immense speaker system set amidst antique furniture and hundreds of classical music albums. IB had brought us to the Lion Cafe, built in 1923 and created as a space where people can come to relax and enjoy music. Talking is not allowed, even our waiter took our order in hushed tones. There are few windows, so the shop remains dark and cool even in summer, and despite the fact that this was a beautiful respite from the busy life outside the door, there were very few people inside. We sat and drank milk tea and whispered and relaxed. It is one of those hard to explain experiences you get in Japan in that it is in no way Japanese and at the same time uniquely Japanese. I highly recommend stopping by if you need a break and a calm moment. http://lion.main.jp/

Milk tea with huge speakers in the background at Lion Cafe

From there we went to Tokyu Hands (not Tokyo, Tokyu), a multi-story superstore of everything and anything. If you travel to Japan, I recommend you find a Tokyu Hands and save a day near the end of your trip for shopping. They have a section of the store for every room in your house, plus floors dedicated to hobbies, pets, science, weird Japanese toys, etc. It's super interesting, but very big, so set aside a chunk of time if you decide to go.

For lunch, IB wanted to take Mc to a real ramen shop and we went to 2 places that ended up being closed. We were getting hungry and finally settled on Matsuya. Matsuya is a Japanese fast food noodle shop. You order and pay for your meal from a fancy digital vending machine, then you find a seat and hand your ticket to a person in an apron. Within minutes, your food is sitting in front of you, and if you are a Japanese person, you eat it in seemingly one long, loud slurp. The food was actually really good and cheap, which surprised us Americans who assume that any fast food is going to be low quality. Matsuya is a chain you will see frequently and is a good choice if you are hungry, love noodles, and do not fear vending machines (which had really great pictures, making choosing your meal easy even if you don't read Japanese). They are easy to spot, just look for the bright yellow, orange, and blue signs.

R's wife had taken Now-chan to visit family and he had the night free, so he met us in Shibuya and we had a mini JET reunion. After a brief discussion about where the best beer can be found, we headed off to Good Beer Faucets, a craft beer pub in Shibuya ( http://goodbeerfaucets.jp/). If you like beer and are tired of the generic "biru" you order in Japanese restaurants, this is a great place to visit. It's modern, clean, the staff speak English, and the beer selection is large.

Dinner was scheduled to be yakiniku. Yakiniku basically just means grilled meat, and when you go to a yakiniku restaurant, you sit at a table with a little grill in the middle, order plates of a variety of raw things, and then grill them while you visit and eat. It's sort of like a tiny barbeque with a select few friends. I love yakiniku and had wanted to take Mc to one and IB lived across the street from a yakiniku place that he'd been wanting to try, so it was kismet. The restaurant was called Hachi Hachi (Eight Eight) and was a lot of fun. We got a variety of meats and vegetables to grill, bibimbap, kimchee, and lots more beer.

Hachi Hachi yakiniku restaurant

The only logical end to the evening was a round of ancient traditional Japanese karaoke. IB took us to Aso Viba, a cheap karaoke place near his home. For those of you who have never tried Japanese karaoke, it is much different than in the States. Instead of singing a song in front of an entire bar after waiting an hour for your turn, you are given a private room with a telephone on the wall where you can order drinks and snacks as you make an ass of yourself in front of your closest friends and loved ones. There is less pressure (except peer-pressure, there's way more of that), you get to sing as much as you want too, and their sound system makes you feel like a total rockstar. It is so much more fun; you have no idea. We may have forcibly dragged R into the karaoke booth, but it was for the best as we blasted 80s hits and played air guitar well into the night (R took me and a few other newbies to my first Japanese karaoke experience way back when). And if I got a little misty-eyed, it was probably just the smoke from the yakiniku . . .

Friday, June 28th 2013 - Robot Restaurant (Back in Tokyo, Obviously)

Shrine/temple quota met and then some, we just took our time our last morning in Kyoto. Check-out was between 8-11am and our shinkansen home wasn't until 12:32pm. We slept in, repacked everything, got the most out of their free wifi and at 10:58 we checked-out. Then we trekked to Kyoto Station to buy some Kyoto omiyage for the people we were going to stay with and find some lunch to take on the train. We ended up with pizza chips (with real cheese product!), sando (sandwich, and the ones in Japan are already cut into little triangles with the crust cut off for you, but the filling is only placed in a small section in the very middle of each half), tamago (Japanese style rolled eggs), croquet (fried potato ball like the ones in Europe, pronounced "kurokay" in Japanese), and a chestnut pudding cake dessert thing (you can tell if a dessert is chestnut flavored if you are in the dessert section and you see one with what appears to be pasta on top).

This trip we had window seats on the Mt. Fuji side of the train, so Mc, not having seen Fuji-san yet, kept an eye on the window. A note about Mt. Fuji - Fuji-san is the original ninja. He is the most famous mountain in Japan because of his perfect mountain-shape and because you can see him from almost everywhere in Honshu. Despite this, I chased Fuji-san for 2 years before I was able to catch a good picture of him. People would take me to places specifically because they were beautiful Mt. Fuji viewing spots and he would just not be there. I would look down at the brochure picture of Fuji-san behind a beautiful lake, look up and only see a beautiful lake. Fuji-san can pull up a cloud-screen so perfectly constructed that you would never know that it was obscuring an entire mountain. I guess Fuji-san doesn't like the paparazzi. Anyway, Mc came to understand this in his efforts to see Fuji-san. At one point of the train ride while I was writing, Mc said, "Look! Is that Mt. Fuji?!" and I glanced up to see the very top of a mountain sliding behind a cloud screen. It was as if he was peeking out to see if the coast was clear and Mc caught him looking. Fortunately, it was enough to satiate Mc's desire to see the famous icon.

We arrived in Tokyo Station and caught a train to Ebisu Station. For once, we were early to meet someone, but since IB was coming from work and couldn't meet us early, we had some time to kill. So we wandered around the shopping mall attached to the station. Many major train stations in Japan have multi-leveled shopping malls attached and it was a lot of fun to wander through and look at the ridiculously expensive items even though we were dragging suitcases. Then we made our way to where we thought we were supposed to meet (turns out it was the wrong exit . . . well, it was the right exit, but there were 3 west exits), IB found us, and we trekked off to his new apartment in Ebisu. IB has a very nice 1 bedroom apartment with a lovely view of a cemetery from his shower window. We only spent a moment there, however, because tonight was Robot Restaurant night and we had 8pm reservations!

Japan is famous for having wacky themed restaurants. I went to the Lock Up (pronounced "rock up" in Japan) with IB back in the day and a lady dressed like an officer seated us in a dark cell and halfway through dinner there was a jailbreak and the lights went off and emergency lights flashed while monsters ran around reaching through your cell bars and growling (because I guess in Japan you don't destroy monsters, you give them a fair trial and then send them to a jail with questionable locks). It was really fun and Mc wanted to try one while were there. IB recommended the Robot Restaurant and got us reservations. If you want to go to the Robot Restaurant (and you do), do not fear calling to make reservations as the staff speak pretty good English.

When we arrived at the door of the restaurant, we were instructed to go purchase our tickets at a booth across the street. There was a large vending machine where you put in your 5,000¥ (yes, it was about $50 a piece, but we figured it was worth it for dinner and a show and a memorable experience) and then selected the bento dinner you wanted. Mc and IB chose curry and I chose a katsu sando (pork cutlet sandwich). Then we took our tickets back to the doorman, who admitted us to what appeared to be the inside of a disco ball. The waiting room was mind-boggling. Every surface was covered in mirrored tiles or crystals, including the floor and ceiling. There were low tables with red-velvet chairs. There were LED lights everywhere. I simply cannot convey how sparkly this room was. Mc got a beer while IB and I shouted at each other, conversationally. 

Eventually, it was time to go to the main arena and we followed the crowd down about 3 flights of stairs. Each section of stairs was decorated differently, each more colorful than the last. (This is NOT a place to come while you're trippin' on something, it might make your brain explode.) I couldn't even begin to fathom where they bought the materials they used to decorate, is there a wallpaper shop that sells shiny linoleum for your walls with rainbow geckos and dragons? Once downstairs, we followed the crowd into a little room with stadium seating on either side. It only seated about 100 people and seats were unassigned. Because we didn't know this and hadn't rushed to the front of the crowd, we were unable to sit together, which was a bummer. Your seat had a tray and a small bottle of green tea (Mc's was already opened, gross) and you picked up your bento box from a table. My katsu came with a tiny cup of potato salad, and what goes better with potato salad than some cold french fries. The food was OK at best, definitely not where they were investing their money. The stadium seating was on either side of a rectangular strip about 10x50 and open on either end. It was surprisingly small. Behind the stadium seats were TV screens. Then entire wall was TV screens. Also the ceiling. Then the lights went down and the show started.

There are things about the Robot Restaurant that are easy to explain. For example, to the right of us (opposite end from the stairs) was where the robots came in and out from and there were large doors that opened and closed. There are 2 small bathrooms on the same end as the stairs (the women's is done entirely in crystals and mirrors, while the men's features a golden urinal). The audience was a pretty even mix of foreigners and Japanese business men. There were lots of lovely girls who did dance numbers in bra tops. From there, it gets . . . complicated. Here goes - there was a dance number that featured drummers, so girls came out and pretended to drum, like marching band-style, except that there were also taiko drummers and then one girl with bangs who played a real drum set, except the drum set was on a remote-controlled platform that drove around. There was a number where these huge robot legs came walking out of the gates, but instead of bodies they had stripper poles, but the girls didn't strip, so I guess they were just dancing poles. There was a brief and incredibly cheesy video they showed on the TV walls about a prehistoric planet that used to be peaceful till the evil robot-aliens arrived. Then two people dressed as robots (short robots, I think they were the ladies) walked out and waved their arms and then a panda and a tiger and a monkey ran out to fight the robots, but of course had no chance, even though the panda was wearing shorts. So they limped back behind the doors and then the panda came out riding a giant cow, which knocked down the robots. Obviously. But while they were down, they were not out, so a girl dressed like Captain America but wearing a red, white, and blue striped tutu ran out and tried defeating them with Thor's hammer. But only Thor can wield Thor's hammer, so next another two girls came riding out on a giant plastic dinosaur and whacked at the robots with a humongous mace (that was not at all a deflated silver exercise ball), which worked I think because both robots were blown backwards by nothing in particular. Then came the lady robots. (If you visit Tokyo, you will see the advertising for this restaurant which is a huge truck that drives around Tokyo with these robots on the truck bed.) The lady robots are HUGE upper halves of ladies with real ladies draped all over them as they are remote-controlled around the small space. Then all robot hell breaks loose and every conceivable robot comes out - a robot with wheels for feet skates around with a rainbow afro while a 10 ft. robot bounces up and down in time with the loud music while another robot riding a neon rainbow circle that I think he stole from Rainbow Brite zooms around the room while girls sit on recumbent bikes that travel around a track on the ceiling just above your head. There was also a tank made of lights and a motorcycle, but it starts to become a loud flashing swirl in my head.

It was insane. And loud. And over the top. And awesome. You should go. Probably not with little kids or your coming-of-age-son (he looked super embarrassed and was slow to stand up), but definitely go. Mc's favorite part was that they were encouraging patrons not to touch the girls, but the English translation they kept flashing said, "No touching of hips and things" which was hilarious (again, the space is very small and there were a few times where a girl's "things" were 6 inches from my face). Despite the fact that it was expensive and packed and do 2 shows a night, I do not think they are making enough money to cover expenses. At one point I counted 30 performers on the floor at one time, not to mention all the lights and lasers and plastic dinosaurs, so you should go before they declare bankruptcy. We had a lot of fun and it was definitely a great start to our time with IB.

Mosaic in the waiting area upstairs

Remote-controlled drum set, and so it begins . . .

Thursday, June 27th 2013 - Kyoto, Round 2

Today we wanted to see the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine grounds. It is famous for having approximately 10,000 torii gates (literally!) and a lot of stone foxes. It sounded like a bit of a hike, so our plan was to get up early and catch the first bus out there before it got hot and crowded. Turns out it is very hard to convince yourself to get up early when you are on vacation. We left around 9:30. We stopped at a conbini to get a few shrine-viewing pan because every day before this, we say that we'll just grab some conbini food when we get to the shrine and there is never a conbini near the shrine. We decided to be smart this time (so of course the first thing we saw off the bus was a Lawson).

Fushimi Inari is at the foot of Mt. Inari, but the bus ride was only about 20min. The admission is free and there are many shops selling cute fox goods if you so desire. The million-billion torii gates starts almost immediately and everyone wants to take their picture in the tunnel of gates. Do not wait in line to take a picture here. The entire mountain is torii gates, you will find numerous other picture opportunities if you plan on hiking the whole path. Which you should. It is a unique and beautiful Japanese experience and it counts as exercise! It is not for the weak of heart or leg, however. It is on a mountain, remember, so a large part of your experience involves stone steps. It's the original stair climber. When we completed the trail (and prayed at approximately 6,000 fox shrines), Mc found a sign that said the total trail is about 8K or around 5 miles. That's right, five miles of stairs. For our dear friends the O family, I'm sure that is nothing, but for the Mc family it was an impressive feat and we were definitely glad we waited to do that one till that last day.

On our way back down to the bus stop, we stopped at a little restaurant called Nezameya and I highly recommend it! It is right across the street from a big hashi (chopstick) shop, closer to the bus stop than the shrine on the south side of the street. Not only do they have an English menu and delicious, reasonably-priced food (we ate for less than 800¥ each), but it was founded in 1540 and not a lot of Americans get the opportunity to eat in a restaurant that has been in business for 400 years. I had oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice) and Mc had tamago soba (egg and noodles in hot soup) and even though it was quite warm outside, the hot food was very good.

We were pretty tired after our hike and the urge to take a nap was strong, however there was one more shrine I wanted to go to and since it was already 2pm I was worried it would close soon. So we rode back to Kyoto station bought our shinkansen ticket back to Tokyo for the next day, and hopped on the bus to the Sanjusangendo.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Buy your Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket in advance if possible. The ticket counter agents speak great English and if you chooe to go the reserved seat route (about 600¥ more per person), then you can guarantee yourself a window seat - be sure to ask to be on the Mt. Fuji side!

Sanjusangendo is just about the only famous shrine that is within walking distance of Kyoto station. However, it's not a lovely walk and it was very hot, so we decided to make the most of our all-day bus pass. This shrine is my favorite. It's a huge building (sanjusan means 33 and gendo means the space between architectural pillars) filled with 10,000 hand-carved statues. Because they are all hand-carved, each one is unique. It is quiet and peaceful and you are not allowed to take pictures inside which forces you to just enjoy the experience. As we left the main hall, the afternoon sun was streaming through the windows and the quiet calm was the perfect way to end the day. Because we weren't allowed to take pictures, this temple is one you are going to have to experience for yourself.

When we got back to the hostel, we did take a short nap before trekking out to have dinner in a restaurant our last night in Kyoto. We went to Donguri, which I chose because Mc had not yet tried okanomiyaki. Okanomiyaki is difficult to describe; it's basically a big dinner pancake you cook yourself on a griddle. They all have the same base - cabbage, egg, and batter - and then you can order different types of other ingredients. We chose a seafood one and a beef one. Unfortunately, at this chain they do not let you cook your own okinomiyaki, they bring it to you cooked and slide it onto your table grill to stay hot. This was disappointing as I wanted Mc to have the experience of cooking it himself at the table like I did the first time I had okonomiyaki. However, he still got to try a new food. (I recommend the seafood variety and it's always better with a beer.)

Okonomiyaki at Donguri

Off to Tokyo tomorrow to visit our friend IB!