Asakusa Central Hotel Taito

... Senjoji, which was absolutely stunning. For the first time on this trip (and surely not the last), I thought to myself &#8220;It&#8217;s like Epcot, except for real.&#8221; There were plenty of tourists around the temple, but also plenty of locals coming to pray.<br><br>The temple emptied out onto a long street of little shops, which we picked our way through by feel. At some point I took out the map and figured out we were relatively close to the ...

... were drinking beer, smoking cigs, etc. After probably an hour or so break we headed down the friggin thing. I was cursing the name Fuji the whole way down. We were on very steep switch back paths that were nothing but volcanic lava rocks and dust. The kind of walking that slams your feet into the front of your boot with every step. And the kind of mistep that lands you flat on your ass in a sitting position. Your feet just slide right out from under you and you sit right down when ...

... clean city, despite the fact that there are no public trash cans anywhere outside of train/subway stations. The shopping malls and restaurants also have the most impressive toilets I`ve ever seen. Heated seats are the norm. There`s also typically a control panel to the right with buttons to spray water on your butt, spray air, make flushing noises to cover up any noises your body might be making, change the temperature of the seat, and a ...

Captains Log - September 5th 2007 - 11:15am Hello Hello, So much has happened since last we spoke. Croutons have been reintroduced into the menu, Breakfast is the new hot thing (it's always reliably good) and they served us Ice Cream and French fries with lunch the day before Hawaii!!! Life's simple pleasures... My new favorite things (other then the croutons, cause they are obviously number one): Egyptian Rat Screw, the fifth deck smoking ...

... early sakura season, but those statements were amended a bit. It's still early, but not quite as early as it could have been, which is a shame for me, because I leave bright 'n' early tomorrow and won't be back for ten days. I hope some of the blossoms will stick around until my return! Ah well, I suppose there's always next year. Today was gorgeous and the banks of the Sumida river were crawling with people of all ages. The school year has just ended so ...

... a bit for her and Syuuichi (I need to practice!) and then we played a song together. And of all the songs it could have been, it was Ave Maria, which seems to be one of Yoko's favorites. It was really fun to play together. I told her I hadn't played in months and she said that she hadn't either. I hope that we will be able to share more music together in the future. For dinner, another family came over to join us. They are long-time friends of my ...

... So, we managed to find a bus and the bus driver was kind enough to take us to the next stop and we didn't have to pay either. We made it to the Golden Pavilion in time with about 15 mintues to see the pavilion since they closed at 5:15. I could have sat and looked at the Pavilion forever. It is so beautiful and amazing. We went somewhere for dinner and then I took a bath at the hotel. We were pooped.

... so Caitlin and I got to wear geta, the traditonal Japanese clogs. It is really hard to walk down stairs in those!! We all have lots of good pictures to share from that experience. The next day, everyone but me and Tamami hiked up the mountain. I am in such terrible, my legs started really cramping up not very far up the mountain. I knew there was no way I was going to make it to the top before either collapsing, fainting, or turning a 1 hour hike ...