Belmonte Tokyo

... at home. So there isn't as much originality here as the guidebooks and TV makes out, but we were still able to catch a glimpse of a cosplayer or two in the classic 'Lolita' get up that Harajuku is famous for. Shopping wise, I got nothing done because a medium in Japan is like extra, EXTRA small.<br><br>But now, onto the important stuff. We made two day trips whilst here, one to a place called Nikko that was so devoid of people that it felt like a ghost town. It was, however, home to ...

... around in snow and building snowmen and various other snow-things that would make anyone envious. We were, however, beaten by three little Sapporo-born kids in the time it takes to build a snowman. Those kids have no idea how lucky they are. Snow is officially one the most beautiful, fantastic and enjoyable things ever to be in existence.<br><br>But now,we have left the snow and are back in the bright lights of the big city.<br>Until the next installment of our adventures,<br><br>Rachael Out.

... a week without any further updates from your one and only portal into the land of the rising sun. And whilst it'd be impossible to adequately surmise these past few days in just one blog post, there's certainly no harm in trying. When last we left our heroes, they were all the way back in Kyoto, cultural and historical capital of Japan, diving head first into the depths of the southeastern slums to seek out some of the cities more hidden treasures. Interestingly, this region of ...

... is customary to purify yourself in the fountain nearby before entering the temple. And uh, did I mention it was freaking snowing? Cause it totally was. Gave the whole temple a very mystical feel. Top it all off with some roast pork miso ramen for dinner? Yeah, I'd say all in all it was a good day.<br><br>In direct contrast to this old-school feel, we headed into Odaiba the following day whilst waiting for the sumo wrestling bouts to begin in the evening; a ...

... c*me with me to the sumo wrestling on one occ*sion, *nd they were lucky bec*use they got to see one of the yokozun* lose - * f*irly r*re occurence. There *re only two yokozun* *t this time, one of whom is the *forementioned As*shoryu, who provides excitement both inside *nd outside of the ring, *nd the other is H*kuho, who in my view is quite boring. In snooker terms, As*shoryu is like Ronnie O'Sulliv*n, where*s H*kuho is more like Gr*eme ...

... way to a lobby where an elevator took us down to the waterfall. The waterfall was very pretty and gave us many opportunities for group photos. After we exhausted the sightseeing potential we hopped on the bus for a ride to the train station. At the train station, Watanabe-san treated us to dumplings (Caitlin and Duc convinced him that that was our favorite food and apparently it was his as well). Our departure time came sooner than expected, and before ...

... headed to Oedo Onsen in Odaiba to finally see some ass on this trip. The train ride to Odaiba gives some of the sweetest views of the city I have seen so far. You go across the Rainbow Bridge on the way, I definitely recommend it. There are natural hot springs Odaiba and Oedo Onsen is a tourist spa/ bath house. It was nice. They have everything you could think of to help you wind down and enjoy yourself. For me this means good food followed by relaxation and ...

... up (I suppose I didn't help balance the Harajuku:tourist ratio). I blame Gwen Stefani! At night Bill's friend Steve arrived (we're now a foursome of American guys), and we went back to Roppongi. Even though it's considered the expat area of Tokyo, I still find it hard to get by with English. Why doesn't everyone just speak English? It'd make things so much easier. For me. Anyway, for dinner we had curry udon, which ostensibly sounds like an odd marriage ...

... a bit small so I couldn't shorten it too much cause I couldn't breathe, but I didn't like it that short anyway. Masa thought it was good. It is quite comfy, but the shirts are like see-through, the socks are quite warm...I even used a special sock glue to hold them up, but I had to reapply it cause it dried. THe librarian took a picture of me as well. Here are some pictures at school.