Hotel Park Side Tokyo

... that shy old Fuji could apparently only be viewed by going on a extremely expensive lake cruise on a really cheesy looking pirate ship. Which was cool enough. I enjoyed it. But whats this? Wheres Mt Fuji? It had been there the whole entire time when were on the shore, and it would have been in full view if it weren't hidden behind a huge freaking cloud. But the great thing was, that the cloud was the only one in the sky. One big Fuji shaped cloud. After sitting for god knows how ...

... even had photocopied papers of translated Japanese just in case any foreigners drop by his store. Whilst Tom gagged at the idea of raw fish, I dined on a Sashimi breakfast until it was time to leave. Apparently he didn't want us to go and was distraught at the idea of us parting ways with bow, so instead, he gave us hugs.<br>What a character.<br><br>We then viewed an act of traditional Kabuki-za, which, if I lived in Japan, I think I would get addicted to. It is still extremely ...

... about two thirds the size of a fully grown man, displaying hundreds of spiraling arms surrounding the statue of an enormous goddess. It's Nightingale floor boarding, like so many of the temples visited within Japan, creating a symphony of chirping sounds as dozens of worshipers humbly shuffle from one end of the structure to the other. This particular variety of floor boarding, it is said, is nigh impossible to move across without making a sound, intended to warn the masters of ...

... sold whale meat (Gasp - Controversy!) . Moving on from that, we passed these men dressed in traditional Edo clothing. Rickshaw men! Hoorah! They tow you around and provide accompanying commentary on the sights. However, we declined a lift from them as they charge outrageous prices for a touristy attraction.<br><br>The next day! Or...Yesterday rather. We headed out early in search of Sumo tickets. It was then we experienced first hand the marvels of peak ...

... an amazing piece of architecture. The entire inside of this relatively plain looking building was constructed so as to look like the streets of Venice at night, with each store being a new building complete with little balconies and pillars, while the roof, an optical illusion creating the image of a cloudy, starry sky overhead. The time of day even changes throughout. The further you delve, the more awesome things become as there are touch screen displays ...

... L*qu*' h*d m*ny different b*ths both inside *nd out, *nd *n incredible rel*x*tion *re* with m*ss*ge ch*irs *nd person*l TVs, not to mention * b*r, * rest*ur*nt, free internet *nd much much more. It w*s * rel*xing end to * wonderful couple of weeks in Tokyo, *nd even though going down to Kyoto for * week me*nt missing the clim*x of the sumo tourn*ment, I still w*nted to go *nd explore * bit more in prep*r*tion for when Ali visited in Febru*ry...

... he got the opportunity to live in many countries and experience many cultures. He enjoyed this very much, but naturally this inhibited him from having a family. He said that when he returned to Japan he found someone and made family a priority. Once he established his family, he then tried to blend his travels with his family and his family ended up living in a couple of countries with him. His story is especially interesting to me at this juncture in my life.

I don't have much to say about Tokyo orientation other than the fact that we were treated like heifers for 3 days. I just wanted to make a post to show some of my pictures from the hotel room. The hotel was amazing! I was in the south tower- the small tower and was on the 24th floor. The other tower had 47 floors. It was huge and they gave us things like hair ties, cue tips, and ...

... who has been working in Japan for the last 4 years. The three of us studied and hung out a lot in University. For myself, I was not too concerned with what I saw in Japan. I was mostly just looking forward to spending some fun time together. At the airport, we were greeted with the most polite customs officer I have ever met. If American customs officers are ******-off hot mashed potatoes, Japanese customs officers are sweet polite rice ...

Day 1: The first day was actually a day and a half, but most of it was spent travelling. The first flight was to Vancouver, BC. We only spent two hours there, but we still got a stamp for the passport. Not bad for both of our first trip to Canada. The lady behind the counter in Portland was kind enough to move us out of the nice, comfortable, half-empty middle aisles and into the window seats...right next to the bathroom...for 10 ...