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Japan

Andrew, 29 August 2005
Japan Tokyo

Typhoons in Tokyo!

Konichiwa from Japan!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, we're on our last legs now. In fact tomorrow we leave Japan, and head back to Canada. The amazing journey has all but come to an end (single tear).

Our final few days in Singapore were great, Yesan's family showed us around the city some more and it was a blast! We visited Sentosa Island with a lighted water fountain show, with the giant Merlion (symbol of Singapore, which means Lion City by the way) in the background shooting green lazer beams from it's eyes! COOL! We also went to Jurong Bird Park, all sorts of birds to be seen, some doing tricks, other speaking/singing. Alas it absolutely poured on us, monsoon season. Later we visited Chinatown again, including the Chinatown History Museum, stories of woe and dispair with all sorts artifacts made it quite interesting. Later we had amazing Indonesian food for dinner, including chicken, fish, satay, squid, tofu... all bbq'd! It was DE-lish! Then a casual cruise of the river with views of the city by night. We raced back home to finish packing and then off to the airport...

...where we arrived in Tokyo after an overnight flight. Interestingly when boarding the plane, the older Japanese man who was in the seat beside us got annoyed that we took so long putting our bags in the overhead bins, so he moved to a different vacant seat. Haha! So we had the three seats to ourselves. Our plan worked like a charm! It took over an hour to get from Narita Airport to Shin Urayasu, where we stayed with my friend Liz (and her fiance Kevin) from high school. She dances at Tokyo DisneySea and had an extra room for us to use, which was so awesome! Accom. in Tokyo is very expensive (as is pretty much everything else). Anyways, we were so wiped once we arrived here, we crashed and had an extended nap till 6pm! Not wanting to waste our first day here, we went out for dinner in the nearby shopping area. We were hoping to get authentic Japanese food but the restaurant that was recommended to us was full and we were too hungry to look around so we ended up eating sandwiches at a small cafe. Tasty! We took a stroll around the mall area and spent some time in a large store called Ito Yokado which sells groceries, clothing, household goods, etc.

The next day we made our way into the city and our first stop was an area called Shinjuku. In this section we noticed a lot of pinball gaming halls. These pinball halls are really popular and apparently very addictive. People win small prizes and then trade them in for cash. We didn't play but we walked through one of the halls. It was so noisy because of the constant metal balls bouncing around in the machines. Then we went into a normal arcade and used one of those fun sticker photo machines. We went sticker crazy in Tokyo! haha

Next we went to Harajuku, not many Harajuku girls in sight (as it was a weekday), but a few could be seen. AP took a photo with a pair of girls, not the scary freaky ones though. Here we visited the Meiji-jingu shrine, the largest Shinto shrine in Japan. We had McD's for lunch and strolled around the local Daiso 100Y shop. It was here that Yesan started to feel ill, and had to return to the apt. Thankfully, she felt better after a rest though. Andrew met up with his friend Natsuko in the area called Shibuya, sight of the famous Tokyo intersection where pedestrian and vehicular traffic from multiple directions converge. Overhead large screens play tv ads, and neon signs are ubiquitous. We went for real Japanese sushi, and I tried all sorts of new things, the most exotic being raw octopus (a bit chewy, but not completely off-putting).

We spent the next day at Tokyo Disneyland with Natsuko and her American friend Frank, who's studying here. Tokyo Disney is a complete copy of its Californian counterpart, apart from commentary in Japanese and shorter characters. It all seemed so plastic and fake to me, perhaps I'm jaded at age 25. When I was a kid Disneyland seemed so amazing and surreal. Now I just got annoyed at the long lines (2 hours waiting for a 3 min ride!), crowded paths, and expensive food (we did gorge ourselves on churros, popcorn, and pizza). We managed to go on most of the important rides, with Splash and Space Mountains providing the most thrilling excitement. Yesan fell asleep in the lineup for the (dated) Star Tours ride, haha! Japanese ppl were walking around her and giggling. Overall it was a fun, but long, day.

The following day rained all day long, we met up with Natsuko in the Asakusa section of the city, where we visited a local market and also the largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Senso-ji. Then off to newer Roppongi, where we all had dinner (Japanese, non-sushi) and then Gelato! On the way home, the rain increased dramatically and Yesan and I got drenched! Our shoes were soaked through and are still drying after a few days! The wind was bad too, and Yesan's umbrella turned inside-out and the fabric ripped off and blew way, drawing hyena-like laughter from yours truly. The weather continued to worsen, turned out to be a typhoon hitting Tokyo! Luckily it lasted throughout the night and cleared up by the following day.

On our last day we re-visited Harajuku and Shibuya again (since Yesan hadn't been there due to prior sickness), and spent the evening at Tokyo DisneySea, and water-themed park more adult-oriented than DLand. Here we enjoyed Liz & Kevin's Broadyway revue show, which was fantastic. They sure make the dancing look easy! Yesan and I joked that we were great dancers as well, but no one would believe us. We jumped the queue at the Indiana Jones ride, going as single riders instead, thus avoiding a 40min lineup! Other rides included Journey to the Center of the Earth, 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and a few other family-type rides.

Flash forward a few days, and we're now back in Canada. Despite a schedule change and 4 hour delay in Vancouver, we made it home safely (with massive luggage in tow). Glad to be home, it was an amazing journey! Thanks for tuning in to our rantings over the past 8 months. Peace.

Andrew & Yesan

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