May 20, 2013 - A day of seeing old friends

The sky opened up this morning but it did not slow us down… much. Dan's karate friend, Yamaguchi, came to pick us up and his student, Masa, was our chauffer for the day. They took us to Sensou-ji (temple) in Asakusa and of course the first thing we had to do at such an iconic Tokyo location was to take a photo with our Sounders FC scarves in front of the giant lantern! We then went to the market place in Ueno, Akihabura which is the electronic district and Jinbocho, the used books district. They drove us back to the hotel where I finally...

May 19, 2013 - Back to Tokyo - Ikebukuro, Shibuya & Harajuku

We flew back to Tokyo this morning and took the airport shuttle to Ikebukuro where our hotel is located. We are staying at Kimi Ryokan which was where Dan stayed at when he came to Japan for the first time in 1989. He befriended the owner, Kibo, who ended up taking Dan under his wing. Kibo was not at the hotel when we checked in, but the clerk told us that he has called 3 times today checking to see if we have arrived. Even as we were filling out the check-in form, he got Kibo on the phone so that Dan can chat with him and make plans to...

May 18, 2013 - Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, Gyokusendo Cave and Dojo Dinner

We woke up to an overcast but dry day and took a walk down Kokusai-dori, the main street that is lined with boutiques, craft stores and big department stores like Mitsukoshi. We grabbed a coffee at Starbucks (always a safe backup when more local and authentic options are not available) and went back to meet the guys for another day of sightseeing. We drove to the southern tip of the island and visited the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park with monuments dedicated to over 260000 military and civilian lives lost as a result of the Battle of Okinawa...

May 17, 2013 - Shuri Castle, Heiwa-dori Market, Tsuboya & Ryukyu Mura

First of all, throwing my retractable umbrella into my duffel bag at the last minute was probably the best thing I could have done! It is monsoon season and my little umbrella served me well today! We would be going sightseeing with 4 of Dan's students from home in the next couple of days (Rashid, Dan T., Jerry and Panos). We had breakfast at the hotel and I really liked the rice/pickled turnips/grilled fish/miso soup combo! I would definitely try to have that at home in the future! We then took the Monorail to Shuri Castle. It was pouring...

May 16, 2013 - Arrived in Naha, Okinawa

I got on the shuttle before dawn on May 15 to catch the flight from SeaTac to LAX. Because I worked the late shift the day before and I could never go straight to bed when I got home, I ended up staying up all night watching TV instead of sleeping for just a couple of hours and risking oversleeping. By the time I got on the flight at 7 a.m., I was so tired and sleepy that I passed out before the flight even took off! That leg of the trip was pretty much a blur and I was still a bit in a daze when I got to LAX. After getting my regular dose...

Apr 13, 2013 - Prologue

Now home I feel I cannot do justice to the photo part of my journal with the photos I have at present. I only have Eloise's camera shots at this stage. She took many photos on her iPhone and I will get those from her in the next couple of days. As for my camera well, I left it in a taxi from our hotel to the station on our way to Kyoto as we were leaving. The Royal Oak hotel where we stayed were called and no my camera wasn't left on the seat while we waited for the taxi. Obviously it was in the taxi although Vanessa always checks when we...

Apr 11, 2013 - Last hours in Tokyo

DAY 10 Well at least this day’s journal will be short! After a late night at Tokyo Disney heading to bed after midnight, all three woke simultaneously this morning with a few expletives!!!! We woke at 11.15am. Obviously the sleep was needed, dark room, comfy beds etc. Having blown our chances of a couple of last minute things we had planned, it was left up to me to make an executive decision whether I wanted to really do the craft store in Shinjuku. Feeling a little cottonheaded with the amount of Endone ingested over the last couple of...

Apr 10, 2013 - Tokyo at a Trot

DAY 9 Bit slower off the blocks today. After our muesli and fruit brekkie in room our plan of attack was to make our way by train to Ikebukuro and the Tobu Deparment store to buy ourselves our Pandora charms. Have not seen any silver charms anywhere else in Japan like I normally buy so a Pandora sakura blossom it is. Cannot believe how hard it is to find ATM machines in Japan which will accept Visa credit cards. About the only one which will is Citibank and finding them is like finding a needle in a haystack as well. Fortunately, after...

Apr 9, 2013 - Gates by the Thousand and Geisha Stalking

DAY 8 Big decision this morning – we want to have a look around Kyoto but being so far out we would have to take our bags with us and hopefully be able to leave them at Kyoto station while we did some sightseeing. We were assured there were large lockers for this purpose. Got a cab from the hotel to the Ichiyama station then into Kyoto. After finding the lockers and discovering all the large ones were in use, we had to ask a staff member if there was anywhere else. We were directed to a luggage storage area and happily paid our 1238¥ and...

Apr 8, 2013 - Castles in the Air and Cherry Blossoms Galore

DAY 7 Signs of being a beautiful day today. We set off on our day of adventuring around the surrounds of Kyoto. Unfortunately hotels.com didn’t quite come up with the goods as they put us in a hotel quite a distance out of Kyoto. The hotel itself was pretty grand as it was a wedding venue and spa resort but unfortunately requires a shuttle bus to train station at Ichiyama then train to Kyoto then connect with where we need to go. Luckily for us we needed to head in the opposite direction of Kyoto today to the town of Hikone. Lots of snow...

Apr 7, 2013 - Last day in Hiroshima

DAY 6 Began the morning with our breakfast banquet before returning upstairs to pack our bags and check out of Hotel New Hiroden, Hiroshima. All packed, checked out, bags left with bellboy and we make our way down to Hiroshima Railway Station to catch a train to Miyajima then ferry to Miyajima Island. The ferry ride was short and sweet, doing a big arc around in front of the iconic torii or temple gate in the water. I always thought it was painted red and black but this time it was bright orange!!! It is about 16m high and 24m wide and very...

Apr 6, 2013 - A Day of Sadness Surrounded Us

DAY 5 It was a very late night for us last night by the time we did all our girlie talking. Consequently this morning we all had difficulty waking refreshed and somewhat reluctant to get out of bed at all. However, buffet breakfast awaited and we made the supreme effort to drag ourselves down to the restaurant where we grazed on a relatively western breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes, and heaps of fruit. Somewhat full we all waddled back upstairs where the two girls promptly lay on the bed and napped for another hour. Finally time to...