I'm on my way to Hiroshima! I left Seattle at 12:30pm pacific time (or 5:30am Japan time). I have now been traveling for nearly 13 hours, and I have about 2 more to go before I get to the hotel. The flight from Seattle to Tokyo was long, over 10 hours. I didn't sleep, but kept busy with a movie, reading, music, eating, and playing solitaire on my phone. All in all, not a bad flight. The landing in Tokyo was very bumpy, with lots of side-to-side and up-and-down motion, but our pilot brought us down very gently. Once off the plane, I quickly realized how weird it would be being in Japan without knowing Japanese. Signs had English, but were still a bit confusing. The airport staff spoke English, but communication was still a bit rough. I needed to get a new boarding pass for my connection to Hiroshima, and there was a long line. Then I had to go through security again, and there was another long line, worse than the first. I was nervous I would miss my flight, but I made it through with about 15 minutes to spare before they started boarding. Boarding involved taking a bus to our regional jet, but it was cool to drive by all the giant planes. (By the way, our 777 to Tokyo was huge! I love those giant planes).

While waiting to board, I was able to connect to free wifi at the airport, so I emailed Katie to let her know I was on track. It is really weird being unable to communicate with her and trying to meet up in Hiroshima (she is going to meet me at the bus center). I'm so used to being able to use my cell phone, but that's not an option. Being effectively cell phoneless just enhances the feeling of being unable to communicate, but it is also part of the adventure. Now that I'm on my plane to Hiroshima, I'm feeling pretty relaxed. Very tired of course (it's 1:30AM my time), but relaxed. I'm ready for our adventure. Welcome to Japan!

(Note: Katie took that photo of Mt. Fuji from her plane to Hiroshima.)

It's 4AM here and I'm pretty wide awake, despite only sleeping about 5 hours last night. This big time change will probably take a few days to adjust to.

Meeting up with Katie last night proved more difficult than anticipated. There were buses to Hiroshima Bus Center and Hiroshima Station. I knew Katie was at the bus center, but due to my misinterpreting an email (and missing a key piece of info in my jet-lagged state), I took the wrong bus. When I got to the Station (not realizing I had made a mistake), I didn't see Katie, so I decided to wait. After no sign of Katie, I found a payphone to call her on the cell phone we were renting. Well, I called the number, and it made the wrong number beeps. I tried a few more times with more money, thinking I hadn't put in enough, but still nothing (since it was a bad number, I at least kept getting my money back). Since rule #1 of meeting someone is don't move, I waited around for ~45 minutes in the hope that she would find me, not knowing she was in a different part of town.

After waiting for a long time, getting nervous, tired, and still unable to get the payphone to work, I went to a nearby hotel hoping to find someone who could help me call Katie. The hotel staff spoke limited English, but he eventually they made my phone problem clear. He looked at the number I was trying to call and was very puzzled. He tried it on a payphone, then on his desk phone, and it didn't work. The number just didn't look right to him. Eventually, I explained that it was a mobile number, and he figured out that I was missing a very important digit in the area code (basically, I had the international version of the number, not the domestic version). So finally, after about 15 minutes, I was able to call a very worried and confused Katie on her cell phone.

Once I talked to Katie, it became clear that I was at the wrong spot. She didn't know how to get to the hotel from where I was and suggested that I take a cab, but I wanted to try to get there on my own. I got an English map of the streetcar system in the hotel lobby and figured out there were three lines that would take me from Hiroshima Station to the Hiroshima Bus Center, which was a short walk to the hotel. I found sings to direct me to the streetcar which was on the other side of the station. I found my line, and the conductor (who spoke good English) confirmed that it would take me to the Bus Center. Using my map, I even figured out that I needed stop M9 (the rest of the stop name was in Japanese), but the conductor also signaled to me when it was my stop and announced it in English (all other stops were announced in Japanese only). Luckily for me, I had bought a snack at the Tokyo airport and gotten change from my 2000 yen (~$20) bill. This gave me the small change I needed to use the payphone and pay my streetcar fare (150 yen, but I only had 200).

After getting off the streetcar, I recognized where I was from Google's satellite view. Before leaving the US, I had loaded up our GPS with maps and points of interest for our trip. Katie had the GPS, but I remembered the route from the bus center to the hotel about 5 blocks away. I also had a paper map as a backup, but I started walking the way that I remembered. Sure enough, I found the hotel, along with a very tired and worried (and still jet-lagged) Katie. She was surprised to see me walk in rather than take a cab. We figured out how we (I) went wrong, then went up to our room.

I was so pumped from my adventure that I was tired but too excited to sleep right away. I was hungry, too, but Katie had saved me some leftovers, which was awesome. Then we compared notes about our flights in and our experiences getting around Japan. In retrospect, we probably should have just planned to meet at the hotel, although I'm not sure I would have been able to figure out my mistake without calling Katie or having a GPS. And I'm glad we brought the GPS. As expected, all street signs are in Japanese, so figuring out where you are on a map labeled in English (like those in our guide books) is almost impossible.

Anyway, in the end I made it, and with a little extra adventure for good measure. Now I just have to get over this jet-lag, and and I will be good to go for our Japan adventure. So much to see and do!

While I was busy traveling, Katie had some free time after the conference and visited Miyajima, a town on an island just off the coast from Hiroshima. Here are a few of the photos she took.

We are about to go to bed in our "Tea Ceremony" room in a ryokan, a Japanese-style inn, in Kyoto after a long day of sightseeing and travel. Our day started around 6am in Hiroshima, when Katie and I both gave up on trying to get anymore sleep. Jet-lag has been really bad. After a Japanese-style breakfast at the hotel (rice porridge, smoked salmon, miso soup, salad, and various other small dishes), we took a walk to Peace Memorial Park, to see all the monuments dedicated to the victims of the atomic bomb blast. It was a beautiful park, and we were glad to experience it before all the tour buses showed up.

After our stroll through the park, we headed back to our hotel for a video call with Penelope. It was great to see her and talk to her, even if she wasn't very interested in us. Mostly it was good to see that she was having fun and wasn't bothered that we were away. Speaking of which, there is really no way that we could have brought her. She would have been bored by all that we wanted to do, freaked out by some of the toilets here, and not happy with all the running around. That would have meant we would not have gotten a chance to enjoy ourselves, so this really was the best solution and everyone seemed happy with it.

After seeing Penelope, we went to the Hiroshima Peace Museum. It was incredibly moving, an amazing testament to the destruction of the atomic bomb and the effects it had on the people of Hiroshima. The museum was dedicated to world peace and the abolition of all nuclear weapons. The most surprising thing we learned there was that the US continues to conduct nuclear tests. Some of the photos were pretty disturbing, but it was an incredible experience. Anyway, I won't try to describe all of it. It is one of those places that you just have to see for yourself (and photos wouldn't even do it justice, so I didn't take any).

We next headed to Okonomiyaki Village for a Hiroshima specialty. Okonomiyaki is essentially a crepe with lettuce, bean sprouts, and bacon fried over noodles, with a fried egg, served with yummy sauce and seasonings. It's hard to describe, but it is cooked on a hot griddle right in front of you. It was great. We even made an exception to our no photos of food rule and took a picture of it. Mmm, yummy!

After lunch, we headed to Hiroshima Castle. It was a cool old Japanese castle, but by that point were were getting pretty tired, so we mostly just rested on benches in the grounds. They had cool giant bonsai trees, though. We then headed back to our hotel to collect our luggage. We took the streetcar to the train station and boarded our bullet train (the Shinkansen Nozomi) to Kyoto. The train hit top speeds of 180mph according to my GPS, and it was incredibly smooth and quiet. Our ears popped every time we went in and out of a tunnel, though (and there were a lot of tunnels to get through all the mountains). The world just zipped by outside.

Once in Kyoto, we navigated through the incredibly busy train station, then walked to our hotel. Our room has no beds, but instead futon mats that you roll out to sleep on. Very quaint and simple. After an explanation of how to use our room from the innkeeper, we headed out to dinner. We had a yummy sashimi and tempura dinner. Then we came back and made our beds. Hopefully we sleep well tonight, because we have a full day of exploring Kyoto ahead of us. Luckily, we are exhausted from today, so sleep shouldn't be a problem.

Today was our first day exploring Kyoto. Unfortunately, we left the hotel poorly prepared for the weather, which became cold, rainy, and windy about an hour into our day. We had left our raincoats, hats, and winter coats at the hotel, so we got soaked and were freezing at times, but we made the most of it. We saw six temples, including four UNESCO world heritage sites. We started our day with a bus ride to the Higashiyama area and a walk up the hill to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which is a world heritage site and contains a second world heritage site. It was a huge and amazing temple built on the hillside. Quite a sight to behold. By the time we left, though, it had started raining, but not too heavy.

We next walked to Kodai-ji, another temple. This one was smaller and much less crowded than the first one. It had a really cool bamboo forest, and the bamboo swayed and rustled in the wind (the only nice thing about the wind). After the temple, we decided to have an early lunch to dry off and warm up. We went in search of a place recommended in our guide book, but we couldn't find it (later we discovered it wasn't open for lunch anyway). We found a soba place instead, whose main selling point was that it had English menus. Hot soba noodle soup was a perfect meal for a cold, wet day.

After lunch we headed to Chion-in temple, only to discover that the giant temple was under reconstruction and was covered by an even larger (but very ugly) temporary building. In the process of walking there, we got drenched in a sudden downpour, so that was the low-point of our day. We almost called it quits and headed back to the hotel, but the rain let up so we decided to press on. Next on our list was Nanzen-ji, a smaller temple with nice gardens and rooms with old silk paintings. Most importantly, it kept us dry from the intermittent rain.

We next went to Philosopher's Walk. On the way to the Walk, we stopped to warm up and dry off at a little cafe. We each got a "cake set," a piece of cake and a cup of tea. It really hit the spot, and we left feeling refreshed. Philosopher's Walk was a lovely stroll along a canal. The cherry blossoms were not yet in bloom, but we saw a few plum blossoms and enjoyed the quiet scenery. At the end of the walk was Ginkaku-ji temple, another World Heritage Site. They had some amazing zen sand gardens, a great overlook of the city, and the cool "Silver Pavilion." We also browsed some nearby shops and sampled lots of sweets.

Having seen most of the main sights of Higashiyama, we took the bus back toward our hotel. Since we still had some time, we decided to see one last temple. We went to To-ji, home of a giant 5-story pagoda that is the world's largest free-standing wood structure (the photos do not really capture how immense it is, and we learned later that all the stories are the same size, but perspective makes the top ones look smaller). It was also our fourth World Heritage Site of the day. The pagoda was incredible, but there was more. Next to the pagoda were two huge wooden buildings containing giant Buddhas and other statues. The insides of the buildings were amazing, these giant rooms built of wood to house giant Buddhas (the whole building was one room). No photography was allowed, but a photo wouldn't have done it justice anyway. They were just really cool.

After To-ji, we walked back to our hotel and finally got some warm, dry clothes. Then we took the subway to downtown Kyoto for dinner. We ate at a sushi restaurant and sat at the counter. As Katie observed, in Japan, sushi restaurants are casual and very lively. We really enjoyed the loud and joyous atmosphere, even if we had no clue what people were laughing about. After dinner, we walked around the main shopping district of downtown Kyoto, just soaking up the vibe. Then we took the subway back to the hotel. Now it is time to rest. We have a whole lot more temples and other sights to see tomorrow.

Today, we started by taking the train to Inari to see the shrine there. The big feature of this shrine is lots and lots of orange gates. People buy them for good luck, with the bigger gates costing more money. The gates go most of the way up a mountain, and we hiked to the end of the gates, about 700ft up. There was no view at the top, just lots of orange gates, but it was a really cool place.

After Inari, we took the train back and went to the Arashiyama neighborhood of Kyoto. We once again tried to find a lunch spot recommended in our guide book and failed. The difficulty with addresses is really annoying here, and we have now pretty much given up on trying to find specific restaurants. We had lunch at a random spot, then visited Tenryu-ji Temple. This temple was famous for its zen gardens. The temple lead right to a bamboo grove. The grove was cool, but not as impressive as we were expecting. The bamboo at Kodai-ji had been better, but smaller. From the grove, we walked to a nearby park, Kameyama-koen, for a leisurely stroll that lead to the bank of a river. We walked along the river before heading back to the train for central Kyoto.

Our last sight for the day was Nijō Castle (or Nijō-jō since jō means castle in Japanese). It was a huge castle from the shogun period, surrounded by a large moat, right in the center of the city. We got there just in time to see the palace inside. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. It had giant rooms separated by sliding doors, and in many ways reminded us of a modern day conference center (but with tatami mats and beautiful silk paintings). After a tour of the palace, we walked around the grounds, which had nice gardens and more old buildings. By the end of our castle visit, we were exhausted, and caught a bus back to our hotel. Unfortunately, it was rush hour, so the bus was packed and there was lots of traffic. Once we made it back to our room, we took a much needed break before heading to dinner.

For dinner, we headed to the Kyoto train station. That's right, fine dining in a train station. The station is 11 stories high and includes many restaurants, a department store about the size of Bloomingdale's in New York, a supermarket, and tons of little shops. Oh yeah, and also stations for three different rail/subway systems and a bus depot. It's crazy. Dinner was standard Japanese fare: lots of little side dishes with rice, miso soup, and a main dish. After dinner, we browsed the department store and checked out the various shops. We were shocked by all the kids stuff in the department store, especially the shoes. The selection was amazing; way better than what we have in the States. If the prices had only been reasonable (we pretty much only buy kids shoes on sale), Penelope would have wound up with at least one pair of cool new shoes, but we resisted. Instead, we went home and went to sleep.

Our day today started at Kitano Tenman-gu shrine to view the plum blossoms. We are in Japan too early to see the famous cherry blossoms, but the plums bloom earlier and are also very pretty. The place was full of people with cameras taking blossom pictures, with everyone swarming to the same sights. It was really pretty (well, except for the crowds).

After getting our fill of plum blossoms, we took the bus to Ninna-ji Temple. They had a 5-story pagoda and some nice grounds. Then it was a short walk to Ryoan-ji, a temple with a famous 15-rock zen garden. The garden was nice, although I can't say that I fully get the rock garden aesthetic. But this rock garden hasn't been changed in hundreds of years, so that's cool. Also, unlike most places we visited, they allowed photography, so we finally got some pictures of the old Japanese style rooms and silk paintings. Not as nice as in the palaces, but a good example of the style. On the way out of the temple, some Japanese teenagers came up to us with a camera and we thought they wanted us to take a photo of their group. After a few hand gestures and key words in English, we figured out that they wanted to take a photo of us with one of them. We agreed, but it was really weird. After taking the picture, they thanked us and then walked away laughing to themselves.

Having made some Japanese teenagers very happy, we left Ryoan-ji and headed to our next temple. Along the way, we stopped for lunch and had a Japanese specialty: deep-fried breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu). It was really, really good, and also one of the cheapest meals we've had yet. A win-win. The next stop was Kinkaku-ji Temple, home of the famous "Golden Pavilion." This pavilion, covered in gold leaf, was hundreds of years old, but was burned down in 1950 by a crazy monk. They rebuilt it to the same specifications, but added even more gold leaf. It was a very beautiful pavilion, but it seemed weird that a 60 year old building would be a World Heritage Site (I guess the grounds made for an important site, too). In any case, the place was a mad house, as it apparently always is. While we were walking along the pavilion path, some school kids came up to us and asked if we spoke Japanese. We said no, and then they proceeded to ask us in very broken English if they could take a picture with us. If the same thing hadn't happened just an hour before, we might not have known what they were trying to say, but now we were pros. We agreed again, and their teacher took a photo of all of us. This time we were smart, though, and had him take one with our camera, too, so we have proof. Who knew we were so popular in Japan?

With our modeling for the day done, , we started to make our way to Enryaku-ji, a temple high in the mountains above Kyoto. We took a bus to the train that would take us to a cable car that would lead to a rope tow to the temple. Well, our guide book failed to mention that the cable car and rope tow don't run in the winter (and apparently March is winter in Japan). So after taking the train to the base of the mountain, we had to turn around and take it back to Kyoto. Oh well, no mountain temple for us.

Back in Kyoto, we took a much needed rest in a park at the fork of the river that runs through Kyoto. It was a cute park with stones for crossing the river and hawks in the sky looking for a meal. After regaining some energy, we headed to the Gion neighborhood where there was a nighttime lantern festival going on. We had dinner at a noodle restaurant (really good udon), then walked around the streets that were all lit up with lanterns. There were tons of people, most with cameras and many with tripods, so the streets were packed. I broke out my tripod and joined the crowd. It was combat photography, with everyone jockeying for the best spot to take a photo. Actually, it wasn't that bad, but I think only in Japan could you walk around a major city with a tripod and not stand out.

After getting our fill of lanterns and passing the 300 photos mark, we came back to the hotel. Tomorrow we take the bullet train to Tokyo. Kyoto has been a lot of fun, but we can't wait to see what Tokyo will be like. Our exciting Japan adventure continues.

We took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. We had a 9:30am train, so we picked up breakfast and lunch in the station to eat on the train. Our train was relatively full, despite the fact that the trains leave almost every 10 minutes. As before, the train was fast, quiet, and comfortable. We spent the time going through the photos we had taken and trimming out the bad ones. We arrived at our stop on the outskirts of Tokyo after 2.25 hours. Then the real adventure began.

To get to our hotel, we had to take the Yamanote line train and then a subway. When we got to our train platform, it was packed with people queued up for our train, which seemed to be running late. When it arrived, everyone pushed on to the train. Katie and I had been next to each other on the platform, but soon Katie was on the train and I was still outside. It seemed like I might not make it since the train was already full, but everyone kept pushing on packing it denser and denser. I was one of the last ones on before people finally gave up. Along with not getting separated from Katie, I was concerned about not getting separated from my luggage. I think the whole experience would have been fine if we hadn't had suitcases to deal with, too. After getting on the train, my next fear was that I would get pushed out the door at the next stop and not be able to get back on, again getting separated from Katie, who was in a much better position. Luckily, the doors opened on the other side, so people got out and I was able to get closer to Katie. By the time we got to our stop, the train was crowded but not too bad, and getting off with all our luggage was easy.

From the train, which was pretty much the same as a subway car, we connected to the actual subway. Compared to the train, the subway was empty. There were seats available and no crush of people. Getting on and off was easy. From our stop at Ropponggi Hills, we walked to our hotel, a Hyatt. Once there, we checked in, relaxed, and went for a dip in the pool. It was a nice break from running around.

In the afternoon, we headed to the National Art Gallery, a 5 minute walk from the hotel. We saw a cool exhibit of modern art featuring mostly Japanese artists. Then we took the subway to Shibuya, home of the famous Shibuya Crossing, one of the busiest intersections in the world. Shibuya is like Times Square but larger. We walked around and soaked up the atmosphere. We then found a shabu-shabu place for dinner. We knew how to eat shabu-shabu, but apparently not the right way. Our waitress kept trying to explain things to us, and then we would get them wrong, and she would try again. We're pretty sure we provided entertainment for all the staff there.

After our yummy but comedic dinner (whose highlight was when we ate raw eggs and were then told that's not what she meant), we took the subway back to our hotel. After a good night's sleep, we will be ready to explore more of Tokyo. Having handled a packed train with luggage, I think we are ready for whatever this city has in store for us.

Today was our first full day in Tokyo, and like all our days, it was busy. We slept in a bit thanks to some incredibly effective blackout curtains. We grabbed breakfast at a Japanese/French bakery (yummy), then took the subway to our first stop, the Tokyo National Museum. It was the end of rush hour, so the subway was packed when we got on but pretty manageable with just my backpack and no luggage. After a few stops, most of the passengers got off, so we had seats for most of the ride. The walk from the subway station to the Museum was through a nice park, which was being prepared for some upcoming festival. We also saw groups of preschool/kindergarten kids heading to the Tokyo zoo. Each group of kids had matching hats. Very cute. It made us think of Penelope, though.

At the Tokyo National Museum, we visited the exhibit called "Highlights of Japanese Art," which covered art from the medieval times to recent history. It was a great overview of Japanese art and some history, and featured some incredible pieces. We also checked out the garden there, which ended up being not as nice as some we saw in Kyoto.

After the museum, we walked to Senso-ji Temple. It was a really nice temple in the middle of the city, and featured some enormous red lanterns. There were also nice views of the Tokyo Skytree, Japan's tallest structure. The temple forms the heart of a commercial/tourist district, so we bought some souvenirs for folks back home. We picked up a cute kimono pajama set for Penelope, and some snacks for ourselves. We then had lunch at a ramen place that we happened upon. Mmm, that was some good ramen, and a perfect lunch for a cold day.

By this point, we were close to the river that runs through Tokyo, so we decided to take a river cruise to the Ginza neighborhood. The boat passed under many old bridges, and we had nice views of the city and flood control gates (which we found fascinating). The boat dropped us off at Hamarikyu gardens. This was one of the nicest gardens/parks that we have been to in Japan, and it was nice and big and wide open. It reminded us a lot of Central Park, with a great green space surrounded by tall skyscrapers and urban jungle. It was very refreshing (but not free to enter).

After our stroll through the gardens, we took the subway back to our hotel. We enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation, then walked to nearby Mori Tower to watch the sunset over Tokyo from the 52nd story observation deck. As in Kyoto, I brought my tripod and found that I was one of many photographers setting up tripods to take photos of the city at night. Reflections on the windows were a bit of a problem, but I think I got some good photos. And I got to play with my new tripod with a panorama head some more (thanks Katie for being so patient).

Our tickets to the observation deck included admission to the Mori Art Museum on the same floor, so we decided to check it out. The museum was showing a huge exhibit of just one artist, a famous Japanese artist whose name escapes me (note: it was Aida Makoto. Thanks Internet.) Anyway, his work was amazing, and it was a great unexpected addition to our day.

To end the day, we headed to dinner at a highly recommended (by the Internet) sushi restaurant nearby. It had a 50/50 Japanese/western clientele, and clearly catered to the western business traveler set. We opted for the sushi/sashimi set menu, and in a word, it was amazing. It probably ruined all US sushi for me, because it was so much better. The tuna, in particular, was incredible. No wonder the Japanese are overfishing the tuna here. Anyway, it was probably the best sushi/sashimi I will ever have unless I come back here. Mmmm, amazing.

On our walk back to the hotel, we picked up breakfast for tomorrow. Another full day awaits us, then it is time to head home. We have had a great time so far, and Tokyo seems like a great way to end. It reminds me a lot New york, but with even more urban sprawl. And with subway stations containing supermarkets and high-end shopping. Crazy, but fun.

As we fly back to Seattle, it is time to catch up on my journal and describe the last days of our Japan trip. Yesterday (Friday, March 15th), we started our day at the Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo's primary fresh fish wholesaling site. We were too lazy to try to watch the tuna auction, which requires getting there by 4:30am and being one of the first 120 people there. Instead, we opted for the more reasonable time of 9am, when the wholesalers' processing and distribution area opens to the public. Katie and I got to walk around as today's catch, including huge tunas, were processed and sold to distributors and large retailers. A few shops were set up for small-scale individual buyers, but the real customers are commercial. It was quite a sight, and a rare behind the scenes look at our food distribution system. After we had our fill of fish carcasses, prawns, octopus, eels, tiny walkways, and little trucks zipping all over the place at high speed, we decided to move on to our next stop. But the fish market was really an amazing and eye-opening place. So cool.

From the market, we walked to the Ginza neighborhood, a high-end retail strip with the feel of 5th Avenue, except all the stores didn't open until 11am. Still, it was a nice walk and a nice view of Tokyo. From there, we continued walking to Tokyo Station, the main train station in Tokyo. As usual at these stations, there were tons of people and tons of shops and restaurants. Most importantly, we were finally able to find a toy Shinkensen (ie, bullet train) for Penelope!

From Tokyo Station, we walked to the Imperial Gardens. Unfortunately for us, the gardens are closed to the public on Friday, and as the guard helpfully told us, "It's Friday." Katie had originally planned on us going on Thursday, but we change things up without checking. Luckily, we still had another half day, so we decided that we would come back the next day.

After our failed attempt at a garden viewing, we had lunch, then headed to Omotesandō. This was another 5th Avenue-like street, because apparently you can never have too many high-end shopping districts. Unlike Ginza, though, this one was bustling, and we had fun walking with the crowds and looking in a few shops. Right next to this strip was Takeshita Street, where all the Tokyo teenagers get their fashions. The contrast between the two areas, just blocks apart and flowing into each other, was really interesting. And we saw some pretty awesome outfits. We topped it off with a sweet crepe from one of the many crepe places, then took the subway back to the hotel for some much needed rest and a dip in the pool.

For our last dinner in Japan, we scoured our guide books and the Internet for a good spot that would be a little different from our previous finds. All our searching (well, mostly Katie's searching) paid off well, and Katie found an izakaya (Japanese pub) in Shibuya that had good reviews on the internet. The only downside was that the reviews said there were lots of foreigners there, but we decided to go anyway. Luckily, another review gave very clear directions, since usually finding the actual location is the most difficult part. When we got there (and yes, if you didn't know how to find it, in a basement from an unmarked door, you would never know it was there), they told us it would be a two hour wait without a reservation. Then, while we were pondering our next move, they decided they had enough room and seated us right away at the counter (the place was empty after all).

The staff spoke little English, but gave us a menu with English descriptions of all the dishes. When we started to order, though, it turned out that half the things we wanted were not available. Through broken English and much discussion among the staff, they suggested some alternatives that were not on the menu. We're not really sure what the menu was even for. However, once the food arrived, we discovered that it was all amazing. The restaurant quickly started to fill up, and despite the reviews, no other foreigners showed up. It had a wonderful, lively atmosphere, and we had a great time. I even used my limited Japanese to order a few more dishes direct from the chef at the counter, get some water (you have to ask), and get the check. Great food, great atmosphere, and a practically secret location. What a way to end our trip. And it was cheap to boot. Paired with our amazing sushi the night before, it was a double dose of great Japanese cuisine.

Bellies full and spirits high (the sake helped), we returned to our hotel, picking up some sweets for desert along the way. Then it was off to bed. Our last full day in Japan was done.

Today (Saturday, March 16th), we woke up and packed our suitcases. Luckily for us, everything fit, thanks in part to a bag that Katie bought that we stuffed some of our souvenirs in to carry on the plane. After checking out (thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use your hotel points), we hopped on the subway one last time. We went to the Imperial Gardens, which were open as promised, and walked around. As one might expect of Imperial Gardens, it was one of the nicest Japanese gardens that we had seen. We had a nice and relaxing stroll. It was also nice to see Tokyo on the weekend. It was much calmer and less crowded, with lots of people out for morning jogs and other leisure. We walked around the streets a little more, then took the subway back to our hotel.

At the subway station near our hotel, we stopped for lunch. We found a ramen joint and had the best ramen ever, and fast, too. Entry to exit was 15 minutes tops. The ramen was in a super thick pork broth, with pork bits and a soft-boiled egg. We felt like such pros ordering from the ramen vending machine (it gives you a ticket that you hand to the staff), conducting most of our communication in our (limited) Japanese, and generally trying to fit in with the locals. Too bad it is time to go home; I'm finally starting to get the hang of things. I can even read a few Japanese characters!

Anyway, after lunch, we got our luggage at the hotel and boarded a bus to the airport. We made it through the airport without too much hassle (I had a minor issue trying to use a mobile boarding pass), and found our gate. We spent the last of our yen on a T-shirt for Penelope and some chocolate for the flight. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed a bit, but we will probably make up most of it in the air. The flight has been fine so far. Mostly we are just eager to get home and see Penelope.

We had a really great time in Japan. It is a wonderful country. We saw a lot, and it felt like we practically walked all over the place, but really we only got a small taste. I would definitely go back. It was a great vacation. Now it is time to go home, sleep, and play with Penelope.