Day #1- Arrival at Narita Airport, Friday, July 28th
Nartita airport is about 1 hour by express train from Tokyo. After my mom's 14 hour flight, we paid 3,000 yen and rode the NEX Express Train to Tokyo Station in 30 minutes.
Day #2- Tokyo, Saturday, July 29th
Since my mother had been to Tokyo last year, we just took it easy and visited the Tokyo Dome area and had dinner at Chinzan-so/Four Seasons Hotel. On the way back to Saitama, the train was delayed and at Akabane Station (North Tokyo) we were packed like sardines. Unusual for a weekend, but common during the week.
Day #3- Yokohama Day Trip, Sunday, July 30th
Yokohama has always been fond to me due to my time spent in the Navy at Yokosuka (just south of Yokohama). We went to Chinatown, which is the largest district of Chinese immigrants in Japan. The restaurants are awesome with the best Chinese food without going to China. We had lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant were the food was served on small dishes and placed on a smaller rotary table that was on the main table.
After seeing the sights in Chinatown, we went to Yamashita Park. The city of San Diego is a sister city of Yokohama and there is a large monument in this park given by San Diego. Here, you can see ships coming and going and the atmosphere is very festive with performers playing music, dancing, etc.
The last place we visited was Landmark Tower (picture). The tower is one of the largest towers in Japan and has a multi-level shopping mall. At the local Hard Rock cafe is a corner dedicated to Van Halen. There is a contracted dated 1979 and signed by all four of the original members.
Day #4- Saitama City, Monday, July 31st
Saitama City is the largest city of Saitama Prefecture, the state due north of Tokyo and houses the Saitama Super Arena (FIBA Basketball Champships are to be hosted next week) (picture), Saitama 2002 Statium (2002 World Cup site and Urawa Red Diamonds home stadium), and the John Lennon Museum. At Saitama Shinoshin Station, we ate at Sushi for Lunch at the local shopping mall. Across the train tracks is the John Lennon Museum. The Beatles are before my time but they were very influncial especially in Japan where English is far from their native language. The museum is very informative and has the actual items on display from the NYC mansion that Lennon last resided at.
Day #5- Leave for Kyoto, Tuesday, August 1st
This was a long day, but a good day because before the sun was up (usually up earlier than back home) we were moving. We took the "Hikari" Bullet Train from Tokyo Station. This bullet train is the 2nd fasted behind the "Nozomi". After arriving in Kyoto, we checked in at New Miyako Hotel, Kyoto. We then bought a 500 yen day bus-pass. We visited the main attractions such as “Gold Temple” (Picture), “Silver Temple”, Yasaka Shrine and Gion/Geishas District on this particular day.
Day #6- Kyoto/Kobe, Wednesday, August 2nd
On the next day, we started early to beat the heat (too darn hot in Kyoto!). We first started with Kiyomizu Temple. On the way I asked some junior high student if classes were in session and they replied in Japanese, "No, but we are going to practice in the swimming club." All dressed up in their uniforms on a hot summer day just to go to swim practice. After Kiyomizu, (waterfall
picture) we went shopping for souvenirs. For lunch we had Shrimp tempura (pieces of shrimp about 5-6 inches long lightly breaded) at Kyoto Station, then departed for Kobe.Kobe is a mid-size city that was made famous in 1995 due to one of the deadliest earthquakes in Japan. It is also known for their Kobe Beef which was previously mentioned. They also have alot of sake and we visited the Hakutsuru Sake Museum. If you new to sake, I suggest "Nigori" sake. It has a milky color and is also known as, "Crazy Milk" in the US. From there, we visted Mt. Rokko via cable car. The view of the city from there was beautiful despite it being a hazy day. Then we returned to the city and went to Sannomiya Station area. It guess you could say it is the heart of Kobe with lots of bright lights and city life going on. Here, we found us a reasonably priced Kobe Beef Dinner fixed by a chef who was the waiter, dishwasher, etc. I guess that's why it was reasonably priced.
Day #7- Osaka, Thursday, August 3rd
This day was totally dedicated to Osaka, Japan's 2nd largest city. The first place on the itenerary was Osaka Castle and Museum. Probably Japan's prettiest castle. Then we headed into town and went had Okonomiyaki for Lunch (Japanese Pizza). Osaka and Hiroshima both call this dish their own. Then we walked over to the entertainment district of Dotonburi/Shinsaibashi. Kirin Plaza (picture) was here.
Day #8- Last day in Kyoto, Friday, August 4th
This was our last day in Kyoto and we finished up our visit at 33 Pillars Temple. The temple is about the length of a football field and had 15 rows of statues held up by 33 temples, thus the name. Due to the place being a place of worship, taking pictures was prohibited. I did get some postcards that portrayed the images seen. Afterwards, we returned to Kyoto Station and rode the bullet train back to Tokyo.
Day #9- Regroup in Saitama, Saturday, August 5th
On this day, we took it easy and did some shopping in the city just north of where we currently live, Urawa. We got some Urawa Red Soccer gear for myself and my dad. Later than night, we saw fireworks from the balcony courtesy of Toda City.
Day #10- Gunma Day-Trip via car, Sunday, August 6th
This past Sunday we rented a van a drove to Gunma. Awesome sites, unusual food (bear meat) but the highlight of the trip was the onsen (hot spring). It was an outdoors facility and as we were walking to the changing room, I noticed women wrapped in yellow towels in the same bathing area with men. Before entering the bathing area I noticed how the men were covering up their privates only with a white hand towel. I followed their lead and bathed for about 15 minutes in the first bathing area. The water was too hot for me. I walked across a bridge with both hands on my waist so the towel would cover my privates. My backside was fully exposed for the whole world to see. The 2nd bathing area was much more tolerable and more of the same. More women wrapped in towels and men holding a hand towel over their privates. Children were also in the bathing area with their parents. Some women did not wrap up in towels but only covered up the front parts. Some men decided to let it all hang out. One notable thing was that the towels on the women become transparent after they stood from soaking. I noticed this from the first bathing area after I held the towel too closely to my body. Definitely a one-of-a-kind experience.
Other highlights of Gunma were shopping in Minakami Station area, watching mountain climbers scale the side of a mountain, sightseeing atTanigawa Dake Ropeway (Cable Car) where there were incredible views on top of the mountain.
For dinner we had takeout from Mos Burgers. A Japanese hamburger chain that has one outlet in Hawaii.
Day #11- Warabi, Saitama, Monday, August 7th
The only thing eventful on this day was dinner at Kappa Sushi. Sushi comes to you on a conveyor belt and all dishes cost 100 yen.
Day #12- Farewell from Japan, Tuesday, August 8th
This day was like Day #1 only in the reverse.
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