Trip diario: Japan

Sometime in the beginning of November, I realized that hey, I think I could go on vacation this month. I called my friend, who also could go on vacation this month, and decided that we wanted to go on a super-complicated vacation on very short notice. No, we couldn't just go to Seattle, or Hawaii, no, we wanted to go to Japan. In a week. So we scrambled, and suddenly, we were in Tokyo.

Things about Japan:

They are so clean they sweep the dirt. Clean clean clean!

They're a stickler for rules. No one crosses against the light, no matter how empty the streets are. It actually made us not jay walk, just to avoid the horrified stares.

Beef and sushi, transcendent.

Can't go anywhere without getting lost somewhere along the way.

But don't worry, someone will notice your confusion and help you!

The very best service anywhere.

No matter where you are, someone will be yelling on a bullhorn, telling you to buy something.

There are like, five Times Squares. The entire city of Tokyo is a total assault on the senses.

Japanese Thanksgiving = Labor Day = major inconvenience when you plan to visit two museums and the Imperial Palace that day.

High-tech toilets with multiple warming and bidet options! And mirrors that don't fog! Ingenious!

Things about planning an international trip in a week:

If you refuse to go to bed until you book all your hotels, you'll go to bed sometime in the wee hours of the morning, but you'll have booked all your hotels, though one of them will market itself as a "compact sleeper." You'll book it because you so damn tired, you don't care. But then you'll care deeply when you're actually in Japan, so you'll spend an hour in a Kyoto internet cafe booking a new hotel.

You'll consider planning a day trip out of Tokyo, but when faced with the logistics when you're actually there, you'll fall asleep instead.

You CAN renew a passport in a week!

Tokyo (Roppongi)


Temple outside Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo


Kyoto

More pics here.