Hawaii-Tokyo Japan

Nope not a typo... we went to a Hawaiian restaurant for our last meal in Japan and it was amazing... maybe not amazing but better than the fried food we has been having... and fruit! Vegetables! I have not seen those for weeeeeks... twas good. Justin, I am taking you to Japan just to go to this restaurant... yes we will fly over Hawaii and it is probably not the best but it is decorated with all Hawaiian things and constantly played jack johnson and brother iz... you would have loved it. It is our last night in Japan... and I haven't updated in a bit but I forgot what we have done the past couple days... maybe I'll post pictures to refresh my memory.

On to China!

7am Sushi

So this morning we all took a trip to the fish market at 4am... we just got back (8am now) and we had morning sushi at 7am... phew. The fish market was insane, we almost got killed like 20 times from guys with front end loaders running around attempting to run us over. The fish were huuuuge, I didn't chance bringing the camera but I'll post someones pics soon. We leave for Sendai in an hour so I should get some sleep. Oh ya we found an amazing cheap ceramics place so if anyone needs anything put in an order... lots of sake sets, cups, bowls etc. so hard to decide!

Italian, Mexican, and Salsa- Tokyo, Japan

So yesterday we arrived in Tokyo and I feel at home with the larger buildings... its a city that works more like Chicago on a smaller scale... so much better than Los Angeles at night. We ended up eating Italian at a cafe around the corner and then for dinner we went to this expensive mexican restaurant... probably wont do that again on our student budgets! Then we all decided to go out dancing... like everyone except 4. So we found a salsa club... aka a bar that played salsa music and we took it over because we were such a large group. Tons of fun teaching the boys how to dance. Today is Maki day which will be a huge change from Kyoto's temples.

Pictures

Last day in Kyoto

Today we went to Himeji castle and Engyoji, It was a long and exhausting day but relaxing at the same time. It was about a 2 hour bus ride to Himeji and then another hour or so to Engyoji. When we got to Himeji it was a walk up to the castle and then we got to go inside and up to all the levels. The stairs and doors were soooo crazy… mainly steep and small. I’ll post a picture of people going down the stairs… you had to limbo to not hit your head. The view from the top was pretty amazing. Then we went to Engyoji which is apparently in the Last Samurai. Supposedly Tom Cruise took a helicopter to the top of the mountain but we had to hike it. Well most of it, we took a chair lift to the trail and then hiked up to the top. When we got to the final part we all decided to take Samurai fighting pictures because we all had walking sticks. Someone set up a tripod and took pictures in intervals… should come out pretty good. Then we walked back down and chair lifted back to the base where we went to our bus. Then we all passed out on the ride back. Came back home… last night in Kyoto so we went back to our favorite spots… rotating sushi bar… extreme ice cream place… and of course our favorite bar Gayagaya. The sushi bar had corn sushi! I felt so at home… It was literally corn on rice… had a couple of those. Also tried unagi which was good. Had 6 plates at 137 yen each… less than $10 dinner… not too bad in Kyoto. We were craving ice cream so we went to this ice cream place nearby that serves everything imaginable including a huge vase filled with ice cream and full melons and other fruit for $100. We saw someone get it but they didn’t finish. Then on to Gayagaya to say goodbye to our favorite bartenders… one of which turned blonde since we last saw him. Uski told us some good places to go in Tokyo, we had a beer, then left for the hotel. We opted to walk all the way home which wasn’t too bad. On to Tokyo tomorrow with the evening free….

Mmmm Kobe Beef- Kobe, Japan

Lets see… from the last time I updated we went to Todai-ji and Horu-ji, probably the two most well known temples in Asia. Todai-ji is the largest wooden structure in the world and Horu-ji is the oldest wooden structure in the world… pretty important stuff. We traveled to Nara to see both. At Todai-ji you are greeted by deer so we played with them before entering the temple.

Yesterday was Ando day… that was fun too.
We found Rokko housing and went all over trying to find the entrance, eventually we found it and took a few pics before we left for lunch.

Lunch was Kobe beef in Kobe… that was amazing.

Then we went to more Ando buildings... pictures to follow.
We went to dinner at a rotating sushi bar and then to Gayagaya… our favorite bar in Kyoto. The bartenders are amazing and we kept buying them drinks. We also met two guys from England and that was a nice because we spoke the same language and could actually hold a conversation… something quite rare here. Then today we happened to see them again at the train station… too funny.

Today we went to Ise shrine… another well known shrine that is rebuilt every 20 years. We weren’t able to see much because we aren’t special enough… nobody really is unless you are a monk… but the scenery was nice.

We also went to Tsumago which is an old street where they have kept the original buildings since the 1600s so that was fun.

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant… funny but it was good. And then back to our home to rest and relax… tomorrow is another early morning and I am looking forward to when we have the weekends off.

Tired again... heres a short summary of today:
Ginkaku-ji: Silver pavilion, not so silver… undergoing construction but the garden path was very pretty.
Shisen-do: Poets house… he was a hermit and lived there alone… pretty amazing, sat on the engawa forever
Saiho-ji: Moss temple garden place… had to learn calligraphy to enter to show your devotion… we entered a temple with a couple monks and about 60 people… we each had our own calligraphy set and paper to trace the writings… the recited the prayer and then we copied it… pretty sure it meant we were accepting Buddhism… guess I’m Buddhist now
Daisen-In: House for the rock star monk of them all… he is a really good poet and famous… guess he has his own tv show… he was there and took a picture with us and talked to us…. Then he signed our sketchbooks… he was a ladies man because all he would say was
“What is your name?”
“Kate”
“Ahhh Kate… beautiful name, beautiful girl, beautiful mother and beautiful father”
Or something like that… he was quite hilarious… we also had green tea and a cookie in the tea room
Then I went to my first Japanese bathroom and might I say I am quite awesome at it… no problems yet

Tonight we went out searching for a 400 year old bookstore but we think it was closed… found a lot of shopping… mostly closed but I did manage to buy a few things… a duck of course and some souvenirs for others… I swear my English is getting worse as we try to speak Japanese… oh well… more pics…

Inari Shrine

Temple Races day 2- Kyoto, Japan

I am going to attempt to post some pictures and a hilarious video... here goes nothing...
k so no hilarious video for now... maybe later
attempting pictures now...
so the pictures appear to work... yay for that!
This was from yesterday, haven't uploaded the new ones yet but I'll get around to that. So today we went to Inari Shrine, Daigoji and Katsura Palace. We had to skip out on Byodo-in because we were the first group to go to Katsura Palace which was amazing. I tried to take a video the whole time we were there because it seemed like the only way to fully explain the site. Walking through the gardens you are enveloped by nature and are guided to different houses by small stepping stones. Each turn towards the lake is calculated to give you a view and although you always turn back to the lake, it is a different experience each time. Then there are also parts where your view is intentionally blocked to prevent you from seeing the entire garden at once. Too hard to explain in words... and I'm tired and its really loud in our internet room so I can't hear myself think. Anyways we took the bus for the first time and found our way back to our hotel. I sent out a batch of postcards so the first round should be coming to a town near you soon! Hopefully to the correct town... Lets see... what else... oh ya! We saw the ending of a Monk induction ceremony at Daigoji... that was interesting. We all had to turn around and face them as they walked by because it is disrespectful to show your backs to them. Lets add more pics...

Temple Races- Kyoto Japan

this will be a short blog because I am dead tired. Its only 5pm and we went to 4 temples/palaces/castles today! about 45 min per place... and we sprinted thru the entire place just to get a look at it! So exciting tho... last one was amazing... Nina-ji(?) maybe... i'll check on that later... so much fun. and as per justins request I got postcards at each temple and I have stamps to send them home only 70yen! 7 cents!
And on top of that we all got books that fold out so people at the temples can do calligraphy in them at each temple we visit... pretty sweet. then we took a detour to see a kimono fashion show.. then back to our home in kyoto. oh ya, Beijing update is that we all are probably going to change our flights from japan to shanghai and just go from japan to Beijing for a day and then to shanghai. He said we could see all the major things in a day and then get back to Shanghai. Plus it will only be about $150. not too shabby. Today was long but amazing... last night was crazy too, first drinking night and me trying to navigate the Kyoto subway system... we made it tho! Anywho more to come later and I swear I will upload pics soon!

Konnichiwa! - Narita, Japan

Konnichiwa! Nanikita atta? Kore wan an desu ka? Oishii! (Good afternoon! Whats up? What's this? Tastes good!)

HAI! from Narita, Japan! We arrived at Tokyo airport at 3:33pm... no joke... Tokyo time and now we are settled in to our hotel in Narita. It is soooo kawaii (cute). We have complimentary robes and sandals... awesome pics to come soon! So far everyone is very nice(especially the drunk business men waiting for us at our bus!). We will stay away from them... lots of pointing to me... probably because I'm godzilla and blonde! The toire(bathroom) is fun... looks space age and has lots of buttons. We have a free night tonight but we will most likely stay in our hotel and get some rest. The flight was long but wasn't bad at all. Meals included meat, potatoes, rolls, sushi, pizza, bread, brownies, m&ms, and lots of drinks. They were up and down the aisle every 5 min. There was also this drunk kid (not from our group) asking us how many people were on the flight as we waited in line for the bathroom. Then proceeded to say that he would pee in a bottle if he had to cuz he was wasted and couldnt wait! how strange... haha. Japan looks beautiful so far and we are enjoying every minute! I promise to upload pics soon as for now we are waiting for the bar to open at 7:30... just for one drink b4 bed haha. We will be meeting to go to Kyoto tomorrow morning and leaving our lovely hotel behind, until next time... Adios! (cuz i don't know how to say bye in Japanese yet!)

Day -1

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