We're back!

We made it home safely--and quickly too! I was able to push the last photos of Akihabara and Shibuya (just a couple of night shots).

Ryan is working on a centralized website for everything so I'll try to post a link so you can see everyone else's pictures, as well.

Here's a direct link to all of *my* photos from our trip.

Sayounara Nihon!

Our time has finally come to an end, which of course means we have to leave. We'll be back home soon, but you'll have to wait for the final pictures of Akihabara and Shibuya until I get home =P.

We don't have to leave here until Monday at 3:30 pm (1:30 am there in Ohio), but I am without internet since we only paid through Sunday.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the pictures as I've gotten to experience such a wonderful country and wish that all of you could have come along and joined with my time. I've seen enough to know that I need to come back =).

Ryan and Tomoko's Wedding

Of course, yesterday was the real reason we were all here anyway! I honestly don't know how to put the experience into words, but will say this: of all we've gone to and have seen, this was absolutely amazing--uncomparably the best thing we've seen all week.

The wedding was in the Meguro Gajoen hotel, and you'll see a lot of pictures of the inside of the hotel. Unfortunately for me, my battery on my camera died (I, of course, forgot to charge it from after Hiroshima the night before). I think I came up with enough justification to purchase another battery for it.

After the wedding and reception, we all went to a bar where it was all you could drink for 2 hours. Needless to say, I'm moving rather slowly this morning.

I'll try to get more pictures from the others to post them for your viewing pleasure of the wedding and bar.

Drawing done by Tomoko's friend. The three cats depict Ryan's cats back home. Too cute? Quite possibly.

Ryan and Tomoko during the ceremony

Hiroshima

Alrighty, sorry for the couple days without pictures, however, Friday we went to Hiroshima and left on the train at 6:31 am and didn't get back to the hotel until 11:45 at night, so I was rather tired. Ryan's boss was nice enough to share with me beer--which made the 5 hour train ride home much more bearable.

It was quite an experience to see the area, and as an American, slightly uncomfortable, too.


While there, a group of students from an exchange school interviewed us for a paper they were working on. Of course, the opportunity to interview Americans at this area was choice.


It's very interesting to see how others view us and pre-conceive their ideas about us. Questions like "After viewing this museum, do you have guilt or do you feel that because it is a different generation it should be looked past?" I think I understand what they were trying to ask, but what a shoe-horned question? I explained I felt neither way, rather that I don't feel guilty since it was done under an act of war--and as such, war is not pretty. I also explained that as a previous generation we should use the results to realize that we should do much to prevent similar actions from being taken--knowing especially the tragedy that resulted. I wonder how their report will turn out =).


It is very interesting to be in a Japanese museum to see the difference in perspective. A section of the museum called "Why did the US drop the bomb on Japan" essentially justified the action as stating that the US wanted public support for spending 2 billion dollars in development costs in the A-bomb. While an interesting perspective, I doubt that would be the only reason.


I strongly recommend visiting this museum (it costs 50 yen--less than a dollar) and the neighboring memorials and monuments.


There aren't many pictures inside the museum since while pictures were permitted, flash was not--and the museum was very dark. In addition to the memorials and monuments, you'll also find Hiroshima Castle in the mix as well.

Memorial Cenotaph (front), Eternal Flame (back--in pond), A-Bomb Dome (far back, left)

Ueno, Omiya, and an American Breakfast

Picture-wise, today wasn't terribly exciting, but it was quite enjoyable. We went to an "American" restaurant for breakfast, then proceeded to Ueno. Ueno (second picture, below), is tons of shops. Since Meijer has not yet infiltrated the Japanese culture, there is literally a store for everything. Also, imagine having to pay $140 for a Timex watch. I about choked when I saw that.

We came back to Shinagawa after our endeavor to Ueno and grabbed McDonalds. I got a filet-o-ebi (or ebo, I can't remember already). Long story short--it's like a filet-o-fish, but with shrimp instead of fish. Very good, actually.

For dinner, we went to Omiya and met up with Bob before he left bound for Ohio. Glad we could catch up and meet with him, it was great.

As for tomorrow, I expect many more pictures as we go to Hiroshima. It's quite a haul, even by bullet-train, but I believe we are planning to hit up the Museum there, as well as a few other sights.

It is already all too apparently that I could spend a month in Japan and still need to come back several times to see everything. I knew there were spectacular sights, but I had no idea how extensive they were. So, if you don't hear from me when I return, I probably decided to skip my flight home.

Thanks to Luke for taking this picture of Mike, Diana, Bobby, and myself in Omiya

A picture from a street in Ueno

Kyoto here we come!

Today was greeted with a trip to Kyoto via the Shinkansen (Bullet trains). Kyoto is known for its traditional culture and temples. As such, it is quite the tourist spot, even for locals.

After we were on our way, another English-speaking tourist showed us a guide book and we checked it for things to do while in Kyoto. It recommended a two days in Kyoto just to begin discovering it--and I would tend to agree with this. We got to stay for only a few hours since it is approximately 2-1/2 hours via the bullet train to get to Kyoto.

As proof that if you travel to Japan, you should get the Rail Pass, I believe I heard that the cost of our train tickets alone for the Shinkansen would've been around $260. The railpass is 283,000 yen (which currently is about $310). We've still got plenty to see, so this thing is going to be more than worth the money.

There's quite a few photos for you to check out today, but I'll highlight a couple here for you.

Stock photography of the Shinkansen--mostly because it was moving too fast for me to take an actual picture!

Shinagawa Train Station

The streets of Kyoto

Yay, sleep!

Finally got some rest in me and pushed up a handful of pictures. You can see the rest of the photos by clicking the icon in the corner. Last warning on that =).



Here's a couple shots pour avec ton plaisure:

Yeah that's right. 7-11.

The garden below our room.

We made it!

We've finally arrived in Japan!

It was a great flight--nice and smooth with the most terrible in-flight movies. We're looking to go grab some dinner here soon (it's 7:00p here) but I thought I'd let everyone know we made it!

I've got a few pictures I'll probably post tomorrow for you to check out, tonight I think outside of dinner is gonna be mostly lounging =).

Into the Wild Blue Yonder!

If you're reading this, then I must be on my way to the Land of the Rising Sun. While it may not take you as long to read this post as it will to actually fly there (well, actually--I sure hope it doesn't!), here's some tidbits of info to keep you waiting for my next post (hopefully with pictures!)

1. I am leaving on February 23rd at 12:30p from Detroit Metro via Northwest Airlines. Ryan being all about the luxury scored us a direct flight to Tokyo (Narita)--though still having quite a bit of financial sense, it is still coach. We will arrive in Japan at 4:00p Tokyo time on February 24th.

2. The flight will be 13-1/2 hours long (however, the trip back will be less than 12 thanks to the jet stream).

3. The great circle distance makes a direct flight possible because as we go north, the circle becomes smaller. So in essence, we will be flying a giant "U" to make it from Detroit to Tokyo (Narita). Though this might be slightly off as I don't know if they follow closely with the jet stream or not on the way there. Illustration (new fixed link)

4. The time difference is 14 hours between Ohio and Tokyo.

5. We will be staying at the Grand Prince Takanawa in the Minato Ward of Tokyo.

Here's hoping I'm still awake enough to post when we arrive!

Trip Preparation

Well, the good news is that vacation is finally close at hand. Tomorrow the packing should [hopefully] be done and I'll be ready to go.

I have added a new section to the left called "My Files" which link to my Windows SkyDrive. This does have one added side effect that I would prefer be rectified, and that's that Windows Live Messenger wants to launch with the page.

Please note that you will not need to login to Windows Live Messenger, however, it will want you to login using your Live ID should you want to comment or interact direct with the images/files posted.

In addition, the images will be posted here with my commentary, but the whole trip will be cataloged in the Japan 2009 folder.

New Insanity in both Spoonfuls and Pill-form

I have tried three times to get back into blogging, but I guess it pretty much comes down to whether or not I really want to blog.

I recently re-read my Xanga site and realized that it was quite fun, and I updated frequently enough when I felt like it.

My goal is to post at least once a week in one of several topics:

Personal
Technology
World of Warcraft

There are some who have no interest in one or more of those topics, and for that I say: so what?

And, since my trip to Japan with my friends is this year as well, I'm going to get warmed up and hopefully have updates and pictures for you while I'm away.