Last Day in Japan

I began my final day in Japan with a solid run in the morning. I went "exploring"... it takes a lot longer to find your way after being lost on foot vs a bike. My "45 minute" run turned into 1.5 hours after I got out a bit further than I realized and wasn't totally sure I was headed in the right direction on the way back. It was awesome though. I saw some very cool small towns and even a little "countryside". You know you are far out there when you can't see the skyscrapers anymore - which I used as a landmark :)

When I got back I showered up and grabbed a quick bite to go. Today's self-guided itinerary took me to north Tokyo, Ueno Station. I spent about 6 hours strolling the streets in the Asakusa district which included Senso-ji Temple - Tokyo's most important buddist temple. I took a long way through some back streets to Ueno Park where I pretty much strolled leisurely through small temples, shrines, pagoda, statues, a zoo, and Shinobazu pond. The Toko National Museum and National Art Museum are here too, but I was enjoying the 65 degree sun way too much to go inside. After returning to Omiya, I decided to treat myself to the best sushi on earth. I've been there 3 times and they recognized me (I kind of stand out a bit at 6'2" with light hair). I ordered a sampler, then "Sadie" started helping me order. He's a 60 year old dude that thought it was hilarious to have me try stuff. We became good friends over 2 hours and we stuffed ourselves with fish and sake. Mmmmmmm.

Sunny Saturday in Tokyo

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Tokyo. Sunny and about 70-75 degrees. I decided to head into the city on my own for some sightseeing. What a treat! I went into central Tokyo by way of Tokyo Station. I covered an area about the size of Manhattan in about 9 hours. Unbelievably, I only saw a fraction of this HUGE city. I saw the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Park, and countless shrines and temples with amazing japanese architecture. Also on tap was Tokyo Tower, a relay running race and Ginza district - including the Sony showroom, Mikimoto, 5 different Tiffany's and a sea of humanity. The views from Tokyo Tower gave some perspective on the city's size. It stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. The tower is designed to imitate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, except they added a few meters to make it taller than the original - sorry France. By the way, Ribbit came along too, so I had some company.

Friday Night Party

We finished a little early on Friday after a long week, so we decided to hit the city... Tokyo. Kubosan ("Yo") came with us, so we got an awesome inside look at the city including some shopping, eating and clubbing... yes, I said clubbing. I can't remember the whirlwind of stops we made, but I think a few sections of Tokyo included Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa and Ebisu districts. It was POURING rain, so we shopped and ate for a while to stay mostly dry. The food was excellent and included about 10 courses of sushi, sashimi and lots of beer and sake. Once the rain let up, we took off for a night club / party in Ebisu, a very cool district. Turns out, there was a Y6,000 cover... or about $60. We bucked up and went in dancing with about 500 asian techno-euro style kids dancing to some seriously thumping techno/house music. I know nobody would believe me, so I took a few pics of the club, but none really turned out. Our resident Irishman Mark was a good sport about posing with beer every time we saw Guinness or Irish Pubs. It was an awesome evening and I feel like we were treated to a special inside look that foreigners likely rarely get. The ride home was fun too.... CRAMMED into a train for about 20 stops / about an hour. Oh well, also part of the scene.

Merci Pascal!... Arigato!

Pascal sent me a picture from dinner last night. You can see that Mark (Ireland), Shaun (Australia) , Pascal (France) and I (US) had quite a feast of sushi, sashimi, tempura and many other things that I can't read or pronounce. We were the only "westerners" in the place and all eyes were on us when we arrived. This was authentic sushi for sure... excellent. Watch out Joa!

Busy Day

Ribbit met a chocolate friend named Freddo and they hung out on the desk together most of the day. Ribbit did; however, make it to the front of the room to help with some training. Eventually though, he got bored and stared out the window during the afternoon...

A few of us went out for a little shopping on the east side of the Omiya train station tracks last night. We found some good gifts and found a GREAT sushi / sashimi restaurant in a tiny side street. I think we might have missed it if we didn't have good directions from our friend Kubosan. I'll try to post some pictures after I get them from Pascal (our french connection). I didn't have the camera with me :(

Mmmmm.... Sushi with Friends

We had a great dinner last night at a very nice japanese restaurant in Omiya City near our hotel. Friends from Australia, Korea, Singapore, Ireland, France and of course Japan were on-hand for a 12 course feast of japanese cuisine, beer and sake! We had a nice time with our excellent hosts. Ribbit made a new friend this week. Ryotaro Kubo invited Ribbit to work this morning, so we brought him in to help with training :)

Ribbit's Big Adventure

Ribbit came to Japan with me and has seen some fun things so far. He's been in NYC and really likes Japan. Funny thing, he thinks the toilet is strange, but likes watching people out the hotel window. He is trying to learn some japanese characters, but its hard and he gets frustrated. So, he goes for walks outside. The last picture is the double high sidewalk, street and hotel in the background on the right. Our room is near the top on the corner (we have a curved window)

Konichiwa!

Hello from Japan! After a 3 hour driving adventure to JFK airport in the pouring rain, a stay in a slummy hotel, a 2 hour delay on the runway, 14 hours in the air (first class of course), a 3 hour bus ride and 5 minute walk with luggage - I found my hotel in Omiya (a suburb of Tokyo).

First off - it will be hard to fly anything OTHER than 1st class - that was sweet! I had a bed for a seat, lots of space and all the best food I could eat. I even walked the plane, up and down the steps (yes - it was a big plane) and got some exercise.

Omiya is a pretty cool small town with lots of "city" feel. Very modern, lots of lights and stores. We are 14 hours anead of PA time, so I basically lost a day getting here (Left saturday morning, got here sunday night). I found a steak house for dinner (I wanted Sushi, but can you believe it was hard to find?!?).

Today we are busy at work, but I am being bad and typing DURING my meeting. It is currently not my turn to present. I'm hoping to post some pictures later, and also tell some stories of fun things I've seen... but this is still day 1. Stay tuned...