Our first few days: flight and Asakusa
Trip Start
Jun 09, 2009
1
17
Trip End
Jul 05, 2009
Where I stayed
Shinagawa, Kanto, Japan
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The flight went well, it was around a 16 hours with connections. We both started wearing down a little. Kat got a litte sick during the last leg of the flight, and proceded to get sick again on the taxi cab ride to the hotel. Check in went smoothly. The people spoke English well which we didn`t expect. By the way, the hotel has some fun things. It has a bowling alley, an aquarium and it`s very western and so it`s easy to get around.
The hotel room was nice and we have a good view of the city. There is a mirror that doesn`t steam up when you shower and I like it. Kat has an ongoing battle with the toilet, which is secretly a bidet and whenever she goes into the bathroom you hear her say: `Don`t do it!` as she shuts it off. We didn`t do much the first day. We got in rather late and woke up at 1 am and watched Gremlins 2. Then around five we headed to 711 and got breakfast, which consisted of mainly onigiri and an egg, barbecue, and rice meal. They absolutely refused to sell breakfast food - most of it was fried and of the seafood variety.
We set off to Asakusa at around eight. We saw the businessmen walking to work on our way to the subway. I had trouble getting oriented with walking on the left side of the sidewalk. On the subway there was a woman dressed in a traditional yukata who was fanning hersef. It was pretty easy to navigate and only cost us 260￥ to get there and then the same price to get back. That`s around $2.60.
In Asakusa we visited Kaminari-mon (The Thunder-God Gate) and Senso-ji (Senso Temple). We took tons of pictures that ended up being quite repetitive. There are about 200m of shops beyond the first gate and before the second with the temple at the end. We walked up and down and kind of poked into all of the little shops. There were school children in their uniforms taking a field trip and following a woman holding a flag. Kat really liked all of the different kinds of candies. There were some interesting cakes in the shape of boobs with a girl`s head above them. We would have taken a picture, but none were allowed. There were some chocolate daifuku with Obama`s cartoon image on them that read がんばん、Obama! or Good luck, Obama! The American flag he was holding wasn`t upside down, but backwards for some reason. We found this to be quite amusing.
At the temple, there was a ceremony of some sort going on with a monk kneeling down and praying beyond the fence where the shrine was located. People were throwing coins in as donations. There was also an incense pit, which people bathed their faces in to keep away disease and there was a fountain with flowing water to wash your hands in and drink from (but we don`t know what they`re called) and a large stone statue in the center. Off to one side, there was a bell that originally was the sole teller of time (in Asakusa at least) until 1692 and even though it`s not anymore, it`s evidently still rung every morning by a monk at six.
We got some drinks because it was really hot and Kat kept forgetting not to walk and drink, since it`s considered rude to eat or drink while walking. But we had to go home relatively early. We were getting tired and the jet lag was catching up to us. Then we went to sleep. And now we`re here. The end.
By the way, you`ll notice we have links throughout that pages. That`s just information on where we`re visiting since we thought you guys might be interested.
Comments
Hello
Love the pictures! Dad said 'Sean I told you there was a God'. It looks like a lot of fun. Keep posting. We ran into Ms. Luken and she wanted to know how you were. She thought it was interesting that you had a political science degree!
Fun
I like the 'god sandals'. Hope you're having fun - I'm jealous ... but not jealous of the plane ride.
thanks!
Be jealous of the plane ride, for we saw some shitty movie about a business women moving to minnesota. The god sandals are just in case the god wants to leave the shrine so that's interesting.
Ms. Luken would no doubt be pleased, as she always wanted me to be president. We'll try and keep posting everyday!
yo buddy
yo man
so japan looks awesome. great pics.
miss ya man
have fun buddy
brent
Love the Dog!
Bring that dog home to me!