where i've been...

My travel map

Friday, July 3, 2009

Lessons learned...

Okay, so I have only been in Japan for about 22 hours, but I have already learned a LOT. Here are a few of the highlights.

1-Toyito is NOT Tokyo in Japanaese. We are in a suburb of Tokyo.

2-The Giant Panda that I went to the zoo to see died in April 2008.

3-Tokyo, and probably Japan in general, would be an amazing place to visit if I had money. Everything here is ridiculously overpriced.

Honestly, if I ever win the lottery I might consider coming back here. Short of that, I am confounded at how people actually live here. We went on a sushi search last night (wouldnt thing that would be so hard in Tokyo, right) and of what we found it is average about $40-80 a person EASILY to eat here. Average price for a two pieces of sashimi is about $8. No cheap rolls...or if there are, there are no English menus, so we cant really tell! We even saw a Chinese Dim Sum place that had plates up to $30...for one thing!

The weirdest/coolest/silliest thing that this overnight has included is our hotel room. Even hostels run $20-30 a person a night. And that is if you can find room in a cheap place. So, not having planned again yet again, we ended up (luckily) getting capsules. What is a capsule you ask? Well my friends, it is litterally a little hole in a wall...imagine a nice mausoleum with sheets and a pillow. It is a hallway/room with about 30 of them, two high, built into the walls...and for $30, you can sleep in a little space, equipped fully with japanese radio, an alarm, and even a tv for your viewing pleasure (once again, much nicer if you speak Japanese). Pretty funny. The trains here are great, but once again, very expensive. We leave tonight, so hopefully I have enough cash to last me until then! I will officially be on US soil in less than 24 hours. Weird!

1 comment:

Shelly said...

Welcome to the US (I think). I believe your in Hawaii. I don't know what island and the funniest thing is J and I were looking at heading to the islands this summer. I wanted to ask where, when and how long you'll be there before heading back to the mainland. And the next question would be do you fly into LA and then how are you getting back to the bay area?

See I really do miss you and want to know all the little tib-bits of your return.

Lastly, thank you for the sweet birthday note. I'm touched that you found a moment to write and say a personal hello.

Chat soon! (maybe even in person)