First week impressions of Japan

OK - I needed one full week to post my first blog. First and foremost, Japan is SUPER BIG AWESOME! We have had nothing short of a great time everywhere we have been. Currently we are in Sendai which is in southern Kyushu. The climate here is sub-tropical, so as you can imagine it is hot and muggy - feels great! Here are some short notes about our first 6 days...

Day 1 - Tokyo: arrived mid afternoon, took a train to downtown, sunset was at 17:30, got a little confused trying to find the Westin. Found the Westin, had dinner and stayed up as late as possible to adjust to Japan timezone (we were up for about 24hrs from the time we left Seattle).

Tokyo is insanely huge and crowded. Everyone is very orderly and polite, so even though you are surrounded by 30+ million people, it does not feel like it. Japanese beer is pretty good. All the girls are very fashionable - skirts, knee-highs, accessories, etc. Men are all in suits and look ready to get crazy on the weekend.

Day 2 - Tokyo: went to the Ginza district of Tokyo. Had an incredible lunch at a small restaurant. By the way, there are just as many small restaurants as there are residents in Tokyo...well, at least it feels that way. Met up with Ken Morinaka and went to a Tokyo Giants baseball game. On the way in they handed us plastic cups for our beers!!! Sorry Mariner fans, this game was much more fun. Chants, flags, banners, music, horns, drinking, eating, and the list can go on and on and on. The fans were super nice to us and loved to talk about Ichiro. Tarah even got some gifts from an older guy who was obviously hooped up on too much sake. Went to an Irish pub afterwards (Warrior Celt) that sat maybe a dozen people.

Day 3 - Tokyo: slept in for awhile (see above note about the Warrior Celt) and then went to the Grand Sumo Tournament 2009. Again, we hung out with Ken who is such a great guy and very knowledgeable about all things Japanese (at least more than us!). OK - the sumo match was one of the coolest sporting events I have ever been to. Fat, almost naked men trying to slap and push their opponent out of the ring (or on to the floor) is true entertainment. I could go on and on about this, but I digress (FYI - I took over 100 pictures, so obviously it sucked). We then met up with Maki and had a great dinner. We started off at the Manta (a little Okinawan restaurant that sat maybe 8) and had an appetizer and stiff drinks. We then went to a V.P.N. certified pizzeria (those of you that know me can appreciate this) that blew my mind. At one point we were speaking Japanese - Italian - English all at the same time. This pizzeria really impressed me. It remined me of Tutta Bella Columbia City in many ways. The food was excellent, the staff was friendly, and the atmosphere was incredible.

Day 4 - Okoyama: overnight stay after riding the bullet train (Shinkansen) for 4+ hours. Again, I can go on and on about the shinkansen (plush, fast, smooth, beers and smokes, etc.), but I digress. We stayed in a Ryokan and ate in downtown restaurant that specialized in yakitori. We decided to check out a little pub near our ryokan because they had the most unique "rainier beer" sign on the door that I had ever seen - of course, they had no idea what "rainier beer" was!!! Anyway, the bar had 3 tables and a little kitchen. We met 4 guys who live in Okayama and proceeded to hang out with them the rest of the evening. The really enjoyed speaking english and having us hang out in their local pub and vice versa.

Day 5 - Fukuoka/Hakata: this city was pretty damn cool. Live music and dance, tons of shopping, and very trendy. We decided to get a foot massage on the 14th floor of this very fashionable mall (yes it had 14 floors of shopping, including a toyota and nissan showroom that were on the 8th floor). The place had a rooftop deck that was very zen like and you felt like you were a million miles away from the city of 1+ million below). Ended the night at Genki sushi (apparently these all all over Japan - we have just 1 in Seattle). Slept at the Comfort Inn - same family as Best Western - I'm a little embarrassed because I have wanted to avoid all things western, but we Japan is currently celebrating a 5-day national holiday so rooms are pretty scarce. Hung out the next day wandering the Tinjin area (downtown Fukuoka), before getting back on the shinkansen.

Day 6 - Sendai: the train sped through vast agricultural areas as we headed deeper south in Kyushu. We decided to come this far south because it is so quiet and peaceful and we wanted a little rest point before heading back north (the population of Sendai is just over 100,000, so it is a little different than Tokyo - HA!). The shinkansen station is brand new and so is the hotel we are in (which had a trouser press, HD Flat screen, free internet, etc.). Apparently, this city is gearing up for a population explosion since a new train line is set to be completed in 2011. We ate at a local restaurant last evening and no one spoke any english - it was awesome. The local drink in these here parts is Shochu (made from grain/potato). Oh yeah, this city also has a large nuclear power plant. I guess this is the backwoods of Japan - if there is such a thing.

Until we meet again - "Daburu de kudasai!"

PS - this is my first blog post ever on any site - can you believe it?!?

Day 2 - Baseball!

Jeff and I woke up at a reasonable time, no jet lag which was nice. It really helps to just force yourself onto the schedule of wherever you land... That did require us to stay up almost 24 hours the night before though...

We started our morning off at a cafe called Cafe de Crie - I had a croissant which was really good. Everything was individually wrapped. I also had this delicious chocolate milk and espresso shot, OMG it was good. I did however hit the table with my foot and sent the espresso cup and saucer flying off the table. Jeff caught it with 2 fingers "just like chopsticks" he said... Thank god it didn't hit the floor and break, that would have been embarrassing.

Our first stop for the day was the Sony building in the ginza district. The rail was pretty easy this time, no real issues. The Sony building was really cool. We walked the whole showroom, played with cameras and even got to print off several pictures we took. We even got to make some paper animals while the staff took pictures of us.

After that we decided to find some lunch which is no easy task. There are so many food places and each looks equally delicious. We decided to pick a place down an alley versus one on the main drag. The place we picked ended up geing really good and our meal only cost about 1800 yen. Jeff had tuna with several little plates of rice, pickles, etc... I had cold soba noodles with veggies, rice with whitefish and a few other small items.

After lunch we walked around ginza for a bit looking in the shop windows, it is known to be a high end fashion area so we saw some beautiful clothing, shoes and accessories. The people are just dressed so nice here too. I am in awe of what the women wear, I love it!

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting Ken who is one of Jeff's co-workers brother. He was nice enough to go to the Tokya giants game with us and show us around.

The train to the game was pretty easy and once there we went to their beer garden and sat for a bit chattinhg. The game began at 1800 - everything here is in military time. The game was so cool. We had nosebleed section b/c that is all I could get online. apparently the Giants and the Osaka Tigers are big rivals. Somehow we ended up in the Tigers area or so it seemed. All the beer vendors at the game are cute girls, we of course had to roder a beer from them. 800 yen for a beer.

After a few innings we decided to try our luck at better seats. We landed in the Giants fan section standing in the back. The crowd was so much fun, they have chats for everything. Some kids moved over and let us stand with them. I think they liked my Ichiro shirt. I chatted with them as much as I could. Some drunk guy ended up giving me his wrist band for #2 b/c he liked my shirt too. We bought no souveniers but we walked out with 2 towels and a wrist band. It was an amazing game - they won!

Since we were so jazzed after the game we went to one of Ken's favorite bars in the Ueno area of tokyo - Warrior Celt, an irish bar. We met a few of his friends, a nice mix of Japanese and english speaking people. I met my first person from Whales, he was nice. I had 2 ciders... Mind you we did not eat dinner so by the time I finish the 2nd one we called it a night and we headed back to our hotel. I could have fallen asleep on the train but thankfully made it back to our room. I was out though as soon as my head hit that pillow. It was a great day!

Pictures have been uploaded!