Day 15 - Tokyo/Vancouver/Seattle

Today was our last day in Japan so we decided it was the day we'd get up early and go to the fish market. We tried to go to bed somewhat early the night before but that didn't really happen... oh well. The alarm went off at 6am and we got up, showered and out the door before 7am. We took the subway down to Tsukiji and then found our way to the street. (I should mention it was raining but a very Seattle type rain - drizzle).

I think with it being so early, having not eaten and the rain was kind of wearing on us as we got a bit lost which just put us in a bad mood... After wandering around a bit we finally figured it out and found the place. It's MASSIVE!! We had been told from our friend the night before to not go at 4am like we had planned b/c they don't allow people on the bidding floor anymore and that 7am would be a fine time. Thank god b/c the thought of being there at 4am was not pleasant to me...

I had pictured just one big building where all the fish was ligned up but in reallity it was several buildings with rows and rows of fish vendors. You have to be ultra careful where you walk and pay attention at all times b/c these people are working and there are constantly bikes, scooters, trucks, people all over the place trying to get by. To say it's fast paced doesn't really do it justice. I really felt in the way but we did our best to stay out of everyones way. Noone seemed to mind we were there looking, taking pictures. We even had a few men greet us with "good morning" in English which isn't what we are used to hearing - it took a second to register.

I enjoyed walking around and the strong smell of fish was actually nice - it's fresh fish, fresh delicious fish!! I saw so many fish that I have never seen before. The only thing that made me sad was the poor little turtle I saw trying to get out of a mesh bag. I told Jeff I should buy him and set him free. Poor little guy.

We bought a few items as souveniers after all of the looking and gawking and then decided to head back to our kneck of the woods as we had packing to do and still needed to eat breakfast. The original plan when we first came to Japan was to have sushi here for breakfast but after two nights of partying I just didn't think raw fish sounded good. Thankfully Jeff agreed. We also agreed that we had some of the best raw tuna the night before which came from here that morning so we didn't feel like we were short changing ourselves from the experience. I will also point out that there were in fact many people waiting in lines to eat fresh sushi at that hour at several little restaurants in the market. Hopefully that won't be a regret of mine after this rip is over but seriously, I couldn't have stomached it...

Once back in Ebisu we headed to get breakfast (iced chocolate milk with a shot of espresso and pastries) and then back to the hotel to nap a bit as nothing was really open yet. We had some yen to spend and decided to try and buy ourselves a few things as it seems we've bought tons of little gifts for folks but nothing really for us. No luck... We couldn't find anything we needed or really wanted. We headed over to the grocery store to get one more last look, and to buy lunch, of all that we would be missing. (The grocery stores here are beyond spectacular, we could spend hours just wandering around!! The presentation alone is worth the visit!)

I had bought a big hot pink hard case suitcase the day before so it was time to repack everything. I love that suitcase, it fit everything we bought and made my backpack lighter. Our shuttle bus came at 2:30 so we checked out and headed out... Goodbye Japan, we are really going to miss you!

Our flight wasn't until 7pm so once at the airport we ended up finding the duty free shops and spending the last bit of yen we had on ourselves. Easy enough!! The flight was only 10 hours and that included the hour layover in Vancouver, BC and then the 30 min flight to Seattle. Not bad at all!!

We really had a great time in Japan. I do think Jeff is way more sad about coming home than I am. I am looking forward to my bad, having mpore than 4 outfits and seeing the dogs. He just keeps thinking about all the things he loved about the Japanese and the country and keeps comparing them to home. I think he would move to Japan, I may need to work on that. ;) Obviously being together for 2 weeks straight has it's annoyances but for the most part we got along fine and really did get to do so many cool things. We met some great people who I hope we stay in touch with, we ate some of the most amazing food ever and we saw so many things in such a short time... We are already planning our return for 2011!

Sayonara Japan... or should I say Ja Ma Tay!!!

We Made It!

Jeff and I got up and made it out the door by about 9am and were on the bus by about 9:15am, a bit later than we had originally planned. We got to the airport at about 10:30, mind you our flight left at 11:30am! We tried to get there with more time but I swear every single handicap person decided to get on the bus which made it take forever... Once we actually got there we were so stressed and did everything we could to try and get through the gates faster, no luck. The woman at the gate told us not to stress her out or start her day off wrong... We also got a lecture about arriving earlier - WE TRIED! After much stress and time, we made it through securirty, ran toi the tram, then bolted up 3 flights of stairs taking them 2 at a time (thank god for all that exercise) and then finally arriving at our gate!

The flight from Seattle to Vancouver was on a 50 person Dash 8 airplane... I had the joy of being assigned to sit next to "Larry Petersen", the space hog! Firs I am sure you are wondering why his name is in quotes. He was a persian man with a thick accent named "Larry Peterson"... right. Jeff and I decided he must he in witness protection. As for the space hog part, it's a small plane and he decided to take up 90% of the space under the seats for his bag so I had no room for mine, I even said something to him and he ignored me, full on ignored me. Thankfully the plane didn't fill up so I moved to another row, Jeff joined me.

Our flight left a few minutes late b/c "Larry" had some issues with his seat assignment, apparently he and some other guy were both assigned to that seat - which apparentloy isn't possible. He ended up getting the seat, the other guy had to ride in a different one, and we finally took off.

Once we got on our flight bound for Tokyo we were happy to find out we had an exit row with tons of leg room. There was a woman eyeing our extra middle seat for quite sometime. I told Jeff to cough and look sick so that she wouldn't come sit with us. Having that free seat is like gold so we were hoping to keep it all to ourselves. Bad I know but I think you would have done the same... It's a 9.5 hour flight, that extra seat was a bonus... It wasn't a full flight either, there were plenty of free seats all over. I did see the woman later ask a flight attendant about moving and the flight attendant told her she shouldn't b/c "they're together" YAY, thanks stewardess!!! That put an end to it and we didn't have to do a thing.

There was a lot of turbulance at the beginning of the flight so the beverage and food service was delayed. After quite sometime they decided to just feed us anyway b/c people were pretty hungry. We had the chicken, my favorite was the dessert - chocolate mousse. Jeff started off with a bloody marry and I had some white wine. Drinks were free!! We had a few more throughtout the flight and they served us dinner too, beef and rice.

One thing that is so cute is that most of the Japanese people on the flight have slippers they are wearing around. The kick off their shoes and then slip into their airplane slippers and scout around in them. The bathroom door also seems to be a source of confusment for them as pretty much every person goes and fumbles with it before finally figuring it out or gives up until they see someone come out.

We landed around 3:40pm, breezed through immigration and customs, then had to figure out where terinal 2 was so we could pick up our rail passes. I did have to ask but the guy was supoer nice and helpful.

We found terminal 2 and the pass place. I showed the lady my google map to get to our hotel and she laughed, apparently google maps did not give me the quickest route. She did though.The train was pretty easy to figure out once she told us which direction to go, everything is labeled in english which is beyond helpful!! Our train ride from Narita to Shibuya was abot 1.5 hours and we rode backwards (oh and I think it smelled port o potty like)... I wasn't feeling so hot at the end, can't say I liked that. Once at Shibuya we transfered trains and that wasn't to bad. We arrived at Ebisu and that is where the confusion kicked in. It was rush hour so there were alot of people... We still aren't sure how to get out of the station, we just kind of followed other people out yet they were scanning something to exit... not sure what though. Then we got all directionally challenged and I kept reminding Jeff of my compass and he kind of poo pooped it at first buit then after a brief stressful stint got it worked out. I kepot saying I hoped we'd see the Westin sign in the sky but was skeptical since the buildings were pretty tall... But then off in the distance when I was about to silentloy freak out I saw the beautiful Westin sign and we both sighed a breathe of relief. We relaxed a bit and took our time walking there.

The hotel is beautiful and by far will be the nicest place we stay... I think. Now it is time to shower and clean up a bit then head out for "dinner" - we re trying to get on the schedule here so it won't screw us up on time... Ok, that's it for now. Time to get clean up and then explore. More later!!!