Wrap Up

I throughly enjoyed my experiences in Japan and would do it again. I loved teaching with Mark at Fukushima College and meeting his students. I especially loved seeing the dance team and wish them well in the future.
The food was good, for the most part, and I enjoyed being a tourist and seeing the lakes outside of Fukushima. I also liked seeing Nikko and going to the traditional onsen. Regina's Forest and the British Hills were fun, too, as was being in such a large city as Tokyo. However, all of the people on the trains did start to make me clastrophobic!
Not knowing anything about the language was frustrating at times for me, but I got around ok. Learning the train system in Tokyo was a challenge, but in a good way. Living out of a hotel room got old, but not cleaning, cooking or grocery shopping was nice for awhile.
It was fun to live a different life for awhile, but I am glad to be home! Skype helped me feel connected to Greg and the cats, and all the emails and FB comments were great, too. Nonetheless, as Dorothy says, there is no place like home.
Thanks for reading this..... hope you enjoyed it.
Dr. Mad.

Wednesday 21 July: Homeward Bound

Well.... off to the airport and a 12 hour flight to Atlanta. By the time I get back to Moore, I will have been awake (more or less) for about 30 hours.
As it turns out, the flight back is an hour shorter than the flight there, but it is still long.......
All went well, though, and it was an event-less flight. We arrived and our luggage arrived and all ended well.

Tuesday, 20 July: Last Day

On Tuesday morning Lauren and I went to Akihabara, a shopping area in Tokyo. We wondered around and looked at all the shops. We ate lunch at a Thai restaurant and then went back to meet Emily around 1pm. We then went to the Pokemon Center and Emily and Lauren bought some Pokemon products. Emily won a prize, three stuffed characters. After than, Lauren and Emily went back to the Akihabara area and I took the train back to the hotel, where I walked around the area and got some Tandoori Chicken for take out.
When Emily and Lauren got back they came to my room and brought me some melon bread, which I had not tried yet, and a peach flavored beer. It was delicious. They had also gotten me some Hello Kitty Sake cups, which are just too cute for words. I love them!

Monday 19 July: Tokyo Tour

Our last obligation was the Tokyo Tour on Monday morning. After getting a bit lost, we figured out the train system and made our way to the departure point for the Hato Bus Tour. We got there in time and our first stop was the Tokyo Tower, which was the TV and Radio Tower for Tokyo. It is being replaced by one that will be twice the size, but that one is not finished yet. We then went to the Imperial Palace and looked around the moat, and then wen to the oldest and most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo, The Asakusa Temple. It was very hot and very crowded. We ate fresh roasted corn on the cobb at the Temple and did some shopping. After that the tour was over, so Lauren, Emily and I went on out to the Tokyo Bay area to visit with Lauren's dad, who was in Tokyo for an electronics trade show. We rode a few trains and finally made it out there, crossing the famous Rainbow Bridge. We then went to the Joypolis by Sega and rode crazy rides and experienced virtual rides. Emily and I won the most points on the half-pipe canyon, which was like a skateboard that you flipped around. It was a blast! Lauren and I did the Wild Raft virtual ride, which nearly made me throw up, but was very realistic! We were in a stationary raft like seat, but the movie screen all around us made us feel like we were on a raft gone wild, crashing down waterfalls, up into trees, off of rocks, all the while being splashed with water and rocked around. It was fun, but a bit too realistic with the motion! We all four went on the spin bullet roller coaster, which was a blast as well. After all of that we ate at a noodle place with a Chinese woman, Jennie, a colleage of Lauren's dad's who was in town for the trade show. We finally rode all the trains back and got back to the hotel late, a full day in Tokyo.

Sunday, 18 July

Our last stop before Tokyo was the Nikko Toshugu Shrine. The link is: http://www.toshugo.jp/
This is a Shinto shrine located in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. It is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was built in 1617, during the Edo period. It was incredibly hot here and there was a lot of people here. We climbed up many stairs to see the shrine and tomb of Ieyasu. The steps were steep, too. We ate lunch at a local resturant, had a whole rainbow trout cooked by a California woman who had been in Japan for 28 years. We had more of the traditional Yuba dishes as well.
After walking around the shrines we departed for the train station to take Emily, Lauren, Mr. Hirata and me to Tokyo. Mr. and Mrs. Watanabe left us at the train station. We had shipped our suitcases on to the hotel in Tokyo, which was a good thing as was would never have gotten them all on the train.
After an hour or so, we landed in Tokyo and took another train to the hotel. By late afternoon we were in Tokyo, and Mr. Hirata said good bye to us. We then rested up some, checked out the internet in the room, and went out for a good, old fashionen meal of PIZZA at a resturant named Carmen's. It was very good, and the waiter asked us if we could understand Japanese. Fortunately, Lauren and Emily could get us by, and we had made our decision before we came in. It was nice not to eat Japanese after all of the traditional food we had had during the weekend.

Saturday 17 July

Today we went to the Nikko Edo World. The link is: http://www.edowonderland.net.
Here was a look at the old Japan of the Edo period. We saw several shows; a ninja battle, a magic show with water, traditional Japanese cultural theatre, and the Oiran Dochu parade at the end. We could have dressed up in the traditional kimono dress (been there, done that) but we passed on that. We ate soba noodles, went through the mystery house, the house of illusion and saw an outside Ninja battle. We also threw water on soldiers carrying royaly on a chair. That was fun, especially as it was very hot outside.
After we spent the day at Edo world, we went on to a more modern onsen, at the Kinugawa Onsen Park. Emily, Lauren and I did go in the private onsen's, but I did not go in the public one. The private one outside was nice, as we had it almost to ourselves, and it was surrounded by rocks. I did not put my hand on a frog in this one, like I did the night before! Or step in an ant bed! The water was at least 105F, it was hotter than my hot-tub, but felt great. We were in rooms located outside and away from the main part of the hotel. We ate a very traditional meal in a big room, along with everyone else in the hotel. The Watanabe's and our other escort, Mr. Hirata, came to dinner in their yakata's, but Lauren, Emily and I did not. I had not been in the onsen, so I did not feel the need to change into it, and I don't think Emily or Lauren had gone in before dinner either. There were other people dressed in regular clothes, but most had on the yakata. The food was traditional to the area, with lots of Yuma and other veggies native to the area. It was good, and filling.