Wow, we made our last connecting flight out of Seoul. Relief and joy when we finally touched down in Japan. It was wonderful to finally be there. We made it to the Sakura Ryokan with ease.
Immediately, we headed out for our first bite of sushi. It was a family establishment, across the street from the 7 Eleven. Sure enough there was plastic sushi in the window display!
The chefs were great fun. They’d make something, stick in on the conveyor belt, then say, “Tasty!”. We just had to try everything. Once we didn’t know what something was, and the chef DREW us a picture of what appeared to be a pompano fish. All the other patrons were in hysterics because we didn’t know our fish-but it was all in good fun! Here’s a picture of our impressive stack o plates, when you’re done they just count up the plates and charge accordingly.
The next morning we woke up and went for a stroll around Asakusa, to the Sensoji-in Temple. We saw the huge lantern, the famous samurai statue, and bought our first souvenir.
After the stroll, we went down to Ueno Eki (station) for some lunch. None of the Japanese eating establishments we passed by opened until 11:30. So we had to think outside the bento box. We saw a little sign on the sidewalk…HARSH, Indian food. We went inside the building and down a dark windy staircase, HARSH is in the basement! IT was a thrill, cause who knows what the Indian food would be like in Japan?!?
Turns out it was Delish. There was a set lunch, so for 20 bucks we each had: All you can eat Nan bread, jasmine rice, two main dishes-I picked chicken vindaloo and eggplant curry, and a coffee. I also had a sweet lassi, because I’m a sweet lassie 8^)
After lunch, we went exploring all around Ueno Park. It’s this gorgeous park in the middle of this sprawling metropolitan city. Seems out of place almost!
Dennis & I met up with the tour group back at Sakura-they had just returned from an outing to see the fish market and auction! We all left at around 2pm for Nikko with our guide Aaron at the helm. I was so happy to finally be with the group, and excited because everybody was so friendly and good spirited.
All right, you made it to the land of the rising sun.
It’s after 9 o’clock Monday evening here and it is after 1 o’clock Tuesday afternoon over there. I had a good time on the wall tonight. Roseman and Hayley were in there. Roseman did 8 laps on the green route which beats Curtis’ 7 laps. I got to hand it to Roseman, he’s got grit. He’ll push himself till something breaks.
I didn’t try any laps because I went climbing at Owens Ridge yesterday with Dan Bishop and Daryl. We climbed Triplet and Dihedral. You would really enjoy dihedral. I would like to see how *you* would do it. I was so tired that when I got home last night I fell asleep in the chair. Too tired to go in the spa which was too bad because then I woke up at night with leg cramps.
But at the wall I had fun on the purple, green and red routes.
Hayley is going shopping for her wedding dress on Wednesday. No climbing.
I did the Five Finger traverse with Dan and Mike Franklin on Friday. We had lots of fun getting Holly up 4 of the 5 fingers. If you get a chance check out my pictures at http://members17.clubphoto.com/walter784953/4297312
The new camera works great. I can take lots of pictures really fast.
Have fun in Japan. I hope you eat the best sushi and drink the best saki you have ever had!
-Walter
Tokyo, what a compressed, dense city! Those people don’t waste any space. Got 15 feet of open land? We’ll put in a 14 1/2 foot wide office building! Everything makes optimum use of space. At our first ryokan, I was dubious about managing the bathroom/shower, but it can be done, and it’s nice having your own toilet in a hotel (not all of our travels will be like that).
Wandering around Tokyo is an adventure, too. We found a little sushi place on Sunday night, where nobody spoke English but us. Our few Japanese phrases, and a lot of pointing at the menu, did the job. And the food was might tastey!
But, the Tokyo sidewalks are filled with pedistrians and bicyclers, who weave and dodge each other with immense skill. I thought for sure we’d be bumped into or run over at least once, but we came through unscathed.