Our Trip to Japan

Subway, train, cablecar, boat and bus

What an adventure today! We went to Hakone National Park for the day and probably saw a fifth of it. Still, the journey itself was our reward.

Originally we'd planned to take a tour and it was approximately $150 per person. After our first day's tour (which was pretty lame) we made the decision to do this trip on our own for $60-$75 per person and had the adventure of figuring out where we were, how long it would take to get where we were going, and hope we didn't get lost.

Part of the trip's point was to see Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately it was so overcast there wasn't a chance we would -- but it ended up not mattering at all.

To get to the park and travel within it, we took the subway to Shinjuku Station (which is HUGE and there were thousands of people scurrying about) and finally found the line whose train (the "Romance" train with nice big comfortable seats) would take us to the station near Hokane park.

• Next we took a narrow guage red train that did switchbacks up the mountain
• Then we took a cablecar further up the mountain
• A ropecar was next which took us to the Hokane volcano caldera (look at the picture below where the steam is coming out). You can see how foggy it is and a lot of that is sulfur spewing from the dormant volcano
• Then we took a pirate ship across Lake Ashi (a small lake in the caldera that is about as deep as Lake Superior and is spring fed to boot!)
• Last but not least we hopped aboard a bus to bring us back to the Romance train...then to the subway and back to our hotel.

Phew! It was a whirlwind trip of about 10 1/2 hours and even the kids loved it.

Now we hop on board our 747 home tomorrow afternoon (Thursday at 3pm) here in Japan and get back in to Minneapolis at 12:30pm on Thursday (I'm going to try and convince Alex that we're testing Einstein's theory of relativity and traveling so fast we're going back in time).

This has been a fun trip but we're all anxious to see our dog Winston and be back in our own beds. Thanks for following along as our trip unfolded...

Akihabara and Shibuya

This morning Biz and I headed back to Akihabara with and for Alex while Michelle had lunch with a new acquaintance in the color business. Alex was focused on buying a game not yet available in the States and we succeeded. We played video games, shopped and had a fine time.

Then we headed to Shibuya. Michelle had specific stores she wanted to see and Biz just wanted to be there and shop. Alex and I had zero clue about what we'd do so we went exploring and eventually stumbled across an arcade...where I whipped his behind at air hockey (three puck hockey!) and we teamed to save humanity from an onslaught of zombies.

Below are some pictures of the Shibuya district. Wow! It was
incredibly busy and absolutely packed with young people. Click on
any of the pictures to pop up a window to see a bigger version:

I also gave my camera quite a workout and took this night shot
that will give you a feel of the area. It was an assault on one's
senses:

Tomorrow we're going on our last hurrah before leaving Japan on
Thursday. It's a train ride to Hokane National Park where we hope
to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji, take a scenic railway trip, a gondola
ride, and a boat excursion across a beautiful lake.

Eating with Ninja's, Singing Along

Last night, Jon Ebert had set up a dinner for all of us to go to a "Ninja" themed restaurant. It had a "secret" entrance, special knocks and lots of ninja-like grunting. We crept inside darkened passageways and our Ninja server helped us in to our little alcove (where we took off our shoes and sat on the floor...which is tough on older knees).

After dinner we headed across the street to a karaoke club where we exercised our croaky voices and mostly enjoyed the kids singing.

When we were headed to the club, there were news stations and photojournalists around some guy that -- Jon later learned -- could possibly have been one of the politicians whose party won a surprising number of votes in Sunday's election in Japan.

Since I was taller than everyone else, I briefly joined the throng and snapped a few pictures (since I wasn't sure who this guy was...but thought "what the heck?"):

Akihabara...in the rain

This afternoon we headed over to the electronics area in Tokyo called Akihabara. I've heard about this place for years and always wanted to go. Similiar to my quest to go to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" at Disneyland (I had seen my cousins slides from their trip as a kid and always wanted to go but it wasn't all that fun at 31 years old), when I finally got here it was a bit of a letdown.

Why? Not because of the rain...but because there wasn't anything new that I either hadn't already seen at the Consumer Electronics Show, read about on Engadget, or seen on the 'net somewhere. Plus...the biggest bummer were the prices! Virtually everything was higher. One example is Sony's PSP handheld game machine that I wanted to buy for Alex. It was about $100 higher than the U.S. and the games were $72 vs. $50 in the States. Yikes.

Below is a shot of the main drag in Akihabara:

Below is the motley crew visiting Akihabara and handling the rain
nicely while posing for Steve:

Not everyone was excited to be in the Akihabara district!:

Below is my little game god Alex in an anime shop. Tons of videogames,
DVD's and anime comics:

Again, it felt like all the shops had the same merchandise for about
the same price. Some were higher...none that I shopped in were
lower than what I could buy this product for in the States. Is it the
weak dollar?

Also, I wondered about competitive differentiation if you owned a
store in this district. Why would someone buy a digital camera at
*your* store vs. the one down the block?

Not sure what we've got going tomorrow...but tonight is the "Ninja" restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. There is a black wall with a door in it. No sign. Unless someone told you it was there, you'd never know. The kids will get a kick out of this and I'll bet I will too.

In Harajuku (Shibuya district)

This afternoon we headed over to the Shibuya district...where kids
dress in fun ways. First we headed over there on the subway:

Here are four shots of some kids that dress in fun ways in Harajuku:

Huge crowds, though, on a Sunday as you can see from this short video.

Sunday Morning with the Ebert's

This morning we had the privilege to connect up with our neighbors, the Ebert's. It was a coincidence that we learned -- just a few weeks ago -- that the Ebert's were heading to Tokyo for a few days before going on to China and Singapore. This family has hit six of the seven continents and all 50 States in the US. I'm jealous.

Jon Ebert has traveled to Asia for a couple of companies and has stayed (and recommended to us) the New Otani Hotel where both families are currently. We found out yesterday that this hotel is in the top three in all of Tokyo...and it's very nice.

All together this morning we walked to a nearby shopping district
to look around and here is a picture of the kids in front of a temple
that we were about to visit:

Below is a shot of the kids at the start of a long stairway heading
up to the temple:

The entrance to the temple:

A look inside...there was a wedding starting in just a few minutes:

The wedding party. I grabbed a couple of pictures and realized that
we shouldn't be in there. Note the looks from the two groomsmen:

On the way back to the hotel, I saw this cover to a fire hydrant
under the sidewalk...and it was so interesting I had to grab
a snapshot:

That's it for now. This afternoon after lunch we're heading to
Ginza and Akihabara to do some power shopping.

Tokyo in a nutshell...

Today was warm and sticky which, we learned, is actually typical but we should've expected a lot of rain due to typhoons. Also, the last couple of years have given Tokyo residents the hottest days in recorded history (in excess of 90 and 100 degrees). We decided to take a half day tour of the city and its major districts.

Here's a shot of the Tokyo skyline from our hotel before we got started. Fairly overcast and you can see the moisture hanging in the air:

Here are four pictures from our tour of Tokyo today (the first is from the 40th floor observation deck overlooking the city and Tokyo Bay...and the river we were about to cruise on). In one of the pictures below, you'll see one thing we were stunned by: homeless tents lining the river in several places! Very unusual for Tokyo to see something like this:

The last picture is from the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives. We could only see the outside as there are only two days each year where the public is allowed inside. Nevertheless the grounds were quite beautiful:

We thought that there wouldn't be enough to see in Tokyo to justify the trip. We're learning that we'd need at least two weeks to give Japan a once over...and even that would be inadequate. Kyoto would've been nice to see -- and many say it *is* Japan -- but we simple won't have time. We intend to take a day-trip by bullet train to see Mt. Fuji this week as well as taking time in Tokyo to see the major districts (Ginza, Akihibara, etc.).

We made it!

After a fairly grueling 12 hour flight (with no more leg room in coach than on a flight to Chicago!) and over an hour to our hotel in Tokyo, we're here. We all collapsed in to bed after unpacking and slept until 6am Saturday (it's 4pm Friday at home).

The picture at left is when the trip "turned" for Alex. Originally not all that hot on the idea of Japan, he's *very* excited about the technology (this pop machine was fun and dispensed interesting soda) and our room has lots of fun stuff in it. He was particularly enthused about the toilet which has a built-in bidet and lots of buttons to do a variety of, ahem, tasks.

Now it's off on adventures. No idea yet what we're going to do today, but that's the fun of it!

Packing light?

We're 95% packed and ready to go. Since I'm usually the last one packed and the person that makes *certain* that I've got everything, I thought I'd point out how well I'm doing on this trip compared to Michelle, Biz or Alex.

Usually I'm a three bag guy: Tumi roller and duffel plus a briefcase for my computer. This trip I'm packed just in the Tumi roller (six days worth of clothes including dress shoes and workout shoes) as well as the backpack you see on your left. The kicker? The backpack weighs over 100lbs! Michelle is just shaking her head over how one guy can cram so much crap in to one piece of luggage.

I insist, though, that they're essentials. Let me list 'em:

1. Nikon D70 digital camera with an external zoom lens. Gotta take some good snaps in Japan, heh?
2. Canon Digital Elph camera for tossin' in your pocket for those snaps where I'm not schlepping the big guy
3. My 15" Powerbook for email, blogging, photo capture and manipulation, etc.
4. Extra external battery from APC which will give me an extra 6 or so hours of time with my Powerbook
5. Compact Flash card reader for sucking photos on to the Powerbook
6. iPod with tons 'o podcasts and music on it
7. Bose noise cancellation headphones (*really* helps with ambient noise fatigue on a 12 hour flight)
8. Headphones with microphone. I use Skype and SkypeOut for making phone calls over the internet though am not sure this will work well as it's my first time doing it
9. Audio Technica external shotgun microphone. We're going to try mobile podcasting with the Powerbook for grins
10. Assorted reading materials
11. A (small) zippered case with about 10 DVD movies that will appeal to all or some of us.

Don't you agree that any self-respecting tourist to Japan would bring these essentials? Other than that, I'm packing light!  :-)

--Steve

Heading to Japan

We're off tomorrow for our trip to Tokyo. I'll be posting periodically if you'd care to log on and watch our trip unfold.

We'll be spending most of our time within Tokyo. To date, we haven't signed up for any excursions...but plan to do so when we get there (the hotel has people that plan these all the time, along with English speaking guides).

There are several day trips that look fun. Mount Fuji, the bullet train, the Expo 2005 and maybe a town like Kyoto. We'll see how much time we have and whether or not we can uproot ourselves from our hotel.

Domo Arigato!