Saying Goodnight to Asia.....and hello to America.....

Although we had hoped to head down to Kyoto as well, our trip was cut short to get us home ASAP. So we stayed in Tokyo and took advantage of our time while waiting for an earlier flight. The city is run by subways, buses, and taxis. The least expensive is the subway, so that was our way around town, about 160 Yen ($1.60 US) and it worked fantastic.

We were staying an Akasaka, the business district with high rise hotels. Ours had a fabulous view of the city.
We found sushi everywhere, but no English to understand what was what. So we used pictures most of the time, and the pictures worked well, most of the time. We ate sashimi for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yup. You heard me right. Three meals a day of raw fish. The fatty tuna had Michelle doing a Harry met Sally restaurant scene at our own restaurant. You remember the scene…where Sally tells Harry that men really can’t tell if a woman is “faking it”. Michelle enjoyed the sushi sooooo much, she wasn’t faking it.

Since we didn’t know when we’d be taking off, we wanted to see the tourist spots we’d heard so much about. We took in the Sony building, home to brand new electronic gadgets. This place was floor after floor of TV, IPods, Cameras, etc. all on sale and no tax. Then over to a near by area called Asaska, where all the old temples reside in Tokyo. It is quite a famous area because one of the temples holds Buddha’s bone in one of its shrines. This is also a famous shopping area with some really great goods to be had. We were shopped out…or should I say Michelle was, so back on the subway.

What we noticed most about Japan is how everyone looked alike, dressed alike, and walked through their daily routine without smiles or laughter. After coming from Thailand and other parts of the south east known as the land of smiles, this proved to be such a stark society. We came to understand that this is just the way their culture is and has been. Emotion is held within in Japan. We had hoped to take in some Sumo wrestling, and visit the lands of the Geisha, but this too was cut out of the itinerary.

What did happen was we took a lovely trip through the countryside to the world famous Mt. Fuji on a tour bus. It was stupendous…reaching thousands of feet into the sky. What a vision. We were so excited to see snow. We played making snowmen and snowballs with the perfect crystalline dry flakes. Being skiers, we know our flakes, and Mt. Fuji had some of the best. After Mt. Fuji, the bus took us to the famous hot springs of Hakone, where we got a chance to see the hot springs and sulfur exude from the mountainside.

The people there were selling black eggs that were cooked in the sulfur, to which I said ,”No Thanks!”, but of course Michelle had to try one. This is supposed to increase your life 7 years, but I just think it will only increase her already over the top cholesterol. We’ll see when we get back home. All in all it was a very nice day. We were missing nature in Tokyo so the drive outside into the country was well appreciated.

On the way home we had a chance to experience the famous “Bullet Train”. WOW…..you talk about going fast, I’m not sure how fast we were going, but if you have ever fanned through a picture book, and watched the images, that exactly how we saw things pass by. No sooner were we back at the subway, and on to our hotel.

Our final day….at 4:00 A.M. …yes it was that early, Michelle wanted to check out the famous Tokyo fish market. My thoughts were, hey…we need our sleep. When we got there, we were amazed at how huge it was. Many tourists, like us were there with their cameras flashing. There were trucks and forklifts running everywhere, and you can’t get in the way. It’s their life and livelihood, so with a major language barrier, “HEY BUD WATCH OUT!!!”, you have to duck and maneuver and make sure you don’t end up as sushi. But the most important part of this experience was waiting for us behind closed doors. The fish auction.

There are rules of NO CAMERA FLASHING, etc. because there is a lot of action going on with a lot of money involved. So the tourists are let in through a single door, and we’re packed in like a can of sardines (no pun intended). At 5:00 Am, there is a Japanese prayer (I think), and there goes the auctioneer. He’s yelling this and that, and pointing to buyers in the audience. He’s jumping and yelling and singing and turning red in the face. It’s something to remember. To find out later, each piece of fish was being sold for somewhere around $20,000 US dollars. It was Blue Fin tuna for restaurants around the world. We left and ventured through the entire fish warehouse thinking, hey Sushi for breakfast….!

We left Japan for the west coast of the USA, and to say our good byes to a wonderful person in my life and to so many others as well. My Aunt Mary, the infamous Minnie the Mermaid. She told me to love life, experience the things you want to, and always love your family. This trip we’ve been on has been a dream of Michelle’s and mine for sometime, but with my Aunt’s inspiration and Michelle's determination, the both of them finally pulled me out of my box to enjoy the outside world. Many loving “Thanks” go to the both of them.