JAPAN - Tokyo

After quitting our jobs, breaking the news to our parents, reading up on various exotic diseases that cause swelling of the brain or shitting oneself to death and receiving the appropriate vaccinations (within reason), taking care of technicalities from banking to insurance to selling nearly everything we own, and receiving feedback ranging from 'Now's the time to do it, while you're young!' to 'Quit your job in this economy? Good luck!'- we arrived in Tokyo on the night of May 27th, 2013.

We landed around 7:30pm after an 11 hour flight from LAX to Tokyo Narita, and through the cheapest method of transportation covered the 50 or so miles in four hours to get from Narita Airport to Shinjuku where we stayed for four nights before moving on to the countryside.

The first two days we were kindly shown around Tokyo's hot spots by our friend Akiko. On the first day we strolled around the Asakusa shopping area taking pictures at the request of many a Japanese school kid and purchasing our fortunes before hitting the Unagi restaurant for lunch. After Asakusa we headed over to Shibuya and Harajuku to check out the shopping scene, stocking up on snacks and cutesy items at 100yen shops and discount stores. It took some self control for Charlie not to buy an adult sized pikachu suit at the Don Quixote discount store, and I for one will forever regret his decision not to. We met up with Hiroko and had dinner at an awesome restaurant in Shinjuku where you submit your orders via a tablet provided on the table throughout the evening, and we finished off the day with a good wholesome game of Tenko Hero (I'm making the name up...I think).

The next day we took the train to Tsukiji, the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. This was probably my favorite spot of all in Tokyo with lane after lane of shops and restaurants selling sushi, snacks, sweets, and all sorts of bizarre looking stuff that we weren't sure we even wanted to know what it was. We had lunch at a sushi place, naturally the best we've ever had. Then we went to Akihabara, Japan's otaku (anime fanatic) central, to see people dressed up like dolls and cat people handing out flyers advertising their shops.

On the final day, Charlie and I strolled around Shinjuku Gyoen (a large park in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo) in the rain, checking out old tea houses, towers, and a greenhouse. It was incredible to see such a thriving beautiful park with a backdrop of Tokyo skyscrapers. We spent most of the day there before doing a little bit of shopping and meeting Akiko, Hiroko, and their mother in the center of Shinjuku for a yakiniku dinner (Korean style grilled meat). This was definitely the highlight of our Tokyo stay as far as both of us are concerned. We had so much fun with them, and it was a blast to try different delicacies including beef tongue and diaphragm, all of which you cook yourself on grills built into the table.

Hoping all is well at home.