Luke - If every minor detail is going to be corrected or explained ad-infinity I'm done posting about the trip.

Went to the atomic bomb memorial today, it's overwhelming... Luke struggled in particular.

For me, being there was very different from researching facts and hearing people's first-hand accounts.

What hit me was that I was actually there, standing a short distance from where the bomb had gone off.  Everything I'd seen in the city in the prior 24 hours had not existed 70 years ago, and everything that existed 70 years ago was no longer there.  At best, there were places like Hiroshima Castle (replicas) and, at worst, there was some parking garage sitting underneath where the bomb had blown.

And, fuck, everything that dedicated museum staff had been able to pull together over that same 70 years filled a handful of display cases in two buildings.  That has to be the snapshot definition of cultural eradication.

Yeah, it was intense. You definiately moved on quickly through the more graphic exhibits and I can't blame you one bit

Day 2 (Full):

Wake up, very hungover. Later investigation revealed that I had drunk waaaay more than I thought I had, coming off a 3 day blitz before people arrived this was tough. Go to hotel and pick up everyone. Further investigation reveals there are embarrassing pictures of me on already in existence and someone's underwear will never be the same. It is important to establish a drunk standards early in a trip. Brunch at a bakery, several comments about weird Japanese food and we're just at a bakery, make mental note to scale down some of the food adventures.
Museums are closed so we go to Harajuku and Kyle/Ian head off to the Tokyo auto show. Kyle, please post pics of hot women from this. Sasha and Brooke like shopping a lot and should have some good pics, we start out trailing behind them but wander off eventually. Lucas found the extra greasy lotteria burger to be small, those burgers were made for smaller hands, taiko. We made it out the other side and were about to head off to the shrine when we got a call to go back to a pharmacy and help buy something. The events that followed were in approximate order: Nick is told what he needs to buy > stare blankly at wall a few times > look it up on online dictionary on cell phone > ask girl behind the counter > girl behind the counter stares blankly at nick who is staring blankly at girl and dictionary > Nick explains that it is something that women get > mutual lightbulbs go on and girl-behind-counter pulls out two packets and through mime we establish the desired option for administering product > pay > leave.
Danni, o-daiko and I head up to meiji shrine in the midle of a forest and see the first of 3 traditional Japanese weddings with a foreigner husband involved. Luke finds a praying mantis and buys a charm to protect him from evil and we cleanse our hands in the purifying water. We wander into a side-garden on the way back and have a look around while the girls come up to the shrine and see another Japanese wedding with a foreigner husband. On the way out we stop to say goodbye to the praying mantis which is practicing yoga in one of the dozens of bonsai trees on display. Get on train and go to Shibuya, wander around for a while and Brook buys condoms at condomania. a late lunch is eaten and we get on the train and head back. Dinner was a quiet one at an izakaya with an early night because we're on the 7am shinkansen heading to Hiroshima. Kyle stuns the group by actually having pictures of cars on his camera, which is better than I did when I went to the auto-show.

I had so much fun going shopping because I could stand there talking slang to japanese guys, such as "you are so fine."  I also got to tell a bunch of 15 year old boys that I loved them and they said they loved me back.  And finally, I got to panda-face a boy.  Who says western women have a hard time in Japan?! 

Where was this guy while we were in Japan? I would've panda-faced it. alllll night long.



Rocket Dive by Hide (the Japanese song that NakedNick sang)

Daitai onnaji mainichi
Soide maamaa sorenari OK
Dakedo, nantonaku sora miagechaun desho?
Kanzen musou no Boys&Girls
Kimochi minukarechau kara warau
Dakedo honki nanjyanai, sonna monjyanai

Nannen matte mite mo
Nani mo futte kiyashinain darou?
Kimi no mune no misairu kakaete yukou

Speed freaks baby rocket dive
Kimi no ibitsuna roketto
Kousoku no tabi wa isshun no supa-ku
Dakara Speed freaks baby rocket dive
Damatteite mo hi wa noboru
Matteru dake no kinou ni adio-su

Tatoeba tabi no tochuu
Kimi no enjin karamawari de
Sore de nantonaku munashikunaru desho?
Nanni mo naitte koto, soryaa
Nan demo aritte koto
Kimi no ikitai basho e doko demo yukeru

Sobieru roketto
Sabitsuku mae ni hasshasa
Nando demo uchiageyou
Ready? 3, 2, 1 Go!

Speed freaks baby rocket dive
Sabitsuku mae ni noritai
Tobidaseba kimi wa kanpekina roketto
Oide Space age baby rocket dive
Mienai basho e banji- daivu

Atarashii hoshi ga matataku uchuu e
Sail away

Nannen matte mite mo
Bokura uchuu no himajin darou
Kimi to mune no misairu kakaete tobou

Speed freaks baby rocket dive
Mienai basho e tobitai
Kousoku no kimi ga isshun no supa-ku
Oide Speed freaks baby rocket dive
Tsubasa, hirogete kimi ga Fly
Matteru dake no kinou ni adio-su

Atarashii hoshi ga matataku sekai e
Sail away

Day 3 (Hiroshima I): Barely slept all night, god knows why. Meet everyone at the station, and buy some supplies for the shinkansen. It was a long ride, but we covered 820 km in about 4 hrs, it takes about 40 minutes less on the fastest train but the folk without JR passes weren't eligible. Get to Hiroshima, dump stuff at hostel, take photo's of wig shop next door and walk over to shukkeien... stopping at a J-version of denny's for some food. I loved the garden, any time I spend in Japan that is not in Tokyo is good as far as I can tell. There was a museum of art right there so we hit that up too. At about 3 I realized we were only 10 minutes walk from Hiroshima castle so we wandered over for a look. Cool spot, Luke was blown away by the swords on display. When Luke and I got down the others were over by another shrine drinking beer so we had a sake, walked out of the cool castle grounds, hopped on a tram and went back to the hostel. Everyone had a nap and I had more beer and watched baseball.
For dinner we had Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, which I frikking loved, and then proceeded to lay waste to a Karaoke box a few floors up. Karaoke was a riot and Kyle got destroyed, but not before getting some videos of people jumping all over a room. Cool random moment of the evening was the waiter briefly rocking out with us when I sang Rocket Dive, a Japanese rock song from the 90's. Post Karaoke Kyle can't walk, so I give him the key, put him in a cab and the cab driver doesn't know the address I gave him. I get in the cab and we go back, with the others due to go to a bar. Kyle gets out of the cab after me and just before the cab drives away we realize he hasn't got the key. In a moment of stupidity I tell Kyle to run after the cab and he runs into a flowerpot. Despite setting new records for slowest chase of unmoving object, Kyle almost gets to the cab before it drives away. Kyle reaching out to grab a taxi that is already 4 yards down the street and accelerating is a memory that will live with me forever. Kyle looks after the cab for about 10 seconds and walks back over the road to tell me he didn't get the key. We go over to the Hostel door and I wave another guest to let us into the lobby but we can't get into our room so I have to call the owners to come let us in. I chat with the tourist while Kyle throws up in the bathroom as we wait. She was Vicky from the UK, and probably not amused at my drunken effort at conversation. Getting naked would only have made it worse so I didn't. Luke calls me and tells me they're walking home. Why they didn't get into a taxi and ask me to direct the driver I don't know but I suspect it was because they were drunk. We go upstairs and Kyle has a showever and is sick again. I go back to talking to the brit and have some beer from the vending machine. Everyone else comes back, gets more beer from the machine and I introduce them to Vicky.
We go up to the girls rooms and drink more and talk, Ian and Danni are next door and communicate with us in morse code throught the wall. Tricky goes to sleep so Sasha, Luke and I go down to the lounge and sit around talking. It's at this point that Sasha and I have a long drunken argument about how I'm sexist because I'm OK with Japanese women buying their own medication when capable of doing it. Sasha goes to bed so Luke and I walk around outside, buy more beer, drink it and go to sleep. Kyle is asleep in Luke's futon so Luke took Kyle's which wasn't put together correctly. I think we sat around talking for a while and maybe drinking more beer before going to sleep at 4am. Luke was excited to sleep on tatami mats.

The Kyle interludes are brilliant! This travelogue just gets better and better!

Day 4 (Hiroshima II):

Wake up and wish I hadn't because someone kicked my eyes through to the back of my head and filled my mouth with ash while I was asleep. Luke informs me it's 10:30 and the others are already up but he lied because Ian stayed in bed until 2. The girls had gone to a corner-store to get breakfast ingredients so I went 10 minutes further down the street to get almost the exact same thing at a supermarket. I make breakfast for Luke and Kyle and Danni makes the first of about 7 cups of tea I would have that morning.
Sasha goes back to bed and Brook wants to go to an art museum so the rest of us get on a tram and head over toward the atomic memorial. Luke realizes he needs camera batteries so he heads off to find some. Kyle, Danni and I wander up the park toward the museum, to be accosted by several groups of school kids who are asking us questions in Engrish as part of their homework. Over 300 yards we do this about 4 times, and get given paper cranes for our effort. We finally make it to the museum entrance and turn around to watch Luke have the same fun. It takes Luke about 20 minutes to cross the same ground and I'm about to pass out from hangover. The museum was chilling, every person should visit this place.
As we're walking back Ian showed so we warned him about the kids before getting on a tram and going back. The girls bought some ingredients at the supermarket so we have dinner at the hostel. While the girls are cooking Kyle has a nap and Nick and Luke go to a bar on the corner and have some sake. Dinner was great. We talked about going to the hot springs but the girls were against it so we just laid around in the hostel. Luke, Brook and I wandered off to try find a bar but didn't manage it, had some snacks in a ramen shop and went home. At the corner store we bought a bunch of beer and a Japanese card-game which I half-taught Luke how to play, but we fell asleep before getting a chance to play for money.

Brook and Sasha had adventures in a park and also flashing in a sticker photo machine. They can give details because all I know is the photo machine sticker manufacturer has new spank and advertising material.

Did anyone get a pic of Tricky flashing her boobs at the Tokyo karaoke?

Kyle? Kyle?

Kyle?

I am far more jealous than I thought I'd be.

Day 5 (Hiroshima III):

Wake up early and due to the raging success of Nick's Breakfast I make Nick's Breakfast II. Gather up all our gear and Kyle and head off to the station. Dump stuff in locker and catch a local train out to Miyashimi-kuchi and a ferry across to Miyajima. My favorite stop of the week, lots of deer walking around everywhere and the shrine and surrounding temples were stunning. I want to spend 2 days exploring there. Luke, Ian and I wandered into the foothills and found some great little temples, very very cool. I stole Kyle's camera so he has some great pics from on the island. On the way back we ate many snacks including a bacon & cheese on a stick special that Ian took a liking too, corn, chicken and pork goodness. A deer started following luke trying to get at his finished corn cob but Luke's lack of game extends to deer and she was picked up by another buck after a few minutes. We also saw the world's largest wooden spoon, I think Luke has pics of this. The shrine was hosting a Japanese wedding with a foreign husband, go figure. Back on ferry and back to Hiroshima. We hit up the standing udon place and I think everyone liked it, I know Luke did and he even slurped a little. Went for a wander around, grabbed our gear and Kyle, jumped on the train and away. On the train I was sitting next to a Japanese lady and we hit it off, she was living in Seattle and my wife and I now have a place to stay if we're ever in town.
We get into Tokyo, dump the stuff at the hotel and I go find Yusuke. Luke, Kyle, Ian, Danni and I head to an Izakaya with him for much salad and yakitori and shochu. We're all toasted from the adventures so far but the drink is good. I think Kyle only had tea but we let him off because he is a wee fella. Wife shows up eventually, she knows Ian and Danni so they hug lots and we have more drink. Go home, celebrate seeing my wife again after a week (she was in the USA for a bit) and am about to go to sleep when the phone rings. It's Luke, informing me that the girls and Kyle have gone out. I digest this important piece of information and pass out. The details of their trip to Roppongi can come from Brook because it sounded like fun, but they managed to spend about $50 on taxi fees when walking 300 yards from your hotel would have saved you $30 off that. Consult your tour guide folks, especially when the alternative for giving directions is Kyle.

Day 6:

Wake up and call Ian. He, Luke and Danni are at the National museum in Ueno so off I go. I love this museum, it is massive. Highlights were the display of samurai blades, some of the oldest surviving pottery in the world (a little over 12,000 years) and the Lotus scroll. Any others of you make it over here and this is at the top of the list of things to do. I find the others after a while and we head off to Ameyokocho, which is a market area around Ueno station. Brook, Sasha and Kyle have woken up by this point and we agree to meet at Ueno. On the way there we find a bazaar selling pottery and snacks from the Saga region in Kyushuu where I went to school in 1999 so looked around a bit and Luke got some presents.
We all wander around ameyokocho for a bit until I find a sushi place. Ian and Danni hit up the ramen shop next door and the rest of us dug in. Brook enjoyed it so much she ate 18 pieces. Great stuff. After sushi we split up and I was walking around with Luke when Ian called him and they shot off to Akihabara to look at computers and shops selling border-line porn. I wander a bit more and stumble onto Kyle so we go looking for adult DVD shops. Tricky gets done with her shopping and we meet up at an anime figurine emprium of some sort that Kyle is buying presents at. I'm starting to get tired of this so it's coffee time and off to Asakusa on the subway. I used to live nearby and know the area well enough. There's tons of shops and the temple and gate are cool. Wander for a bit before heading back, stopping on the way so Kyle and tricky can try taiyaki. We get on the train but decide to go to the imperial palace as it's on the way home. It's getting dark by now but we had a cool twilight photo session in the fountain park near the palace, Kyle post some pics man. The train station was far away by this point, so we got in a cab and rode down to the Tokyo tower, cue more photo taking. Wander through my local area and tricky and kyle got to meet some of my baseball buddies who would be getting naked with them later on. Home, shave and a beer in the shower later and we're off to Yusuke's great washoku restaurant.
A few plates of nabe and tempura later and it's karaoke time. Sasha enjoyed herself hitting on any member of the baseball team foolish enough to glance her way. you've seen the pictures but the baseball lads made sure the party was a good one, shame more of them weren't free but friday night is tough for most of them with restaurants and bars to run. Tricky asked me to take my pants off and I did. Kyle and Luke took a stupid amount of photographs of the girls and probably failed to get Sasha and Tricky flashing us their panties on camera. After Karaoke we went to an underground club called muse that steve likes (leftmost on the ass pic). Sasha and steve took off at some point, Kyle isn't into clubs, singing or partying and wont wear his hat on backwards and I danced with a wee hot j-girl who tried to undo my belt before ditching her to dance with brook who didn't. I think we got home at 5.


Day 7:

Someone called me at 10:30 to ask me what the plan is and I didn't have one so they went to harajuku to see the goths who weren't there. The girls went shopping while the rest of us had extreme hangovers over brunch. After that all we were good for was sitting in a park and waiting for the sky to stop switching up with the ground. Brook and Luke left first, then we went back to the gracery and kicked out Kyle and Sasha before finding a park to relax in until the last couple were due to go. I went chiropractor -> hot bath -> bed.


On a side note, I woke up at 6 the next day, got on the shinkansen and played in a cricket match, we won and avoided relegation from division 1, and one of our players who is a managing director at a securities firm took the team halfway up the mori tower for cigars and GT's... in our cricket gear. What a week. Now please to be posting pictures of the events described. Less of my ass and more of tricky's thighs and sasha's rack

Gather up all our gear and Kyle and head off to the station. Dump stuff in locker...

Sasha unsuccessfully tries to convince Kyle to climb into a locker for safe storage.

On the way back we ate many snacks including a bacon & cheese on a stick special that Ian took a liking too.

Additionally, we picked up a deer for about 300 yards.  I think it wanted some tasty food-on-a-stick treats, but another deer ended up scaring it away before we made it back to the ferry.  I was really looking forward to seeing how the ferry station people would deal with a deer wandering in with us.

Now please to be posting pictures of the events described.

I'll get on this tonight, after work!

I PROMISE I WILL, TRICKY.

a Japanese card-game which I half-taught Luke how to play

Hanafuda? I need to get a deck...

I am far more jealous than I thought I'd be.

Nick spins a good tale. Love the interlinks, by the way.

a Japanese wedding with a foreign husband, go figure.

So are they just giving away chicks left and right, then?

I totally forgot the deer incident. added

Miyajima

TONKA!!

* FAH-Q continues reading now

Good shit, guys. More pics plz.

The Kyle interludes are brilliant! This travelogue just gets better and better!

Well it would be nice if it were parsed a bit better.
You know, divide it up a bit.

Bitch, bitch.

i would have to change the way it's written

You mean all breathless with no pauses?

LOL

You mean all breathless with no pauses?

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW WE EXPERIENCED JAPAN.

less caps and more pictures, cowboy

working on it!

if only I could upload them directly to a photo gallery integrated into the board, this would be a lot easier!

working on it!

if only I could upload them directly to a photo gallery integrated into the board, this would be a lot easier!

when have we ever cared to make things easier?

When has that ever stopped us from complaining about it?