Sayonara!

Last post! It's been a fun couple of days in Tokyo. We've been staying in Asakusa in the northeastern part of the city (the street scene above). Jeremy and I spent the days just walking through random neighborhoods in the city and seeing new places. The goal has been to relax and see things at a slow pace, and I think we've accomplished that. (I've also accomplished a lot of shopping) There has been no real architecture to report on other than we saw the Tokyo Sky Tree under construction which will stand 634m tall when it's done and will be the tallest freestanding broadcast tower in the world (see below):So, for my last meals, I had sushi and okonomiyaki (and ice cream, obviously). In fact, we found a place where you make your own okonomiyaki at a griddle at your table. Turns out, after 28 days in Japan, I'm capable of making a cabbage pancake. Note: Jeremy was much better at flipping the pancake than I was. Here are some action shots:



Hope y'all have had fun reading this. I've had a blast in Japan, and if you ever need a travel buddy to come to Nippon, give me a call. Sayonara! (Until Lindsay's in another country...)

I hope my buildings never look like this...

The Flame d'Or... or the Golden Turd, as it's known here in Tokyo

Too legit to quit?

Bunk buddies!

Please note I am standing on our balcony to take this picture and you can see the door/wall next to Jeremy. That was the extent of our room.

Land of the Rising Sun

There is something very important that you should know about Japan: the sun rises at approximately 4:45am during the months of May and June. This wouldn't be a problem except that only 50% of our hotels/hostels/inns this trip have had shades. Initially, we thought we were just waking up so early the first week because of jet lag, but it became readily apparent that we were, most definitely, in the land of the rising sun. So, voila, a picture I took one morning at 4:54am after awaking from a sound sleep:

Pretty bright, eh? And my window wasn't even facing east.

An Interesting, New Development

Jeremy and I got back to Tokyo today, and we were pumped to find our hostel was near a great train station and near a bunch of stuff. And then we checked in...

Bunk beds. Our room has bunk beds. And only bunk beds. By which I mean, our luggage barely fits in the room also. So, Jeremy and I will be reaching a new level of coziness in our friendship. I guess our last hostel which had individual rooms and bathrooms in each room for $35/night was the exception to the rule. Bummer.

But I bet this'll make for a good story.

Tourists to the MAX

Because we have been doing a lot of architecture, Jeremy and I decided to do completely inane tourist stuff for the first portion of our day. This included riding the Tempozan Harbor Village Ferris wheel (formerly the largest in the world in the early 21st century) and going to the aquarium. Osaka has one of the best aquariums in the world, and I agree. It was pretty cool. They had penguins, sea otters, finless porpoises, dolphins, jellyfish from the deep sea, and whale sharks. WHALE SHARKS. They are huuuuuuuuuuuge.

Whale shark

Relaxin' and thinkin' sea otter (see his little paw pressed to his temple?)

Dolphin friend

Penguins!
Giant sea crabs
Octopus swimming

After that we headed to Osaka-jo, formerly the site of Osaka castle where there stands a replica of the castle tower. Built originally sometime in the 1200s, the castle has long since been destroyed, and in 1931, they decided to build a concrete replica of just the tower building. If you think this tower is big, imagine how big the castle must have been on the grounds.