I know its a few days late, but here's the Tokyo post. I got back from a 3 1/2 day trip to Tokyo where I stayed with my friend Hiroyuki from Germany. Together, we traveled to the big tourist places in Tokyo, including Akihabara (the Anime mecca of the world) Shinjuku, the Asakusa temple and Tokyo Tower) as well as some lesser known locales. Tokyo was the biggest city I have ever been in, and it was quite cool actually, a lot different than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a concrete jungle with no green, and people hectically rushing around. While there were quite a lot of buildings and high rises there, Tokyo seemed to have its own kind of homey feel, and the people seemed to be surprisingly laid back.

After getting in around 4 on Monday, we went out to dinner and I met some more Japanese who I met in Germany. It was a lot of fun talking with these people all of whom I hadn't seen in two years. Many of the men have become "Salarymen" (Hiro included), which is means they work 12 hour shifts six days a week and get less than a week of vacation per year. After dinner, we headed off to a karaoke bar and sung crazy songs, before heading back to Hiro's parents' house, completely knackerd.

Day 1, we went to Akihabara and Shinjuku where we took and elevator up the Japanese parliament building. We also had lunch in a sky lounge (25th floor restaurant) in the building where Hiro works. I also was worked on by a guy who did some kind of energy work, like Reiki. Akihabra was absolutely crazy, hoards of hungry Otaku scoured the streets looking for their next fix, while we tried not to get trampled and took a break in a maid-cafe, where young girls dressed as maids served us melon soda and root beer floats.

As day 2 rolled around, I had regained much of my energy. We headed off to Tokyo tower, the large red and white likeness of the Eiffel Tower, where we took an elevator up to the first level. Afterwards, we headed to Asukusa, a famous temple in Tokyo, where we did a little shopping along a famous pedestrian mall.

On the day I left, I was awoken in the early morning by an earthquake, apparently registering a 4 or so. It was the first one I had ever been in, and was quite a scary experience. It was a unique way to top off my Tokyo experience, and it was a trip I won't soon forget.