Day 4 - Off to the races

With the worst of the stomach woes in my past, but it making for a not so restful sleep, I decide to just give up around 4AM so I could sit on the couch and reevaluate our planned day. A few weeks prior when I was double-checking the horse racing (Ba'nei) times and schedule for Monday, I came across the fact that they start much later than they do on the weekend, at 14:00. I took that as our opportunity to smoosh in another attraction along the way, a Salmon/Aquarium place where you can walk "on top of" the river and see them out in nature, along with a few more cool looking exhibits. However, the unplanned very bad night of sleep and still not feeling 100% took that newly formed thought and threw it right back out the window. 

Instead, after some convincing, we opted for a slow start to the morning, hanging around playing video games and eating another Konbini breakfast. We would end up on the Sapporo train to Chitose around 10AM, this was the connection point to Obihiro and the racetrack area, it should put us right where we needed to be close to that 14:00 start time along with a little exploration along the way.

Chitose Outlet Mall seemed to be the only thing in or around the station to look at during our 50 minute train layover to get to Obihiro. Not having walked a whole lot by this point (we took a taxi to Sapporo station this morning as Uber worked like a charm in these larger cities), we took a quick run across the street to find out what was there and if it would be worth it. A big sign greeted us, along with a bunch of America outlet mall brands of shoes and clothing. KRISPIE KREME- um, yes please? Of course it turned out to be clear on the other side of the mall, making it for a brisk walk to ensure we wouldn't be stuck for an extra hour train layover (these country trains do not run often!). Success was had with a half dozen "traditional" glaze and chocolate donuts and one kitsune Hokkaido special, I'm told it was a custard type as it wasn't what I ate this day and we marked the first of a couple Eastern versions of American brands off our try list- this one seemed to have pretty good flavor and nice soft donuts, but markedly not as in-your-face pure sugar overload as every single Kristpie Kreme in American has. Very interesting and a bit hard to describe, but I like it.

Obihiro Racecourse for the Ban'ei racing was next. The train ride continued through the countryside until we arrived at a town/small city. It was nice and spread out, not like Tokyo, Kyoto or even Sapporo that we'd seen before. There were more cars, auto shops, gas stations and even bikes here. There wasn't as much walking and definitely not as many train stations, the nearest stop being the JR station over a 25-minute walk away, inside which only had a few souvenir shops and several small "pop up" type restaurants. No malls here. Deciding to hop into a taxi to get the 20-25 minute walk over in a 8 minute drive instead turned out to be a good call, as malls were not what we were after here.

No, today was all about the horses, and the traditional racing known as Ban'ei. Ever since reading Silver Spoon, our daughter had been hyper focused on seeing these giant horses in person. Me being the fan I am of such oddball things then promised her during COVID that this would go on our Japan list for the next trip, which only seemed like fantasy for years. Now that the trip was actually planned and we were well on our way of exploration, the whole day was for her and the fantasy that was playing with, feeding and seeing these giant horses and traditional sport in action. According to her, it did not disappoint and was just thrilling to see the slowing horse race known to man in action. Instead of the laps and by a hair finishes you see at the betting places and domestic horses stateside, these were horses made for nothing but pulling, and pulling sleds very carefully over large hills is what they did. If you are not able to separate your feelings from traditional sports, the use of animals for such things and newer more "humane" thinking then this might not be the place for you, but taking it at face value and appreciating the traditional aspect, horses themselves, the love and care the owners have for the horses and the awe of the place itself was enough enjoyment for me. It definitely wasn't your traditional American's stop in Japan and that always piques my interest.

Inside the racetrack (aside from the racing area itself) was a betting area (we didn't partake), kids play area (for smaller kids), snack stalls, souvenir shops, an area to go out to some stalls and feed the horses, ponies and even bunnies they had there and finally a "museum" area where they talked about the sport, had some awards/trophies on display, showed the farmers and farms these guys came/come from and other aspects of it, mostly in Japanese. Parts of the large building had some beautiful paintings, which I was sure to grab photos of, and there were some very funny traditional board sign photo op spots as well. We stayed for two full

races, grabbed a few souvenirs, ate some ice cream, fed the horses and took plenty of photos before heading back out. It was a full afternoon and without a clear way of how to get a taxi to take us back to a station, we flailed for a few minutes before deciding to just walk, thankfully we had some gas left in our tanks due to the slow morning and taxi ride to the track! One quick nod to the whole reason we ended up here was seen on our way out- I believe this was in front of one of the currently closed museum buildings, I was honestly surprised to not see any merchandise or other nods the entirety of the actual facility otherwise.

It was a long walk back, I'm thinking closer to 30 minutes at our slower-than-Google-calculated pace. There wasn't too much to see in Obihiro, no huge shopping centers, no neon lights, barely even any trains or overpasses. It looked more spread out and urban than any Japanese town I'd see thus far. Reminded me much more of how American towns are spread out and how you can't get anywhere comfortably without a car. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just very different, and not exactly my favorite feeling. We were darn hungry by the time we made it back to the station too, and not knowing what time we were leaving there were no reservations to make for the train back. They seemed to run on an hourly schedule or so and we had a little over an hour to grab a bite to eat at one of those aforementioned pop-up restaurants. Tonight's menu would be ramen- ran by a single guy behind the counter, costing an entire 600Y a bowl and darn tasty. Afterwards we were ready for the 2 hour long train ride back to the apartment- along with the traditional Japanese napping-on-trains and all.

It was a long, but relaxing ride back, nothing to really report on other than the fact that it takes forever to get to and from Obihiro. Google is not lying when they say 2 hours, but you also have to account for the train layovers and then actually commuting from the train station to your place of staying. I believe we didn't make it back to the apartment before 9:30-10PM this night, making for one of our longest days in Japan. Tuesday would not bring a long day of rest either, instead we were going right back at it as it was time to see the zoo next. I couldn't find that much information on Murayama, just that it was a nice looking area and that I was going to chicken out on commuting to and instead fork over about 2,600Y for a taxi- more on that in Day 5.

Day 3 - Ginza to Sapporo

I had a rough night of waking up between 8PM and 3AM, at which time I finally gave up to go get dressed and find a Konbini (very well knowing nothing actually opens in Japan until 10AM) for a quick bite to eat and cold drinks. Everyone else ended up waking up, so we all ventured out in the drizzly rain at around 4AM. The streets were still mainly void of people, we saw a decked out race car parked on the side of the road with the driver nearby, a very drunk gentleman stumbling down the sidewalk and a few bar hoppers still walking home from their night out (not looking as drunk). I made the conclusion that the bars around here must close at 4AM, since as we walked more and more of these super stylishly dressed, like bar workers, were roaming about and the streets already had numerous people before we made it back with our Konbini stash of food shortly before 5AM. Our Shinaknsen for Sapporo left early, but not this early, so it was time to get a bite to eat, repack and make our way to the station slowly.  Our first Konbini trip was a success with soft boiled eggs, a bread something-or-another that was tasty and juice/cold waters to hold us over. Why is a soft boiled egg from the Konbini this fresh and delicious tasting? That's a mystery someone from the U.S. will sit astounded at all day long, only taken for granted here in Japan.

We all knew we were in for a long day of travel, this would be the longest one of the entire trip, clocking in at around 8 hours before we'd be up and about again. The first stint was on the Hokuto/Hakodate line and would end there, this is the famous "underground Shinkansen" that connects Honshu to Hokkaido to the north. I was excited to finally make it out of the tourist zone and go exploring here on the third try, to make it all the better, this was my first time being in Japan without bitter cold eating away at us. After much research, my weather plan was working out perfectly, Hokkaido would be 65-70F and cloudy/drizzle the entire time we were there. Not making for those 100% perfect pictures or nice views from higher up, but making it perfect weather to just be there and walk at our own pace. The excitement started to hit again as we traveled through the countryside of Japan seeing all of the flooded rice patties, mountains and greenery pass us by.

One smooth Shinkansen ride later, we were in Hakodate for our transfer to the Hokuto Express, that would take us the last 2 hours over to Sapporo. The Shinkansen extension to make it all the way there (through many mountains, might I add), is due to be completed in 2030. This complex network of trains and fast/efficient travel does not happen overnight! It was a pretty simple process of hopping off one train and over to the next, with a few Konbini and Eki Bento shops along the way, I decide to grab myself my first Eki Bento and we continued the long journey.  Going at a more leisurely pace allowed for some photos to be taken

from the windows and observation of more fields, but this time some of them had horses and cows scattered about. This is where we were, Hokkaido of the north where almost all of Japan's diary comes from. A little sad I wouldn't be able to partake in it all for my GI upset reasons, I made it a must for kiddo to drink some milk and eat some ice cream while we were visiting, a demand she had no problems complying with.

Sapporo Station, ah, another labyrinth of malls and mazes. And for the first time this trip, but no stranger to us realizing that .4 miles is way longer when you have luggage with you.  Instead of doing the smart thing and hailing a taxi for a 900Y cost to the apartment, we decide to walk it. 16 minutes with 25LBS on your back through a busy mall (we were here on a Sunday, tripling the traffic load) and down back alleys wasn't the most fun we'd have, but it was necessary at this point.

Luckily the AirBNB apartment was ready to be checked into and I had very detailed instructions on the process that had nothing to do with interacting with people. A quick code to get into the building and a few turns of an old style lock to get into the mailbox for a very traditional looking key and we were in what would be "home" for the next 4 days. The two bedrooms, living room, separate wash room and toilet down the hallway with a small living room, kitchen and dining room table were more than sufficient for the three of us, I was happy to be grounded for a few days and just sit down for a little bit before trying to figure out the rest of our evening. However, the earth had a wake up call for us, not 5 minutes after we sit down on the couch we here "BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP----- BWOOP BWOOP BWOOP". Having been just 3 weeks out from watching Suzume, I knew this noise! It was your 5 second earthquake warning and earthquake it was! Being on the 8th floor of this complex, it was quiet the shake, so myself and Terra head under aforementioned table until it decides to calm down. Looking at the reports it turned out to be a low 5 on the Japanese scale, basically enough to notice, but not enough to pause trains or knock over the glass on your table. Anything higher and stuff would've definitely been falling over. It took as a very real reminder to talk to Terra about safety and being prepared for these things, as I normally try to be, but sitting through a real earthquake was something for the memory book. In the prior 5 weeks total I've been here, we only had one other very small one in Nikko back in 2010- at the time we weren't even positive that's what it was. An earthquake big enough to trigger a warning was new!

Falling into what I sensed would become a pattern, we didn't really have time for "real lunch" besides what we could find at the train station and it now being close to 5PM, it was time to go find dinner. We had to go back to the Station to pickup the rest of our reserved tickets at a machine anyway, so I was really hoping to hit up a small Ramen place on the way back- the station itself was not hard to navigate in comparison to other places (especially in the coming days, more on this later), however once back in the station and with tickets obtained, we started to look around and realized there was a few cute pop up shops (BT21 and the like) AND a Pokemon center in this area. It was a very large complex of several malls and it really wasn't clear where the center was, so it was a few back and forth, turn around and then turn again and we finally made it into the only 8F mall there meaning it had to be the right one (the first two stopped at 7F). I wasn't aware of a center here, but of course there was, this was our experience in 2018 as well, there turned out to be a center almost everywhere we stopped instead of just the one place I had mapped out. We took the opportunity to grab a few necessities such as IC card pass holders and a wallet, but refrained from "shopping" as these were bags that would have to be hand carried for the next 2 weeks while travelled across the country by train.

Unable to find a ramen place (odd as I remember passing more than one on the walk to the apartment earlier), we ducked into one of Sapporo's famous "soup curry" places. I can't leave an unbiased review as I think I messed up the order and either made it medium or spicy (which ended up being a 7/10 spicy or so on our weak stomach scales). It tasted good overall, but the spice level was too high and I sadly ended up feeling pretty sick the rest of the night (the room even start to spin a bit). We walked the remaining few minutes to the apartment and I quickly took a shower and passed out, hoping to feel better by morning as we were off to the races next.

Days 1 and 2 - Flights and Ginza (June 9/10, 2023)

Full disclaimer here: this is our first time going back to Japan since late 2018, our 2020 trip was unable to be planned because of the pandemic and this was the first real shot we had at going again since Oct 2022 when borders were re-opened. As such, I've been saving for this trip for nearly 4 years in both cash and points, allowing for some more splurges then you'd normally see me have. We are flying Economy Plus, traveling in Green Car class train seats and not worrying too much if it takes a taxi ride to get somewhere. That being said, I still very much travel on a budget and aside from one or two meals, we aren't eating anything extravagant or going to any high end shops. Let the fun begin!

Friday morning (Washington D.C.) - nothing much to note, we get through security and on to our plane at IAD bound for Newark without issues. I realized early on just how much water I'll need to drink on this trip however as I was feeling unwell most of this short flight. We had a tight connection in Newark and with a delay on the landing and being stuck on the runway we basically had to run from one plane to the next, not the most fun I've ever had.

Finally on our long haul flight, but with our bags now scattered across several overhead bins in front of and behind us, I realized all too quickly how hard it was going to be to retrieve our entertainment options. While booking the seats, I opted to pay an additional $224 per ticket each way on the international flights for economy plus and chose the first row in order to maximize leg room. Unfortunately this also meant there were no seats in front of us to stow anything, making life a bit more difficult and bags out of reach overhead (and scattered due to the late boarding).

The flight was long, no getting around that. A little bit of maneuvering and walking around the cabin here and there, we managed to get some headphones and the switch out for some Zelda gameplay, but overall it dragged on for forever.

Finally landing in Haneda Saturday, 2pm local time our 16 hours of being in planes and more than that traveling was over. Immigration and Customs had significant lines, but as Japan usually does, it was all very well organized and moved constantly. I messed up one form for my customs baggage as I claimed my personal laptop in confusion of having to tell them about anything of value I was bringing in and had to go through the manual line, but even that moved quickly. By 3pm we were at the Yamato counter trying our best to ship the one small roller bag we had for luggage somewhere close to our apartment in Sapporo. Google translate already came in handy, as to my surprise, they didn't speak any English at the counter. However, after 20 minutes or so and a few forms and 2,000Y paid, the bag was gone and the best we could do was hope we would see it again.

JR passes were next on the agenda, I had done research and decided it would be easiest and cheapest to take the airport train from Haneda to Tokyo Station using our passes, so getting them at the airport was a necessary evil. The line had about 4 people inside and 10 outside (meaning the lobby area of Haneda) where they would check your confirmation and passport before letting you get into the "real" inside line. The sign said it would take an hour from where I was standing, but it moved quickly and I feel I was out of there in less than 30 minutes, though I didn't exactly time it. Something to note if you are traveling with a group, the purchaser (me, in this case) is the only one that should get in line with everyone's passports, they will process everything when you get up to the counter and give you all the passes, this helps not have hundreds of people (with luggage) clogging up the little office and the overall line. Also to note, there is an IC chip shortage going on right now, so the regular Suica and Pasmo IC cards are not currently available, after a quick inquiry on how to get our 11-year old children's rates on the train/bus (half price), I was confident I could get one for her later in Hokkaido and went on my way.

Locating the airport train and getting on turned out to be pretty darn simple. This being our third trip to Japan and even more things being assigned numbers and English (Romaji) translations there were no issues at all. The car was standing only for about 20 minutes, making the realization we were here and this was the next 28 days hit quickly. Funny, thought I'd be more emotional coming back after trying so hard for so long to return, but something feels like being in the "right" spot here. There was no real emotion, just more of a "let's do this" sort of vibe in the air, even as exhausted as we were.

The Hyatt turned out to be a bit of a hike with luggage (well, backpacks really) through Ginza's evening air. It was around 80F, but stifling humid. A small drizzle in the air and empty stomach's did not make any easier. Check-in was flawless (in English) and after getting the elevator to work with the key card (I tried several times and then the reception had to come over, do the same thing, which worked the first time for him), we were in our room. It was huge for a Japanese hotel room. Those Japanese tubs never cease to amaze me, however this time around I was too tired for that. An instant shower with a good hair scrub and reapplication of make-up and we headed outside for our first real meal in 25+ hours.

So many izakaya's under the tracks, drizzle coming down and party people on the street. Ginza is the uptown of Tokyo,  walking past the Gucci and Rolex stores made sure you knew and I felt a little out of place in such an area. We made our way to Tokyo Station and the underground maze that they call a mall or station complex here to find food. Not really knowing what it should be, I made the final decision to duck into a Tempura/Soba place that had tablet ordering and a nice table in the corner. It was a bit hot inside, but the food was exactly what we all needed and enjoyed it tremendously. Ah, Japanese food in Japan, there is not comparison. Out an entire 2,800Y for three full meals, it was time to relocate to that bed in the Hyatt.

Sleeping on the first day always sucks and this was no exception. Your body goes into overdrive having to stay awake and functional for so long and then your internal clock is yelling at your for laying down at 8AM body time. This is what I would call a fitting conclusion to one long day (that was actually two).

Day 13 - Adventure through Japan "Yokohama and Akihabara"

Part I - Long morning, Yokohama:  We had a simple plan for the day, meet Jasmine, an old friend from North Carolina in Yokohama at 9:15 at a designated 7-11, explore Chinatown for a bit and then head to the Ramen Museum.  The rest of the day was sort of just free time, we knew we wanted to finally go to Akihabara for awhile though.

We knew Yokohama was close to the bay and much closer to the Ocean then Tokyo itself and also were prepared for the 45 minute train ride south to get there.  What we were not prepared for was the 50mph or higher wind we encountered once we finally arrived.  Luckily, we left early (around 7:45am) because this is the only time the train ran late or was delayed the entire time we were in Japan.  Due to the high winds, we got stuck on the track for an additional half hour or so, it was not fun.  Finally out and at the 7-11, we were stuck waiting for Jasmine for an addition half hour since she was also delayed.  The morning was long and already not looking too good.

Part II - China Town:  In attempt to still do something with the morning, we begin the walk to Chinatown while chatting and just generally catching up with a friend we hadn't seen in years.  The entire group decided we should look for a Starbucks or like place so we could catch a drink and some breakfast.  Oh yeah, did I mention it was still only around 45F and light rain with this high wind?  The weather was not pleasant at all for the morning.

Our Chinatown visit ended up being nothing more then walking through a street of it to get to a Starbucks (Chinatowns always seem to have a nice two story Starbucks, why is that?) and another street on the way back out to the train station.  Nearly ever shop was still closed because it was still very early morning to them (something I never got used to), there wasn't even a lot of people out and about due to the wind.  The wind was so strong we were actually dodging full potted plants (that probably weighed 30lbs or more) that had knocked over in front of stores and onto the sidewalks and downed signs.  It was not very fun, but at least we had food in our stomachs from the Starbucks.

Part III - Ramen Museum:  After some confusion on what train to take and what station we even made it inside to we finally figure out that Yokohama has a local only and a longer JR line system.  Unfortunately, the station we were at was local only, so the switch at Shin-Yokohama to the JR line took longer then we had hoped.  After the debating and finally walking on to the correct line, we were on our way to the Ramen Museum.

After getting off here, I recall the wind was a little less terrifying.  Probably around 20-25mph now.  The map we had to get to the Ramen Museum was rather straight-forward, so after about five or six blocks of walking we located it without too many issues.  At one point I thought we had taken a wrong turn, but it turned out Matt knew where we were going somehow. 

Once inside it was about 11am and starting to become lunch time.  I was rather disappointed by the "museum" ascpect of the place as there really wasn't much to see and none of it was in English.  Matt, myself and Jasmine continued on to the bottom floor (two stories underneath) in order to search for some real ramen instead.  The entire basment was set up like Edo era Japan, it was a pretty awesome site.  Ramen stalled lined the outside walls of the entire first floor, with the second floor having a replica bath and a few more restuarants.  We realized the place was starting to fill up with people rather quickly, so we move on to a Ramen ticket machine and quickly head inside to get the goods.  It was a good decision as by the time we were finished eating (the Miso Ramen was some of the best I ever had too), the lines to get a bowl in any of the 15 or so shops was at least 30 people long each.  It was lunch time for sure.

With the guys in a line that would take at least an hour to get through, we grab Donnie (as she was unable to determine if any of the Ramen was vegetarian) and head back out to explore this side of Yokohama for awhile as by this time we had enough of the crowds that were inside.  We end up just walking around a few blocks adjacent to the museum for awhile, with Donnie stopping at a Kombini for food and ended back up at the museum to get the guys so we could head to Akihabara.  We had to wait awhile longer for them to come out, but I was enjoying watching the waterfall that was directly across the street from the Ramen Museum entrance (I believe it was for the restaurant there), it was very calming. 

We finally left around 2pm, it was time to finally see what Akihabara had in store for us.

Part IV - Akihabara:  The train headed to Akihabara was pretty packed, so we actually got split up between cars trying to find a place to sit.  Jasmine and myself ended up sitting next to each other, while the other four walked between cars to find seats for themselves.  The ride was going to be long, about an hour if we didn't hit any delays, so while Jasmine was reading on her mobile device (I don't recall what it was), I decided to blend in with the rest of the Japanese people that ride the train and fell asleep.

I was surprised at the fact that I actually did get some rest while sleeping like that, before I knew it we were at Akihabara.  Once off the train and in one large group again, we formulate the plan to meet back up at the train station around 6pm (I think).  Matt, myself and Jasmine decided to walk together, while the rest of the group went off on their separate ways. 

I had a "tour map" printed out prior to coming here, with all of the shops I wanted to hit marked out.  Among the list were places like Yellow Submarine (used figured), Softmap #7 (specifically more used figured), Animate, Gamerz, Radio Kaiken, Super Potato and more.  By this time we had decided that there was not enough room/weight left in our bags to purchase any books, so I walked through any book floors or stores quickly so as to not purchase anything.  We did however stop in a few used game stores as well. 

Yellow Submarine was awesome for some of the model kits they had in stock and for some of the life-sized anime figures on display (sadly, no pictures allowed).  One of the most memorable was a set of Ah, Megami-sama! figured that must have been 7 foot tall each, I was later able to find normal figure sized versions of the three statues for 1,200 yen, so I just had to buy them.

Animate was also memorable for how they displayed merchandise, it was organized by series so it was much easier to find what you were looking for.  Posters were displayed across the top of the aisles to locate the series, underneath the they would have merchandise that varied from stationary and plushies all the way to model cars (you attach specific decals to them) and more.  It was rather interesting. 

Softmap #7 had probably the greatest selection of figures out of all the stores we hit in Akihabara, for fair prices too.  They reminded me of the shops in Nakano, where we were there to actually purchase stuff instead of just browsing. 

There was also a Gashopan store I don't recall the name of that was pretty awesome.  I picked up a ToraDora grab bag here (that turned out to just have Ami stuff in it -.-) and there was cosplay stores on the 3rd and 6th levels.  I never ended up buying any cosplay items, but they were actually really well made for a fair price (most where under $200 for complete outfits).

Most of Akihabara turned out to be just browsing in whole, the sites were there to see, but it was actually a lot smaller then I had imaged, only spanning two or three blocks total.  I never found four or five of the stores I was looking for, the place was set up rather confusingly.  The only place we could find to sit down for awhile to rest too was a McDonalds on the corner about half-way through the walk, and of course, it was busy!  My goodness, it was busy in there.  Overall we had a good time and got to see a lot of interesting stuff here.  It was decided that most of the next day, our time reserved for Akihabara, would be spent in the large number of arcade that we were purposely avoiding this day.  Oh, how badly I wanted to go in, but I reserved myself for the last day.

Part V - Night walk and Family Restuarant:  We meet back up with the group with suprisingly little hasle and part ways with Jasmine in order to return to the apartment.  They wanted to stop by a few places before heading back, so we get off on different stops with just Matt and myself going back to drop off our bags and rest for awhile.  We still had not eaten anything for dinner, so our plan was to go back out around 8pm or so in order to get some food and then possibly hit up one of the many pachinko/slot places that surrounded where we were staying. 

Prices:

¥2,300 - Cold medicine.

¥1,300 - Starbucks food (for two).
¥4,600 - Pokemon merchandise.
¥2,300 - Lunch at Chinese restaurant (for two).
¥1,500 - UFO catcher tries to get ToraDora figure.
¥3,300 - Approx. how much was spent on anime merchandise in Nakano.
¥1,500 - Various food items for dinner, enough to feed two (like Yakitori).

Lesson's learned:
Asakusa attracts a lot of Asian foreigners.
Tokyo Sky Tree is going to be HUGE.

Day 12 - Adventure through Japan "Asakusa, Ueno and Nakano"

Part I - Asakusa: After much discussion the night before, we decided to begin the day in opposite directions.  Myself and Matt would start off by going to Asakusa (which we knew was under construction), while the rest of the group headed to the Imperial Palace/Gardens.

We arrived still in the early morning (for Japan), around 9am or so.  Most of the shops on the main street were just starting their morning routine.  Some of the sites were obscured by the fact the main hall was under construction, which was a little disappointing, but it was still beautiful with the cherry blossoms now in full bloom. Being so early in the morning, there wasn't a lot to do in Asakusa other then walk around and enjoy the sites, so that is exactly what we did. There were a lot of Chinese and Korean tourists there at the time, more then any other place we had visited so far and unfortunately (as most tourists seemed to be), they were very rude. Standing in middle of walkways, blocking the path and also going as far as smoking, literally, right beside the no smoking sign. After a short 30 minutes or so I was ready to walk away from the main area. 

Part II - Walking the basin/Meet-up:  We continue down a few side roads and end up at the basin. The view was nice, but unfortunately was also littered. The bayside walk didn't seem to be as well maintained as other areas of Japan we had been in. There was even the sad sight of homeless people living under the walkways there.  A little further down the bay, we were able to get away from the people however (and most of the litter), so it was more pleasant.  After taking a few pictures of Tokyo Sky Tree under construction, we finished our walk by heading back to (what we thought was) Asakusa Station.  Turned out however that Asakusa has two completely different lines, basically one that doesn't go anywhere of importance and another one that is the main line, which we came in on.  We walk in the station and walk back out without taking a train, which freaked our Pasmo cards out.  We straighten that out with the staff and finally make it back on a train headed in the right direction, which was to the Kabuki theater inside Ginza.  The next step for the day was to "pick-up" Jason (like he was a kid being baby-sat, haha) from Donnie and Brandon, while they go pick up a Kabuki play.  From what we had read, you simply get in line around 10am-11am and wait for the matinee tickets to go on sale...

Upon arrival, I began to look for cold medicine as I still felt like crap from the cold I caught four or five days back.  I think we arrived around 10:20, with the meet-up time of 10:30.  I score some cold medicine (it was basically Tylenol w. coudine for $22, and then head back to the front of the Kabuki theater to wait, they all arrive a few minutes later, just a little late.  We wait around outside the Kabuki place for a few, waiting to confirm they have tickets so we can move on with our day.  The original plan was that we would go to the Pokemon Center and then do some shopping before coming back to the Sony Building to meet up around 2pm.  We wait around for awhile, only to discover that tickets are a horribly complicated process and to make a long story short their only real chance of seeing a show was to come back on Friday or Saturday, with Friday already booked with Yokohama we were left with changing plans for Saturday instead, which dominoed to how the rest of this day would turn out.

Part III - Sony Building:  With everyone together and plans suddenly thrown up in the air, we begin the walk to the Sony Building.  The catch here?  I did not have a map that went from Kabuki to Sony because that was not how the route was supposed to go.  We end up wandering around Ginza for a much longer period of time then I had hoped only to arrive at the Sony Building at 10:55, five minutes before they opened.  I was in search of food in order to be able to take the medicine purchased earlier, but once again this was never an easy task to accomplish.

Once in the Sony building, we come to the quick realization that it is nothing but a bunch of demo's for products you can purchase inside their store.  Nothing innovative or "new to us" here compared to what we had seen elsewhere.  It was about ten times less interesting then the Panasonic building we had gone to in Odaiba on a whim.  I was horribly disappointed and was further irritated by the signs posted all over the store stating they would not sell to foreign customers due to region locks, blah blah blah... not that I was planning on buying anything there anyway, but it was annoying.  There were two food places located inside as well, but for some stupid reason they only opened at 11:30am and 12pm and I was in no mood to wait in a boring place like that for one to open (not to mention they were horribly overpriced).  Extremely disappointed in what the Sony Builidng had to offer, we decide to move on in hopes of salvaging the day.

Part IV - Pokemon Center:  Ah, these good 'ol maps.  We get out on the wrong side of the station, but I do manage to figure out what exit we're supposed to take, so we turn around as everyone starts to get aggitated, I believe at me.  See, it had been left up to me (and Matt, on occasion) to map out everywhere we were going and was normally the one stared at when it came time to make a decision of what to do next, especially when things went wrong as they were this day.  We begin the walk down the road with me disclaiming that I'm not sure if we should be taking a left or right out of the station, but everyone followed me on the assumtion that the right I took was the correct decision.

Luckily we run across a Starbucks half-way down the road and are finally able to stop for some food.  I was less irritated after being able to finally take my medicine, well over an hour from purchasing it.  After looking around at the landmarks (of all things, McDonalds were marked well on my map and proved helpful) I realize while sitting there eating that we, in fact, should've taken a left out of the station and so we had gone about four blocks in the wrong direction.  But I had warned them!

With medicine taken and food eaten we were on the road again, this time in the right direction!  We spot all the other landmarks that were supposed to be along the way and finally end up in the Pokemon Center.  Unfortunately none of the pictures taken in here actually came out, but let me tell you it was an interesting place.  Much smaller then I had hoped, but still interesting none-the-less.  I picked up some merchandise, such as a Pikachu pancake pan (which I have yet to get to work well), Togepi T-Shirt and a few figures.  With the rest of the group pretty disinterested, we moved on.

Part V - Hibiya Under the Tracks:  Another place out of my tour book was Hibiya Under the Tracks, a row of restaurants underneath train tracks.  Unfortunately once we finally arrived there we were at the time between lunch and dinner, around 2pm.  Most places in Japan close during the early afternoon time, so it was horrible timing on our part.  After pacing around hungry for a good 30 minutes, we find no place suitable to eat at under the tracks and end up in a large corporate building across the street that had a Chinese place in the corner.  For some reason, the Chinese places always seemed to have an English/Picture menu and we were just simply ready to eat by this time.  Everyone was stressed out by this point, so we just sit down and try our best to enjoy the meal.  It turned out to taste pretty good, the only down side is that the drinks were literally ¥500 each, which was horribly expensive.

Part VI - Ueno Park:  With our stomachs now full, we were ready to tackle another site for the day, Ueno Park.  We didn't arrive until around 3:30pm, which must have been bad timing because it was BUSY.  I knew Hanami was in full swing and the cherry blossoms were gorgeous, but still!  Quickly being reminded of walking D.C. during the Cherry Blossom festival we were ready to not be there anymore.  Splitting from the group and deciding to meet back up in an hour in front of the Takoyaki stand in the beginning, we begin the trek down the main walkway (above).

After already being exhausted by the walking earlier in the day and short train rides thus far (which normally gave us some sitting down time), we reached the end of the road and were treated to a street performer that was giving a show in the clearing.  We sat down on the pavement and just watched him for a good 10 or 15 minutes in order to give our legs a rest.  He did a bunch of cool things with bouncy balls, music and then the balls that are on strings (what are those called?).  It was an entertaining show.

We turn around and start heading back the way we came, however this time taking the side-roads and dodging in and out of the foot traffic that was mainly headed in the opposite direction.  We ended back up at the meeting spot way early, around 4pm, so we decide to walk over to the opposite corner where there were some interesting looking shops.  I was finally treated to some anime stores and shopping, there was a lot of SquareEnix merchandise in one large Duty-Free shop and we hit up and arcade or two (winning our first ToraDora figure, I got it!) and head back to meet up at the designated time.  We were going to head back to the apartment for a few (and to drop off the things I had bought) before heading out to meet Jackie, a friend from the States, to go shopping in Nakano.  Luckily Nakano was only two stops East of the apartment, so it was very easy to get to.  Remember the "wrong" place I waited at for the apartment manager the day before?  Yeah, there.  We decided that the KFC, since I knew where that was, would be the perfect place to meet.

Part VII - Nakano and shopping:  Ah, I was looking forward to this.  A few months before leaving for this trip we were informed from a friend that there was a discount mall full of anime figures and merchandise.  Figures that would normally cost $20-$50 online were in this mall for the likes of ¥500 and less.  There was sure to be a wide range of assorted goods here, and at better prices then we would ever find in Akihabara. 

Completely hyped back up to finally get some shopping in, I was ready to go.  We arrived in Nakano shortly before nightfall, it was around 6:15pm or so, a little early, but there none-the-less.  They had a lot of flowers in bloom and were actually doing a lantern festival kind of thing, which was cool to see.  The roads intersecting in front of the station were full of flowers and greenery, so it was a pretty site to see in middle of a well built city.  The KFC is just barely off to the side of the picture here, which was our destination.  We end up waiting here for about 30 minutes for Jacky to appear, it turned out she actually forgot where the KFC was as it wasn't a famous stop or anything.  And here I picked it so we wouldn't get lost!  Luckily, it was pretty close to the station exit, so she did finally find us.  After chatting for just a few minutes, we were on our way to the mall.  It was just across the street and to the right down this long hallway like path.

Once inside we were greeted with this huge shopping arcade.  The place filled with anime goods was located inside this maze.  We run through this hallway here in order to end up at a set of stairs located near the back.  Once up the stairs and on the 3rd floor, we begin to see the anime merchanside.  Beginning from the back and working our way forward, inside just the first store I was greeted with gashapon figures by the hundreds.  We unfortunately only got to be in here until about 9pm before most of the shops were closed or in the process of closing.  We scored some great merchandise for the first time in though, including a ToraDora beach towel (which yes, I will be using at the pool this Summer) and even an Isamu figure from Macross Plus for Matt, which he didn't even know existed.  Coming out paying about 1/4th of what would be a fair price for the merchandise in the States, I finally had a satisfying shopping experience.

Jacky wasn't really feeling too well and we had yet to have dinner, so we parted ways and headed back to the apartment.  Luckily we had that Wal-mart type grocery store to walk through on the way back, so we just picked up something while walking through there and stayed at the apartment to rest the remainder of the night.

Prices:

• ¥2,300 - Cold medicine.
• ¥1,300 - Starbucks food (for two). 
• ¥4,600 - Pokemon merchandise.
• ¥2,300 - Lunch at Chinese restaurant (for two).
• ¥1,500 - UFO catcher tries to get ToraDora figure.
• ¥3,300 - Approx. how much was spent on anime merchandise in Nakano.
• ¥1,500 - Various food items for dinner, enough to feed two (like Yakitori).

Lesson's learned:

• Asakusa attracts a lot of Asian foreigners.
• Tokyo Sky Tree is going to be HUGE.
• Getting Kabuki tickets is really difficult.
• Sony Building sucks, don't bother going there.
• Pokemon Center is actually pretty small, very interesting merchandise though.
• Hibiya Under the Tracks would be a lot better for dinner and drinking.
• Ueno during Hanami is busier then D.C.'s Cherry Blossom Festival, even on a weekday afternoon.
• Nakano shopping is awesome, but hours are limited. (some shops were closed by 7pm)

Day 11 - Adventure through Japan "Nishi-Ogikubo, Ghibli and Shinjuku"

Part I - More travel:  I was ready for this day to go better, Nikko was just not the way I wanted it to be at all and actually I look back on it as a nearly complete failure of a day.  Hopefully Day 11 will be better!  Starting to fight the cold a little better, now with a throat that was no longer sore at least, we head off bright and early so not to run late for the day.  I was still nervous, however, since we were on a tight schedule for the day and it took an extremely long amount of time to get out to Nikko compared to what I had originally planned for.  Trying to push those fears aside, we move on and get out of the Ryokan and into taxi's that would take us straight to Nikko Station at 6:30am.

Part II - Apartment Adventure:  So, did I mention that by this time I still had no concrete information on our apartment for the final 4 days?  No address and no place to meet the apartment manager as of yet, so I was also extremely nervous about this (our payment had been made in full).  I had a cell phone number and e-mail address, but without cell phone signals (not to mention the $2/min charges), they were of no use to me now.  While on the Shinkansen back we formulate the best plan possible, I will go to Nakano to meet the apartment manager and get into the apartment (which was the last plan mention by him through e-mail) and the rest of the group will head to Odaiba to retrieve the rest of our luggage.  With both of our smaller bags in hand, I change at the tranfer point around 9:30am and arrive in Nakano.

Now, I have the thought of "why are we meeting in Nakano when the apartment is in Nishi-Ogikubo?", but dismiss it as the apt. manager knowing better then myself.  I get off in Nakano, call the apt. manager from a phone booth (which I finally figured out how to use, go me!) that was located by actually speaking Japanese to the train station workers.  It seemed I was doing better in Japan by myself then I was with people! haha  ...I confirm our meeting place of the nearby KFC and then also call Sirena to confirm meeting her at the station leading to the Ghibli Museum at 12pm. 

I kinda sorta get into the KFC,  by that I mean I am an idoit and couldn't locate the odd looking front door, so I went into the side-hallway and took the elevator up.  This was actually a good point since I decide to walk back downstairs to the first level to get a good view of anyone who came in.  Struggling with two rolling bags, a nice gentleman actually offers to carry them down for me.  It is amusing looking back on it, because without hesitation I said "onegaishimasu" (please), where in America I would've said "uh... I got it" in fear someone would run off with said bags.  I didn't even realize this point at the time.  Finally downstairs with luggage in the corner I realize I am STARVING.  KFC for breakfast, eh?  Why not, it's Japan, ne?  After some struggling to order (again!) due to my original selection being sold out, I end up with a chicken sandwhich with egg on it.  Reminded me of something Chick-fil-a would have here in the States, it was a bit salter, but actually really good!  After eating I continue to wait around for this apt. manager until 10:30 arrives.  He is late!  Finally arriving just a few minute short of 11am, he proceeds to apologize profusely as we should've been in Nishi-Ogikubo! *facepalm*  ...I should've went with my gut instinct here.  Long story short, we take the train two more stops West and end up at the apartment where he proceeds to hold me up (explaining things about the place) until 11:30am.  I literally end up running back to Nakano where the others had been waiting for about 15minutes so we can go back to the apartment with the luggage and FINALLY head off to the museum.  With no way to contant Sirena, I once again feel horrible for leaving her in the dark.

Part III - Ghibli Museum:  With the rest of the group hating me by this point (though it wasn't my fault) because believe Ghibli will not let you in past the ticketed time, we all head to the Ghibili Museum anyway to see what can be done. By this time it is already 12pm, the time stated on the ticket.  With a 15 minute or so train ride, we get off and see no sign of Sirena (it was now 12:15 or so), which was no surprise.  Walking to the museum took another 15 minutes (Matt and myself were taking a different route, one stop past the rest of the group to look for Sirena) to walk to the museum from there, along the way we see this awesome antique car/truck and get this picture. 

Greeted by a life-size (I presume) Totora outside, we arrive at the museum and attempt to call to the others over walkie, but were briskly swept inside by staff, who assured us out tickets were still good and forced us inside (literally) without the chance to go back outside (no re-immittance).  It was a little odd, to say the least.  We end up meeting back up with them inside, but somehow Matt lost his ticket to the short film, so we stayed separated from the group for just about all of the museum.  It was an interesting place to say the least.  Some of the highlights were seeing the case full of all the cels used to make Ponyo, I believe there were over 700,000 if I read the plaque correctly.  They were all nicely bound and organized, stacked on top of each other.  There was also a room where models, that varied slightly from each other, were arranged on a turntable.  Once the turntable started spinning quickly the light would start to strobe and you could see how they were now appearing to be animated, it was really awesome.

We finish up by heading to the store, where I bought some very cool unique items and finally headed to the cafe to eat some sort of weird chicken/rice bowl for lunch (I didn't like it much), but the ice cream for dessert was yummy.

Part IV - Tokyo Metro Building:  It was somewhere around 3pm by this time.  The original plan was to go to Tokyo Metro Building with Sirena as our guide, but we had long since lost her (which was my fault).  We decide to try and head there ourselves, but unfortunately I was not armed with a lot of information on the place.  We litterally wander around for about 30 minutes, unable to find anything that looks like a top-floor restuarant or observation deck (like Umeda in Osaka had), with the rest of the group hungry we decide to let them go get food while myself and Matt head to Shinjuku so I can finally go to Kinokuniya, which I was looking forward to.  The Kinokuniya branches in the States always seemed to have what I was looking for and anytime they appeared at an anime convention they had some rare products.  Couldn't wait to see what the main store had.

Part V - Shinjuku and Kinokuniya:  Not being far from Shinjuku at this point, we decide to just walk.  Frustrated at how most of the day gone up to this point, we really just wanted to take a long walk alone anyway.  After 20 minutes or so, it was clear we were in the thick of Shinjuku, after entering and finally exiting the station.  Once again, my maps were not clear enough and we couldn't figure out just what side of the station we exited on and what side street Kinokuniya was located on.  I didn't care much at this point though as Shinjuku looked a lot like Shibuya to me, which I loved.  The tall buildings, arcades by the dozen and bright lights, I was just enjoying the moment.

After stopping in a few arcades and walking the streets for awhile, we finally figure it's time to find this place and stop in a drug store to ask.  Luckily the clerk was able to figure out what we were asking and pointed us in the correct direction.  It must have taken another 20 minutes, but we finally arrived!  Much to my surprise, I was less impressed then the Book-off's stores we had previously visited by this main branch of Kinokuniya though.  I was disappointed by the selection and how difficult it was to find anything in the six story building without speaking Japanese fluently or being able to read Kanji.  It took us forever to find them, but we did locate our JBP volume 2 books for the upcoming Japanese Intermediate class we were taking.  Other then that, I don't recall even buying anything here, it was just like a large Borders or Barnes and Noble, but everything was in Japanese and nearly impossible to navigate.  Not to mention, by this time, I was spoiled by Book-off prices.

Part VI - Ending the Night:  Somehow I don't recall what we really did for the rest of the night.  I think we returned to the apartment shortly after leaving Kinokuniya as our feet were really tired from all of the walking.  I think we also stopped by a few arcades spotted on the way back, but never saw anything memorable.  It was a very exhausting day and I was happy to be in an apartment with a bed.  This one was a much more modern place (as to be expected in Tokyo).  Located on the 2nd floor of a seven story building.  There were two separate bedrooms, a normal size bathroom (set up Japanese style), kitchen and large living room area with pull-out bed.  Just enough room for all 5 of us and some place I would easily think about returning to on future trips to Tokyo.  It was a pleasant experience.  The only downside was I was informed not to have more then 2 heaters on at a time because we could blow a fuse... so we kinda froze the first night.  Come the 2nd night, the apt. manager said "try 3 and see" so we were fine after that.

Prices:

• ¥500 - Breakfast (KFC).
• ¥2,400 - Ghibli museum tickets (two).
• ¥4,000 - Misc. merchandise at museum.
• ¥1,600 - Misc. food at museum.
• ¥6,400 - JBP books from Kinokuniya.
• ¥2,000 - Various games at arcades.

Lesson's learned:

• Have a plan on how to meet up with the apt. manager BEFORE leaving for Japan, even if they don't want to 2 weeks in advance.
• How to use a pay-phone!
• State the obvious to apt. manager, like "we're not staying in Nakano".
• Don't count on apt. manager to be on time.
• KFC in Japan, like most places, is better then the States.
• Don't go near Ghibli unless you are prepared to be swept inside Ghibli.
• Tokyo Metro Building is not easy to navigate by sight.
• Shinjuku is as huge as the station makes it out to be.
• Kinokuniya is not easy to locate.
• Kinokuniya really is no better then a Book-off, I actually enjoyed Book-off stores more.
• Pay attention when the apartment manager mentions something about one room having to freeze-to-death.  Even when in a rush, this part is important.

Day 10 - Adventure through Japan "Nikko"

Part I - Travel:  We get up early with the plan set to just check out of the Sunroute hotel in Odaiba and head to Nikko as early as possible.  By this time I had come to the realization I was sick and there was no way we could do half of the activities I originally had planned in Nikko.  With the activites for the day drastically reduced from 3 temples and some Nature hiking (I really wanted to see the Kegon Waterfall) cut down to just one major temple, we set off to meet to meet everyone in the lobby and depart.  With some of us late, we end up leaving a little later then planned and finally depart at 8:15 with just the one needed bag for our overnight stay.  The rest of the luggage would be left at the hotel so we wouldn't be dragging it all around Nikko just for just one night there.  More on this decision to follow in Day 11.

Train train train! Got to northern Tokyo, transferred to the Shinkansen. Got off Shinkansen, transferred to the JR line going to Nikko. There was confusion on how to buy the tickets and what train we were supposed to get on exactly.  Up to this point we had just been taking Shinkansen by using our JR passes, so it was a bit of a confusing mess that I had no patience for with a cold.  Finally we got to the Nikko station at about 11:00.  It was a much longer commute then I had mapped out, for reasons I have yet to figure out.  Most estimates I saw/see online say Nikko is about 1 hour North of Tokyo, so even coming from Odaiba I cannot figure out how it took 3 hours total.

Part II - Getting lost:  Already frustrated by the transfers and length of time the initial travel took, we arrive at Nikko Station only to be completely lost.  Information and maps were not readily available online for Nikko, so I was working off of the two tourist maps I was able to locate, which were little to no help.  After discussing our route with both the workers at the station and police inside a nearby koban, we decide to hop on a bus heading in the generally correct direction.

While waiting for the bus to arrive (which was a good 30 minutes), we take in some scenery around us.  Luckily it wasn't nearly as cold as we had been preparing for and there was no longer a thick coat of snow on the ground.  Instead we were greeted by 40-45F weather and partly cloudy skies.  It was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise bad day so far. Once finally on the bus we learned, unfortunately, it would not take us to our destination.  After another discussion with someone who was taking the bus who spoke English, it turns out the bus had the final destination in the opposite direction of where we needed to be, so we needed to get off.  It was a good mile from our Ryokan, but we got off at the next stop and began the walk, which was mainly uphill.  At this point I was so glad we only had one bag each, but was also exhuasted and not feeling good, so I don't remember much other then being frustrated by the day so far.

Part III - Ryokan: Somehow we managed to locate the Ryokan, which was off of a side street.  I was nervous as when we first arrived, there was a building on our right that had the name "Nikko Green Hotel" on it and was nothing more then someones house, or so it looked.  After knocking and waiting a few minutes, I decided to take a walk around and actually discover that there is a hotel-sized building across the street from the place we were waiting at.  Once inside, we learn it is "only" 1pm (far cry from the 11am-noon I was planning on originally) and check-in was not until 3pm.  We leave our bags however and head off to see what would end up being the only site of the day.

Part IV - Toshugu Shrine:  Other then Kegon Waterfall, which I had realized would not be possible, this was where I really wanted to go in Nikko.  This Shrine houses the 3 National Treasure carvings, including the original "hear/see/speak no evil" monkies, and Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb.

We stop at a noodle shop quickly for some lunch, off of the main street we had to take to get to all of the Shrines.  It was pretty good food, but very confusing for again, the lack of English.  Kind of salty too, instead of flavorful, but I didn't feel much like eating so it might have had something to do with it.   The walk to Toshogu ended up being pretty long, but we also stopped a few time to take in the very nice scenery.  Along the way we stopped at Taisha shrine, which was a little moss-covered stone tori (gate) and shrine/alter.  It was a very peaceful area.  Some time around 3pm we finally arrive at Toshugu Shrine, I was afraid we were lost by this point because the length of the walk.

We buy our tickets and get inside.  I was finally happy after getting here, as right near the entrance they had the monkey carvings.  It was so cool to see the "original" hear/say/see no evil carvings and what they were originally a part of.  Got a lot of pictures here.  The informational boards were actually in English too, so it was very cool.  I finally felt we accomplished something for the day.

After reading through the map/brochure for the place, we continue further inside.  They pretty much had the walkway set up like a tour, so you couldn't really miss anything.  The remaining carvings and tomb were really awesome to see, on top of that there were cute little stone turtles on the side of the pathways.  The walk up to the Tomb was very taxing, but worth it just to feel the atmosphere of the place, it was unlike any other site we visited in Japan, very heavy air about it.  We stay up here for awhile and get some very cool pictures.  The trees and landscape surrounding the area were gorgeous.

Inside the Shrine itself, they were doing restoration, however it was still open.  The walkway was covered in informational boards regarding the process, what had been done and what was still being done.  This was also very unique as the only site we saw that was still able to be observed during the restoration period.

Part V - Walk back and Dinner:  I was still feeling pretty bad from the cold and was very exhausted after the hike to the tomb, so come 4:30pm or so when we were nearing the end of the Shrine, it was time to head back to the Ryokan.  Matt split off from the rest of the group and walked back alone, where he snapped a few nice pictures of the area.  Myself and the rest of the group went the way of the main road and stopped at a few local shops to grab a couple of O-Miyage before heading back to the Ryokan where dinner would be ready shortly.

Upon my arrival back in our room, I'm greeted with the great view from our window, which was just next door to Brandon and Donnie's room.  It was a nice view and I was enjoying it until the news came our toilet was broken.  So, to top off how badly my day had gone so far, we were swiftly relocated to a room on the clear opposite side of the building (a good 5 minute walk from this original room) and put in a room with a horrible view of the road and traffic.  It was very displeasing, but with inn keepers that didn't speak English (or at least not well), there wasn't much I could do.  All because of a stupid broken toilet, it didn't make sense to me at all.

Dinner was being served downstairs at 6pm.  It was a full-course Japanese meal and was a very authentic experience.  We struggled with what half of the food was and the proper way to eat it all, but that was half of the fun and the only other part of the day that I actually enjoyed.  After a very full experience of cooking shabu-shabu and eating nearly everything laid out before us, it was time to head back to our respective rooms for a few moments before going down to the Onsen. 

Part VI - Fail:  When we first arrived, we reserved our private spots in the Onsen for 8pm.  This gave me about 15 minutes to go back to our room, change into the yukata and go meet Donnie at her room to go downstairs to the Onsen together.  As far as I knew, that wouldn't be an issue.  However, once I arrive at Donnie's room, there is nobody there.  I wait around for a few minutes and finally figure she went downstairs without me for whatever reason.  However, again, with the lack of English I am guided to the wrong Onsen and end up unable to find anyone.  Completely done with the day I return to our room, take a crappy short shower and turn in for the night.  Later I find out the clock on her room's wall was about 10 minutes fast, so she went down to the Onsen without me so not to be late, little did I know where that even was.  I was guided to only the "public" bath and not the reserved one when I went down to find her, so my day ended with another misunderstanding.

Don't get me wrong though, Nikko was gorgeous.  I would just never recommend it as a day or one night trip.  I would say you need at least three to experience anything they have to offer there.  With myself having a cold and travel times being much higher then expected, my day simply turned out this way instead of what it should have been.

Prices:

• ¥3,500 - Each Shinkansen ticket
• ¥1,600 - Lunch for two.
• ¥3,000 - Toshugu Shrine, full tickets (two).
• ¥3,000 - Misc. O-miyage

Lesson's learned:

• Travel to Nikko from Odaiba is extremely long with a lot of transfers.
• Ryokans are interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend this one, for the crappy room we ended up with compared to the one I booked alone.
• Toshugu Shrine is totally worth the visit and hiking.
• Ryokan dinners are facinating, but not really that delicious (shabu-shabu was good though).
• Ryokans are very noisy at night, lots of drunk people.
• Onsen reservations are confusing when nobody speaks English.
• Don't go to Nikko for any less then a three day period.