Tokyo, Sendai, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima

September 22-23rd
We arrived in Tokyo and caught a military bus to Yokota AFB to meet up with our sister Cindy and her tykes. We spent the weekend being entertained by our nieces and nephews - Mason, Ivy, Calla and Hunter. On Monday we activated our rail passes and headed north to Sendai. We rode the Shinkansen bullet train - at a speed of about 285KM/H (177 MPH). That was plenty impressive, until we slipped undetected onto the latest and greatest Nozomi N700 train a few days later and hit a top speed of 363KM/H (225MPH)! We spent a day in the Asakusa area of Tokyo before continuing South. Sushi at the always impressive Tsukiji was worth the trip alone - Dus going all out by downing a tasty morsel of raw horse meat.


September 24th - Kyoto
Without hotel reservations in Kyoto, we headed to an all night spa where I'd stayed the night on a previous trip - only to find the building that housed it to be quite closed. Only 11pm or so at that point, we took a moment to enjoy some curry before continuing our search for shelter. The next few locals we asked regarding suggestions for places to sleep seemed quite convinced that the only option was a less than meager hotel charging a more than meager amount. Our optimism/luck took us about a block from that point to what turned out to be one of our favorite sleeping experiences of the trip - Rumor Plaza & Spa. The experience was surprisingly similar to the one I'd had previously at the other location. We stashed our shoes in small lockers and received keys for larger lockers inside the complex. At the next locker we changed into the local attire - cotton shorts and a mini-kimono of sorts. Next stop was the spa, where one showers while squatting on a little plastic chair before plopping into one of the pools of water at various temperatures. A sauna there had a TV playing strange game shows with even more bizarre commercials. I doubt I'll ever comprehend Japanese television. Upon reaching adequate prune’age, we wandered the other levels of the establishment and discovered a decent eatery on the top floor. By then it was a bit late, so we made our way to the "relaxation room" comprised of perhaps a hundred impressively narrow bunk beds/stalls and slumbered until they kicked us out around 9am. As long as you have a pair of ear plugs, a night in one of these spas seems to pass without much effort.

The next day we continued south toward Hiroshima, stopping briefly in Kobe to experience the beef we'd heard so much about. The place we chose prepared the impressively marbled meat Teppanyaki style. I think we both felt the unique experience worth the impressive cost - with some of the cuts going for somewhere around $150 per pound!

We finally reached Hiroshima and stayed at a guesthouse that had just opened that day. They had a little party with local foods for their guests, then led the pack of foreigners to a nearby karaoke complex for hours of something the Japanese seriously love - for whatever reason. Next day was spent wandering the city and perusing the various museums, exhibits and monuments devoted to the infamous bombing. They've done a decent job of presenting various factors that led up to the event – though plenty more focus on the aftermath of course.

Dus and I each had our own schedules by then - so he took a train down to Fukuoka for a bowl of noodles while I took a short ferry to spend the evening with some little deer on Shrine Island. Dus spent the rest of the weekend with a friend in Nagoya while I made my way back to Tokyo to meet up with Pops and Rose at the airport.