Tokyo 2007 recap part 1 - FAQ

Why Tokyo?
Dr. Andy first floated this idea back in November or December. Since he had spent a year there 15 years ago, the daughter in his host family was getting married, and since he and Esther were going to attend anyway, why not make a vacation out of it. The opportunity to experience Japan with a person who could speak, as well as some time with the locals, was enticing, but more than that, it'd be basically a last chance to spend time with these good friends before the wedding. So, Mike P and I took him up on the offer.

How was it?
I'd say it was more of a cultural immersion/mind expansion-type vacation as compared to a chill/relaxation-type vacation. We set a pretty brisk pace moving from sight to site (which word is the right one to use?), took lots of pictures, ate lots of food, and also got to spend a good amount of time with Andy's host family, which gave us an insight into the local culture - quite cool.

I think we were able to pretty much saturate ourselves on Tokyo... the only cultural experiences left would be to attend a baseball game and a sumo match. If I were to go back to Japan, it would probably be to visit some place like Kyoto or Hiroshima.

In upcoming recap posts, I'll tell a few stories and post some pics of sights, food, and things that they do over there that we ought to do here stateside.

Did you have jet lag?
I don't have a large sample size of opportunities for jet lag (having flown over an ocean only twice in the last 20 years) but after sleeping 2 hrs on the plane and a 2 hr nap after getting home, I was pretty much synched back up again... unlike Mike, who apparently slept from Saturday night till Sunday at 4 pm when he called us while we were at basketball.

Did you buy anything?
We brought home a bunch of snacks and a few gifts. We did have our eyes open for a Wii just about the entire time we were there (given the relatively weak yen and absence of sales tax) but alas, were unsuccessful.

Did you really say "Ninja" to anyone?
Nope, only under my breath. I was too afraid I'd get shuriken-ed. Seriously though, it's pretty westernized over there - aside from the language barrier, I didn't feel that out of place.

Although... Andy did tell this story when we were at the touristy-street market outside the Senso-ji temple, when he and Esther got separated from Mike and me:

"When we couldn't find you guys, I was thinking, 'Uh oh, how are we going to find two Asian-Americans in this sea of Asian people?' But then I realized I didn't need to worry, because I spotted Bob pretty easily. One, he's taller than most of the people around him, and two, he was wandering around with this pleasant, 'Where am I?' look on his face."