Long awaited update...

So........... It's been an extremely long time since I posted last. Sorry. Well a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. My friends came in, I went to Tokyo, saw Fujisan, etc... I guess I'll start from the beginning.

June 4th I ventured out on my own to Tokyo. I was going to pick my friends up from the airport. I was really nervous, but everything turned out fine. They landed and we were on our way back to Yokohama in no time. We arrived at Yokohama station during "rush hour", there were soooo many people in business suits, it was unreal. I have never seen that many people in one place in my whole life. It was very overwhelming.

I was really glad that they were here. I was getting lonely!

A couple of days after they got here, we went to Kamakura... this has to be one of my favorite places thus far, so many temples and history. It was absolutely beautiful. We walked around for a long time, just seeing temples and shrines. The second biggest Buddha in Japan resides in Kamakura. the Buddha is awesome, I can't describe to you how breath taking it really is. You can see all the pictures you want, but they don't do it justice. I am finding that as a pattern here, you can see it on film, but that is nothing compared to the real thing.

A couple of days after Kamakura, we went to Tokyo. We stayed at the nicest hostel, I would recommend it to anyone. We went to Harajuku, Shibuya, and to the Imperial Palace. Shibuya is one of my favorite places in the world. We walked around and just people watched. There are so many people there. We saw a guy with a "hi how are you" t-shirt on... and we stopped him and asked him if he had been to Austin, and he had no idea what we were talking about... so we just made him take a picture with us and tried to explain to him where his shirt was from... it was hilarious. At Shibuya station, there is this intersection, it is the busiest intersection in the world (or it has the most people crossing at one time... something like that). it is insane how many people cross that street. Apparently that intersection is in a lot of movies... i don't know? But, we sat in a Starbucks above the intersection just looking out for about an hour.

In Shibuya, we also discovered the best drink ever... Chu hi's... Japanese Vodka and Grapefruit in a can... gets you drunk for $5 and taste great...

After Tokyo, we ventured to Hakone. It was nice to get away from the city and just enjoy the scenery. We took several modes of transportation to see the area-- switchback train (which had no air conditioning = hell), train, cable cars, rope way cable cars, and a pirate ship. The ropeway cable car was amazing, the weather was so nice and Fujisan was visible. Fujisan is insanely gorgeous, that is the only way to describe it.

Back in Yokohama, we wanted to go get a couple of drinks at a bar... so we go to one the China Town. We see this place called "Coffee and Bar", so we go in and sit in a booth. We were the only ones there, Madonna is playing over head, it's smokey and dimly lit. The barkeep is seriously an 80 year old woman with a clear coffee mug of liquor in her hand... we ask for a menu you and she says...... "no no no" and waves her hands in from of this 4 tier shelf full of liquor bottles... I swear that moment was a movie scene.

So, sorry so late on the update, but I've been busy.........