There are only two times in my life where I actually thought I was going to die, two times more than I would like to have experienced.  I thought I might get another chance when we visited Nikko, since Matt insisted we try Fugu which is inherently poinsoness.  If prepared incorrectly, the neurotoxin Tetrodotoxin will kill you if the dose is high enough, or put you into a coma and/or paralyze you.  Needless to say I wasn’t too enthusiastic when Matt mentioned this was on his list of things to do.  The real risk is actually rather low, restaurants who prepare Fugu must be certified to do so and most who are killed are individuals who attempt to prepare Fugu themselves.  In any case, we stayed at Funamisou Ryokan which I highly recommend (more on that later).  Our dinner consisted of Fugu sashimi, fried Fugu, Fugu Nabe, and a few things I can’t remember.   The dinner was fantastic (especially since I’m alive to write this), and since we were the only guests (the week days are rather slow) we were able to use are Japanese somewhat and talk with the chef which was a wonderful experience.  And if your looking for a place to stay in Nikko, I highly recommend Funamisou.  The staff were all very kind and the manager spoke good English.  A truly great experience with great staff.  Later that day we headed out and visited various parts of Nikko, which was all rather cold since the elevation was higher than in Tokyo.  Here are a few shots of various places we visited in Nikko:

Kegon Falls, probably not at its peak	Lake Chuzenji	Miko ahead?

Temple under renovation	MOSS	Stream next to a shrine

I’ve stayed at a number Hyatt properties in the past, including a few Parks, but once again I was amazed at how fantastic the Hyatt is in Japan.  Last time I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, which absolutely blew me away, so my expectations were rather high especially for the Park Hyatt.  The Hyatt Regency Tokyo was fantastic and I upgraded to one of the nicer rooms which seemed to have been remolded recently with a more modern twist.  The bathroom was well appointed, with a separate tub and shower.  And the room itself was perfect except for the fact the TV did not have a DVD player (although I’m sure I could have requested one).  The only minus point I could think of is the small “breakfast” snack they have for Gold Passport members was going to be discontinued in December, which is too bad. Hopefully they have something else in place for higher tier members.

Crappy picture of my room at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo	Another crappy picture of the bathroom	Nice somewhat clear view of Fuji-san from my room

After my stay at the Park Hyatt Regency I made my way to the Park Hyatt which was only a few blocks away.  Immediately I was whisked away to my room for an in room check-in which was quite nice.  The only down side was I felt as though they had just stuck me in my room to get me away from the other guests, which may have been true since I probably smelled and had my hiking backpack with me.  The room was fantastic with a great view on one of the top floors.  That night they sent a complementary bottle of wine and I got some snacks to go along with it.  Perfect environment for working remote   The only minus I could find in the room was the clock seemed to be a cheap travel alarm clock, which seemed out of place compared to the other furniture in the room (maybe someone left it there?).  The TV also had a DVD player so I could watch Bamboo Blade   Some other highlights was the workout room which looked out over Tokyo (which was somewhat small) and the turn down service which was a nice touch.

Crappy picture of my room at the Park Hyatt Tokyo	In Residence	Complementary vino

The other point I should mention was the day I was checking out I got rather sick in the morning and really didn’t feel good at all.  I ended up going to the front desk and asking for some medicine, which they provided along with the option to see a doctor if I wanted to.  I took one dose, but by the time I was going to to actually leave I still felt like crap.  I inquired about seeing a doctor, but that would take time so I decided to pass on the offer as I had to be somewhere later that day.  However, the manager on duty provided his contact information and arranged for a car service to take me to Sangubashi station even though by that time I had already checked out.  All of this was provided without me asking and throughout the whole ordeal I felt as though the Hyatt staff were genuinely concerned for me.  Everyone I interacted with provided the highest level of service far beyond my expectations.  Whenever I get the chance I’ll be staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo again, I can’t recommend it enough.

Morning view of some showers in the Tokyo suburbs	Night view from my room	Another night shot, with the dark area being Yoyogi park, HND arrivals and departures off to the right

Main course was the “Tokachitsukuchite Burger”	A small desert from Mio, complete with a strawberry	“Makoto’s Stretched Sparkling Ice Cream”

Full sized K-On! movie promo poster	All the cards we got . . . yeah we ate a lot of food	All the items I’d bought so far anime related

Either on the same day or shortly after, we ventured out into the Tokyo Suburbs to visit the Lucky Star Shrine which is a must for any anime pilgrimage.  Although Lucky Star has been around for a while now, there was still plenty of evidence still at the shrine, although we were the only anime fans in attendance, as that particular day was some sort of festival parents bring their children to visit the shrine.  Here are a few pictures of Ema and some other assorted pictures at the shrine.

Small mini shrine outside the main shrine, for Tsukasa and Kagami	Shrine entrance, Lucky Star OP anyone?	HARD GAY!

Ohana from Hanasku Iroha	Kagami	More Kagami, although I think this may have gotten lost in translation

Hard Off, my favorite store	RUN AWAY!	Shrine grounds overview, with the Ema area

Here are a few select pictures from Kamakura:

Path through the bamboo at the Bamboo Temple	More bamboo	Overview of Kamakura

I should have written in my phone number	“How did I get so fat?”  I ask myself that question all the time . . .	Oh Japan, your so beautiful!

Tori on lake Ashi

We started our day off by getting separated and only one of us getting on the train for Hakone (which wasn’t good since I only had 4,000 yen and no passport), but by noon we were back together and headed into town.  We grabbed some lunch and then walked around Lake Ashi, and viewed the shrine.  Since it was in the middle of the week, the town wasn’t crowded, in fact when we took the cable car up the mountain much of the town seemed like an abandoned amusment park (the prevailing fog and overcast sky helped as well).  We then headed for Yamanochaya for our dinner.

One of the many courses of our dinner.

Before I go into any great detail, I have to say this was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life.  8 courses of both traditional Japanese fare with a slightly modern twist for a few of the courses.  Sadly the menu was all in Japanese filled with kanji, so we could only read some of it, but Sawa-san, our server, was kind enough to go through each item.  The only negative I could think of was the fact there was so much food I had a hard time finishing everything and by the end there were a few bits I just could not finish.  After we finished our meal we headed to the onsen, which was also fantastic.

Yamanochaya is located along the river, which provides for the perfect location for the onsen experience.  There were four onsen in total, one of which was a private onsen you had to reserve ahead of time and was sadly booked solid.  There was an indoor onsen (which we didn’t make it to), and two more outdoor onsen.  Like most Ryokan with onsen, there is no mixed bathing and the baths switch gender and a predetermined time.  From the two we did visit, I would have to say they were easily the best onsen I’ve ever been to, the attached bathrooms and changing rooms were also excellent and were as good or better than what you would find at a Ryokan costing thousands a night.  Both were in the open outside, surrounded by trees and the night sky, something you don’t see in Tokyo.

Our room at Yamanochaya, Tsuki Midai (moon viewing) room.

If your like me and enjoy being babied in a sort of motherly way, staying at a traditional Ryokan can be an absolutely amazing experience.  Every detail is tended to, food is meticulously prepared and served in your room, your futon is laid out for you while you soak in the onsen, everything has a purpose and structured to the point where it seems like its a science.  Maids wear traditional Kimono in the evening and provide the highest level of service, down to the way they shut the door when they leave your room.  The whole experience was far beyond what I was expecting.  Sawa-san was extremely helpful and a pleasure to talk with and the food (both dinner and breakfast) was absolutely fantastic.  The level of service you get when you stay at a quality Ryokan with only 15 or so rooms is unparalleled, I’ve stayed at some of the best hotels in the world and never had this level of service or attention to detail.  I would highly recommend Yamanochaya to anyone looking for an authentic Ryokan experience in Hakone, I plan on returning whenever I find myself back in Hakone.  Truly a refreshing and special experience.

This. Times a few thousand, and these were the nice steps.

Although I thought getting to the top was going to be the hardest part, going down was much worse.  I was already wiped out from climbing the whole way up, and walking down thousands of steps works muscles you don’t normally use as much didn’t help either.  Furthermore, we decided to go the “man’s path” instead of the “women’s path” on the way down for the second half of the decent.  It indeed was more manlier and included even more painful steps that by the end I wanted to hurl myself down.  Although I did successfully complete the climb, legs were burning and I didn’t want to see another step again in my life.  I didn’t realize I was so out of shape and such a fat ass, it was quite embarrassing seeing old ladies with walking sticks zoom past me as I waited to catch my breath.

PS: Sorry about the slowness of new posts, I’m still having some major issues with my web host which hopefully I can get solved soon.

I already knew my trip to Japan this time around was going to be much longer than previous since I had a 6 hour layover in LAX which was planned.  I could have arrived in LA later, but I thought it would not be much of an issue, and it could even perhaps be enjoyable since I was going to stay at the Delta Sky Club.  However LAX was more of an ass pain than I had expected (even more than Miami, and thats hard to beat).  The entire airport seemed to be under construction, which was a problem since my flight arrived in Terminal 6 rather than Delta’s usual Terminal 5.  So I had to figure out how to get back to terminal 5, ideally without going through security again.  After being misdirected to Terminal 7, along with everyone else on my flight, a nice TSA agent (I guess they do exist, even in LA) gave me directions for the secret way to get to Terminal 5 without going back through security.  I had to take an elevator down in Terminal 6, to a basement level where pilots and cabin crew prep, through a secret tunnel without any signage,  then back up to Terminal 5.  I had the distinct feeling I should probably not be there, especially considering in order to get to the basement level the stewardesses from my flight had to swipe their key card to get the elevator to work.

Dinner on DL637. Beef Stew with a few other bit, really not too bad.

Anyways, I was able to get to the Sky Lounge only to find it was full of drunk vacationers going to Hawaii, and outside food was banned for some reason.  But after I took a shower, which was actually quite nice, and the flight to Hawaii left, it wasn’t bad at all.  Aside from the fact I nearly missed my flight since I couldn’t hear the boarding announcements.

The flight to Haneda however was fantastic, aside from leaving a bit late.  The flight wasn’t nearly full, and I was able to move up a few rows to a pair of seats to myself.  The cabin crew were extremely nice, they even offered me some free snacks when I went and asked for some coffee and there was ice cream after the dinner meal service.  All in all it was a good flight, and I’l glad I didn’t spend the extra money to upgrade to Economy Comfort, since honestly there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference.

• Figure out a decent photo gallery for WordPress, you would think they would have figured that out by now . . .
• Delta flight MSP-LAX-HND (with a 5 hour layover in LAX)
• Food
• Hakone
• Nikko with Fugu
• Park Hyatt Tokyo
• Maid Cafe
• Other activities that may be revealed later . . .

So whats next?  Tentatively, Japan 20111!  Barring any extenuating circumstances, I’m planning on returning to Japan this summer or early fall for at least 2 weeks.  The itinerary is still in the early stages of planning, but hopefully this time I’ll be able to connect with some distant relatives and friends.  There is truly nothing I treasure more than the family, a point which only becomes clearer as I get older.  Hawaii is another place I need to return to.

Like I said before, this blog is not intended for the internet at large, its primary purpose is the documentation of my various travels and any other musings I feel the need to remember.  Over the next couple of months, hopefully I’ll clean the site up, perhaps make a few additions, and finally get a more permanent solution for pictures.