• Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life - Jack Kerouac

Japan!

The first international port of call! Things you should know about Japan: the vending machines are awesome! (They have milk tea and hot lemonade in them, how can they not be awesome? ) People are insanely friendly, they try and help even if they don't speak English. The transportation system is rocking, and on time to the minute.

So I did 4 cities in 5 days.

Yokohama:

Definitely a cool place, the first day I explored and tried to get lost, which didn't really happen that well. The lunch I had there was the best meal I think, even though I had to point to order and wasn't entirely sure what I was eating. The port area was in my opinion a much cooler place. There were parks all around, I think that day I went to 4. And they have this tower which is the tallest in Japan and had an amazing view at night. The elevator that takes you up does so in 45 seconds. It blew my mind.

Mt. Fuji

So much fun! We got to see the actual mountain which is clear 10% of the time. 20 minutes later it was gone again. We then headed for this Shinto shrine at the top of a mountain which was crazy. There was so much fog that you couldn't see in front of you and your hair got sobbing wet. But in made the shrine look very cool, I'm glad I got to see this one, because the other ones I've seen were not as cool. That night we made it back to the boat for free food and then headed into Tokyo.

Tokyo

We made it to Tokyo at about 8 and headed to Shinjuku I think. Though we did run into other SASer's making there way around. When we got there we started to try and find a place to stay. A group of Austrian girls told us the place they were staying but in the end these 2 Australian guys told us that we could leave our backpacks in a locker at the station and figure it out later. So that's what we did. We moved on to a converbelt sushi bar where I watched everyone try crazy things while drinking green tea. We moved on and hours later after trying karaoke we decided to stay in one of the comic book Internet cafe places we you can get a room for 6 hour. However when we went back for our stuff we discovered that the metro stations close at 12, with our stuff in them. So we waited until 9 the next morning to go back and pick the backpacks up. But the comic book place was an experience, there like these cubicles where theres a beanbag and a computer. Honestly Tokyo at night felt a little tacky with an abundance of flashing lights. Anyway after we got our stuff back we wandered over to Asakusa where there's a shrine and an open market place which was cool to see. We ate at a traditional Japanese place where you sat on a pillow on the floor. Next I head to Kobe by bullet train.

Kobe

The bullet trains are awesome! They go fast are so nice and was an experience in itself. it arrived in Kobe at 11ish and we tried to find a hostel near by. The one we were looking for we couldn't find and a young Japanese couple who didn't speak English tried to help us for 30 mins. In the end they showed us a cheap motel where we could stay. The next morning at the port we found out that some SASers did make it to the hostels, but others ended up sleeping outside the port. Anyway we were let back on the ship about 15 minutes before the trip to Hiroshima left, giving us time for 3 minutes shower and a change of clothes, which hadn't happen since before Mt. Fuji.

Hiroshima

This place leaves you speechless. The museum itself has the same air as the Holocaust museum in DC, but the trip had so much more. The group I was with started out around the a-bomb building when we were asked to get out of the way as the mayor and Wangari Muta Maathai, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and four walked by. They headed back to the museum and we moved on the the children's memorial. The children's memorial involved the 1000 cranes story that you may have heard before. A girl with cancer from the bombs made over a 1000 paper cranes, because after you make a 1000 you are suppose to get a wish granted. When she pasted away the monument was built and people bring paper cranes there in memory. Before we hung out the cranes we had a group of children were leaving from there school trip, and that was just cool. We then hung the paper cranes up when an older man said he wanted to talk to us. He was a survivor of the bombs and he told us his story of how his younger brother and his father had died and where he was. No words. Then there was the museum which was like I said before. And Muta Maathai, at the end gave a press conference, which fit into the sustainability theme of our voyage. It was amazing. She actually gave Amy (my roommate) her bracelet before she left.
Hiroshima was the best part of this Japan for me.

So that was Japan. I wasn't a big fan of some of the downtown areas, its just another city, but there is some cool stuff around. And how can you not like a place that gives me milk tea out of a vending machine? The people were so friendly, more so then Hilo where it was insane how friendly they were. Now its 2 days till China!

P.S.
The last day in Kobe was definately the most fun. After finding some free internet, Me and AMy went off in search of Kobe beef for lunch. We found this place where Kobe beef was only 4200 yen ($1 = 89 yen) where they cook it in front of you and decided to split it. We had to get another it was so good. Completely worth the price! THe people who worked there were so friendly too! A common theme in Japan.

On our way back to the metro to the ship we found a street preform that played music and danced while he painted. It was so cool! He would come up with the picture based on the music and who he was painting for. Amy got one done that was epic, and when I asked for one he started to paint me. It looks so awesome!!! Greatest find ever!! Left Japan on a great note.

Now it's only a few hour till China so I'll write more in a little over a week!