(Sunday, January 11)
I got up early on Sunday so I could Skype my lovely wife Denise. We talked for a long time and it was quite enjoyable. I feel bad because she missed going to church on Sunday partially due to me. I gave her the inside scoop on Mount Nokogiri before any of you read about it. Sorry, she does get special treatement since she is my wife and because she is so darn cute. After talking with Denise I head down to meet everyone at 9:30 am for our trip to Tokyo.
Our trip to Tokyo consisted of Karen, Rick, Karl, our host Bob, and myself. Bob had stayed in Yokosuka and worked here for three months starting in June, so is well traveled in the area. We went to the Yokosuka-Chuo station and took the train north along the Keiku line to Shinagawa which is on the outskirts of Tokyo. The train station was very busy once we got of the train with the 16 tracks of trains and lots and lots of people to navigate through.
We caught a train that goes around the circumference of Tokyo to get to the famed Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station is a huge brick building that has been around for a long time and is the central train station for Tokyo with lots of connecting trains. We left the station to walk to the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace is an ancient area where the Emporer still recides. There are a bunch of buildings that are surrounded by moats and/or gates with guards. You could walk around the outside of the Palace, but you could not get inside. It reminded some of us of Central Park since the area around the moats and the Palace was wide open with well trimmed trees and grass you could not stand or walk on.
After the Imperial Palace tour we walked back to Tokyo Station to catch another train to the Tokyo Dome. The Tokyo Dome reminds me a lot of Seattle since it has the Tokyo Dome, which is similar to the King Dome, and it has baseball during the season and concerts, Power Rangers, and other stuff outside of the baseball season. Around the dome we ended up eating lunch at Burgers Tokyo which was very tasty. I got a teriyaki burger that had the patty created from red peppers and other spices that made it very tasty. The fries in Japan are quite good even without ketchup. I wonder what they use to fry them in?
After eating a few of the group went on the roller coaster ride called Dolphin Encounter or something that included a short roller coaster ride that had a steep decline, entry into a building, a loop-to-loop, and just mass amounts of speed. It was fun watching people going on the ride. It reminded me of the setup they have at the New York, New York in Las Vegas, Nevada. I did not go on the ride due to my motion sickness issues. Instead I went and walked around the mall area that was part of the Tokyo Dome that included an Eddie Bauer and other fun places.
After checking out the Tokyo Dome, we left and headed to the Shinjuku area of Tokyo to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. The building is way tall, but provides free access to the 45th floor for a panoramic view of Tokyo. Mount Fuji was not visible due to clouds, but everything else was remarkable to see. There are two towers to the building, but we took the north end. From the top I spotted the Shinjuki Central Park which had some Shinto Shrines.
We traveled back down the elevator and went over to the Park to check out the shrine. The shrine was just okay, but the park included a homeless tent camp, skateboarders, roller bladers, BMX bikers, and two random kimono dressed ladies. The kimono dressed ladies were doing some crazy stretching exercises, but I was not sure of their purpose besides the photographer that was taking pictures of the two. It was quite interesting watching the situation, but I also felt very lost.
After the park visit, we briefly stopped at Starbucks to get some warm drinks to warm us up from the very cold temperatures of Tokyo we had felt up to that point. After leaving Starbucks it was dark, so we headed to the Kabukicho area which is the major entertainment town in Shinjuku with restaurants, movie theaters, game arcades, bowling, etc. It was amazing how crowded the streets were on a Sunday night with so many people going by you. It was quite overwelming with number of people and the neon signs.
After we were done at Kabukicho, we headed back to the Yokosuka-Chuo train station by taking another train and transferring. After we arrived back in Yokosuka, we headed the the mall neaby the train station for dinner. I ended up eating a #32 which was chicken and artichoke hearts over a spicy red sauce with spaghetti noodles. It was very traditional withe shoes off at the entrance. The food was excellent, but the service was not that great.
The night was finished.
(Monday, January 12)
The greatest part of this day was that it is 1/11/09 which is the third month anniversary of Denise and myself. I enjoyed talking with her this morning for a few minutes using Skype. We have the next few days planned on when and where to meet up. I can't wait until she comes out her permanently since we both miss each other.
Tonight we headed to a Korean BBQ with Kevin, Brian, Tim, John, Larry, and myself. It was a great concept, you paid about 3000 yen for 1.5 hours of unlimited eating and drinking. The drinking was from automated machines that could pour a beer for you or mix Shuhi for you in different flavors. The eating consisted of different sauces and spices and cooking red meat, chicken, and pork over a tiny gas grill that is at each table. We did great and got through about 4 plates of meat before the three of us were done. I also consumed a good portion of Japanese beer that treats me right.
After leaving the Korean BBQ, we headed to a couple of jazz bars. One had a cover charge of 1000 yen ($10) even though there was no one else there. The aother jazz bar we went to did not have a band or cover charge, but we purchased a few beers and the shuhi for Kevin. The place was empty besides us, but they had some nice jazz music playing in the background. I ordered and drank a Murphy's Irish Stout from tap which was tasty. The bar had a ton of American beers to choose from.
That concludes this nights festivities. I am almost falling asleep right now, so I bid everyone good night.
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