UMTravels

Oh the joys of family. My planned two-night stay in Tokyo has been turned into a one-night stay in Tokyo and a one-night stay in Yokohama, where I am the .005% — which has turned out to be…I’m at a loss for words, but not at all negative.

One of the things that I love about JapanLand is the attention to detail….TokyoDave got his shirts back from the laundry – tied with a ribbon:

Nice touch.

I spent my morning in Tokyo, not sightseeing, but working on the last blog post, eating toast and yogurt and Japanese-brand Laughing Cow, before Mitsio (TokyoDave’s wife) returned home and made coffee. I’m at a loss in their kitchen.

By noon or so I’m at the station to catch the train to Yokohama – in theory meeting up with TokyoDave on the train. They gave me one of their “ORCA” cards (actually that’s a Seattle thing, but same principle), though it was drained so I had to go through “the dance” and then top it off before the end of the trip. Apparently the same card works all over Japan, which should be handy – just need to mail it back since I think it’s like Seattle’s with a $10 charge to buy one.

Small misconnection with TokyoDave, but with the joys of email, we have a backup plan, and I have a “chair”, I mean suitcase, that works as a seat, and before you know it we are here:

And then we are checked in, after a bit of a walk – not my fault!

Tight quarters, but not my dime, nor Circus, nor Monkeys.

First up – LUNCH!

Nothing says Tokyo like plates of food on a conveyor belt – though we ordered the lunch special. We just needed a snack to tide us over until an early dinner (5:30):

The joys of mechanization, Tokyo Style.

And then there are the vending machines… not the porno ones in the “entertainment district”, but more mundane:

I love the “Japanese” Juan Valdez hocking coffee….

Next up was the Shinyokohama Raumen Museum…sort of an “odd” concept – you pay 310 yen to get in, and the place is set up to look like a 1958 townscape with stalls selling various styles of ramen…like I said, “odd” Covers two floors…

The only reservation TokyoDave could get for Teppanyaki was at 5:30 – which is a little early for dinner (for me…), but the show was fun:

Nice meal all around – though not cheap. Think 35000yen (now divide by 120). Luckily (for me) it was a business expense for TokyoDave since I’m his registered agent.

That was pretty much the end of the evening for the two of us.

In the morning it’s the breakfast buffet that is seriously crowded….but it’s included in the room, so we are up and out early since TokyoDave is manning the desk at his daughter Maya’s International Baccalaureate Art Show (the same sort of show that I went to for my niece Karen a couple of weeks ago. Here is a quick picture of Maya’s exhibit.

Maya’s would the second one in from the left. It seemed a little higher quality that the New Mexico show, but not hugely so.

Lots of interesting work in Maya’s – even got to meet TokyoDave’s in-laws, who were in town for the show as well, hence, why I was decamped to Yokohama so they could have the guest bedroom.

I have the day to kill before catching the Bullet Train to Nagoya to meet up with my nephew, Julian. First up is the Silk Museum, which was right next to the IB exhibition.

Not a huge place, but lots of traditional clothing throughout Japan’s history. Then it’s off to the Nissan Gallery at their World Headquarters – yes, I know, I’m breaking my rule of only one tourist attractions per day, but these were pretty cars to look at, and nice butts in rubber pants:

Then down the block a little more and it was to the Haro Model Railway Museum – apparently this guy has been collecting and building model trains for his entire life.

Then it was back to the district where my hotel was to grab my luggage – but not before trying to squeeze in one last museum, the CupNoodles Museum (yes, that’s how it’s spelled).

But alas, there were tons of people in line to just get tickets. Guess I’ll save that for the next trip. Time to grab a bite, pick up the luggage and head to the station (which luckily is right across the street from the hotel). And this would be my office inside the JRStation waiting for my train…time to work on the blog (but not finished it – which is too bad because there is free wi-fi and I’m stocked with Whiskey and Diet.

Da Train Boss, Da Train!

Stay tuned for Nagoya and Komaki.

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When on the run to Hong Kong, when does one day end and the next start?

So far all the flights have been arriving early – sort of amazing for United. Half an hour early into SFO, 15 minutes early into Narita, 45 minutes early into Hong Kong.

So far, no upgrades on any of the segments, but the seats are OK. Little Asian woman next to me on SEA-NRT, was sitting next to people on the NRT-HKG run but I found an ENTIRE exit row open and after a little grief “you must pay extra for these seats” – and showing that I was already 7D which is economy plus, and showing my Gold Card, it was “I alert the rest of the attendants so that they know”. Gold does have its privileges:

That would be me, across three seats in an exit row.

Today’s humorous bathroom shot is from the Hong Kong airport in the transit section – the family bathroom within the men’s room:

Like father like son?

Like I said – got to Hong Kong 45 minutes early – and checked email (on the phone via free wi-fi at the airport) and found a note from TokyoDave, my now married to a Japanesse woman who he fathered two children with. I’d sent him a note yesterday saying I’d be in Tokyo for an hour and would wave as I flew out on my way to Kong Kong. He sent me back a note that he was IN HONG KONG until Saturday morning and wanted to know if I wanted to share his hotel room for the night.

Of course by the time I got the second note about details (he was in meetings) I was already through the transit lounge and in the United Club boozing it up. My ORIGINAL plan was, United Club until midnight, LoungeClub until 6am, then United Club until my flight tomorrow at 11:30am.

Now I’m in a bit of a pickle – I’m on the departures level and I need to be on the immigration level if I’m to leave the airport.

United Club Front Desk is obviously not pleased – it’s later in the evening and there is no staff to escort me so they give me a slip of paper and say “take the Staff Elevator” at Gate 35 down one floor. Did that and SECURITY wasn’t happy and sent me to the Service Desks between gates 20 and 21 – problem is United doesn’t have a service desk so the Thai Airlines folks sent me BACK to the United Club. For reference – the distance between gates 20 and 60 where the club is is approximately ½ mile. I’m getting a workout and sweating like a pig – there isn’t enough air-conditioning in the world to keep the humidity out of the Hong Kong air.

After another 15-20 minutes of wrangling they find a gate agent (at gate 20!) that will meet me at the elevator near gate 35 and escort me. After almost an hour of marching to and fro – I’m headed to Immigration and Customs (which goes smoothly). The upside is that the gate agent was in his mid-20s and cute. The downside is that I’ve lost an hour that I could have spent with TokyoDave.

Next up catching a Red Cab (regional) to the Royal Park Hotel in Sha Tain. Of course I get to the cab line and ask about credit cards and its cash only – off to find an ATM machine for the $40 cab ride.

Finally in the cab, and get to where TokyoDave’s text message said in Chinese characters I was supposed to go. No Dave registered at the hotel – finally broke down and called him.

Here is a shot of a traffic jam caused by all the deliveries at the major fruit market in Hong Kong:

Turns out I got sent to the Royal PLAZA hotel in Kowloon, not the Royal PARK Hotel in Sha Tain. None of the cab drivers speak any English so it’s the door man/taxi agent who tells them in Cantonese where to go. In my case, to the wrong place. In my sad/tired/whiney voice I ask him to come fetch me as I’m now out of HKD (Hong Kong dollars). It’s now midnight – I got into Hong Kong at 9pm, and I have an 11:30am flight tomorrow.

He arrives after 20 minutes are so and we are off. As for me at this point, I’m probably smelling like a farm animal – and the first this after getting up to his room is to drink half a mini of Cognac he has left over and hit the showers and get cleaned up. It just feels great to get out of clothes.

As it turns out — had everything gone smoothly and I would have gotten there at 10pm — TokyoDave would have still been tied up in a meeting that was supposed to run from 4-5pm (in Kowloon oddly enough) ran until almost 11:30pm. TD had just gotten to his room when the call from me came in.

While I’m showering TokyoDave goes down to the bar and grabs two large glasses of wine before they close at 1am.

The alarm is set for 5:15 (TokyoDave) and 6:00 (me) and yet it’s after 2 before we stop chatting and turn out the lights – this will make TWICE in the last 30 days that we’ve had an overnight – both less than 18 hours each.

Oh well – four hours of sleep in a REAL bed is better than 8 hours in a recliner in a lounge.

[? ? ?] Between the carbs and all the walking, who knows what Friday’s numbers will look like.

TokyoDave and I arrived from the train station to a living room full of teenagers – apparently, there were twice as many (eight) earlier. In the living room on a tabletop cooker they had been making quesadillas and smores – yes, these are international school students. Sarah’s (TokyoDave’s number two daughter) red-haired boyfriend is half Japanese, half Argentine. Definitely a mixed crowd where English was the major language. And like teens everywhere, more food was needed:

Yep – they send Mitzio (TokyoDave’s wife) to the Dominos store because you get an extra pizza if you pick it up rather than have it delivered. Thankfully she also picked up a bag of ice for cocktails.

It was a long evening of catching up, noshing on various bits and bobs, a bottle of red wine was opened to go with the dutyfree whiskey I brought. Spanish, El Diablo something. Didn’t try it but it was finished by the morning.

Julian showed up from Nagoya in the morning – only getting a little lost needing TokyoDave to fetch him from the Family Mart (the 7-11 of Japan, except that 7-11’s are EVERYWHERE in Japan). Soon we were off to Kawasaki for the Kanamara Festival. Basically, it’s a Penis Festival – like the one that I went to two years ago in Komaki.

Police had closed off streets:

And the crowds were massive – much larger than the festival in Komaki.

With lots of people in costume:

And then the parade of penises started:

But a still photo doesn’t do it justice – how about a video!

And there were more “floats”….

This one was carried by and donated to the local temple by local drag queens:

Yet, more dongs…

And dress-up:

It turned into a family event with TokyoDave’s wife and daughter meeting up with us, though it’s only Julian, Sarah, and I in this shot.

Sarah and I are eating chocolate dipped penis’ (banana on a stick), while Julian is holding up his “mini-me”.

Eventually, we ended up at one of the two temples (starting and ending):

When the “honored guest” (that would be me) was ask about lunch, my request was not for street/stall food, but a sit-down restaurant to get away from the crowds (and, frankly, to sit down). We ended up at t noodle joint.

You order and pay at the hostess station, they give you tickets to place on the table. Want drinks? Step up to the vending machine for more tickets:

I opted for the sparking sake:

Soon, it was time to head back to TokyoDave at Mitzio’s house and relax:

And have a little late dinner.

For tomorrow Julian and I head to Nagoya.

[219.4]

I didn’t really get to see much of anything in Dubai, but that would have required a layover, which wasn’t permitted under the tickets rules – or if it was, it would have screwed up my car service on both ends.

Got to Dubai in the dark last night, leaving before the sun is up – at least this morning I’ve got time/inclination to take a shot of the hotel:

Grabbed the transfer bus, avoided check-in since I’m doing carry-on, so it’s straight to the Emirates Business Class Lounge. Looks large from the outside…

But when you get inside, you need a map!

The Business Class lounge runs THE ENTIRE LENGTH of a 25-gate terminal, as does the First Class lounge, one floor down.

And there are dedicated check in desks inside the lounge for EACH gate, with four elevators (per gate) that take you directly to the jet bridge for boarding.

But I haven’t even talked about the food service – hello breakfast!

Big buffet with everything from British to Middle Eastern – I’d love to see what the dinner spread is like – maybe I should have stayed in the airport overnight rather than dropping $140 (and the cost of dinner).

Time to head to the plane…

There is even a second level jetway (a separate stop on the elevator from the Lounge) for the Airbus A-380 double decker planes that Emirates has about 50 of.

Soon, I’m back in my seat…feeling a little narrow this time, but it’s exactly the same seat (just on the other side of the plane).

And we are in the air with a TOTALLY crowded Business Class section – seems we have a delegation (business/political?) from Tanzania. Alas – Bing Search didn’t come up with anything, yet.

Every seat is full. Expecting service to be a little less attentive than on the first leg, but breakfast is served:

Not feeling 100% this morning – maybe too much fun yesterday?

At least it isn’t coach. No lunch picture, slept a good four hours (out of the nine). No movies, just Brooklyn 99 which is a cop/comedy with one of the Saturday Night boys, featuring a gay Precinct Captain – think Barney Miller updated that is a “Box Set” which means that you get the entire season that plays ene-to-end, unfortunately with the same annoying commercials between episodes.

I was a little worried about arriving in Tokyo – as I’m carrying things I probably shouldn’t:

• Couple of pounds of low carb flour
• Couple of pounds of some hulled grain
• Business Documents
• Last known copy of an erotic photo from 30-years-ago of a mutual friend (that Swanda had in his bathroom for years, and I had in mine for years before)

All that was for TokyoDave, as well a couple of pairs of underwear he left behind on his last trip through.

But no problems – just got stuck behind someone with paperwork problems which delayed my arrival into the arrivals hall which was my other worry…what about this famed “car service”… but there he was, with his clipboard in hand, waiting for me.

That would be Mitsuru – my driver for the evening:

And off we go into the city!

To TokyoDave’s place, with a warm futon (after a couple of glasses of Bourbon).

I am blessed to have spare bedrooms in two different places in Tokyo with exPat friends of mine (alas, the other is in Portland at the moment dealing with his aging mother).

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I’m actually taking a weekend off leaving Jim in charge – like he is even when I am working the weekend. Destination? Tokyo to visit my ex, his wife, and daughter for a couple of days, then down to Nagoya to visit Julian.

But first, I have to get there, which means a stop in the Alaska Lounge:

Breakfast of champions!

Saw the combo Alaska/Virgin plane that was damaged several weeks ago in an “airport incident“. Fortunately, not my airplane.

Several days ago, I’d gotten an email from Alaska Airlines saying that they had upgraded me on my flight from Seattle to Vancouver. In the back, there isn’t even enough time for a beverage service. In the front, we got one quick round in the half hour flight. It was nice to even get an upgrade on a frequent flyer award ticket. Even got my favorite seat, 1C.

When I checked in back in Seattle, they were able to check my bag in all the way to Tokyo, but not give me a boarding pass for my connecting Japan Airlines ticket. Got to Vancouver, and while the plane had arrived, there, the gate area was locked up. Wandered the airport a bit and finally decided to go to the lounge that Alaska partners with in Vancouver – which turns out to only work if you are flying to the states, or, as it turns out, connecting to the Japan Airlines flight. Yahoo! More free food.

My newspaper fortune (VERY appropriate):

My plane (787-8):

My seat:

The bidet controls in the lavatory (yes, a bidet on a plane – better than a snake):

And then the food started coming (and coming). It IS business class, after all:

Somehow, I forgot to take a picture of the “starter” course which was shrimp, lox, foie gras (and tasty). Then before landing (after my third movie), they served us another lunch:

Upper left is VERY unusual version of Paella.

I went for the Western Meal option since I’ll be in Japan all week and this will be my last chance. Here were the menu options:

And let’s not forget the drinks!

My thoughts on Japan Airlines Business Class:

• Last generation seats, not completely lay flat
• A little stingy on the alcohol
• A little too “formal” attitude for my taste
• Food was good, but not over the top

But considering my round-trip ticket was 112,500 miles and $85, I can’t complain too much.

Arrived in Tokyo to an airfield taxi stand – meaning down the stairs and into a bus to the terminal. Fairly quick transit through immigration and customs, and soon enough I was on the Narita Express bound for Shinagawa Station where TokyoDave would meet me and get me the rest of the way to his house:

The train into town was an hour, and the remaining legs with TokyoDave another half hour.

We’ll pick up the story tomorrow, but at least I made it in to Tokyo in one piece.

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We arrived in Kyoto a little after three, and easily found our “hostel” – and found it closed until 4PM. We continued down the narrow alley for another block or so.

To discover this:

It was a very serene place to just SIT – one of the few public resting places I’ve come across on this trip. I sat, Julian did a roam of the neighborhood.

When he returned, we still had time to kill, so we went to this place in the alley that advertised Craft Beer (a Julian favorite), called Beer Komachi:

Julian tried a couple of different beers, I went for an interesting sounding sake. Food looked interesting but didn’t try any (though Julian would try to try late in the evening, but the kitchen had closed). It was 4:40 by the time we got back to the “hostel” (Hostel Haruya Higashiyama), just a few doors down.

The main entrance is by the bicycles… as it turned out – our room had a private entrance just behind Julian. You can see the key hanging out of the door!

They had it set up for one person, but rectified the situation after we went out. One thing that didn’t get rectified was Julian’s response to the check-in person’s question as to whether I was his father – sadly, he used the wrong version (though close) which said I was his grandfather. Damn I look good for having a 30+year-old grandson.

Thought it would be noisy, being right on the alley, but amazingly not. Basically, we threw our shit down and left to explore.

One of the things I learned quickly is that Kyoto is full of tourists – mostly Japanese, and it’s dress up time!

And they all seemed to be under 30. Apparently, this is a great “courting” city, as in, if you are trying to woo a girl, suggest a weekend in Kyoto.

While we are on “photo albums”, here is a collection of Japanese posters that I liked:

What the hell –a vending machine – also a favorite of mine, including the first one which actually in the winter dispenses HOT cans of coffee in addition to the cold beverages. Blue signs for cold, red for hot:

Enough random photos!

We wondered around the old town section of Kyoto, which was just over the river from where we were staying. Tried to get into a jazz bar we found.

But it was closed, so we opted for a Yakitori snack and drinks.

After our snack, tried to go back the jazz club from earlier – still closed, though they said they’d be open in fifteen minutes, so we wandered and found another jazz bar, Beer Bar Jive.

Where we had a drink. Turns out, later in the evening they have live jazz. Once again, we are too early.

One drink, and we went back to see if Hello Dolly was finally open…

But one of the staff let us in, since he’d been the one to say that it was still closed because their bartender hadn’t showed up. No mixed drinks, but he could handle whiskey on the rocks and a beer. The closed sign was still on the door so we had the entire place to ourselves!

Nice old wood classy bar interior, but again, we stayed for just one drink before heading back to Beer Bar Jive a little before 8, hoping to get out of paying the cover charge from 8PM on (didn’t work). The musical guests were a Harmonica (& Guitar – but he should have stuck to the Harmonica) player and a Pianist (really good). I’d wanted to hear some live jazz on this trip, so I wasn’t all that picky about what I could find on a Sunday night.

After a couple of rounds of drinks, we left at the end of the first set, not really getting value for our 1500yen each cover charge, but we needed to find food – and probably should have gone back to the yakitori place, but instead, walked around forever, finally plopping me down in a British Pub while Julian scoured the rest of the neighborhood – coming up empty, so we both decided to have a little food. Tip for ordering Western food in Japan. DO order the Fish & Chips (me), DO NOT order the nachos (Julian).

We struggled back to the hostel – and the room was set for two:

Julian went back to Beer Komachi to see if he could get a little more food. No, kitchen was closed, but isn’t beer food?

I slept like a rock. I was up before Julian, meaning I had to find the shower (we had a bathroom in our suite). It was though the lounge, left through a sliding glass door!

Had a bit of trouble getting Julian up and going, but once we were out, found a close café (La Bac a Sable) for a little breakfast:

Nice to have a sort of American breakfast after a couple of weeks!

Off to the temple (Fushimi Inari Shrine) we go – two or three trains later, we pop out here:

Next up was noodles at Men Ko Bo Ren – a place that Julian had been to before. It was popular, so we had to wait for a seat:

But it was a good thing we got in when we did, as they sold out of noodles!

We took the slow (2.5 hours) train back to Nagoya, which saved us enough to pay for lunch.

Notice the railroad watch holder set into the control panel.

I had arrangements for a business meeting with a client from Tokyo who happened to be in Nagoya for the day one business, so we got together for drinks and dinner.

TokyoDave has the ordering tablet in his hand, but here is what it looks like:

I let him order all the dishes, and I wasn’t disappointed!

It was a wonderful dinner meeting, but TokyoDave needed to catch the 7:55pm train home, it was shorter than I’d like.

I, myself, headed back to Julians, for tomorrow is another day.

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For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

After work today I was running errands around town, one of which was to Pacific Iron & Metal to source a piece of aluminum for the trailer bed. Needed a piece 40×48. Popped into their outside yard — lots of diamond plate, thicker than I wanted. Looked like I was going to have to have them cut a larger piece to size… and then I spotted a palate with a couple of dozen sheets on it. We measured one and found it was…. 40×48. A little thicker than I wanted, and 23 pounds so a little heavier, but he cut me a deal on it. Only charged me 20 pounds (at $2.50 a pound).

Next up is to bolt it to the trailer:

It’s going to get painted red so I won’t have to get the slight corrosion off  of it. Now I just need to go in and cut out the stake slots. That will be the project for the rest of the week.

TokyoDave wa supposed to be on a 6:30 flight — just perfect for having dinner, but, alas, his United commuter flight to ORD from STL had a mechanical, so they put him on the Alaska SLT-SEA direct flight that arrived at 8:30. Make that a late dinner.

With talking until 1, we aren’t getting much sleep tonight and I need to take him to the airport in the morning.

A VERY quick visit. He’s off to Portland and then the Bay Area.

One last ODD note. They picked up my recycling this afternoon… on a Tuesday (Wednesday is my usual day) and on the wrong week (recycling is every other week). This is the second time it’s happened — and it’s sort of handy since I’ve been bringing home all the empty boxes from the shop.

[206.4]

Up at 6 (me) and down in the dining room when they opened. One big buffet is what’s on offer:

Everything from western-style omelets to miso soup and sushi, or a green salad, or baked beans for the Brits.

TokyoDave all bright eyed and chipper:

A little after 7 we set out to find the bus stop for the cheap (under $2 US) city bus to the airport – beats the $40US cab ride – but don’t expect a seat half way through their pickups:

Lots of people standing. And my favorite highway sign that I failed to get a picture of on my last trip:

Both Hong Kong Disney and the airport (and the giant Buddha) are on Lantau Island.

Settled in on the plane next to a tiny Chinese woman, I have my reading stand all set up for the trip:

That should take me though the end of the first meal service when I wash down an Ambien with a glass of wine.

Flights on time or early – and had the luxury of having my SFO-SEA flight depart from the International Terminal which gave me a little more time in the lounge between flights. I have to say I love the speed and ease of Global Entry – it takes longer to walk there than it does to get through Immigration and Customs.

Got back to the house a little before 2pm – plenty of time to bake some bread for my dinner with Roxy tonight. The menu:

• Ceviché Gazpacho
• Salad
• Fresh Baked Rosemary Challah
• Grilled Salmon

The plan was to east a little earlier at 6pm since Roxy goes to work at 4am. We succeeded in getting the dinner over, but then Roxy’s new boytoy showed up for after dinner drinks:

It turned into a whiskey sampling. I pity Roxy tomorrow – they didn’t get out of the house until 10:30!

[209.6] but that was mid-afternoon.

While my hands are quite shaking, it does feel weird that I’ll be at home for the next couple of weeks – maybe that’s why a spur of the moment trip to Leavenworth is looking so tempting. It’s not like I don’t have anything to look forward to:

The second Albuquerque is actually Dwight’s flight to meet up with me for our train ride back to Seattle in a Bedroom (rather than Roomette) on the Southwest Chief connecting to the Coast Starlight. What’s a bedroom on the train look like:

And the shower/toilet stall…

But the trip that I’m most excited about is my March trip to Japan to visit TokyoDave, faux nephew Julian who is teaching English as a second language, and see the Phallus Festival in Komaki where he lives. Of course, the journey is part of the adventure:

Yep – I’m going the long way around. Emirates from Seattle to Dubai, a 13-hour layover in the Business Class
Lounge, then onto Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Haneda is the close in airport – and Emirates is even giving me car service on both ends. It was 75,000 Alaska miles for a one-way to Japan and another 75,000 on United to fly home in Business aboard an ANA
787-8. $57.70 in taxes and fees. Not bad! I pulled the price of my itinerary on Expedia and their price was $16,269.40. WOW. That means I am getting 10.8 per mile value out of those frequent flier miles – the usual calculation is that frequent flier miles are worth 1-2 cents apiece.

POST UPDATE: Here is a great article on what points are worth. According to this article, Alaska points are valued at 2 cents per mile while Uniteds are valued at 1.5 cents per mile (down from 2 cents last year because of changes redemptions). Whole article here.

Lots of firsts (but no First Class) on this trip:

• Never been to Dubai, though I might not even leave the airport
• Never flown Emirates
• Never flown into Haneda
• Never been to a Phallus Festival (technically Hōnen Matsuri or Harvest Festival)
• Never flown on a 787

So, assuming I have the right images, this is what Business Class on Emirates 777s look like:

As opposed to the Business Class seats on ANA’s
787-8:

Looking forward to experiencing both airlines. And look at the menus:

• Seattle – Dubai
• Dubai – Tokyo

Not going to lose any weight on this trip.

Here is a great picture from WikiPedia of the Phallus Festival…

So, the confession is that even when I’m in town, my mind is out of town, looking forward to the next trip – but having blown most of my stash of miles, it will be awhile before I’m back overseas.

[224.2]

Thanks to TackyT-ShirtPrincess, I have a link to the international coverage of the festival I attended in Kawasaki. CLICK HERE. Should I return next spring, I think I’d go back to the one in Komaki (always on March 15^th – Kawasaki’s is always the first Sunday in April) as the crowds are smaller and the phallus’ bigger.

Guess that I really SHOULD show you the shirt I got her – even though it will ruin the surprise since she hasn’t gotten it yet:

With that little additional information about Kanamara, we need to get ourselves south to Nagoya on the Shinkansen, which means a couple of different trains to pick it up in Yokohama.

Yep – during the morning commute. But we made it.

And soon, the little lady with the cart came around. I picked a lovely Australian Red to go with my egg salad sandwich on blindingly white bread:

The trains are definitely high-tech – they even come with instructions on how to use the toilet:

Don’t squat on the rim, don’t put your poop stained toilet paper in the trash can, and wave your hand around to flush.

To give you an idea of how quick the train is – here’s a short video:

All that speed made me thirsty, so when the trolley lady came by, it was time for another round:

Arriving at Nagoya’s Central Station, changed to the local train, where there was even a sign on the train advertising the wine TokyoDave and Mitsio drank while we were in Tokyo:

Arriving at Julian’s place, I see he’s stocked up in preparation of my visit:

Though we might have to hit the grocery store for some of their 3 to 5 liter bottles:

His new place (since my last visit) is a definite step up – on the 13^th floor with a nice view:

And the insides are nice as well!

You can see his previous place in this POST.

No rest for the wicked (guess that would be me), so after dropping our bags, it’s off to a Japanese Curry restaurant:

I even had a beer – yes, me!

Since this is Julian’s last day off before returning to work – off we go Inuyama Castle – more trains, more walking:

And after six or seven flights of “ship stairs”, we get (me, huffing and puffing) to the top to see the view:

Walked back to the station to use the facilities…luckily, no need for this one:

At least there was toilet paper.

But wait, there is MORE! Appetizers at home.

Before heading out to conveyor sushi! Where you order by tablet.

And get your own hot water for tea:

With food coming on Shinkansen and belts:

And a little video

And in the end, you pay by the stack of plates, by color:

Long day, longer…wait – karaoke!

In my(previous) world, karaoke is something done at a bar with people fighting over a microphone. Apparently in Japan, it’s something experienced with friends in a private reserved room with free unlimited booze.

This is a favorite of Julian:

Free drinks (with room rent) help Uncle Markie get into the spirit:

Julian filmed a small (thankfully) segment when the liquor took over:

A seriously long night. I’m thinking of sleeping in.

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