It's stuck.

Now I know I'm not in Japan anymore, but, I have enough thoughts everyday that its good to have a place to let some of them out.
Today my main problem is that I have the word "Akihabara" stuck in my head. If I am saying it right it is the name of the street in Tokyo that houses "Electric Street". This is a very shiny place that sells every and all electronic bits yet conceived of. Seeing as how I was vacationing with The Kip the electrician, we spend a few nights there. But the way I have it spelled, I may not mean anything.
Any remedy suggestions will be welcomed. So far I have only tried saying it over and over in my head for a few hours. That seems only to stick it more firmly.

Boo for jetlag!

One thing you should never do in Japan is get jet lag. I guess you don't actually feel the effects of the jet lag-bug until you get home; but, from my research, you catch the jet lag-bug(or JLB) from the shiny bright lights on the streets of Japan. It proceeds to burrow into the sleep centers of your brain and makes you believe that 2.30AM mountain standard time(or MST) is actually 4.30 that afternoon.
The tricky part is, you don't know you've been infected until you fly back to your native time zone and wonder why you feel like you should be getting off of work at 2.30AM; when in fact, you have gone to sleep a few hours ago so you can get up in 3 hours to go to work.
Its a vicious cycle.
Fortunately after a few weeks under the intense ultra violet rays of most American work places the JLB shrivels and falls our the carriers ear during sleep(usually at his desk). But the intervening weeks can take its toll on the carrier, his family, friends, pets, girl friends(unless these are imaginary), co-workers, relatives, cars, near by food, passersby, religious authorities, house plants, and shoes.
So, in conclusion, when in Japan, try not to look at cool stuff. I know that most of you are thinking, "Don't be foolish. Cool stuff is why we have eyes, and Japans." And that is why I am going to step up and take one for the team. I will return to Japan next year and look at everything even more so none of you will have to. I know its a big sacrifice but I care that much for you.

I guess we're home now.

We got on a plane at 6p.m. on Sunday the 20th and touched down in the SLC at 6:20 p.m. And thats with a 5 hour lay over in San Fran. How do we do it, you ask; it's a lil' trick the Japanese taught me. The Japanese word for it is "tie me trabble", which loosely translates to: time travel. It's just one of those things you can do or you can't. You know like everything else.
I have now been awake for 31 hours and am not so sleepy because it feels like 3 in the afternoon.
Did I mention I also learned to see into the future? For instance, I can see me having a crap day at work tomarrow because of jet-lag.
You may be asking yourself, "Self, is there anything Sky didn't learn in Japan?" But whatever answer Self gives you, don't listen, thats guys slow.

P.S.

Thats a pic of me sitting in a new Skyline GT-R 35. I've come to find out that Skyline in Japanese means Skyline.

Last night in Tokyo!

It's our last night in Tokyo, or Japan for that matter, and I'm sad. Very sad. I don't know if you have been to Japan or not, but it is worth doing. It's so foreign but so easy. You can go out and walk at night, and if you don't think about it too hard, or breath too deep, you'd swear you were in any big city you would love to live in.
Tonight we sleep at the Yaesu Fujiya. It is as right in the center of Tokyo as you can get. We spent the day wandering around and taking the train everywhere we wanted to get a second look at, because, our train passes expire tomarrow.

Karuizawa again!

We are both getting pretty sick of our hotel in Karuizawa forcing us to be back here at 5 pm. I'm not sure if you know this or not, but there is nothing to do at our resort in the winter. We arrived 7 mins after the last bus for our resort leaves the train station, so we get to pay $40 to get there in a cab.
We spent the day shopping in Tokyo, and we got ourselves a hotel reserved for tomarrow night in the heart of downtown, a few blocks from the Imperial palace,(thats where Darth Vader moved after the Death Star was destroyed. If you ask Vader he still sticks to the story that the new guy bumped something in the control room and thats how it blew up. And trust me, you don't want to mention the name Skywalker to him. The guy really holds a grudge)
Anywho, we wil be in Tokyo again tomarrow, for the last time, and we will be rushing to cram in all the sites we haven't gotten to thus far. (So what if i used the word "thus"! lay off."

What day is it?

We are again chillin' in the train station at Karuizawa. Today we will head down to Tokyo and try to get our shopping done. We need to make sure and buy all the useless crap that we can put on a shelf somewhere, or at the very least, give to someone else so they can stick it on a shelf somewhere. And who doesn't want a nice big shelf, piled high with crap.
The train for Tokyo leaves in about 10 mins. so until then we get to sit in there unheated waiting room. But at least its only -2c, which, if I am using the correct calculations ((A-G)x(F-G-B/C+A)-32), then that is somewhere in the 20's.

Back to Kuruizawa.

We are in the train station, which is the last place we can get internet in Kuruizawa. Daifuku was pretty cool, but you get no pics and only this lil' explination, 'cause it's closeing.

"New" Omi Hotel.

We took a 5 hour train ride today to arrive in Omi-Hachiman. Which, if my Japanese is what I think it is, means, Omi-"8"man. Now our Japanese lesson is over. We wandered around the town for a few, but its a pretty small farming type town. But it is where we meet the bus that takes us to our big factory tour of Diafuku. But I also get to watch Knight Rider in Japanese to help me fall asleep.

And if I have learned anything today, it's that it is always 6 somewhere.

Snowboarding!

So we were in Kuruizawa and I thought, "I may as well go snowboarding in Japan." And so I did.
This is the small resort town of Kuruizawa. Its not a bad place but our hotel is up in the mountians, about 20 mins from town. And the shuttle from our hotel stops at 5:20pm because winter is their off season.


I have no idea who these 2 are, but they were excited to be in a white kids pictures.

No internet in Kuruizawa.

Today we transferred to our new hotel in the mountains of Kuruizawa. The resort is named VIX. It is about 20 mins from the center of the town of Kuruizawa. It’s a small, small town. Apparently it is booming in summer, but in the winter there are only visitors to the ski resorts. I hope to go skiing tomarrow, but I will have to rent everything but a beanie. So we will see. I also hope The Kip doesn’t get to bored. We have 2 days, then on Wednesday we go to a town near Kyoto to spend the night and visit Daifuku. Up here in the mountains we don’t get internet so it may be a few days till anyone reads this.

Fish Market.

We woke up at 4.30am this morning to take a train down to the biggest fish market in Japan. Maybe the world, I forget. It was pretty fancy. We watch the Tuna auctions for a while and then just wandered, checking out the wares.
This video is of an auctioneer.

Frozen tuna.

Tokyo Auto Salon Pics.

The Auto Salon is the coolest car show I have been to, ever. Its loud, shiny, chromed, crowded and worth it. It is split up into 3 different sections. Each section is almost twice as big as the South Town Expo Center. If you don't know how big that is, its way, way, way, really, way big.
We had 5 hours the first day and I rushed myself through 2 sections., I walked into the 3rd just in time to leave. So I went back today and spent 5 more hours inside, and another 3 in the parking lot. So cool!
I have piles of pictures, so I just put a few together. Hope you dig 'em as much as I do!!!

You really have no idea how excited I am!!! (Thats three exclamation-points excited.) So excited infact, that I found the lamest back ground I could for my slide show.
P.S. So excited that I forgot to eat all day, its now 9pm and I am just now eating!!!

So much shiny!

So much shiny. So much looking. So much walking. So many cars. So sleepy. Will write later.

Best Japanese commercial ever.

Get on the bus and don't touch nothin'!

We took a tour today. But first, me and The Kip woke up at 6 and wandered around town near our hotel for a while. And then we went to Lotaria for b-fast. The Kip got scared face but then ate it happily.
We started with Tokyo Tower. A giant TV broadcasting tower. I could se everything, even The Kip.
Then we drove past the Imperial palace, Ginza(very busy shopping district) and then stopped at Some temples backed by a big shopping area.
Then we started doing cool stuff. We went t a place called up garage! This a a shop that sells used car parts for super deals, A.K.A. heaven. We spent a long time there and I left with a few new things. Go me!
A few of us wanted to go to a famous Tokyo car tuning garage, Super Autobacs, so we left the bus and found our way there. it was pile after pile of cool, and that was just the parking lot. Inside is all the shiny stuff you could ever want to strap to your car.
Thats what I look like standing next to Nissan's next super car. It will be in the US in a year or so. Trust me, It's a pretty big deal!
Then I came home and wandered near our hotel. The Kip hooked his iPod to our TV and fell asleep. good times.

Hello from the future!

We are now in Japan! And that means we are 16 hours ahead of everyone reading this. Hello from the future. The future is clean, humid and very Asian.

Getting there is the hard part.

In 1/2 of an hour we will be getting on a plane. A plane the size of The Kip's head. How this is possible, I don't know. All I'm sure of is that I saw what i think were real, normal people getting off this plane, apparently unharmed. So why not? Like Grandma always said, "be sure you always follow the crowd and let other people do you thinking for you." Thanks Grandma.

We walked too much.

We woke up sleepy today, still San Francisco. I think with my official position at the Graybar being that of "the guy that sits all day," and Kip being "The Kip", walking up hills for 8 hours was more then we were ready to tackle. But we pulled it off with the style and grace you have all come to expect from Me and The Kip.
So today we took it easy today, walking only half as far as yesterday. We wandered around the mall, looking at all the fancy designer shops I didn't care about, and The Kip had never heard of.
Back at the hotel, I left to go wander some more, and The Kip went to get some snacks from Walgreens. I found a lil' Korean section of town and a lil' Japanese part. There was a mini-mall full of stores with lots of random goodies from each country, all marked up twice there original price. and then I walked back to the hotel, fighting off the prostitutes with a stick. It's just the way I roll.

Scared?

I am watching Bizarre Foods on the travel channel with The Kip. After a spot with the guy eating a still beating frog heart, The Kip, got up and had himself an Alka-seltzer.

We sang as we walked...

Today I made The Kip walk, or more correctly the city of San Fran did. Just F.Y.I., you can not buy a 3 day bus pass on Sunday. So we walked. Blocks and blocks we walked. Me and The Kip walk to Fisherman's Wharf, thats right, "The" Fisherman's Wharf. We ate some food served by a person that looked like a man, sounded like a woman and had the facial hair of a 15 year old boy. At least it was good. Then we did other touristy things. We walked up to the Coit Tower. I forget what it is and why it was there, but it was tall and on the top of a hill. On the way home we walked through China town where The Kip enjoyed many shiny crystalline things. Now that we are back in the hotel we are enjoying not walking.

Travel Lodge SUCKS!

As soon as we checked into the Travel Lodge SFO North, we knew we had made the right choice. The room came with complimentary Cheerios and off brand M&Ms on the floor. The bathroom had the softest floor mats you can imagine(I believe they were made from left over 'personal' hairs from former guests). Our lovely neighbors, on both sides, didn't stop screaming/slamming their doors until 4 A.M. this morning. And they were good enough to start again at 6 A.M. So that we knew for sure was time to find another hotel and leave. So we settled on a lil' hole in the wall, gold crown rated place in downtown San Fran. , called Club Donatello. We may made a mistake. No Cheerios, no hairs. Just clean everything. And who wants to watch a 36" flat screen while they are on vacation.

Delays!

We arrived at the SLC airport at 5 to find out our 6:20 flight was delayed because of wind. WIND! So we sat, until 10:20. And when we arrived at our hotel in San Fran my wallet was gone. Lucky for me Jetblue found it in the SLC terminal. So now I just have to get it here before I need to prove that I'm me so I can Fly to Japan. Let the good times roll!

Packing!

Me and The Kip finally finished up th packing last night. And we took a minute to pose by our luggage so The Vida could take a pic. The Kips a lil' camera shy.

Ion Supply Drink! Yes please!

Heres something you may not know about Me and The Kip; we are suffering from the largest known Ion deficiency. And as everyone know that low ions = piles of things that are bad for you, your loved ones. Not to mention that really comfy pair of shoe you love so much will be totally ruined.
You may be wonder how you can tell if your Ions are far below there natural or American levels. It's a very simple test.
Step 1: Look at a can of Pocari Sweat.
Step 2: Ask yourself this question, "Would I drink something that has sweat in the name?"
Step 3: Anylizing your answer:
If you said, "No" and got a lil' scared, either your ions are fine, or your a sissy. I'm guessing sissy.
If you said, "I've never been that thirsty." Your ions are flowing just fine.
If you said, "I'll just have a sip of yours." Then you had better go find your own before I mess-up your ions.
If you said, "I'll take a dozen!" Then you maybe need your ion levels adjusted via Pocari Sweat.

If you don't think The Sweat is for you, you can just sit back and enjoy 20oz of Pepsi "Ice Cucumber". You made your choice. Now drink up.

How many socks is too many?

I(Me) started packing (I know its still 2days away, but I'm excited, lay off) and I'm a lil' low on socks. I have, I think, 6 pair of non-dress a.k.a. "church" socks in my possession as we speak. And of those six, I am wearing one pair, and at least 2 pair are dirty. That means I have 3 pair to pack. But, after 2 more days of dressing myself (yes I do dress myself, how well is up for debate) I will be down to one clean pair of socks.
Now, do I buy enough socks for the entire trip or pack the one clean pair I have and buy the rest when i arrive on scene?
"I was this close," he says holding holding his thumb and index finger about an inch apart, "to taking option one and buying them all before hand."
But then I remembered ninja or Tabi socks! And I realized that I really had no choice to make, that the Tabi sock had made my decision for me. 'Cause lets be honest folks, with my heavy, high drag coefficient socks, I'm lucky if i can kick six or seven guys in the face. While these numbers are impressive by mortal standards, I have set a higher standard for myself and The Kip. But when I am sporting these shiny, light weight, aerodynamic tabi socks, those numbers should be in the low 40's and near 100kitfps(kicks-in-the-face-per-second) when I get used to them.