Way back in the beginning of May, I was lucky enough to spend Golden Week with my friends Jason and Tammy, who made the long flight over the Pacific to visit me. It was a great time and I was completely exhausted after the week was over. We spent the first three days traveling to every corner of Tokyo. They were also kind enough to visit one of my classes and then we spent some time in both Hakone and Kamakura. I was amazed by how easygoing they were and how much energy they had. I especially enjoyed Jason's willingness to eat anything and everything and to embarass himself practicing Japanese.

After wandering around Shiodome and Hama-rikyu garden we walked to Ginza, passing by the Nakagin capsule tower - a 1970s foray into modular, prefabricated living. It was probably my first and last glimpse, as soon the entire structure is going to be demolished.

The robot from the film "Laputa" stands quietly on the roof of the Ghibli Museum.

We went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, which is a fantastic neighborhood in the outskirts of Tokyo where I would definitely consider living. Though it was my second time to the museum, I was again blown away by the creativity of Studio Ghibili and the museum itself. The short film was an added bonus.

One of Jason's co-workers, who had lived in Japan before, recommended a fantastic restaurant by the name of Ukai-toriyama. Situated at the bottom of Takao-san, this is by far the best dining experience I've had in Japan. The grounds of the restaurant itself are fantastic, private dining rooms (separate buildings in and of themselves) are scattered throughout ponds, gardens, and streams - with torch light adding a nice effect after dusk. Course after course of delicious food was brought by kimono-clad waitresses throughout the evening. I strongly recommend this place.

Hakone was fun, though we were unable to see Fuji-san. I had to find my way to the YH in Hakone with nothing more than a vague map. I asked an old man at the bus stop how to get there and he pointed towards a road heading up into the hills. I asked if it was close and he assured me it was. About 35 minutes later as we were still trudging up the hill. I walked into a swanky hot spring resort hotel and asked if I was anywhere near the YH. He told me it was still another 3 kilometers or so up the hill. He then offered to phone the YH and have the owner come pick us up. Less than 10 minutes later he arrived in a beat up car, hopped out and began apologizing profusely to the staff of the swanky onsen resort. I in turn apologized profusely to him. Once we were inside the car he assured me it was not a problem, he just felt embarassed and uncomfortable in such a fancy place. From Hakone we headed to Kamakura. In those three days I think we used nearly every means of transportation imaginable. As this was my eighth time to Kamakura, it was the small details that caught my eyes most (like this broom and the fabric below). I swear I'm going to live in that town one day. The best part was renting bicycles and cycling around the less crowded eastern part of the town.

Straight ballin' in front of the Dior shop in Ginza.

Jason and Tammy sitting along side the Eno-den railway, as we made our way to the Kamakura Hase Youth Hostel.

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting two kids - Mako and Eri - who were staying at the youth hostel. Mako (6 years old) made this portrait of Jason and Eri (age 8) made a fantastic drawing of the Daibutsu last summer when she stayed at the hostel. The owner then turned it into a stamp to advertise his hostel, which you can see on the left in the photo below. She redrew it and gave the picture to me. Later, we met up again at Hase-dera before saying goodbye.



Its nice talking to little kids in Japanese because they don’t patronize you and they just talk to you like you're a normal person, not a creature from another planet. I wish I could have more conversations with eight year olds. I was getting really frustrated with people in Kamakura. Probably since its such a touristy area, everyone assumes that all foreigners are fresh off the boat and can’t speak any Japanese. This results in two things when you speak to them in Japanese: the patronizing laugh or the refusal to respond to your Japanese question with a Japanese answer (even if they can’t speak English). I can’t even count the number of times myself, Jason, or Tammy said "hello" or "excuse me" in Japanese and received nothing but a condescending laugh in return. Everyone was so amused at the foreigners attempting to speak Japanese.

At one point at Kamakura station I had to ask the same question to three different people before I could get a proper response. We were looking for lockers to put our backpacks in and they were completely full. I walked into the police box next door and asked the man, "Are there any other coin lockers?" Of course the fact that I was speaking Japanese didn’t mesh with his image of "foreigner" and he just stared at me and said, "Huh?" though he knew full well what I had just said. I repeated the question again, enunciating each word, "Are...there...any...other...lockers?" He sat there, like a deer in headlights, repeating, "Umm...uhhh...ummm" trying to think of an English response. Realizing his English was failing him he simply threw up his arms and said, "Full!" in Japanese. I wasn’t even given a complete sentence. I shook my head and walked out. Next I thought I would ask the guy at the ticket gate. "Excuse me, are there any lockers inside the station?" He didn’t even turn to face me, and gave me another incomplete sentence of an answer. "There’s only the one’s over there?" I asked. He chuckled to himself and mocked what I had just said. And that was the end of that conversation. Finally I found a woman who decided I was worthy of speaking to in complete sentences and in 5 seconds I was able to find out that the bicycle rental shop next door would watch our bags for a small fee. Amazing how smoothly a conversation goes when people speak to you like you’re a normal person and not an alien.

The youth hostel had an amazing rooftop, from which you can get great views of the Pacific to the south and the hills in every other direction.