Back to Japan. We started the day out there, in our hostel, packing, throwing away useless, bulky items, cramming away the items we needed still. Nah, it wasn't that bad. We did pretty good making everything fit and pack back up, and all the souvenirs were expertly Tetris-ed into the large, souvenir suitcase. Now I can only pray I packed all the fragile items well enough to survive their trip through the rough waters of luggage transportation. So, sorry in advance Dad if you have to sip your sake out of the garbage back we packed it in, in case it broke!
We still had a couple hours until we had to leave for the station to get a train back to Narita, but we were pretty much down to our last 1000 yen. Luckily Senso-ji temple, a very popular spot in the part of Tokyo we were staying in, Asakusa, was just a few blocks away. After this whole trip we hadn't visited it! We had gone there before, so it wasn't anything new, but it was the perfect place to stroll around and not spend any money. It wasn't very crowded either, I mean, it looked busy, but compared to how packed it gets on weekends, today was light and easy-going. We sat and drank our last drinks from the awesome vending machines, watching everyone with their selfie-sticks stop at the gate to take their picture. Watched the pigeons. Watched the kids hurry to the other part of the temple to where they were to celebrate their Shichi-go-san. Ah, I'm going to miss this. I'm going to miss the food, most definitely, the IC cards, the ability to take the shinkansen from peaceful, religious Japan to brightly-lit, nightlife Japan in a matter of hours.
Jeff, what will you miss?
Beyond the things listed above, I will miss the quiet. At 9am on a Tuesday, in one of the largest cities in the world, it was as quiet as a Sunday in January in Cincinnati. The humm of the electric cars (as well as the smaller number of gas-powered sub-1.0 liter engines) and the faint click of peoples' heels on the flagstone sidewalks the only background noise, interspersed with the chirps of the crosswalks. Also, the corn soup. I will have to figure out how to make that myself.
Also Jeff, what would you rate me as a travel agent? What did I do right? What should we leave out next time?
Four stars. Your plans were open enough to interpretation to not feel stifling, but they were structured enough to prevent aimlessness. Maybe less time in Tokyo next time, focusing on visiting some of the less-traveled cities; like Sapporo or Sendai.
Awesome, I agree, less time in Tokyo and I want to go somewhere north. Sendai, or even Hokkaido! The IC cards and the pocket wireless were the best things ever for this trip and I don't think I would want to be without them. Next time I will anticipate needing the pocket wireless and can find the best prices. I will most definitely be looking for a different place to stay while in Kyoto. Khaosan Guesthouse Kyoto was bad not just once, but twice. I figured it was a fluke the first time, and picked it again because it really is in a great location. Last time they provided us with great little direction slips to certian places in Kyoto with the buses you had to take to get there. They didn't have those this time! I will only be packing one pair of shoes. My gym shoes were really all I needed, as the other ones just didn't hold up to a full day of walking around and just wasted space in my luggage. Oh yes, and we must remember to go to ____ to get better, but still cheap, suitcases, since the wheels immediately broke off the one we bought in Ameyoko (it couldn't possibly be because it was heavy with souvenirs)!
So with that, I suppose I'll wrap these blogs up since our trip is at an end. I hope to go back very very soon! I already miss you Japan!
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