Geraldine's Best
1. Nara - Bronze Buddha
2. Kyoto - Zen gardens
3. Tokyo's fish market
4. Drinking the "bad" temple water in Nara (somehow I missed several signs)
5. Eating the fish mousse sushi(it looked like poop)
6. Kyoto Dinner at Mama-san's joint
7. Bernd crawling through the lucky post
8. Learning the sounds of the Japanese - soup slurping, sniffling, giggling (with hands over mouth), train arrival/departure songs, crosswalk songs, toilet bowl songs, elevator songs, slot machine hall white noise....

Brief observations about Japanese culture:
1. As mentioned above, even the most banal daily events are accompanied by electronic songs and jingles.
2. Hardly anyone I saw spoke on a cell phone - everyone was text messaging. If people did talk, then they weren't loud.
3. People sleep everywhere - standing up on the train, sitting on the train, in parked cars.
4. Controlled chaos in Tokyo. Something that is hard to describe, but easy to observe. City of lost childhoods - I've never seen so many ferris wheels, arcades, etc. in any other city.
5. Respect for elders and custom. We went with the flow and the rule were pretty easy to follow. I bowed more and smiled more in 12 days than I thought possible.

All in all, it was a great trip. Everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful. Most people spoke some English, even if they claimed they couldn't. Traveling was pretty easy and our only difficulty at times was finding food. We always found something, even if it was Subway (1 dinner) and Starbucks (a few times). I would go back to Japan and see more but there are a few other places on our list to do first!

Thanks for reading our blog. We'll be uploading photos soon!

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Letzter Tag bevor unser Flug um 18.55Uhr startet. Durch Oaska schlendern und die lettzten Yen unter die Leute bringen und die Zugfahrt zum Flughafen vorbereiten. Unser Zugpass ist gueltig bis heute,hat uns super durchs Land gebracht. Zurueck in Land der grossen Autos und der fetten Menschen.

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Another shinkansen trip back to Osaka from Tokyo. Once again we had overcast skies and the view of Mt. Fuji was obscured. Bernd shot a series of photos from the train as he was waiting for it to appear from behind the clouds. By the time we reached the Kansai region the sun had come out. We checked back into our hotel in Osaka (where we stayed on our first night). Our room was huge compared to the others over the past 12 days. We headed out to the Osaka Aquarium as our final tourist stop. It was a beautiful aquarium. The whale shark, giant king crabs and playful otters were the highlights for me. Tonight for dinner we had Yakisoba and these pancake type things that were prepared on a flat grill right in front of us. The meal was fantastic and a perfect way to end our Japanese food experience.

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Today it is drizzling and cloudy. We started the day at the Roponggi Hills complex. Fie, my UCLA friend from Denmark, gave me a great tip that there was a Berlin/Tokyo exhibit at the Mori Art Museum. We wanted to go to Roponggi anyway, so we decided to check it out. The exhibit was brilliant. The art museum is on the 52nd floor of the Mori tower, but because of the rain we couldn't see anything from the observation deck. From there we headed to Ebisu and the Ebisu Beer Museum. Unfortunatley the museum was mostly in Japanese, but it was free and they had a tasting room. We sampled a few brews and had some lunch. We decided to wrap up the day by checking out an Onsen, Japanese natural spring bath. It was rainy, cold, and we were on vacatiton so a visit to Spa LaAcqua seemed to be the right choice. The onsen spa had that now familar Tokyo theme park quality, but it was great. It was a mega complex with tons of different saunas, baths, etc. Then they had one floor of cafes, shops, and relaxation rooms. You got these funny PJ's when you checked that you wore on thata floor because it was mixed company. After two hours we were prunes and headed home. Tomorrow we head back to Osaka....

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Tokyo Day 2 began with a subway adventure at rush hour. Controlled choas is the best description for Tokyo. The subway is a perfect example. There are neat lines and arrows on the platform that everyone lines up behind. The train pulls up directly in front of the lines and people outside of the train wait for those inside to exit (following their own set of arrows on the platform) before entering the train. Everyone moves into the train and you're armpit to armpit with people. The majority of the people are either sleeping (both standing and sitting) or typing away on their cell phone keypads. Rarely are people talking.

Anyway, we went to the Tokyo National Museum for a quick tour through several centuries of Japanese art. We then took another train to the Bonsai museum. Unfortunately, we discovered that the museum had been closed since November because the Bonsai "needed a rest". Bernd was upset. We then went to the Harajuku neighborhood famous for its shopping, architecture, and people. We walked the entire afternoon and saw some amazing buildings. Basically every designer you've ever heard of has a store in Harajuku. THe streets were packed with people - more people on the streets, than in the stores. We stopped at the Oriental Bazzar and picked up a handful of items that we've been waiting to buy all trip. It was a great urban experience to pound the pavement and a great afternoon. We wrapped up the day at a conveyor belt sushi joint. Bernd was adventurous and the meal was good and cheap. More tomorrow....

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This morning we got up early and headed out to the Tsukji fish market - the world's largest! Over $30 million worth of fish and seafood go through this market each day. We arrived at 8:30am which was basically the end of the day for the market (it starts at 3am). It was still pretty busy and there were plenty of fish. I was amazed. The quantity and diversity of seafood was incredible. Many things were still alive and twitching - either in water or on ice. There were many people doing their business and we had to be careful that we weren't mowed down by electric carts and bikes balancing their cargo. After that experience we took a monorail out to Odaiba island in Tokyo bay and visited Toyota town. The island is man-made and supposed to be a residential and office complex. The market apparently didn't bite and instead there are a few skyscrappers and some typical examples of Tokyo's bizzare entertainment complexes. Toyota town was OK. We took a mini-electric car ride and a Formula 1 racing car simulator ride. Overall it was a huge contrast to the organic experience from the morning. Later on we wandered through the Ginza district and stopped in to see the latest gadgets at the Sony building. The highlight of the day was ordering our dinner from a vending machine. We spotted this noodle shop on the corner near our hotel and decided to try it for dinner. We walked in and sat at the counter, but the server pointed us to the vending machine. Confused we went over and saw that all of our choices were in Japanese. Luckily the guy came over and after I pointed to various words for tofu and chicken in the dictionary we made our choice. It was totally yummy - udon with chicken, scallion, and mushrooms.

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It has been a great trip and we`ll fill in the Tokyo details - conveyor belt sushi, crazy Tokyo commuters, fish market chaos...- and pictures too.

Another 15 hour slog home and then we`re back in DC.

More later.
G&B

Hallo
Na da war fuer nen paar Tage kein freies Internet,desshalb ne kleine Unterbrechung. Wird nachgeholt.

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Lange Zugfahrt nach Tokio in unserem ICE. War nicht spektakulaer,da es geschifft hat wie sau. Morgen sind ein paar coole Sachen auf dem Programm,wie all die anderen Tage. Allerdings keine Tempel mehr. Toyota Park usw.

Transit - Tokyo / Zug nach Tokyo remains copyright of the author ide, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Both lunch and dinner were interesting experiences. Lunch was "point to something on the menu" and dinner was an organic "all you can eat" buffet that had all of the descriptions in Japanese. It worked out, but there were a few tense moments. Going back now to our 10 x10 room with bathroom! On to Tokyo tomorrow!

Heute　sind wir mit der Bahn von Kyoto nach Hiroshima gefahren. War wie im ICE. Die Sitze konnte man um 180Grad drehen. War schnell die Kuchenbude. Hiroshima ist wie alles hier sehr grau gehalten. Allet nicht aelter als 60 Jahre,versteht sich. Denkmaeler un Museum ueber den Atombombenabwurf haben wir alles gesehen. Ganz schoen schlimm so. Da blieb ja gar nichts mehr uebereinander stehen. dafuer haben die jetzt hier nen paar neue hohe Haeuser.Mittag gabs mal heute mit dem finger auf die Karte zeigen. war alles in Japanesisch. Na mir hats geschmeckt nur Geraldine hat ein langes Gesicht gemacht. Abendessen waren wir dan an einem "allet wat de essen kanst" Buffet Restaurnt. Da gabs dann schon mal Sachen auf dem Teller die da nicht haetten sein muessen. Egal,weg die Scheisse und naechste Runde. Morgen fahren wir nach Tokio. hab allerdings ne kleine Erkaeltung zugezogen,weil die Jappies nirgens richtig heizen. Ich　meine, die haben nichtmal ein Heizungssysthem in ihren Haeusern. Nur kleine Gasoefen,wie nach dem Krieg. Noch haben wir keine Schlitzaugen und hoffe das bleibt so. Allet jute

Places Visited:
1. Peace Park & Memorials
2. Hiroshima Castle - reconstructed tower houses a historical exhibit on Hiroshima's early history. The best part was the dress up section where we put on period costumes - kimono and warrior gear - and took pictures.
3. Shukkei-en Garden - a "strolling" garden with a beautiful pond and several bridges.

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Places Visited:
1. Sanjuangendo Temple - 1001 statues
2. Kiyomizudera Temple - with the wooden terrace overlooking Kyoto
3. Chawan-zaka and Sannen-zaka - small, traditional shopping streets leading up to temples.

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In the evening we met up with Ann and Jacob, two of Becky`s friends that live here in Kyoto. They took us to this little hole in the wall joint with about 15 stools around a counter. The place was run by this mother-daughter team who took no prisoners and bossed everyone around. Luckily Ann and Jacob can speak Japanese and ordered up this amazing meal of Sashimi, eggplant with miso paste, various tempura vegetables, fried tofu with fish flakes and scallions in broth. The place was incredible. It was packed with locals. The women behind the counter wore plastic boots because they threw the leftovers and water on the floor. And they served these crazy dishes of raw lobster and fish heads to their other customers. Bernd entertained everyone by striking up a conversation with a couple who spent two years in Germany. Their German was better than their English and they ended up buying us a beer. Anyway, the whole evening was an experience and something we`ll remeber for a long time.

Na heute mal wieder ein paar Eindruecke aus dem Land der kleinsten Autos. Nachdem wir die aelteste Tempelanlage mit dem wunderschoensten Garten fuer zwei Stunden besichtigt haben sind wir gleichmal zum naechsten Tempel gelatscht. Der total aus purem Gold. Na war zwar Holz aber die haben eben alles mit Blattgold ueberzogen. Sah cool aus. Abends hatten wir dann Abendbrot mit Freunden von Freunden die hier in Kyoto wohnen. Trditionell Japanisch fuer die lokale Bevoelkerung. Normalerweise wuerde niemand von uns dort essen,aber war lecker und lustig. Es gab rohen Fisch un andere Sachen die es nicht auf nem deutschen Tisch stellt. Die zwei Muttis hinter der Theke um die so 20 Leutchen dicht gedraengt rumsassen trugen erstmal Gummistiefel und Plastikschuerze. Abfaelle des Abend und Abwaschwasser wurden gepflegt auf dem Boden plaziert. Abgefahen,abgefahren. Bis bald.

Places Visited:
1. Daitokuji Templex Complex, including Daisen-in, Zuilto-in gardens - one of Kyoto's largest Zen foundation with over 20 temples. A monk performed a abbreviated tea ceremony and we had our green tea overlooking one of the gardens.
2. Kikaku-ji or the Golden Pavillion - a former retirement villa turned temple turned tourist attraction - is covered in gold leaf!
3. Nijo-jo or Kyoto Castle - interesting castle complex with floor boards that creek on purpose to warn of intruders.

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Tachchen Leute!
Japan is ganz schoen cool. Haben heute den groessten Budda der welt gesehen und natuerlich das groesste Holzhaus. Na die lustigen Tempel sind schon sehr interessant und riesig. Essen ist nicht so leicht. Ended irgendwie alles mit Fisch und der Supermarkt ist auch irgendwie 50% Fisch ob getrocknet　oder frisch. Aber wir hungern nicht. Allet jute.

A couple of observations about Japan so far
1. Heated toilet seats / beheizte Toiletten Brille
2. You can get by without any Japanese if you bow, smile, nod, and use sign language / wir quatschen mit Handen, Fussen, und nicken.
3. The cities are pretty grey / Die Stadte sind grau
4. The transportation system is complicated - 9 different companies operating train in Kyoto alone! / Offlichen Verkehr ist ueber completizert - 9 verschiedene Bahn Companies in Kyoto!
5. Japanese school girls really do giggle with their hands over their mouths. / Japanische Schule Madchen lachen nur hinter der Hand.

Places Visited:
1. Todai-ji Temple (Buddhist) - founded in 745 and contains the largest indoor bronze Buddha. Bernd crawled through a wooden post that brings good luck in life.
2. Nigatsu-do (sub temple of Todai-ji) - beautiful wooden terrace.
3. Sangatsu-do (sub temple of Todai-ji) - Nara's oldest structure.
4. Kasuga Grand Shrine (Shinto)- partially open, partially under reconstruction. Outside of the shrine are hundreds of beautiful stone lanterns.
5. Kofuku-ji Temple and Five Storey Pagoda - we didn't go inside of the temple, but focused on the five storey pagoda.

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Places visited:
1. Higashi Honganji (Buddhist Temple) - Central Kyoto - wooden templex complex that was partially being restored. Our first temple and our first experience with taking off our shoes before entering it.

2. Heian-jingu (Shinto Shrine) - A large orange Shrine and templex complex. Our first Shinto shrine and our introduction to the rituals and movements of worshippers and visitors.

3. Nanzen-in (Zen Buddhist Temple) - Kyoto western hill - A beautiful templex complex and zen gardens.

Food - interesting experience with the basement floor of the Damairu department store. Counter after counter of food to go - tempura, sushi, etc. and we saw our first $10 box of strawberries and $30 melons!

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