Starbucks Memories

I wanted to save it forever; alas, it's printed on thermal paper. My order of an iced caramel macchiato is now partially illegible. Aaron's dark mocha frappuccino and my cell phone strap are only slightly more legible. So, best if I immortalize our receipt in bits and bytes while I still can.

I was so proud of myself for learning how to order my favorite drink: aisu kyarameru makiato. Turns out that, as does nearly every other food service establishment in Japan, Starbucks has an English menu (which the barista at the Metro Hat Starbucks in Roppongi graciously brought out for us without us even asking). Aaron just pointed at the picture of the HIGHLY AWESOME Dark Mocha Frappuccino, said "grande," and he was good to go.

Sometimes I just try too hard.

Quick Nap

Seen from the window of Okonomi Yukari, in Akiba Ichi.

Tokyo Tower Sunset

As seen from Room 950, Tokyo Prince Hotel, in that brief moment between sunset and the illumination of the Tower (6:15 PM).

In other news, all of my Japan 2009 photos are finally uploaded to my Flickr account, so feel free to peruse, if you haven't already.

Video: Trip to Nikko

While I didn't get our entire vacation video edited in time for last night's party, I did manage to get our Nikko video edited down to a brisk four minutes. Expect more shorts from our Japan vacation in the coming weeks!

Jizo and Pebbles

Seen in Nikko, west of the Annex Turtle Inn Hotori-An, where we had stayed the previous night.

From Wikipedia:

In Japan, Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents. Since the 1980s, the tendency developed in which he was worshipped as the guardian of the souls of mizuko, the souls of stillborn, miscarried or aborted fetuses. In Japanese mythology, it is said that the souls of children who die before their parents are unable to cross the mythical Sanzu River on their way to the afterlife because they have not had the chance to accumulate enough good deeds and because they have made the parents suffer. It is believed that Jizō saves these souls from having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river as penance, by hiding them from demons in his robe, and letting them hear mantras.

Jizō statues are sometimes accompanied by a little pile of stones and pebbles, put there by people in the hope that it would shorten the time children have to suffer in the underworld (the act is derived from the tradition of building stupas as an act of merit-making). The statues can sometimes be seen wearing tiny children's clothing or bibs, or with toys, put there by grieving parents to help their lost ones and hoping that Jizō would specially protect them. Sometimes the offerings are put there by parents to thank Jizō for saving their children from a serious illness. Jizō's features are also commonly made more babylike in order to resemble the children he protects.

This Jizo must have been part Wicked Witch, or made of sugar, as it seems to have melted...

Not (Quite) Indispensable

Don't get me wrong: I love my iPhone. It's awesome to have the internet at my fingertips almost anywhere. But, for me, it's still a toy. It's not an indispensable tool. Not yet.

I regularly use my iPhone to Twitter, track my daily weight, look things up on Wikipedia, read USA Today, check my Gmail, track my to-do list, and check the weather. I rarely use it as the phone it is, as my friends are mostly e-mail or Facebook types, and I don't have a kid to track down multiple times a day. I do text with Aaron every now and again, when one of us is at work.

Very few of these things actually require a mobile handheld device. I could check the weather from my computer at work or at home. Same with my e-mail and Twitter (although Twitter wouldn't be quite as much fun that way). I have an Excel spreadsheet with my daily weight. And so on.

That said, the iPhone was the closest thing to an indispensable tool when we were in Japan.

read more...

Tokyo Tower, Thursday Morning

As seen from the Tokyo Prince Hotel, room 950, on 18 May 2009 at 7:45am JST.

Playing Field, Tokyo

Seen from the Main Observation Deck of the Tokyo Tower, 13 May 2009 at 6:55pm.

Tokyo City View

As seen from the 52nd floor of Mori Tower in Roppongi.

Gate Guardian

Seen in Nikko, while touring the shrines and temples.

Shibuya Crossing

As seen from the 2nd floor of Starbucks in Shibuya Tsutaya.

Fuji-san

Photos really can't effectively capture the immensity of Mt. Fuji; she's massive and majestic, and we were lucky to have a clear view of her today.

View From Room 950

Much like the view we had last time, which is awesome.

'Twas The Night Before Tokyo...

The luggage and carry-ons are packed and ready to go, tomorrow's clothes are laid out, the boarding passes and travel documents are printed, and we're just about ready to settle down for a near-sleepless night.

Our checked luggage is still upstairs on the bed, and one inner pocket of one of our suitcases is completely full of chargers and cords for our electronics. Nikon DSLR, Minolta point-and-shoot digital, MiniDV camcorder, Nintendo DS, PSP, iPhones and iPods. (The laptop power supply stays with the laptop in the carry-on.) It's almost ridiculous how "wired" we are for this trip.

I have to wonder whether being more connected this time around is going to change our experience. And it's not just the fact of being able to upload photos of our trip while we're still ON our trip; it's being able to access our Google Map from our iPhones, instead of marking places in our Tokyo Atlas; it's having directions via the Tokyo Metro subway at our fingertips, instead of using our 8.5 x 11" printed map; it's the allure of Twittering (or even all-out blogging) about our vacation at any given moment. It's having access to the internet via the laptop in our hotel room, instead of using the free internet at the Apple Store in Ginza to find a kaiten-zushi restaurant in Asakusa.

Honestly, I think our gadgetry will only enhance our trip, instead of taking away from it. As long as we don't let ourselves get pulled out of the awesomeness that is our vacation in order to document our awesome vacation, I think we'll be just fine.

Our friend Kris is graciously picking us up tomorrow morning around 8:30am to drive us to the Detroit airport. Our flight starts boarding at 11:30am, and we take off at noon-thirty for Tokyo.

And the adventure begins...

Vacation '09

After our ill-fated attempt at procreation back in '07, Aaron and I found ourselves sitting in Red Lobster, facing a second chance at DINKness (dual income, no kids). Eventually, after some discussion, we decided to do something crazy, something we never thought we'd be able to swing: a week-long vacation to Japan.

It was the best vacation EVER.

It beat the crap out of our previous vacation to Amish Country, or the mix-n-match week of daytrips from the year before that. Despite the ass-long plane trip, our week in Tokyo was everything we'd hoped it would be. Culturally fascinating, with fantastic food and geeky shopping like you wouldn't believe.

How to follow that up? How about the other vacation destination we never thought we'd be able to afford: Hawaii. Beautiful weather, outdoor activities like parasailing and snorkeling, bus tours, a Polynesian theme park, and Japanese food. Again, long-ass plane ride, but ultimately worth it.

So.

Now we've done the two trips we really, really wanted to take in our lifetimes. We have another year to take another potentially over-the-top trip... but neither of us are wowed solely by breathtaking landscapes or fantastic weather. There needs to be places to go, things to do, and preferably some sort of nearby walkable civilized / metropolitan area. Since Aaron had to put in for his vacations so early this year, we're locked into traveling in either May or August.

Our two awesome vacations were awesome for completely different reasons. Hawaii was more of an outdoor adventure, while Tokyo was a geeky paradise for lovers of the Japanese culture. Maybe it's just because we're at the beginning of winter, but I'm recalling how much I really enjoyed being in the tropics. Warm breezes, perfect temps, sunshine, beaches... not that Tokyo in May was unpleasant by any means. So, while there are plenty of places I'd like to check out in Europe (especially England and Ireland), I think they're going to be pushed to the back burner, in favor of some fun in the sun.

I think I'm just jonesing for a getaway, and that's putting me in vacation-planning mode. I'm trying to balance price and flight length with potential vacation awesomeness, and am coming up with either the Caribbean or Mexico / Central America. I mean, Hong Kong would be great, but that's a loooong trip for more money than it cost to go to Tokyo. Fiji might be neat, too, but is it 20 hours and $3000 worth of neat? I highly doubt it.

San Jose, Costa Rica seems kind of far from the beach, although it looks like there's some awesome white water rafting. Belize is a possibility, as English is the official language, and there's interesting things to do like cave tubing and snorkeling. Puerto Vallarta might be fun — whale watching, swimming with dolphins, hot air ballooning, and jungle boogie-ing. One of the islands of the Caribbean might even be do-able: Aruba, or Jamaica, or St. Lucia.

I'm not entirely opposed to doing the touristy thing; in fact, I've enjoyed most of the touristy things we've done. I just like to have the option to just walk out of my hotel and find out where the locals go, or have an adventure I hadn't planned.

I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed. We've done the top two trips, right out of the gate. Now the rest of the world is waiting.