Where in the world is Darren?

For those of you that don't know, Narita airport in Tokyo is about an hour and a half outside of the city. So by the time we arrived in Tokyo around 9pm and took the bus to our hotel, it was almost midnight with our first visit at 8:30 in the morning the next day and at least a 45 minute commute away! Luckily it was the last day of visits for the week and we had jammed it full with 2 visits in Tokyo and a joint program in Yokohama a city less than 30 minutes away by train. Some of the photos you see in the Tokyo 2009 slideshow are of Matt, Ian and Peter giving their presentation at one of the schools in Tokyo, pretty impressive for less than 6 hours sleep!

Tokyo is stop 3 on my 7 week trip to Asia and its good to know that someone is keeping a watch on me, below is my nieces map that she is following my trip on!



Well the most important part of this whole blog is that for the first time ever I have an entire weekend in Tokyo! A full day of visits wasn't going to stop us from enjoying the city and all recommendations lead to Shibuya, one of the bigger hang-out areas of Tokyo. I was as always in the mood for sushi and lead the guys on a hunt for a sushi-go-round (see my spring Tokyo blog for my obsession with sushi and conveyor belt sushi). Eventually we found one after about 45 minutes of searching and sat down for a big meal of sushi. Its great when you go to a sushi-go-round because you can just grab the plates from the belt and eat whatever looks good to you, and I ate a lot! Overall the quality was good but not the best I've seen in Tokyo, but the experience was great.

After dinner it was off to a very local Japanese bar called "Hobgoblin." Actually its like the largest Expat pub in Tokyo. We were going to meet a counselor from one of our schools there and when we stepped out of the elevator we were welcomed by the roar of dozens of Expats, I was back in an Irish pub in Boston! In true Tokyo style we talked with the counselor and each other for the rest of the night sipping on "native" Guiness. Hey we never said that travel was work 24 hours a day!

(On a side note, after much debate I have decided that "The Postman" has surpassed "Waterworld" for the worst movie ever made, especially starring Kevin Costner, are you trying to ruin your career??)

Saturday was filled with kilometers and kilometers of walking! Since we were staying in Ginza it was a great location to walk and check out the Imperial Palace. Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Imperial Palace is home to the Emperor of Japan. Unlike the Forbidden City, The Emperor of Japan is still alive and well and living in the Imperial Palace. After much attempt at getting inside the compound we gave up and just took pictures from across the moat. The Emperor of Japan is the only living and current head of state entitled "Emperor" in the world and the current Emperor is Akihito.

We spent a good portion of the day walking around the outer grounds and gardens of the palace enjoying a beautiful Summer day in Tokyo. By midday Ian and I were hungry for some sushi and on the way back to our hotel we found this little sushi bar on one of the side streets of Ginza. Both Ian and I believed it was the best sushi we have ever eaten anywhere in the world, it was amazing!

Before we returned to the hotel we had one last stop to make, the Sony building! It was cool to see 4 floors of new and upcoming products from Sony, nothing futuristic like I was expecting but some cool upgrades to cameras and video camcorders.

After a quick breather its back out into the city, this time to explore Harujuku, a famous location in Tokyo where the qwerky...i mean eccentric youngsters of Tokyo come to hang out.

...Viewer beware, this video might make you want to remove your eardrums...



After Harujuku and a nice dinner of tempura its off to the famous Shibuya crossing. My friend Peter took this video the night we were there and had over 167,000 views by the next morning, thats crazy!!!



After Shibuya it was back to the hotel for an early night to bed. In the morning we were going to visit Tsukiji Market the largest fish market in the world! When we arrived at the market at 5am to the disappointment of all of us the market was closed on Sunday's, the one day we decide to wake up at 4:30am to visit! We'll have to try again another day.

Sunday was a very interesting day. After having explored Shibuya twice in the previous two days and having seen the Imperial Palace, Sunday was dedicated to visiting a Japanese Onsen. Just like a hot spring in America, a Japanese Onsen is frequently visited by many Japanese. The Onsen that we visited had natural springs that brought Iron rich water from deep in the ground to the surface. There were 6 separate springs and many individual springs to choose from ranging from 18 degrees celsius to 42 degrees celsius. Due to the highly enriched iron in the water, the water appeared black and you could not see your hand an inch under the water. It was a fun but crazy experience sitting in the Onsen for a few hours, letting our tired muscles relax and recuperate in the hot water, but hanging out with dozens of naked dudes is not my style. Thanks for a cool Japanese experience but its one that I probably won't do again soon.

On the way back from the Onsen, the group of us stopped for Crepes in (where else?) Shibuya. These crepes were awesome, you could get anything from ice cream and chocolate sauce to eggs and sausage in your crepe, I went with the first option. While the Crepe was awesome and worth the wait in line, we happened to be standing next to a Japanese street game show and unfortunately the person with the mic had the most obnoxious voice in the world, by the time we were leaving Matt, Ian and I were literally holding Peter back from attacking the person and destroying the microphone. Before heading to bed we had to get some real food so Ian, Peter and I stopped by a 24 hour sushi bar right around the corner from our hotel, most of the sushi was good except for one piece of white fish. Ian tasted it and said "Guys, you are definitely not going to like this" which at that point of course Peter and I ate it and in the end only one of us actually was able to finish the piece and it was not me (that was the first really bad experience with sushi).

In the morning we woke up again to try to see Tsukiji Market and finally it was open! Check out my photos to see tons of fish available for purchase in the market. Each day Tsukiji handles over 2000 metric tons of seafood, and it all creates an intoxicating aroma! After a day full of visits highlighted by our charming good looks and a very successful parent program its off to our next destination. Unfortunately this is where Peter and Matt are leaving us for home. While I'm very envious of them returning to the states it has been a fun filled week traveling with them. For Ian, Jen and I its off to Taipei.

Thanks for a fun filled week of travel: