Wednesday

Getting the bullet train ("shinkansen") tickets to Tokyo was simple enough, and we had time to dawdle through the station a bit. We bought "o-bento" lunches (meals of rice rolls and other bite-sized items packed in a rectangular, compartmented box) for the train, which were delicious. We would have had o-bento more often, except that they generally contain a lot of fish, which I couldn't eat.

The advertisement for our hotel said it was near Tokyo Station, and since we didn't know the bus routes and our luggage was *very* heavy, we decided to take a taxi. As it turned out, the hotel wasn't anywhere near the station, it was halfway across town, plus the driver couldn't find it. (Street addresses in Tokyo are not assigned consecutively, and many of the streets aren't named.) He finally dropped us off in front of a restaurant that he *insisted* was part of the hotel (he even told someone from whom he had asked directions that he *knew* that was the building, despite our protests).

It wasn't our hotel, of course. Luckily, it was right down the block, and the helpful people at the restaurant even gave us a little map of the neighborhood so that we wouldn't get lost. We were just glad we didn't have to tip the taxi driver.

The hotel was nice--*much* bigger than the room at the ryokan, which was barely big enough to fit our two futon and the tea table. The bath was deep enough to soak in, Japanese style, if we felt so inclined. The only drawbacks were that the coffee wasn't free, as it generally is in US hotels, and the beds were extremely hard.

We were directly across the street from a train station on the JR line--if we had *known* that, we could have ridden the train for free and saved the $30 cab fare. Oh, well. In any case, it was handy for getting around town, and we made good use of it. We started that night with the department stores in the Shibuya district, but we only managed to locate one of the three before getting lost, so we gave up for the time being.

Thursday

We set off in the morning for the major shopping centers in Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, all set with the lists of things people had asked us to buy. It was frustrating, however, because it seemed like about 80% of the space in their department stores was devoted exclusively to clothing and shoes.

By the time we made our way back to Shibuya, we were tired of shopping, and we had gotten lost yet again. One benefit of the day, however, was that we visited the Sunshine 60 building (yes, that is its real name), a 60-storey structure whose lower levels are a huge shopping center. It's one of Tokyo's major attractions...though we were more impressed by the appearance of the blue glass building across the street from it.

Friday

We started off the day by trying to find the TIC. Our efforts were hindered by the fact that it had moved since the time our guidebook had been written. Luckily, there was a little sign up on the wall where it used to be, along with a map showing the new location. The lady at the center managed to locate three branches of an anime store for us, for which we were extremely grateful.

Since our path to the closest shop took us past the Imperial Palace, we stopped there for pictures. The outer plaza is like a big park, with lots of trees everywhere (which was nice, because the sun had finally come out to stay for a while, and it was getting warm). We couldn't go inside the palace, of course, because the imperial family lives there, but we could walk up to the bridge spanning the inner moat and snap pictures. (There are *huge* fish in the moat; they're like the foot-long goldfish we had seen in other ponds, except three times the size.)

After getting slightly lost (again) and having a kind passerby stop to help us (again), we found the shop. We dropped our purchases off at our room and went in search of the Shibuya branch. The address said it was near the department store we had already been to, so I figured it would be the simplest to find.

Unsurprisingly, we got lost first thing, and then I even managed to leave our map behind at a store where we had stopped for directions. Fortunately for us, a young man helped us out, not only telling us how to get there, but actually walking with us the entire way to be sure we reached the right place.

We left when the shop closed and made our way back to the station--which, as it turned out, was right around the corner, across the street.

Saturday

After a morning of final shopping, we decided to see the one landmark we'd heard the most about--Tokyo Tower. It was a pleasant walk from the station--a straight shot, so we didn't get lost on the way--and we passed through another temple in the bargain. (The sight of the modern tower rising up behind the traditional temple was amazing.) Tokyo Tower looks a lot like a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower, except painted red. We didn't go up the tower, but we sat at the base of it and had ice cream.

On the walk back, we strolled through a little park with a waterfall. It always impressed us how, in the middle of such a crowded, busy city, they still made certain to have such calm oases of nature sprinkled throughout.

We had to leave early in the morning to catch the train to the airport, so we spent the remainder of the evening sorting through all our merchandise and packing. (It felt decadent to sit there eating French room service, surrounded by mounds of souvenirs of all types.)

A 13-hour flight later, then the connecting hop to Lansing, and here we are. Exhausted, footsore, but very glad we went. It's a wonderful place, and the people were always going out of their way to help us. (Jenn is already thinking that she wants to go back someday, maybe see some of the countryside rather than zipping past it at 200 miles an hour.)

[Kyoto]