Konnichiwa

We have arrived in　Tokyo safely!! We are beginning our Third day here
and starting to get our bearings. The ryokan we are staying at is
beautiful with a traditional japanese garden outside.

Arriving in the airport was tricky, because most of our flight was
continuing on to Manilla. We made our way through customs and found
our friends waiting for us. The train ride into tokyo took about an
hour and a half and then we took a subway to our ryokan. THen we went
out for dinner to a chinese place and had some wonderful food. We
came back and bought some beer from the vending machine, that was fun!

Our second day we took a train to Hirajuku, which is a wild and hip
neighborhood in Tokyo. There were lots of girls there dressed up in
strange clothing waiting for modelling photographers to take their
pictures. We strolled through a park and listened to a bunch of
people playing music. Lunch was eaten at an indian curry restaurant
playing reggae music. It was one of the spiciest meals I have eaten
in a long time. We also visited a temple and a karaoke box.

Last night we went to a japanese fast food restaurant, which consists
of buying a meal ticket from a vending machine and trading it for
food, which was very good. I ate what seemed like meatloaf with an
egg on top. Nothing is in english, so you have to roll the dice when
ordering food. Its quite an adventure to even attempt to purchase
things.

The locals are very nice, but only a few know english and very little
at that. We have been welcomed everywhere we have gone, and the city
is beautiful. I expected skyscrapers everywhere, but instead there
are many older small 1 or 2 story buildings just very close together.
None of the streets have names as far as I can tell, so we have
assigned our own names to the ones in this neighborhood. It seems to
be working out well, as we have not gotten lost yet.

I am nearing the end of my allotted computer time, so I will wish you
all well. Today we travel around the city some more, and we are going
to hit up the nightlife tonight before leaving for Kyoto tomorrow.

See you all soon!

ーScott