Sorry for the delay, there’s been limited access to the Internet this past two weeks.

Wednesday May 12th – So lucky

After boarding my packed 12:30am flight to Seattle and another beautiful sunrise, we land at 4:47am.

In Seattle, I talk with United Airlines (they’re not in Anchorage and not very
helpful either) and they cannot print my boarding pass from another
airport. Why? It’s an airport and I already checked in online. There isn’t
a single printer connected to the Internet in the Seattle airport?

How can my plane land at 8:40am in Los Angeles, with me needing to deplane, print my
boarding pass, find my international gate at busy LAX, and make it
through TSA before my next non-refundable flight leaves at 9:36am?
That’s only 56 minutes.

On the flight to LAX, I’m enjoying having the whole row to myself, when the captain announces over the intercom: “looks like we should be arriving in Los Angeles about 30
minutes early”.

YEAH! Haha! Whew.

The actual time from the plane landing to me arriving at my next gate:
55 minutes.
I don’t think I would have made it.

A bearded guy with a single small yellow bag and one way ticket running
through the airport at LAX? TSA would have tackled me.

So the TSA agent is making small talk with me while I’m in line,
asking me all these personal questions about my travels, and I’m
thinking “stop profiling me to see if I’m a terrorist, you’re not
fooling anyone”.

At the gate, the agent calls me up to the desk over the intercom. She says, “We
need to see your passport to see if you have a visa for visiting Canada and Japan.”
You’re joking right? (You don’t need one)

I try to sleep on the flight again before landing in Vancouver, Canada. The airport is incredible and very beautiful. With free Wi-Fi, it may be the best I’ve ever visited.

So even though I have a connecting flight to Tokyo, the solitary customs agent still
wants me to fill out a declaration form for entry into Canada. Why? I’m not going to Canada. We talk for 10 minutes before I eventually fill out the form. Ridiculous.

I’m thinking of possibly moving to Vancouver someday, but I can’t
stand the whole bi-lingual French thing. Agh, who cares, just make it
all English or all French, sil vous plait?

The plane is gigantic and full. Air Canada is great: on-demand movies,
music, TV, and I’m given an awesome vegetarian meal with Oolong tea.
I watched Sherlock Homes (ok) and Extraordinary Measures (ok).

Why are we flying over snow covered mountains? Shouldn’t we be over
the ocean? “We fly north near the north pole over Alaska,” the flight
attendant tells me.
Somewhere over the pacific, 520 mph, 4182 miles, -71f

After I land in Tokyo (hooray!), everyone, especially customs, is amazed at how small my luggage is. And luckily they don’t feel me up with white gloves like last time.

I hop on the hour long train to Ueno which is packed with businessmen in suits.
The exchange rate is $1 = 92yen

Making my way through Minowa, I search and search for the hostel I stayed at 5 years ago, at night, going completely off my memory. I discover another hostel instead (New Koyo) and grab a private room before heading out to dinner with Hans and Gail. I love Japan.

I am a giant in Japan. The top of the doors reach my forehead, so I’m
always ducking. Jumped over the international dateline, so now it’s the 13th.
Skype is not working and I’ve been traveling for 24 hours, so I happily pass out.

Friday May 14th – The Festival

Refreshed, I travel to Ueno to stay at the better and cheaper Oak Hotel but
they’re sold out ’til the 17th because of the Sanjya Festival in
nearby Asakusa. They’re so helpful and call around with no luck. I ask
them about moving and working in Japan.

Walking past the Hard Rock Cafe, I grab some honeydew on a stick from a street vendor (one vendor had durian) and walk through beautiful Ueno park on my way back to the previous hostel to book another night.
Yah! A supermarket with fresh food (and spam) is nearby, so I grab some produce.

From the hostel, Gabriel from Italy and I head over to the festival. There are plenty of
temples, shrines and a 5-story pagoda.

I also discover the crazy Asahi beer
building. While searching for food everywhere, we notice hundreds of Japanese in
the streets following these mobile shrines held up by at least 20 men -
and the men are bouncing these ornate mini-temples on their shoulders
while chanting and walking down the street. On the side of the street, traditionally dressed women sit on raised bamboo platforms while beating drums. It’s a great energy.

We find this restaurant where you have to choose what meal you want, put your money in a vending machine, and then get a ticket to give to the server.

I put some sauce on my rice that tastes delicious and the guy next to
me says it’s salad dressing. So?
So I put some on my salad as well.

Saturday May 15th – Nikko is Nippon

I pack up and check out quick because the train leaves in 30 minutes.
I arrive at the Asakusa station just in time to decipher the automated Japanese ticket machine – 1320 yen for 2hr train ride to Nikko, the next train was 5220 yen.

Alright, a whole booth to my self.
Yeah right, two stops later I’m surrounded by elderly Japanese women.

We pass lots of rice patty fields and a graveyard, which is rare (99%
cremate in Japan). Tokyo is like if NYC spread out like Los Angeles and then turned
Japanese.

I respect the Japanese, they know what they’re doing and live well,
but they demonstrate very little knowledge about nutrition. They’ll eat
any thing found in the ocean and everything’s cooked. I think there’s
more pandas roaming the streets than raw vegans.

Outside Tokyo there’s more rice patty fields and a lot more trees and
some small mountains.

Why does everyone have the same angular flip phone in Tokyo? Don’t they
have the latest electronics? Surprisingly no, but they do have the same outlets as America.

In Japan, they have women only train cars. Generally, it seems most women are scared of men in this country, even though Japan is very safe and honest.

An observation: Not knowing a language makes you more aware of what’s universal
between people any where in the world: smiling, hand gestures, body language, health, and politeness. We’re all the same and want the same things, just in different ways
and at different times.

Arriving in Nikko, it’s a mad tourist dash through the station.
(designed by Frank Lloyd Wright)

After walking uphill to the hostel (it looks like a European lodge), I hike past the Ice Rink, to the top of Mt. Oyama. There’s no view but there are deer, ravens, and wild monkeys! (do not feed)

Next on my hike is the Nikko World Heritage Site filled with shrines and temples, and a cool bridge into the city. Later I discovered a small restaurant with notes, business cards, ID’s, money , and
photos all over the walls and ceiling. Cool.

A walk through the small town before checking-in at the hostel, where I learn there’s a yearly festival in two days with a horseback archery tournament and a 1001 Samuri march.
The hostel is great. Dinner is served with a spoon and fork (surprise!) beside a fireplace with jazz music from San Diego playing. Other guests dining are from Austria, Germany, and France.

Sunday May 16th – The Row of Buddhas

I switch to a new hostel closer to town, grab some grapes, witness hundreds of motorcycles ride by, and head out explore the Nikko Botanical Gardens.

Next to a beautiful,cold, crystal blue river, the fishermen catching fish and the crisp air are quite relaxing. Probably why that snake caught me by surprise. Ahh! I haven’t seen one of those in years (there are none in Hawai’i). Cool.

On the other side, there is a long row of buddhas with red hats and bibs.

After more temples, eating, and checking-in, I have to trek all over town to find an international ATM.
The new hostel owners (Yudai & Komiko Sato) are very accommodating and we talk about how hard everyday life is in Japan. The Japanese don’t like used or second hand items because they’re dirty. I also learn there’s no door height requirement.

The guests (Colette, Ian, and David) and I gather on the floor around a table with a heater under it.
We talk about Japan, sports, politics, no Wi-Fi, and the festival tomorrow.

Monday May 17th – Traditional Japan

Sato has to go to Home Center (Japanese version of Home Depot) and heck yeah I want to see this.
We drive down an old hidden Samuri road and past a police speed trap. The store is so cheap and similar to America. The Japanese are not do-it-yourself people. They’d rather hire professionals.

Next is the 100¥ store (99 cent) and everything is SO cheap I can’t believe it. We talk about street car racing, traffic signs, and being able to buy rice direct from a local farmer.

It’s very busy in town today as I walk to the tournament, past a house cat in a store window. It’s just sitting there poised on a small chair like it’s on drugs – it was hilarious.

I rendezvous with the other hostel guests at the World Heritage area.

A long straight pathway covered in sand has been set up with square wooden targets on one side.

A parade of traditionally dressed women in hats dances by while loud speakers play music and announce the men. Dressed as ancient archers and Samuri, the men arrive on horseback with a colorfully decorated entourage.

The recreation of the ancient tournament involves each person to gallop at full speed and hit 3 wooden targets. Everyone in the stands is manoeuvrings for the best camera position. We just happen to be in the best spot next the judges. Not only are we taller than everyone else, a nice lady offered a step ladder for us to use because we’re tourists. Nice.

A rider takes off, galloping at us at full speed, drawing his bow back, causing the wooden targets to explode with each hit. It’s awesome. If a rider hits all three targets, he’s rewarded with a 10ft white silk ribbon that he drapes over his shoulder. Their uniforms are so detailed, it’s definitely fun to watch for 2 hours, and they yell really loud when they miss. (video)

Tomorrow is the March of 1001 Samuri but I have to head back to Tokyo. At the hostel, we exchange photos and info, and I head to the station at 5pm to catch the train back to Asakusa (2hrs).

School must be out because the train is full of Japanese school girls in
uniforms. I try to sleep but feel weird.

I walk to the Oak Hotel, my new hostel, to check in. Afterwords, I have dinner at Ueno station. You can smoke in restaurants in Japan and ugh it sucks.

Back at the hostel, tired, I’m not feeling right. I wake up at 3am, nauseous, with my stomach bothering me. Something’s not right.

Uh-oh.

Little do I know what the next 36 hours has in store for me.

Tune in next time for the next exciting adventure!

*Note from Patricia….to receive notice when a new post is added to Scott’s Adventures, then SUBSCRIBE to RSS!  This is located in the upper right hand corner and looks like a cantaloupe.  I will be creating a page about RSS today for those of you who do not know how this works.