Join us as we tour Tokyo, Tokyo Disney, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Koyasan and Osaka. Following this blog is almost as rad as being there, only slightly less so. If you want to get in touch, you can do so via e-mail.


18th June 2009

Moving on

Another day, another morning of waking up too early. We’ll be heading down to breakfast in a minute here, and then wrapping everything up and checking out. From there we’ll take the monorail to Maihama station and the Keiyō Line to Tōkyō station where we’ll catch the Shinkansen, which I am definitely looking forward to. As Sommer said in the last post, we had our bags sent ahead of us so getting there should be a breeze. We’re both sad to be leaving Disney, but more excited for all the amazing sites in Kyoto. From what I’ve read it is a very easy city to get around and is definitely the center of old Japan. 

In a bit of typical luck for me the sky appears to be blue outside. Overcast every day we were here, ruining my pictures, but today it looks like it will be nice and clear. Oh well, right?

I’m glad we did Disney not just for ourselves, but also to see Japanese people having fun. In Tokyo it seemed like it was all business, all getting from one place to another in an efficient fashion. Here they are relaxed, letting go and enjoying themselves. We have noticed that just like back home, people sort of leave their manners and common sense at home, but even so they are still much nicer to be around, much less selfish and much more considerate of others. In other words, even at their worst in the manners and consideration departments, they are still better than most Americans. I think we’re becoming some kind of weird racists or something, falling in love with these people and hating ourselves! As far as a cultural study, this has definitely been one and one that we’ve enjoyed more than just going on some rides. It will be interesting to see if Kyoto has that same fast pace as Tokyo.

Speaking of Kyoto, we haven’t found a definitive answer on internet availability at the next hotel, but I’m relatively confident we won’t have a problem. If for some reason you don’t hear from us again in 24 hours, you know why. Otherwise expect something along the lines of me saying “HOLY COW THE SUPER FAST BULLET TRAIN WAS SO AMAZING!”