Japan/Vancouver - October 16th

Today was Saturday and our last day in Tokyo. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:00 that afternoon, but flying out of Narita takes a good hour to get there so we had to leave Tokyo Station around 1:00 PM. That left us with just the morning to tour around. We decided to walk over to the Imperial Palace grounds. We figured we have an hour or two to walk around. But, we didn't realize how hard it is to actually walk through/around Tokyo Station. It looks so small and close on the map but it took us a good hour to walk over there leaving us only 30 or so minutes to walk around and see the sites outside of the palace. So we spent most of our final morning doing lots of walking. We started our journey to Vancouver at Tokyo Station with catching the train to the airport and then our flight to Vancouver via San Francisco.

Arriving in Vancouver, we took the train into the city. To the left is the view from the train! Once we got to the hotel we needed to drop off some laundry. But we had more important things to do, like eat! Now commences the 3 dinners we had our first night in Vancouver. First up, we shared a lamb wrap at Donair King. Then it was off to Rodney's Oyster House after a walk through the Yaletown neighborhood. We got there early enough to catch the oyster happy hour so that made us happy campers!

View of the Oyster bar from our table. Had fresh oysters as our happy hour appetizer. After we had a bit to eat we continued to walk through the Yaletown neighborhood and decided we wanted to try some of the beers at the Yaletown Brewery. Once inside though, the menu looked pretty good so we decided to share a pizza....meal #3!

Japan - October 15th

Woke up today at the ungodly hour of 3:30 AM. Why you ask? So we can see the tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market. They only let in a limited number of people each day and we didn't want to miss out! The tour starts at 5:30 AM but you have to start getting in line an hour before hand and get a ticket. Then you wait for your tour to start and the auction to begin. I've never seen a whole tuna before but they're pretty big fish! We were brought into the auction room and got to watch as the buyers inspected the fish and took notes. Once the auction started each fish was auctioned off in a matter of seconds! Everything went by so fast. Once the auction was done another person came through and marked each fish with the buyer's name. Overall, a pretty cool hour spent at the auction but then we had to navigate a way out of the market past all the moving carts, bicycles, trucks and people. It's quite a site! since we were up so early we were hungry so we got in line at 6AM for a sushi place in the market. We were finally seated at 7:15! Crazy wait for breakfast but we got some delicious fish! And yes, eating raw fish that early in the morning is delicious. By 8:00 AM if felt like we put in a full day of touring already so we headed back to the hotel and took a short nap. Woke up in time to get on the subway and head out to the Asakusa neighborhood to walk around the outdoor shops and the temple that was there. Too bad a lot of other folks thought the same thing! The whole neighborhood felt crowded and we ran into the most tourists in this area. We were ready to leave the area but got some noodles for lunch before finding our way back to the hotel on the subway.

Back at the hotel we freshened up for our nice dinner out with Dave & Eurie at Kyubei. This sushi restaurant is one of the best in the city and is frequented by celebrities (apparently).

Everyone sits at a sushi bar and is served personally by the sushi chef. Each chef only prepares food for 6 people so the setting is very intimate. It's amazing to watch the sushi chef prepare each piece of fish and rice while you watch. About halfway through our meal, we were greeted by the owner of the restaurant himself, Mr. Kyubei! The sushi chef was gracious enough to take our photo. Overall, a fantastic meal that will forever change how we eat and think of sushi. I'm sure this meal won't be repeated any time soon!

After dinner, we decided to get a drink and walk around the Ginza neighborhood. What we didn't realize was that it was so expensive to drink in Tokyo! Beers and cocktails were no cheaper than $20 on this Friday night. We ended the night with a lot less money, but with great memories of a whirlwind day in Tokyo!

Japan - October 14th

Today was our last day on the island of Hokkaido and we were in the city of Sapporo. We needed to leave the hotel to get to the airport around 9:30AM so Kevin and I decided to venture out into the city by ourselves to do some quick sightseeing. We left the hotel at 6:30 AM and took the train into downtown. For the next 2 hours we did a pretty quick tour of downtown and all the sights there. We started at Sapporo Station where the local and regional trains arrive/depart and headed south back towards to hotel. We saw the former Hokkaido Government Office Building (picture at the left), the Clock Tower, Odori Park including the TV Tower, the Shopping Arcade and the Suskino neighborhood, known more for it's night life than early morning activity. We did all that walking and managed to get back to the hotel for a quick pack and shower and we all got on the bus for the long ride to the airport. Once there, Dave, Eurie, Kevin and I left on a flight to Tokyo while the rest of the family returned to Pusan in Korea.

The flight to Tokyo took a little more than an hour and we landed at the local airport, Haneda Airport, the one that is closer to downtown. From here we got our luggage and braved the Tokyo light rail and subway. Since Dave & Eurie were staying at a different hotel we parted ways for the day and agreed to meet up in the morning the following day. Our hotel was near Tokyo Station so we made it there to discover this train station is HUGE!

It's a labyrinth of trains, shops, busses, taxis, restaurants and everything in between. From where we got off the train to leaving the station, it took a good twenty minutes! To the left is a photo taken just outside of Tokyo Station and the huge crosswalk that's outside. Lots of people! Once we got situated in our hotel we headed out to explore the neighborhood and get something to eat. We had lunch at a small diner type place where you placed your order at the vending machine and the ladies in the back cooked it up for you. Pretty efficient if you ask me! After that we headed to the Ginza district to see the shops and madness of the area. Lots of money can be spent in this neighborhood! On our way back to the hotel is was time for a drink so we stopped at the British pub that was on the first floor of our hotel for their happy hour specials on beer. We would come to find out tomorrow that those beers were the cheapest around!

After a long day of traveling and exploring, we went to sleep in our tiny hotel room.

Japan - October 13th

On Wednesday morning we left the hot springs and drove to Lake Toya, about an hour away. Once there we boarded a boat shaped like a castle (still haven't figured that out yet) and took an hour tour of the lake and the scenery. To the left is Kevin and Eurie on the boat. The lake is like a big donut with an circular island in the center. It was a nice and peaceful boat ride and we got to enjoy the fall scenery. After the ride it was back on the bus for a long, scenic drive through the mountains. The road was very curvy and made for lots of turns.

It made us all a little tired and sick since we hadn't eaten lunch yet. But, along the way we did get to see some beautiful scenery. After that long ride we finally arrived in the town of Otoru. Here we finally got to eat lunch! We went to a local sushi restaurant and enjoyed a relaxing lunch with the family. After lunch we strolled through the streets of Otoru and did a little shopping. It was good to get out and walk a bit after sitting in the bus for so long. In the late afternoon it was back on the bus for the drive into Sapporo.But, before we could get to the hotel we had one more stop.We weren't entirely sure what the next stop was but it turned out to be a Chocolate Factory!?!? Not sure that any of us was excited about this portion of the tour. But, we dutifully got out of the bus and hurried our way through the Shiroi Koiboto Park, which houses the Shiroi Koibito Factory where they make chocolate. We were told it was a famous attraction but we didn't buy it. At this point in the day we were all tired and just wanted to get the hotel before dinner. A bus full of tired people is dangerous! We finally made it to the hotel and got about a hour of rest before it was back on the bus to head to dinner. We decided tonight we were going to celebrate Grandpa's birthday so we went to a nice, traditional Japanese restaurant and ordered the local specialty, crab! We each chose how many courses we wanted and just started eating! So much food came out that we got really full pretty quickly, but everything was so good! We ended the dinner with eating a cake we bought for Grandpa's birthday. We even took a nice group photo.

Japan - October 12th

Tuesday morning we all (all 9 of us!) made it to the Busan airport for our flight to Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. Our first stop off the tour bus (yes, we had our own tour bus) was lunch in a small seaside town. Outside the restaurant/market was a huge crab and a equally huge bear, both of which we would see a lot of on Hokkaido. We had ramen and salmon roe on rice for lunch. The ramen was ridiculously good! After lunch it was back in the bus to visit Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura, an Edo era village in the town of Noboribetsu. Here we saw a traditional Japanese theater show and a ninja show. We also walked around the gardens and the other replica buildings. It was all a little hokey but the weather was nice so it was comfortable walking around. From here it was back on the bus for the ride to the Shikotsu-Toya National Park where we got to see a sulfur hot spring. With the sulfur it stank pretty bad but it was a beautiful park! We even got a short hike to see the small geyser there as well. The sun was setting right when we got there and it cast some beautiful shadows on the rocks and vegetation. Our hotel for the evening was located right across the street and used the water from the hot spring in the onsen (Japanese hot spring baths) that were located on the lower levels of the hotel (one for women, one for men). Since the hotel and the area is famous for its onsen, we decided we had to go. Here's a photo of us in our robes ready to head down to the baths!

We had buffet dinner at the hotel that night and walked around the small town later that evening.