In Japan! (Daily Blog + Photos)

dude, youre blogs gonna make me cry. I just moved back to the States from Tokyo and all those pics you took made me bring back memories. And I was born in the Kobe area too. I also only lived like 15mins away from Shinjuku and always hung out around Shibuya...

btw

Nissan March

Honda Beat. Mid engine, last car Soichiro Honda (founder of Honda) made before he died.

Toyota Estima. Remember the egg shaped Toyota Previa minivan?

the hanshin daishinsai...1995 Jan 17, 5:45AM. Still remember that day, and I was only in 6th grade. No electricity for 3 hours, no water for 3 weeks, and no gas for 3 months..(and no school for a few weeks, I was excited about that as a kid). But yeah, ever since then, I'm traumatized.

I lived in Tokyo from 2001-2006 (lived in the States between then), but everytime the ground shook for any reason, I'd get this scary feeling. And everytime before an earthquake, I just feel weird...then usually within 24hours, there's an earthquake.

Anywho, enough of this depressing stuff.
>If you can't find a restaurant, convenience stores or grocery stores all have a lot of tasty treats. Many times, they can heat them up for you too.
so true!

>The second rumor I heard was that everyone in Japan speaks English. This is completely off.
everyone knows Engrish, but cant speak it.

>Maybe some of the chains are safe, like McD's and KFC, but we haven't tried.
yeah but there are weird ones...like the "tsukimi burger" which is a half boiled egg on top of the patty.

>In summer it is either raining, or the sun feels like you are an ant caught with a magnifying glass between you and the sun.
also watch out for "yuudachi"...or the sudden rain around 4-6PM....man, as much as I hated those, I miss them.

*First, and most widespread rumor is that Japan is expensive. I'm typing this from a 4-star hotel, which is costing us 140 bucks a night, and every meal we eat costs about $6 a plate. Subways are 200 yen, which is about $1.70, and you can get most drinks and snacks from less then that. In all, we are finding the country very affordable. However, I think a lot of it is knowing where to go.
Then again, the smallest starbucks is a "short" which costs as much as a "tall" in the States. Parking in Tokyo is $1/10mins (watching a movie at a theaters expensive real quick), highway toll is 7bucks/toll, gas is 4bucks/gallon, car is taxed by weight/displacement, etc, govt taxes every other year, houses are small yet expensive. But if you go anywhere outside of metro Tokyo (outside of the 23 special wards), life isn't much more than in the States. Its just crazy in the metro part of Tokyo.

sorry for the long comment, just got excited about Japan