Tokyo - day 1

After our "brushes" with driving in Tokyo (actually driving through Tokyo and around the outskirts of Tokyo), we decided that we would stay out a bit in one of the "suburbs" and take the train in. So, we selected Yoshio which is in the north-northeast part of the city. It was a great seletion! The Tokoyo-Inn was located right across from the station (as they all were). Getting to it was a bit of a change as what we though was an exit off the expressway, wasn't and we had already passed it. Once we realized that, we were able to navigate to the hotel and found a parking lot close since we were there mid morning and check-in isn't until late afternoon.

We walked to the train station (nice, fairly new, very clean and not crowded) and hopped on a train for the end of the line! The train line was the the Tsukuba Express and it was a quick one - certainly much quicker than driving. We arrived at the Akihabara station. There we had to decipher the train maps (we had to change lines) and ticket prices which took a minute (not too bad) and were off to the Tokyo station. So, we found ourselves in downtown Tokyo fairly quickly!

Tokyo is amazing! We found ourselves in the middle of the financial district. The buildings were architectual masterpieces, the shopping and restuarants were high end. Unfortunately, we were there in a light rain (our first rain since that first day) but we managed. I did have an umbrella, Joe had his hat and off we went. Our first goal was to exchange some money. We don't know if it was because of the renovation (since the money exchange "stores" in Kyoto were easily found in the train station) or if Tokyo is just different, but finding it was a challenge. We wandered around the high rise buildings attempting to find the Information Center we had located on the map. We found that and received a little information, but they didnt' exchange money. Finally, I went into a HSBC bank and asked. The girl at the information desk spoke enough English to ask if I had an account. Since that was a "no" she pulled out a map (written in Japanese) and attempted to point me in the right direction. Off we went again. That worked so well that I then went into another bank that appeared to be the right location and then directed me to the back of the building and there it was. Money exchanged, we were off to the Imperial Palace.

Again, the scale was impressive. The gardens were expansive - a lot of pine tress. We walked across the one garden to the leading edge of the moat. There was and entry gate with guards standing alert in their stations. Then, we wanted along the moat to the Japanese garden at the Northeast corner of the palace. Again, the garden was huge. Not wanting to spend all day there, and beginning to be interested in lunch, we walked through only a portion of the garden. Glad we went, it was beautiful. We also heard and saw a few birds.

Then, we walked back to the east toward the buildings, past a rest house at the edge of the palace gardens, and started looking for lunch. The choices were plentiful but we decided on an English type "pub-ish" hole (most places were very small - seating about 12-18). Joe went for the fish and chips and I the hamburger (not shocking for either of us). I think the fish was fairly typical. The hamburger had a "filler" of onion and probably some bread. It was not real successful in my book. They did have iced tea - for like 400 yen. And, I drank mine within seconds and asked for a refill - which cost another 400 yen.... They are stingy with drinks here. I need to research what that is all about.

After lunch, we found... the bookstore, Maruzen - 5 stories worth. It was inbelievable. Joe was looking for some Japanese aircraft books/magazines. We did ask for help. The salesperson did not speak English but she went and found one who did-always VERY accomodating! The two of them took us to the floor and showed us a couple of locations that would fit the bill. Joe was there for a while and happily purchased several books. I was tempted to purchase some books on learning Japanese but held off. I heard a lot of singing and commotion outside in the "mall" area. There were some African dancers/singers performing for something. I stood with the crowd and watched for a bit.





Then, it was off to the Asakusa for shopping in the tranditional Japan souvenir arcade. It was very colorful, crowded with tourists and full of trinket type shops but next exactly what I had hoped for. I definitely need to do bettre research for our next trip! Afterwards, pretty exhausted, it was back to Yoshio for some dinner and a good night's sleep.

Matsyshima and Sendai

Wednesday, we spent the day up along the east coast about halfway between Tokyo and the northern most island (Haikkado). Matsushima Air Base is home to F2s and the Blue Impulse. We spent the morning there and photographed not only airplanes, but dragonflies and spiders as well (OK, we had time to kill). The weather wasn't super cooperative, but at least it didn't rain. We did have period of bright skies and a little sun - but not when there were airplanes to photograph.

Then, we went sightseeing in Matsushima. It is one of the three most beautiful spots in Japan

(Miyajima is also one). We walked out onto a couple of islands. One was basically a cemetery that must date back thousands of years. It was a beautiful view across towards the coast and across to the other islands. The skies cleared up, and we had fun walking around and taking in the sights. I plan to spend some time on the Internet finding out more about the area.

We also saw a man making the dolls for which the region is known. His shop was also like a Plaster Fun House in that you could paint your own. We also purchased what turned out to be baked rice crackers with salt and sugar on them. Very tasty. I can imagine how busy this town must be in the summertime.

After that, we drove back into Sendai to see the Rikko-ji garden. While we didn't have much time to spend here, we did walk through the gardens.

Rikko-ji was beautiful. It was overcast again by this time, but we enjoyed a quiet stroll - no one else was there.

Sendai is a very lovely city and most American of any of the cities we visited. the streets were wide and straight for the most part.

Then, we drove onto Utsunomiya where we had made reservations for the night. That way we would only have a short drive into Tokyo for Thursday. Of course, we were running later than

anticipated and it was nearly 8 PM when we arrived. We found one of the coffee houses that we have seen several of in our travels and ate there. We had our first beef! While different than in the states, it did resemble something familiar and we ate it. Of course, Joe's came with an egg on top! :-)

Monday and Tuesday

After quite an experience trying to find our hotel and getting lost in Yokohama, it was too late to blog last night. To be driving in the outskirts/suburbs of Tokyo must be like driving in Manhattan or Mexico City. There are mid/high rises everywhere, bypasses and expressways that begin and end everywhere. It is very difficult to get your bearings even with a GPS. Of course, part of our issues with the GPS is that we cannot read Japanese to program locations. Anyway, we did arrive, but much later than planned.

Yesterday turned out to be the most beautiful day at the location Joe most desired for it to be. We were at Hyakuri Air Base photo-ing F4s, F-15s and anything else that showed up. It is also the place where you call this phone number on the gate and for a small fee a woman will come let you in. It appears that they built the air field around this family's land, but they refused to sell the part that houses their Shinto Shrine. So, in the midst of the shrine, someone has built two platforms that you can stand on to get your airplane pictures. It was a huge challenge because of the language. Joe called but had no idea what the response was. Someone else showed up (a local), called and the woman appeared. So, it was a great day.

On our way back to the expressway, we were driving through one of the small towns and decided to stop for dinner in Tschirsa. We found a cute little restaurant by the train station. It was authentic Japanese with no one who spoke English and few pictures on the menu (and the pictures there were obviously fish). Joe ordered some fish stuff with cold soba noodles. after a big struggle with language I think I ordered chicken on skewers. I was hoping for a least only thigh meat but I think I ended up with a variety which included heart, gizzards and liver?. I ate the one that I think was thigh and sampled the heart or liver one and decided that was enough. Thank goodness for potato chips, ice cream and rice crackers.

We then headed across Tokyo to our destination for this morning which is why we spent the night in Yokohama. After slowly navigating our way out of Yokohama, we managed to make it to Atsugi. Great location for photograhing planes (even benches on which to sit) - a wonderful park right at the end of the runway - the runway lights are right in the middle of the park. The weather was not great, but we stayed for over an hour and then headed north to Iruma. There were lots of people there hanging out and sharing their photographs. they even included Joe in the exchange. Both are worth a return visit (with good weather)!

Since the weather is so overcast (rain is predicted) in Tokyo (Could the typhoon in the Philippines be affecting our weather?), we decided to head north. We drove up to Sendai. We were so excited that we quickly found the hotel! It is early AM and we are getting ready to head up to Matsushima for the morning. Then, this afternoon we plan to sightsee there and here.

The weekend

Took yesterday off so time to catch up. We hung around in Kyoto for bit yesterday (Saturday) morning. We drove down to Gion by the river, parked the car, and walked along the river. We saw Great Blue Herons, Black-Crowned Night Herons, Hawks, big Snowy Egrets and a few small birds we are unfamiliar with. People jog, bike, fish and walk along the river. It was a really nice morning. Then, Joe humored me again. We drove across town to see a famous garden, Katsura Rikyu. However, after we arrived we found out that you needed a special permit to get in. Bummer. We ran into a European who had just left and he said it was the most beautiful garden and well worth the effort. So, that garden is on our list for our next trip back.

Then, we headed south to Uji to see Byodo-in, a famous building with a garden. It was pretty. We paid and walked the gardens, but we did not pay to go in the Phoenix Hall as a garden was our goal. We did go through the new museum at the end quickly. It housed the actual art from the building-lots of sculpture. Very beautiful-both the artifacts and the building itself. No photography allowed which was a bummer.

Then, we headed back to Nagoya on our way to Anjo which was the closest place we could get a room for the big airshow in Hamamatsu today. We decided to drive through Nagoya not on an expressway. I think we both regret it now. It must have taken use 2 hours just to go from north central Nagoya to south eastern Nagoya on a major street. We finally arrived in Anjo and were able to secure a washing machine. It appears that everyone brings their laundry to the Toyoko-Inn when they stay. Some are obvious visitors such as ourselves but most a locals. Maybe they don't have a washer/dryer. It is clear that most people in Japan do not have a dryer as the balconies are the drying location for laundry. They are even equipped with apparatus from which to hang your clothes.

After we got the laundry done, we walked (We had successfully parked the car in the elevator garage without assistance.) to find dinner. After not much success finding anything more appealing, we went to Russo's Italian which was clearly a hopping joint. It was sort of like Cici's in that it was a buffet but then you also ordered a pasta dish that came in 19 minutes after you ordered - at least that is what we think the waiter said. At first I thought he was saying you had to eat in 19 minutes and get out, but Joe assured me that wasn't the case.

The buffet consisted of pizza- 4 different types: cheese, pepperoni, some type of white sauce pizza that looked like it had soy sauce on it and maybe some fish, and then something that resembled supreme. The rest of the buffet was anything but Italian: French fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets (actual chicken breast!), two different kinds of fish, corn salad, cabbage salad, toss salad, pickled carrots, and maybe something else. You had eight different pastas from which to choose. Being myself, I went safe with a roasted garlic spaghetti. Joe went for the meat sauce spaghetti. The roasted garlic was terrific. The noodles were al dente and the garlic sauce had piece of roasted garlic and sliver of dried red hot peppers. Joe's meat sauce must have been a little sketchy as he didn't eat it all. Of course, it was topped with a poached egg. Pretty typical to find a poached egg on top of your food here evidently.

Today, we had the airshow. We had about a 1 1/2 hour drive so we had an early start as we had been told to arrive early for the show. We got there right on schedule at 7:00 with fairly heavy cloud cover. We followed the cars in front of us to the parking since we couldn't read especially signs posted everywhere and followed people to the airfield. It was about a kilometer to the gate. People were already lined up. We got in and rode a bus to the show. Unfortunately the cloud cover persisted so our photos aren't what we had hoped for. In a way it was good because we were on the wrong side of the air base. We should have just shot the static and left to go hang out on the side of the rods, but hesitated too long and then the show started. The majority of the show was performed by the local units: E-767, T4s, UH-60J, U-125 and then there was a F-15 demo, a F-2 demo and the Blue Impulse- their air force demonstration team. It was VERY crowded. I have never seen so many people at an airshow. We stayed and waited for the famous after airshow flyout of the statics which never materialized.

Now, we're on our way to the east side of Tokyo so we are ready to visit Huykuri Air Base In the AM, home to two F4 Squadrons!. There isn't a clear pathway across on expressways so I'm not looking forward to it -especially in the dark. Wish us luck and no clouds tomorrow!

Kyoto

We slept in as desired and didn't hit the streets until 8:00 AM. Our thought was we would just walk up the street several blocks, visit a couple of temples/shrines and be back at the hotel by 10 for checkout. We quickly realized that what appeared as a block is a HUGE block! We were successful, but we didn't make it back to the hotel until 10:20, and let me tell you, we were walking fast! As we were taking in the sights, we decided that we would like to just spend the day here, so when we arrived back at the hotel we paid for another evening.

We had not prepared to be late, and with good reason. Toyoko-Inns are business type hotels. Basically, you are not supposed to have access to your room during the hours between 10 and 3. Luckily, they let Joe go upstairs as he needed to get a camera and we wanted to drop off a bag. So, just know, that is a limitation, but certainly something we are willing to work around. Joe said when he got upstairs that ever room door was open and all the bed were stripped. So, instead of housekeeping the rooms one by one, they do floor by floor or have enough crew to do all floors at once. Possibly they start on the top floor and work down (we are on the top)?

So, during that excursion we saw the Nijo Castle - from the outside and walked the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. After we regrouped, we visited the Nishi Hongani Temple which was on our way to the big train station as we had figured out we wanted to use the subway. Oh my gosh, the SIZE of the station made us realize HOW big Kyoto actually is. It alone was an amazing place. We struggled to locate the Kyoto Tourist Information Center, but finally were successful. My suggestion to the Kyoto Information Bureau is that they find a more prominent location or have better signage. Anyway, there we got a city map, a bus route map (there subway system isn't very big) and purchased bus tickets for the day.

During our time there, Joe was interviewed by a group of students. They had created their own survey asking questions like: name, where are you from, and favorite animal.

We also found an amazing store Isetan. It is a gastronomical superstore. It was like the Neiman-Marcus of food. It was huge. Lots of fish and typical Japanese fare. Finally we located the bakery and I was in heaven. So, our lunch consisted of breads - savory and sweet. Joe also purchased a filled pancake in the shape of a fish. There were several types from which to choose. However, all in Japanese.Needless to say, I didn't purchase one for me. Joe still cannot define what it was he ate. He says it was kind of sweet. He purchased the type that was being produced. We thought it looked like purple refried beans. I am laughing so hard just thinking about it. While he says it was good, I will tell you he didn't eat the whole thing. Anyway, the breads/pastries we've had here are terrific!

We hopped a bus. it turned out to be the wrong bus, but we were passing a temple so we got off. It was interesting and we photoed. Then, we got back on another bus and found our way to Gion. That area was different than anticipated, but we enjoyed. We found the park and saw some pretty sights and some birds. Joe got his picture of the Japanese Raven. They are everywhere! We also took pictures of the Japanese version of the Great Blue Heron and the Mallard duck. Then, I had the great idea to find the Kyoto handicraft market ghat was on several maps. After a nor long walk, we were not successful and returned to Gion. We were fascinated by the numbers of people in tractional dress in this area. We photoed a few and found out they were on holiday from Hong Kong and had rented the garb! Finally, after being on foot for nine hours, we returned to the hotel for a rest.

We are now back at the station for dinner. We are again sampling the fried pork as it seems safe (and about the only thing on the menu besides prawns).

Our interesting observations from the day:

• Kyoto is huge! From the guide book I thought it was much smaller and more pastural.


• The Emergency vehicles use a PA system to give verbal commands to the public when approaching intersections. Joe finds it quite amusing.


• The bus drivers turn off the engines at most bus stops and red lights. However, they are a fairly efficient way to get around.

Let the vacation begin!

It is dusk at 5:15 and we are on the way to our hotel -and it is only about 35 kilometers away! Joe is excited that we will be checking before 10:30 as that is the time we checked in last night - only to get up at 4:30 again to hit the road! However, well worth it! Our morning at Akeno was busy with helicopters everywhere. Some of them were even nice enough to pose for us! I also think one enjoyed trying to blast off our ladders. He succeeded somewhat! Blackhawks, Hueys, Loaches, a Cobra and an OH-1in and out of sunlight pretty much sums up the AM.

Then, it was off to Komachi in Nagoya. It was about an 1:45 drive on the expressway-thank goodness for the expressways! Without them the same drive would have taken somewhere in the vicinity of 3 hours or more. You would probably be lucky to average 40 kilometers per hour. As it is, the speed limit on the expressway is 80 kph but most people must average around 100 kph. They are expensive though. Just the trip from Ise to Nagoya cost $25.

Komachi is the place we visited briefly on Sunday with the park overlooking the airfield. Again, periods of clouds and sunlight but we faired OK. We were hoping to get a green C-130 but we had to settle for 4 blue ones. We were pleasantly surprised by an F4 and a T4. We also photoed 3 of the 4 KC-767s of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, plus assorted rescue choppers and a couple of C-1s.

Our daily staple has become the tea at McDonalds. While different from the tea you get at home, it is available unsweetened. Our experience has been that most bottled teas are sweetened and some are even milked as well! There are vending machines with drinks in them everywhere! You will be driving by fields and come across at row of vending machines. They all have water, a variety of teas and tons of canned and bottled coffee choices. Wish I could read Japanese to know the varieties.

We arrived in Kyoto. We finally found the hotel - I had miscalculated the street we needed to turn down by about 2 kilometers. Of course, it doesn't herlp that it is dark when we arrive. Here is yet another version of the car elevator. Systems like this are prevalent here.

We finally visited our first Japanese fast food restaurant for dinner.
Joe faired better than I and was happy to share his meal with me. I again ordered chicken. I asked and was told it was white meat.

Again,it is thigh (I guess) and still has the skin on

from what I can tell. Joe ordered the pork and that is just like a deep fried boneless pork chop. Everything appears to come with shredded cabbage, miso soup and rice. OK, I'm done with the chicken...

Tomorrow our plan is to actually sightsee! We are spending the night in Kyoto and hope to have good weather and see lots there. We may also visit Uje and Nara. We have no set agenda other than to sleep to 6 AM! :-)

Two full days of airplanes!

On our way back to the big island. We have a reservation in Otsu tonight and have about 5-6 hours (our estimate) to go. Just stopped for lunch at McDonald's - the only restaurant we have visited. After the first experience, I have had an order of fries and soft serve ice cream. Heathy! Joe has been getting the burgers but I haven't mastered how to say meat and bun only yet. Hope to look that up tonight on the Internet.

Yesterday we were at Nyrabura outside Miyasaki. The weather was great early and then became sketchy. By late morning it had cleared again, and we got some great pictures of F4s, F15s and T4s and a few others. By mid afternoon, the clouds had rolled back in, but we feel it was a successful event!

Today, we were at Tsuiki outside Yukuhashi. Again, we had a few periods with clouds but sunny for the most. We photographed F2s, F15s and some more T4s. Great spots-very close. There were about 15 -20 other photographers at both locations (all Japanese). We could only stay till a little after 1:00 pm because we need to get to our next location!

Another fabulous event from yesterday was we were able to park the car in the hotel garage! This Tokoyo-Inn also had the elevator garage that we weren't successful with in Miyazaki. The girl at the front desk did a little better job with directions (our fault) and we learned that you have to fold the side view mirrors in. It really is an amazing

system. The card is keyed for a specific space.
When you get your car out, you must deposit the card in order for the system to work. You also have to be patient as the lift is working but there are no lights to indicate that you have successfully initiated the system.

As we were approaching the air base this morning, we were driving through a residential area. The kids were all on their way to school. It seems as if elementary students in many places do not wear uniforms. However, most all of the older students are wearing uniforms. These students in these little towns, have different "backpacks" from what I remember seeing in other locations.

P.S. Bummer arrived late at hotel only to find the garage was already full so we couldn't put our knowledge to good use! Instead, Joe had to park down the street at a public garage and had trouble getting the machine to accept the money...