The Next Adventure

Laurel wanted to visit Akihabara to check out the anime and electronic stores. I have read about the area, and while I am not an anime fan, was curious enough to tag along. It was very easy to take the local train to Akihabara. Our first rush hour ride on the local trains; it was super crowded, especially at the transfer stations. The major stations have lower levels with stores and restaurants. Over our stay in Tokyo, I found some delightful restaurants and food markets under the train stations. We arrived in Akihabara before 10 am, and found that many of the stores were not open. Walked around a bit but found nothing of interest to me. The area was probably more interesting at night when it was supposed to be all lighted up and full of shoppers. Next, we decided to go to Shibuya to check out the famous Shibuya Crossing . I got a few photos of it from the walkway out of the Shibuya station. It was quite difficult to take any photos while in the middle of the crossing, I did...

We started our first day in Tokyo by having the breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was a bit pricey but we did not feel like spending time to scout for breakfast places and wanted to try the special Chanko breakfast. The restaurant was very nice, rather quiet with not many people around. There were prints of sumo wrestlers all around the walls. The Chanko (above) was a soup with vegetables and fishballs, tofu, etc. already cooked and mixed. It was quite tasty. There were a lot of little dishes, mostly vegetables, tofu and soft poached eggs, small portions of smoked fish and chicken; all very healthy. I tried the fermented soybean (on the right) for the first and last time ever, I could not get past the texture nor the smell. I knew then why it was covered with plastic wrap on the buffet! I did not feel bad at all for leaving all of it on the tray. In general the food was somewhat underwhelming, subsequent Japanese breakfasts later in our vacation were muc...

We started our 3 week vacation to Japan this morning. Our neighbor gave us a ride to the New Carrollton station where we took the metro train for the Washington Dulles Airport (IAD). The ride took less than an hour, with a transfer in East Falls Church. With just a carry on suitcase each, it was easy to take public transportation to IAD. We had a direct flight from IAD to Haneda Airport. Upon arrival in Haneda the next day, we made our way to the 7-Eleven ATMs. Having watched numerous videos, we easily located the ATMs and withdrew yen notes to buy prepaid Suica cards, which we needed for public transportation throughout Japan. We could only get the Welcome Suica card that was meant for short term visitors; the regular green Suica cards were not sold at the airport. The kiosks took credit cards and there was an English speaking customer service rep who helped me buy two Welcome Suica cards with 5,000 yen loaded on each. We had downloaded a couple of apps, NAVITIME and Japan...