Japan: Part One

Hello there avid readers!

Finally, the much awaited post to read, though quite daunting to even begin writing, the 7 days of adventures in Japan!

Alison and Jake Visit
Our week long holiday began with a friendly visit from our old Torontonian neighbours on Saturday morning. My high school lockermate Alison, and her boyfriend Jake (who was addressed as Jake 1 for the weekend as he is older than Jake 2... kinda like Thing One and Thing Two a la Dr. Seuss styles) have recently moved to a place near Seoul to teach English at a Hag won (Korean private academy school) as well. After hearing their stories of a lengthy, tiring and confusing trip, just from Seoul, Jake 2 and I wondered what would become of us on our taxi-bus-subway-ferry-taxi-Japan Rail path that would begin on Monday morning.
Nevertheless, we all managed to ignore the traveling blues and party hard, sight-see in the GUA (Greater Ulsan Area), bow in buddist temples, drink from the fountain of youth, eat too much Galbi, haphazardly shop downtown, attempt to see a sold out Die Hard 4, brave torrential downpour, Nori-Bong (private Karaoke room) with Simon and Blah for Simon's birthday, avoid being hit by a fire-breathing bartender juggling vodka bottles, and drunkenly set fireworks off at the beach after playing several unbeatable curbside vendor games (my favourite of which you purchase a cockroach for 2,000 won ($2 CDN) put it into a funnel, and watch it swim around until it chooses a sort of "gate". Whichever gate it stops at you win a designated prize. Alison won a loud pocket calculator that looks like a cell phone. Handy n'est pas?), all in two days. (Phew, that was a mouthful, 1 weekend, 1 sentence). A fun and enjoyed weekend indeed, and we have the pictures to re-live it.....and the sand that was dragged back into the apartment that night via shoes, pockets, and in Jake 2's case, hair (he had a wee lie down on the beach) that we still haven't swept up .....

**Pictures**

The Japan Trek Begins (Day 1 & 2)
So, Monday morning we awoke at 6:30am, did a final packing check - passports, Alien Registration Cards, rubber ducky - and got a taxi with Alison and Jake 1 to the inter-city bus terminal. We headed south to Busan, while Alison and Jake 1 went north for some more Korean sightseeing. Between an Ulsan taxi and bus, and a Busan subway and mad-dash-taxi, we arrived at the ferry terminal 15 minutes to "take-off". Unfortunately, our aggravated ticket attendant told us we were not going to be allowed on our 10am ferry. We pleaded, looked very lost and confused and white, but she didn't flinch. So, instead, we were able to make it on the 2:30pm ferry which got us into Japan at 5:30... which made us miss the last train to Tokyo, where our reservations were for that night. So, tired, frustrated and down-trodden we decided to JR (Japan Rail) it to the closest destination to Tokyo that the train went to and caught the last run to Osaka. We arrived in Osaka around 10 pm or so, and decided to wander outside the station and find the closest hotel to crash at. We found a rather expensive one, got some hot dogs and salad at the closest restaurant, showered and crashed.

We made it to Tokyo the next day (Tuesday) at 11am. We got off at our station in Ueno (an area of Tokyo), and wandered through a maze of escalators, train and subway platforms, restaurants, gift shops etc. towing our luggage behind us. With exhaustion, hunger and motion sickness all in full effect after finally exiting the station, we suddenly remembered that Jake had left our hotel directions, and a new 1 liter bottle of Jack Daniels in a bathroom somewhere in the station. After returning to the maze-like station, and with the retrieved bag in hand, we finally trotted along, through a park, of course getting lost again, backtracking and arrived at our Tokyo hotel. A nice place with a cute lobby and really nice garden. And, despite their cancellation policy, they didn't charge us the 50% of the cost of the room for canceling the night before! Great success, finally.
We explored our area of Ueno (one of the 3 busiest areas of Tokyo, and Tokyo's 'historical downtown), walked through the markets located between and under two rail tracks, a booming area called "Ameyayokocho" which is a street market district that "evolved out of an open-air black market that sprung up after World War II" (thanks Wikipedia). If interested in info on Ueno Park (our hotel actually was in the park grounds, which also included a zoo, temples, restaurants and more) click here.
At night we ventured to a man made island that supposedly had a substantial nightlife, but we didn't really find said nightlife. Instead we shopped and played arcade games and headed on another subway mission to find a good bar and restaurant. Unable to find sushi, literally after passing dozens of traditional Japanese restaurants in a decent area of town (outside of Tokyo Station and towards Ginza), we settled for an Irish pub that had Guinness on tap, and signed the pint with a shamrock imprint in the head. I enjoyed some fish and chips, and cherished my 700Yen Guinness. We once again attempted to find a bustling downtown bar scene, asking a local who gave us an uninteresting location, and settled for a drink in a random dead bar. We later realized that it was only a Tuesday, but hey, if Antigonish can have a booming Tuesday nightlife, why the heck wouldn't Tokyo!?? Also, apparently dancing and dance clubs are illegal in Japan... "dancing is considered a violation of public morality" (check out this article of a dance bar raid and it's owners sentiments) .
We headed back to the hotel to rest up for the big day at Tokyo Disneyland the next morning! Disneyland post up next!

**Colleen's Pictures**
**Jake's Pictures**