"I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!"

So we arrived in Yokohama and I’m not ashamed to say that I wasn’t awake at 6am to see us pull into port.  I am tired!  I met up with Chris and Jodi around 9am to get going on the road to Tokyo. 

While it was day 3 in Japan, it was also city #3, which is exhausting (the following day would be city #4, day 4).  In the morning, I felt like I didn’t want to go anywhere, I didn’t want to figure out a new trains system, I didn’t want to find my way around a new city, etc.  I was feeling very apathetic.  But I also knew that I’d totally regret wasting my day if I didn’t go.

We were lucky that the train station was only 5 minutes walk away from the ship and even though it was raining, we were all happily in our rain gear.  We also have had a lot of luck with Tourist Information in Japan.  Here in Yokohama they were set up in the terminal off of the ship and had already printed out great information sheets of how to take the train to a number of popular destinations. 

We got to the train station and on the correct train right away.  We were headed for Shibuya, one of the 23 areas in Tokyo.  Shibuya has the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world (also featured on a  recent season of the Amazing Race –the one with the Harlem Globetrotters – remember?!).  We got to Shibuya in about 40 minutes and walked out right away through the crossing.  It was pretty crazy – basically, all traffic is stopped and people cross in about 8 different directions.  We started walking down some of the streets and got a first taste of busy Tokyo.

  I pulled Chris and Jodi into a little arcade because I REALLY wanted to take pictures in the photobooths and make them into stickers (all the Japanese kids do it).  We picked one of about 12 different photo booths and took 6 ridiculous pictures.  The best part comes directly afterward when you get to add all kinds of graphics to your pictures.  The pictures themselves look creepy, because they make your eyes all anime-esque.  We all look like giant creeps.  I was laughing pretty hard.  We did an amazing job decorating our pictures.

After the photobooth, we walked through a bunch of shops and went to grab some lunch.  After lunch, we had to head to the US Embassy, because Chris and Jodi needed to get some pages added to their passport (it’s a long story, but they’re moving to South Africa in January and won’t have time to do it once we get back to the States).  We found the embassy pretty easily and my mind was totally blown when the guards asked for our visas (because we were leaving Japan for American soil).  Our US passports obviously got us in, but it was really interesting to see how security worked there.  I waited in the waiting area, which was EXCELLENT because ESPN was on. I got to see 30 minutes of Sportscenter.  Unfortunately, I did NOT get to see the Packers/Vikings highlights, but I did get to see Peyton Manning’s big loss to the Patriots, so that was just as good.

We left the embassy (and American soil) and headed to a part of Tokyo called Shinjuku, where all the skyscrapers are.  We had been advised to go have a drink at the Park Hyatt (where “Lost in Translation” was filmed) but the COVER charge alone was 2,200 yen (almost $30US).  No thanks.  Instead, we went to the Tokyo Municipal Government Building where you can get to the observation deck for free.  It was pretty cool, and unfortunately a bit hazy (which meant we were unable to see Mt Fuji in the distance… but I knew it was there). 

It had gotten dark, but we still went downstairs and walked around a nearby park for a bit.  We walked around what is called “Electric Street” because of all the electronics stores, and then we walked down the Southern Terrace, which had a ton of Christmas lights.  It was actually pretty cool – they do a great job with Christmas lights considering it’s not a big holiday here.

We stopped at a bakery to get a quick pastry and then decided to head back to the ship.  A couple trains later we were home!  I was on duty that night, so we had to be back before 9pm.  Duty turned out to be all right, so I’m very very thankful for that.

My last day in Japan was kind of uneventful (for you to read about).  Holly and I met at 10am to find the stupid Daiso (100 Yen store).  We got directions from 2 different people and set off.   We actually thought they were 2 different stores, but turned out it was the same. 

Well, it took awhile.  Again.  We did find a cool shopping street that we really enjoyed walking down – a totally pedestrian area, lots of shops open, perfect weather.  It was excellent.  We had to ask 2 more people for directions but finally FINALLY arrived at the Daiso! 

The Daiso was 4 floors, which was extremely overwhelming.  Holly and I took advantage, though, because we had been looking forward to this for days.  We spent a significant amount of time there ☺  Holly had purchased a particular hair clip in…..somewhere and had spent the last few ports trying to find more.  Well, she had been out of luck until the Daiso!!!  We found a bunch of them.

After the Daiso, we got a quick lunch (still not sure what it was, but it was pretty good).  We set off to find a magnet (which was way harder to find than expected) and a grocery store (which we never did find).  We ended up in China Town, which is really funny because we were just in real China.  And that’s the second China Town I’ve been to on this voyage. 

China Town was actually hectic, so I was glad to leave after we found a magnet (which, oddly enough, is of China Town in Yokohama… whatever).  We had to head back toward the ship because I had gangway duty. 

Gangway duty was a bit more intense than usual – usually about ¼-1/3 of the ship has boarded by 2 hours before on –ship time, but last night we had to have them all leave the ship with their passports at 430 to go through immigration again.  The line was unbelievable and went relatively quickly, but there were a lot of travelers and overnight trips that got back, so they had to wait in line to get their bags searched. 

There was some last minute drama getting everyone on board, but thankfully everything turned out okay and we left only a little late.  There were some drummers on top of the terminal who gave an amazing drumming performance as we set sail.

As I write this, it’s 3am on Wednesday morning (noon CST on Tuesday) and my stuff is flying everywhere throughout my cabin.  The Pacific is proving to be anything BUT so far.  We’ve got 10 days at sea until Hawaii, and I’m hoping this is the worst of it. 

It’s pretty unbelievable that I’m done going to new countries.  I feel like I’m still processing India, but I’ve had a whirlwind Asian tour in the past month.  We all look like zombies walking around this ship.   Sleep is elusive for many of us these days, but hopefully a normal schedule at sea will help. 

More tomorrow!  I’m all caught up now!