The Japanese Really Do Eat Fish for Breakfast

Heated toilet seats are the best thing ever. It sounds ridiculous, but there you have it. The Japanese are on to something, and they have them everywhere here. The toilets overall are extremely elaborate. They spray from behind and from in front – wherever you need cleaned. Some of them have a dry cycle (although […]

A Journey To Old Japan

We woke this morning and checked out of our hotel. Our train wouldn’t be leaving for a few hours, so we we used the spare time to visit the old imperial palace. The Japanese Imperial Palace was located at this site from the 12th century until 1869 when the capital was moved to Tokyo. Over […]

Sometimes We Need Fuzzy Creatures Badly

Time for another day trip: this time to Nara, the old old capital of Japan. For reference, Tokyo is the current capital. The immediately prior capital was Kyoto, and Nara preceded that. We have heard that Nara is a great spot for a day trip from Kyoto. The train ride took us about 40 minutes, […]

P and I Agree About Osaka

It is election day back home. When we planned this trip, we noticed that it would fall during the election, and shrugged at it. In retrospect this was a brilliant decision, as things have been ugly, and now I think I’ll do it every four years. There is a lot to see in Kyoto, but […]

Time for Temples!

The jet lag this trip is killing me, much more so than usual. In the past a 12 hour flip hasn’t been this difficult. I need to take melatonin tonight – hopefully that will help realign my schedule This morning we tried the breakfast buffet at the hotel. In addition to western offerings, such as […]

The Bullet Train Needs a Prettier Face

Arrival in Japan was easy. We passed quickly through customs and immigration, where we were fingerprinted and photographed, and found an ATM. Money is potentially a concern here. All of the guidebooks state that credit cards aren’t widely accepted, and most Japanese ATM’s don’t accept foreign cards. The exceptions are Seven Eleven, the post office, […]