BEHOLD: Fish, rain, trains, & Totoro

The other chicken has cooped here with me in Japan. Krista came in safely and we have been having all kinds of misadventures.

Wednesday I accompanied Rina and Masami very early in the morning to the famous Tsukiji fish market. I got to see how the whole operation works, and observed Masami buying fish to take back to Maui. This market is crazy! Giant slabs of fish that you'd swear came from the side of a cow, eels writhing around by the dozens, lobsters trying to escape the tables, giant muscles and oysters, fish parts everywhere, fisherman sawing giant tuna up on bandsaws, every sort of seafood you could imagine. It was awesome. Then we went to sushi for breakfast nearby the market, and I can honestly say that was THE most amazing sushi I have EVER eaten. Every kind of fish literally melted in my mouth. They get their fish fresh from the docks (which are about 200 ft. away) so it is literally as fresh as you can get. I bid the girls farewell, and headed for the airport to gather Krista.

Yesterday Krista and I went to the Ghibli museum in Mitaka. It was SOOOO amazing. It was like a little dream world. We got to see a short film that can only be seen at the museum, and wandered around in this giant cottage full of brilliant gadgets, original story board art, giant cat-buses that you can climb around in, beautiful paintings, and all sorts of little made up worlds to get lost in. We were even greeted by a giant Totoro at the entrance. It is really a place you have to see to believe. And I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who comes to Tokyo to go see it. (Especially Ghibli fans) Unfortunately there's no picture taking aloud inside the facilities, we really wish we could show you even a few of the amazing things inside. It gave us goose-bumps around every turn.

Today, we headed to Kyoto on the 'super express' train. When we arrived it was pouring down rain. And of course, packing all of our luggage, we had no idea where our hostel was. The directions given to us were not exactly.. helpful. So as we wandered in the pouring rain, we stopped to ask people if they knew where the Khoasan Hostel was, and of course no one had ever heard of it. So, at first sight of white man.. we decided we should try our luck with people who might speak Enlgish, and who knows... might even be staying at the same hostel. Turns out these two nice young men were French, but they did speak pretty good English. They had no idea either, but were on their way to a train station that has an English speaking information desk. So they said we could follow them to the station. Which we did.... for about 45 min. Turns out this station was a long LONG way away. So after a while we decided we'd better just pop into a different hostel to use the internet and find better directions. After a confusing cab ride, we did find it and arrives absolutely drenched. But, the trek was worth it... this place is SWANKY. It's the nicest hostel I've ever been in. So here Krista and I sit at our new digs, letting our suitcases dry, and writing about our adventures.

Tomorrow is supposed to bring thunderstorms and more rain, so should make sightseeing very interesting. More to come later...

Nakano (where we stayed)