Japan Day 1.

I have only been in Japan for a few hours and already I love it!

Val and I left my house at 4:30 AM and after only 24 and one half hours of continues traveling we checked into our hotel in Tokyo. Not getting much sleep on the plane and feeling rather jet lagged, we explored our neighborhood for a couple hours and then called it an early night.

But I am already in love. Everyone one we have met has been very nice and Tokyo (at least the part we are in) feels very clean and safe and there is lots going on. I am also extremely impressed with how efficient everything is here. (The 5:05 bus showed up at 5:05!)

The airline food left much to be desired (as always), but all of that was forgotten with the dinner we had last night. It was without a doubt one of the best meals I have had in a VERY long time. I got grilled mackrel, pot stickers, mushroom tempura and Val ordered a braised pork soup, cucumber spears with miso and ume paste, and steamed dumplings. She also ordered a kind of Vietnamese liquor and I ordered a super sweet tea that when combined made a great cocktail. It was awesome!!!!!!

After dinner we walked around for a while. Being the geniuses that we are, we packed lots of books on Japanese's culture and cooking but we both forgot our phrase books. We looked last night for a book store that sold them for English readers, but were so far unlucky. We downloaded some Japanese/English podcast today. We are flying out to Ginzan Onsen today so we will listen to them on the flight. And hopefully we will find a phrase book soon. (Wish us luck.)

To see photos from the first day of our travels (and the awesome chicken we roasted the night before we left) go on facebook.

You can check Val's blog & photos at okinmeatime.blogspot.com