January 18th, 9:08am - Tokyo

This is how I'll start labeling these entries. I don't have a lot of time to write as I'm at the only computer terminal in this hotel (with heavily advertised free internet) and there's probably a few people who are just waiting for me to get off. Starr and I have already had a great first couple of days.

My vacation started after work ended on Sunday. The last day was great and I got some pictures with students that I'll post tonight. That night we had a going away party in my apartment (I'll also post those pictures tonight). The next day Yuka helped me to get a Citibank account and check postal rates for the two bags I'm sending home. The following day Yuka slept over and we said our good-byes, then I packed my backpack and left Nagoya. I hate that part of any trip. Packing and saying goodbye to a place as familiar as Kyowa has become sucks. It reminded me of packing for Japan and leaving college Senior year and leaving home for college. At least this time I didn't have a lot of crap to pack.

I met Starr an hour late at Narita airport (there were three stops on the train for Narita Airport and I didn't know where she was going to be) because the train leaving from Shinagawa station took an hour and a half to get there and to take the airport express was $30 I wasn't going to spend. We drank on the train as we headed back towards downtown. The first step was to book a hotel for the night so we went to one that I had gone to earlier with Yuka. Full. So we headed to another station and tried to ask some people, check Starr's guide book, and ask some cabbies where we might be able to go. This was our practice run for China and we weren't doing so well. I wound up calling Yuka and asking her to help us out. She found a hotel and booked it for us near Shinjuku. We checked in, went out for a little while, just drinking and walking around some of the busy parts of Tokyo and got home by 2am. Starr was up again around 6 and couldn't sleep. She said that she slept for the entire flight over but despite that she was a little fucked up from the jet lag.

Yesterday we again called Yuka and she found us this place in Ikebukuro. Cheaper than the first night (3,800 instead of 4,200) and this place included the internet and breakfast. We dropped our bags off at around 11am and did some sightseeing. We went on a tour of the imperial palace, saw the Yasukuni Shrine (see wikipedia and any news article on why people are currently burning Japanese flags in Korea and China), and then got a drink at the New York Bar in the Park Hyatt Hotel. That's where most of Lost in Translation was filmed and that bar is where Scarlett and Bill meet for the first time. It was a really nice place, live music, a great view of the city, and we wound up spending $75 for a beer and glass of champagne. The champagne wasn't something we wanted but apparently it was opposite day with that particular waiter. 'Would you like some champagne?' 'No.' 'OK, here you go.'

Today we'll do some more sightseeing but I'll post those pictures tonight.

I lost the mailing addresses for all of my Brandeis and high school friends. Could you all email me where you live? bennegan@gmail.com. Thanks.