Week 6

Week 6

Where We Went:  Nagoya, Shizuoka, Hakone and back to Tokyo for a night by the airport.

Funniest Thing We Did:  We were looking for a bar on the 5th floor of a building.  We walked into the fourth floor restaurant, asked where it was and they pointed to the back corner.  So Chelsea positively opened the door thinking she would discover a cool, back room bar, but instead found the bathroom.  Embarrassing!

Craziest Thing We Did:  We went to a town where no tourists go to - Shizuoka.  It was apparent that no white people come through here. 

Best Thing We Did:  See Mt. Fuji from the bus on our way to our hotel then relax in the hot springs at our hotel in Hakone, fed by the volcanos all around us.  Here is the sunset from our hotel room:

Tastiest Thing We Did:  We needed a taste of America so we found an ex-pat bar in Nagoya where Adam got a tasty burger.  I think it was the first time he had beef in two weeks.  

Also, lunch at our hotel on the first day in Hakone, it was a traditional Japanese lunch with 15 or so different elements:

Dumbest Thing We Did:  Order a coke at the expensive hotel we were staying at in Hakone, it cost $8 and was barely 12 oz.

Biggest Thing We Learned:  If, when you first walk into your room and it smells like smoke, go downstairs and get a different room.  There had been a mis communication and we spent the first night in Nagoya in a smoke-filled room…horrible!

Biggest Surprise:  Just how big Mt. Fuji is.  Incredible!  

Coolest thing we Learned:  Toyota (Toyoda then) was founded as a textile company.

Mystery Solved:​  What we thoughts was peanut butter called “peanut cream” was something entirely different.  This mystery remains unsolved.

Other Updates:

• McDonalds tastes the same in Japan as it does in the states.
• Pajamas provided by the hotel in Japan do not fit Adam.
• Chelsea loves Matcha everything.
• Nagoya’s sister city is LA and it is a great, very livable city,
• Being in the mountains after a week and a half in cities was so relaxing.
• We traveled through Seoul, South Korea on our way to Beijing and got to watch the Cubs play the Giants in the playoffs.