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My hostel here has a strange Internet setup. Instead of using a wireless router, they give you a cable modem, you unplug the TV and plug that in. First time I’ve ever seen anything like that.

The Tokyo Game Show is so big I have to go back for a second day. It costs about $10/day to enter. More insanity today. Lots of live shows of singing and dancing, even a magic show. Famous game producers getting interviewed on stage like Hideo Kojima. There’s an area for game schools where you can play student games. I waited in line for a Ninja Gaiden 2 demo behind closed doors. Kind of strange, in the middle of this show I took off my shoes and sat on the floor on a tatami mat to watch. I did get a nice poster for free after that and gave it away to a little boy later in the day. I got a lot of other catalogs and flyers and the sort, but have to throw most of it away.

Later in the day I visited Harajuku. Sundays are traditionally when all the obscure groups of people come out. Wildly dressed girls, rockabillies, BMX guys, boy bands singing. All near the park and train station. I also walked to the Meiji Shrine nearby.

I then hopped over to Shibuya, which is maybe the most popular district of Tokyo. The busiest intersection in the world is here. Also the most famous meeting point in the city is here at the statue of Hachiko the dog. It is probably a bad place to meet since there are literally hundreds of people standing around it trying to find and meet someone else.

Before bed I decided to try out this fast food chain I kept seeing everywhere: Yoshinoya. They sell a "beef bowl," but I don’t know, nothing too special. Last night in Tokyo for a bit. Heading to Nikko tomorrow.

This morning I checked out of my hotel and checked into a cheaper hostel for the next two nights. Moving there was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I couldn’t board the train in the morning because the train was too full and I could never made it on with my backpack. I realized then how small you need to keep things in Tokyo. This has been the first time the transportation system failed me. I think because it was a Saturday morning there were less trains running, this particular line couldn’t handle the load of people going into the city. I waited around for the next train, but same thing happened.

Finally, I decided to take a private subway line. It wasn’t covered in my rail pass and it took a while to figure out how to buy a ticket, since it is a different price depending on where you go. I missed the first train here too because it was pretty full and I arrived a little too late. Finally, after an hour and a half I made it to my new destination, which is just a mile or two away. Maybe would have been faster to walk. I kind of wish I stayed at the same place now, but I do save $10/day here.

It was time to go to the Tokyo Game Show, a video game exposition. I dropped off my backpack and took another train to Chiba, about another hour train ride. The train went past Tokyo Disneyland and finally arrived near some huge exposition halls. The size of the show is comparable to the Detroit Auto Show and Cobo Hall. You can walk up and play any video game any video game about to be released in Japan or see some big screen trailers. I heard they expect about 300,000 people to show up over the two days.

After it got dark, I headed to the Roppongi area for a while. And finally back to the hostel. It has been a little while since I’ve shared a room. The last two dorm rooms I stayed in were Shanghai and Stockholm.

Today I got up early and after about 1.5h on trains I made it to Kamakura. This was the capital of Japan for a while about 900 years ago.

I walked to a number of historical places in Kamakura: Engaku-ji, Zeniarai Benten, the famous Daibutsu, Hase-Dera, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, and Kencho-ji. I took the Daibutsu Hiking Course for much of the way, which was very hilly trail going through the forest. There were a lot of school kids out on field trips and and on their own visiting the same kind of sites. It was so hot and humid though. My eyes were stinging from all my sweat.

I found a 100 Yen shop, which is the equivalent to a Dollar Store. And they still the same kinds of things too. It is nice to know not everything has to be expensive in Japan.

After walking back to the train station, I took a train to nearby Yokohama, the second largest city in Japan. I didn’t have all day, but I visited the Shin Yokohama Raumen Museum. They have a historical 1950’s city reproduction with different style shops were you can eat. I ate a bowl at one one called Harukiya. However, I don’t think this place was really worth it for me since I don’t have any nostalgia for any of the things there.

To get back to Tokyo it was a good chance to take a bullet train, or Shinkansen. Seeing an express bullet train fly by a train station was kind of scary. It was just in view for a few quick seconds. I see why they have guardrails on the platforms there.

I slept in as much as I could in the morning. I then headed off to Mitaka, a small suburb of Tokyo. I walked past the Ghibli Museum and through Inokashira Park. Then to the Ogikubo district of Tokyo. I ate lunch at my first restaurant in Japan. I liked the fact that it had a ticket ordering machine. You put your money in, press a button for what you want, and a ticket comes out and you hand it to the workers. I then visited the Suginami Animation Museum.

Then on to the Shinjuku district. I went up to the free 25th floor observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Got some good views of the city. Nearby I found Canon Digital House, which is a store where you can try out all the latest Canon products. Pentax had a similar place. Apparently the area is the place for photography equipment. I’m planning on visiting other company showrooms here in Japan as I go along.

It has been hot and humid here. Maybe I got here a few days too early since these are probably the last really hot days of the year. Good thing my hotel room has an air conditioner unit. I have a Japanese style room, which means I have a futon bed, no chairs, and air conditioner on the floor (keeps the bottom part of the room cool; how efficient since you spend your time near the floor). There is also a TV in the room with a few local channels and a refrigerator. Everything is on three Tatami mats. Have a nice internet connection here too. I heard Japan is well connected, but finally got to see for myself. I think the biggest limitation is the wireless, so I plugged into a wireless access point directly and measured 19Mbps download and 5.5Mbps upload. That’s a world record for me.

It gets dark at 6PM here and light at 5AM. I went to sleep at 7PM again.

After no more than four hours of sleep the previous night, I headed to the airport. The 2:10PM flight worked well. No traffic or lines in Metro Airport. Only took a minute to print out my boarding pass at the machine. I did get one of my liquid containers taken away from me because it was 4oz, over the limit of 3.5oz. I noticed my gate and plane was front and center in the terminal, lined up with the fountain right at the midpoint. Must be one of the most important flights at the airport to have that spot.

After takeoff, I noticed we flew over Walled Lake and White Lake. I took a photo of WL Central High School, Williams Lake Rd, and the Oakland County airport area. It was kind of tough to photograph since we were traveling over 400 miles per hour.

The NWA flight was on time, but long. It seemed like an older plane. There were no individual TV screens in the back of the seat with choices of movies/TV shows, instead just one big screen with no choices. I was hoping to sleep, but wasn’t too easy. The sun followed us the entire time, making it one long day.

Narita Airport seemed empty when I arrived at 4PM. There was no line through customs. I got into the country without any return/onward ticket, despite the travel agency’s warnings. First step was the ATM, and second stop was getting my Rail Pass. There is a train station right in the airport, so I can start using the pass right away. The people at the Travel Service Center were really nice and helpful and I was even able to buy tickets for an exposition this weekend.

The fastest train to the city takes 1 hour. It went past some really nice houses. I thought, oh yeah, Japan sure is a rich country! One guy walks in with a sword on his back, sits down and starts reading a comic book. My first "Only in Japan" moment! I arrive at the central Tokyo station in the height of rush hour, but things weren’t as crowded as I expected. After China, I can’t say it is too bad riding the trains here.

The biggest thing I notice here is how quiet everything is. I left the last station to get to my hotel and could see lots of other people walking around, but it was almost dead silence. For example, compared to China you’d hear a constant honking of horns, sounds of constant construction, and people yelling into their phones. I barely saw anyone actually talk into their phones, but nearly everyone has a phone up to their face texting someone.

I found my hotel, filled in a short form, paid the money, and got my key. I thought that was fast. No instructions or explanation of rules. Well, pretty efficient. It was almost 7PM by the time I got to my room. I was so tired after being awake for 24 hours that I went to sleep right away.

(I’ll get some photos online next time)

I’m back with a new plan. I am leaving on September 18th on flight NWA 25 to Tokyo, Japan. With the help of a local Japanese travel agency, I have a Japan Rail Pass in my hands good for 21 days.

My plan continues after traveling through Japan with a ferry to South Korea. I’m thinking I’ll spend 10-14 days in Korea.

Finally, I will take another ferry to China, and after a short train I will arrive back in Beijing to continue 4 more weeks of language classes. After the four weeks, I hope to travel around China for about another month, heading south.

In late December, I plan on flying to Thailand for a few weeks and then continue around SE Asia in the new year.

After spending the night in the wonderful state of New Jersey, I flew out on a 10:40AM flight to Detroit. After two hours or so, we approached for a landing and we got within a few hundred feet of the ground before the landing was aborted and the plane pulled up. High winds were the reason given for the abort. It looked like they were going to give it another try, but fuel was running low and the plane was diverted to Cleveland, Ohio. I spent two hours in the terminal, and then another two hours in the plane waiting for permission to land at Detroit. Poor weather plus the backlog of airplanes caused a long delay of six hours over all. I was supposed to arrive at 12:44PM, but ended up landing in Detroit at 6:30PM. It took about 40 hours from takeoff in Beijing to arrival in Detroit.

I’m back now and at least the weather is refreshingly cool.

It is the last day before my hiatus from traveling. Soon I am going to Beijing Capital International Airport, which is the fastest growing airport in the world in terms of passengers and flights. Then I will have a 13h45m flight which I think will head over the North Pole (look at a globe) to Newark, New Jersey. After a 2h35m layover, I will get on a 2h9m flight to Detroit. I hope there are no solar flares today because I’m going to get a boost of radiation when I lose the planet’s magnetic field over the North Pole.

Update: It was a long day. I was awake for 28 hours straight. First of all, the guy running the Home Stay program promised he would drop me off at the airport, but instead he sends me on a relatively expensive taxi. At the airport you have to go through security a few times. There is an extra hand search of bags at the gate for flights into the US. The long flight to the US went smoothly though with no delays and lots of food. Upon arriving in New Jersey, I had to go through security again and I waited around. When it was time to board, I headed over to the gate and noticed the flight has been canceled. I had to wait in a customer service line for a hour, but I got a hotel room (although 30 minutes away) and a flight for the next day.

Today is my last full day in Beijing. My original plan was to stay four more weeks, then take a ferry to either Japan or Korea to travel around for a while, and then return back to China to travel more. My new plan is to return home to Michigan and stay there until September, and then fly to Japan (3-4 weeks), ferry to Korea(2 weeks), and ferry to China, where I will continue my 4 weeks of Chinese classes in Beijing before travelling around the rest of the country for a little while (until Dec or Jan). This new plan is more expensive, but I think returning home will give me more time to prepare for these countries and maybe make a better trip. Delaying will also allow me to visit in cooler weather and I can get a break from the heat and humidity here this summer. I’ll be able to avoid the summer crowds too. Plus I don’t think this family here really likes me, so maybe when I return I can stay with a different one. I’m able to postpone my home stay and classes for no charge.

I depart Beijing tomorrow (July 18) at 3:45PM. Flight no. Continental 88.

I arrive in Detroit tomorrow (July 18) at 10:14PM. Flight no. Continental 2917.

Update: Today was the hottest day yet. Very humid and I spent two hours on crowded buses to drop off my textbook at the language center. Then I make it back home and the family says lets go see the Transformers movie in a cinema right across the street from where I just traveled to. So back to the bus and we found that we couldn’t see the film since it was sold out (other than late night showings). Then we go to Wal-Mart and stand in line for what seems like a half hour to buy $1 in food. And then we eat at a cheap restaurant, but the family won’t pay for my portion, even though the guy running the homestay says they are supposed to when we eat together. When we get home we notice we’re out of drinking water. I like to say that all I ask for is clean air and clean water, but both can sometimes be hard to come in China. A good reminder of why I should get back home.

Today I headed to the center of the city again. I walked through Zhongshan Park, which borders the Forbidden City. Around the main tourist sites many people were trying to talk to me, and I’ve been in ignore mode. Inside the gated park I think there were a couple genuine people saying “Hello” to me, but I didn’t really respond that much since my defenses were up so much. Then I wanted to make it down to the Temple of Heaven (or Tiantan Park). I had some bus numbers written down, but I couldn’t find any of those buses. The family here said last November all the bus routes were changed around. Plus the website that shows maps of bus routes doesn’t work on any modern web browsers (only works with IE6). So I decided to walk.

As I walked, a man driving a pedicab kept trying to take me to the attraction. I didn’t want get a ride from anyone; I’m done with getting ripped off. I kept saying no in English, no in Chinese, tried to say walk in English and Chinese. He wouldn’t give up after a few minutes, he kept driving beside me. Finally, I tried to ask how much and he held up two fingers. So I confirmed “2 Kuai (or Yuan)” in Chinese twice and he said yes. Sounds like a good price and is maybe a little far to walk, so I went.

When we reached the destination, I gave him the 2 Yuan and he said “No, no no!” He made a 2 and a 0 with his hands. I’m didn’t want to accept that, so I threw down the money onto the seat and ran away. I thought I got away after going across the street and making it into the ticket line, but he came over and started yelling at me. I said “2 Kuai” again and he said “2 Bai” or 200. I say “No!” and start walking away again, heading to a bus stop. I was thinking of getting on a bus, but I ending up walking back so I can get into the Temple of Heaven. It looked like the driver gave up and went away. Update: I learned later that 20 Yuan probably was the correct price to drive me. So I underpaid.

I visited the Temple of Heaven and then made it back home. The family said they are going out to a party and there was no invitation for me. Of course, I’m not the kind of person who gets invited to parities. They said you can find dinner someplace yourself.