Tokyo, baby!

I'm going to Tokyo!!!

I booked my tickets this afternoon for a November trip. I initially hoped for an October trip to Wales (the homeland), but when that ran into difficulties, I went back to the life list and settled on Japan instead. I'm staying in the heart of the city in the Shinjuku district. My hotel is 5 minutes from the busiest train station in the world, Shinjuku Station, that has 3.6 million people pass through daily. I can't even imagine!

I want to day trip to Nikko to see the temples and Hakone for a view of Mt. Fuji. I'd like to see Kyoto, but I've read it's a bit far to go in one day. I'll also get up at 4:30 (!!!) one morning to head to the Tsukiji fish market. Beyond that, I'm not sure of the plan. I've reserved a boatload of guidebooks from the library which I'll be poring over the next few weeks. I plan to learn some rudimentary Japanese, so I can at least say 'please' and 'thank you' and 'no mammals' (and hopefully never 'help' even though I'll be sure to learn it).

In October, I'll rent a pile of dvds and have a Japanese film festival to help set the mood. I'm a little excited, if you can't tell. I think last year's Paris adventure made me brave or possibly foolish. Maybe there isn't much of a difference.