japan.

so on friday morning i decided i was going to go visit my good friend justin in japan for a few days. thank god for frequent flyer miles, eh?! i called work from the airport, told them the situation, and luckily they understood the opportunity that was this adventure. my whole life i have dreamt of escaping somewhere, anywhere, at the spur of the moment. it happened.

i jumped on a plane to portland, waited a few hours, jumped on a plane to japan. watched a horrible version of great expectations. tried to sleep, with no avail. arrived in tokyo around 5ish (i think). justin picked me up. we boarded a bus to some hotel that yoko had gotten for us, since there were no more trains leaving for osaka that night, and we would have been stuck homeless otherwise. dumped our stuff. went to real sushi with yoko. sushi in japan is a dramatic art form. it is like samurai cooking. for reals. so delicious. while there i realized how clean japan is (it seems like someone comes and sweeps the streets every five minutes). the crosswalks are just like in the movies. hundreds of people at once crossing in every direction. unreal. everyone there, no matter what age, is extremely thin, and everyone looks like rockstars. the japanese put american style to absolute shame! eventually we headed back to hotel rooms. lovely twin beds with nasa pillows. hoorah!

morning went to osaka. three hour bullet train trip. saw the country side. played "i spot a graveyard" (all of them looked like chess boards). arrived in osaka, which looks like a cross between la, new york, and hawaii. beautiful.

the next few days we walked around the shopping areas. watched eagle eye in a theater. attempted to order food from pictures in restaurants. went to the mall. ate a lot of mcdonalds (which is SO much better and well put together). and felt totally isolated and out of place. hardly anyone speaks english there. i felt so silent the entire time. justin knew a decent amount of the language, which helped, but i felt like the typical stupid american.

i was there two full days, two half days, and it was worth every minute. what a strange, different world. i will probably never get to go there again, and i am very glad i took the chance. it still has not registered. here are some pictures, although i have the memories plastered across my brain.

osaka shopping area.
typical neon everywhere.

late night mcdonalds!

view from hotel. ugly except the farris wheel.

osaka.