Waseda University - Japanese university with 50,000 under grad

 Library

 Founder of university

 Lunch - Anraktuei (yakiniko)

 Kind of like a times square. When walk sign turns green, intersection fills up

 Akihabana (Electricville)

 Bullet Train yep yep

My tour guide Miki, lived in Oregon for 5 years and we had a few mutual friends. small world

Running out the door for last minute gifts and then Wheels Up for home

I think I have checkmated the Tokyo subway system

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation, bar scene: Park Hyatt in Tokyo

Same bar that Lost in Translation was filmed in. Parky Hyatt Tokyo

 Only thing missing was the Bill Murray Scarlett Johansson love connection

 Lost translation bar

 View from Park Hyatt bar

 Nissan Leaf, over 100 miles on one charge. steering wheel left side. They wouldn't let me take it for a test drive

 Lunch. It was a little better than the sushi train/belt in Tigard that I go to

 Imperial hotel lobby

 Imperial palace where the Emperor resides

 Imperial palace behind us. They said that bridge is a few hundred years old

 Tokyo giving it up for portland!

This almost wraps up our last day in Tokyo as we get set to head for the states. The typhoon didn't come thru Tokyo, which was nice. Have had great weather with little humidity and rain. Tokyo is one of the cleanest places i have been to. We were out for about 5 hours today and didn't see 1 piece of trash or litter. A-mazing

Wednesday

Departing Seoul for Tokyo

 Mcdonalds? makes sense. Starbucks? ya i can see it. Popeyes?

 On my way to Japan. Got to take a 747.

 Interesting they use a 747 for a short trip like this but this is a busy route between Seoul and Japan with lots of business travel. The plane was mostly asian business men.

 lunch

 This was a Ramen type dish. I had no idea what I was eating or doing. Had to watch and take notes from the people seating around me.

 Here you would use the machine to print your meal ticket then you would give it to the cooks.

 They have a lot of these buses they call "Airport Limousines" which are just greyhound type buses. In both Japan and Korea.

 The first thing I noticed in Japan is the respectfullness in the culture. There is a lot of bowing here from the Japanese and some of the nicest people i've ever met.

 Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport)

 Tokyo

 ANA InterContinental Hotel

 Dinner at a yakitori restaurant (Japanese BBQ) + brewskies. This was authentic as it got

 yakitori restaurant - Japanese bbq. Lots of fish, chicken, and veggies. you would point to what you want and they would grill it up. They even had chicken hearts, couldn't build up the courage to try those.

There are lots and lots of side street bars and restaurants in Tokyo. A lot of people who work in the city stay late and go out for dinner and drinks before they head back home on the subway. It was 10pm and the subway was jam packed with commuters still.

On Thursday a Japense intern is going to take me out to some places. Japan is expecting a Typhoon Thursday .

Seoul man 2

 Across the river is North Korea

 South Korean defense

 We got to take a little tram down into this tunnel about 100 yards down. This was 1 of 5 tunnels found by the South Koreans that the North was building after the Korean War. These tunnels were dug from North Korean land with the intention of digging them all the way into Seoul in preperation for a surprise attack. Tour guide said that if they had succeeded, it would have been a second Korean war. First one had 4.5 million casualties. Now it rests as a tourist site. They said that the North Korean's could have moved 30,000 troops thru these tunnels every hour right into South.

 DMZ

 Brand new train station that the South had built that would have connected the south to the north. Now it sits empty because the North backed out of the deal. "Not the first from the South, but the first to the North"

The end of the DMZ. Pretty interesting stuff but by the end of the tour I was ready to get off the tour bus. I started feeling like Patrick Fugit.

 Onto the afternoon. This is where I met up with a local who is an intern that my dad knew. We started out by giong to the Deoksugung Palace. It was a palace built for an Emperor in early 1900 I think.

 The entrance, they are getting ready to do the ceremonial "Trading of the Guard" where they swap out guards. They must have need a lunch break. By this time it was HOT! The humidity was unkind to me but I swore it only affected the tourists, the locals didn't even seem fazed, while I was Dazed.

 Me with the intern Joan. A lot of Asians adopt an American name for business purposes and such. Her real name starts with a J, so they take the first letter and create an American name.

 We swung the samuri sword around a bit

 got to ride the subway a few times, big part of transportation here. It is different being the only American in places like on a subway. It doesn't help that i've got tourist written on my forehead.

 They love me here. Deuces wild

 Dinner that night. Joan brought me to a sweet spot. This is called Bulgogi, which means meat. It is the most famous and popular dish in South Korea.

 I tried my best to at least learn one word while i was in Korea. "Gamsaham ni da" means thank you. The intern wouldn't let me say thank you in english so i continued to butcher the Korean version.

 Seoul Tower. This was on top of a little mountain overlooking all of Seoul. Pretty neat, great views.

 There were walls like this filled with locks, I guess if you bring a lock up here and lock it to the wall it is good luck for love. Sorry guys, no lock for me this time.

 View from Seoul Tower

Top of the World

That was the end of a long day. Started at 6am and went to about 9. Haven't fell in love over here yet. I am off to Tokyo, Japan tommorow morning where my adventure will continue for 3 days. I have to try and navigate my way through the Korean Airport through to Tokyo and the hotel by myself as my Dad is leaving on a later flight. Korea was interesting but I am really looking forward to the Tokyo leg of the trip. 

WHEELS UP!!