Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto!

Japan, October 1st-9th, 2013

Greetings! Before I start, I think I should explain the title of this post. It is a line from the song "Mr. Roboto" by Styx! If you haven't heard this song...look it up because it's a classic! It means "thank you very much Mr. Robot." What does that mean? I have no clue. But it's Japanese!

For the national day break this year (the 4th of July for Chinese) we decided on going to Japan. We had heard so much about how clean, sophisticated, and awesome it was so we wanted to check it out ourselves. We also heard that Japan has the world's best toilets. Japan did not disappoint. The first day we (Andrew Ewings, Brian Gephart, and myself) hopped on a fast train to Shenzhen, and went across the border into Hong Kong. That day we met up with our awesome friends, Andrea and Lyrica! Andrea had prepared goodie bags full of tasty food that we can't find in the Mainland. Doritos. Reese's. Orange Juice. Mmmmmmmm. Thank you Andrea! We headed out for an evening in one of the world's most advanced cities. Hong Kong never ceases to amaze me. The city has more skyscrapers than any city on earth. It's a beautiful jungle of cement and lights. We enjoyed a dinner outside on the street in downtown Kowloon, with some traditional Chinese dishes and some delicious scallops. Afterwards we went to the other side of the harbor and got some great beer. I had banana bread beer. So good! We jumped on a ferry back to the other side of the harbor and eventually made it back to Andrea and Lyrica's place for bed.

Our second day we woke up very early, (our bus to the airport left at 5:15am...) and then flew to Tokyo! After arriving, and right after exiting customs, a Japanese TV crew rushed up to us and started asking questions about what we were going to see etc...it was a hilarious way to start the trip! Then about 5 minutes later, when Brian and Andrew were getting money, another TV crew came up to me and asked more questions! It was pretty entertaining. We got onto the metro and headed into the world's largest city, Tokyo, Japan!

We eventually arrived at our hostel after transferring to a couple other lines. Thank goodness for the Tokyo Railway App I downloaded, because I'm pretty sure the Tokyo Metro system is the world's most complex. Tokyo is HUGE. The metro covers such a large area it's unbelievable. Anyways, we had the evening to explore Tokyo. So we ate some delicious food nearby the hostel (Andy's bowl of soup was as big as his head) and then headed to the world's tallest tower, the Tokyo Skytree! The height of this tower is staggering. It's 2,080 feet tall. To give you an idea of how tall that is, the tallest building in Denver is 714 feet tall. The Tokyo Skytree is the second largest man made structure on earth. We went to the top, and when I first stepped out of the elevator and walked into the viewing platform, my breath was taken away. City lights could be seen in every direction as far as the eye could see. We enjoyed walking around, and also laying down on glass which allowed us to look straight down at the ground. A little scary.

We eventually headed back and hit the hay. The next day, we left bright and early to catch the metro into the surrounding mountains of Tokyo. We were going to go canyoning, but we ended up arriving 25 minutes late, and missed the tour. So sad! So we made the best of the situation and explored the small mountain town we were in. It's amazing how far the metro in Tokyo goes. In fact, all of Japan is connected by fast trains, slow trains, and it's easy to get around the country. We then headed back into Tokyo and went to Shibuya, the world's biggest intersection! It's in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the scene where they drift through a ton of people at a busy intersection. All the lights would turn red, and everyone would converge to the center of the intersection going in all directions. An occasional tourist would sprint to the middle for a cool photo op. We went to the Starbucks above the intersection on the 2nd floor of a building, and enjoyed watching people, cars, and subways move about. The highlight of Shibuya though was unexpected. We we strolling the narrow alleys filled with signs and shops, when all of the sudden, Brian spotted a KRISPY KREME store! I freaked out. I couldn't believe it! Even in America I can't find Krispy Kremes anymore. So, of coarse we went and indulged our taste buds. So good. Our next stop was the Tokyo Tower. It's a huge Eiffel Tower-looking structure in the center of Tokyo. We walked through the center of downtown and enjoyed the cleanliness, blue skies, and sophisticated nature of the people. Afterwards we went to Ginza, the most popular shopping district in Tokyo. It was huge! Blocks and blocks of luxurious shops, like Ray Ban, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and many others lined the roads. We were looking for a specific sweater than Brian's co-worker wanted. We looked forever, and eventually found the store. But they were sold out. Bummer. So we continued on our exploration of Tokyo by going to the Tokyo Dome. There just happened to be a baseball game going on, so we bought tickets and headed in! The atmosphere was awesome. It was like a college basketball game. The fans had chants and songs that they continued throughout. The opposing team had their own chants, and their own band! It was awesome. Throughout the 3-4 innings that we were there, something else was very different. Girls with beer kegs as backpacks ran up and down the aisles constantly. Hundreds and hundreds of them! They literally ran. It was insane! I guess it works though. We left after the 3rd or 4th inning and went back to Shibuya, the world's busiest intersection, to see it in action at night. It was a lot busier. The lights were mesmerizing. So many people. So many lights. We eventually made it back to the hostel for bedtime.

The mountains we were supposed to go canyoning in. It was still a beautiful train ride though. 

The Tokyo Tower.

The Tokyo Dome. 

Shibuya, the world's busiest intersection. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll summarize the next few days in one run-on sentence in order to make this blog shorter. We woke up early and got on the train to head to Mt. Fuji but for the first 2 days it was raining and cloudy and we couldn't see anything so we went to some caves that were really small and definitely weren't worth paying to go into. BUT, our last half day was spectacular. We woke up early and climbed to the top of a small mountain to see the sunrise over Mt. Fuji. It was still cloudy and drizzling. Disappointed, we continued on and hiked up to the viewing platform atop the mountain. On the way, though, something very frightening happened. Something that caused me to sprint as fast as I could. We were attacked by monkeys! It's ironic because before the trip, I was telling Brian and Andrea how much I like monkeys. That they aren't scary at all. So on our hike, we saw a few signs warning about bears. Towards the top, after turning a bend, all I hear is a loud screeching sound and Brian screaming! I glance back and see a monkey right next to Brian that had just randomly jumped out of the bush. I bolted because my initial reaction was that it was a bear! Brian starts to run away. But Andy on the other hand, takes out his camera and starts taking pictures of this screeching monkey! It was quite comical. Scared, we finished the hike to the viewing platform. We were then surrounded by around 5-8 monkeys. On the railings. In the trees screeching and breaking branches. And directly sitting on the path we had just come up. We were trapped! Thankfully, they settled down, and so did we. But the clouds never parted. We saw, maybe, a sliver of black that could have been Mt. Fuji. Disheartened we hiked back down. As we hiked down we noticed that it had considerably cleared up. We looked back at the peak where we just were, and a cloud was covering it. We were too high! We turned a corner and between two clouds we could see a massive slope going into the sky. We rushed back the hotel, and rented bikes. We biked around to the other side of the lake, and found that it had cleared up! But.....Mt. Fuji was still covered by clouds. We thought we'd never see it. We waited in a meadow by the beach. It was a brisk fall day. Sunny and beautiful. Fresh air. After around 20 minutes, the clouds parted, and the peak of Mt. Fuji showed itself. We were so happy! Such a majestic and mystical mountain. Mt. Fuji is Japan's tallest, and it is the most random mountain I've ever laid eyes on. Being a volcano, its cylindrical peak dominates the sky. It slopes up, and up, and up from both sides. The surrounding forest (which we hiked during our cave-day) is made of trees growing out of volcanic rock. It was quite the haunting hike. Myst. Drizzle. Black volcanic rocks. After soaking the mountain in, we rode along the waters edge back to the hostel. This lake is the most majestic during fall-time. If we had arrived a few weeks later, all the mountainsides and forests would have been glowing orange and red. We jumped onto the train and headed to Kyoto! After some transfers, we got onto the fast train and bolted to Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital.

Evil monkeys....

Mt. Fuji teasing us!

No wonder we couldn't see anything up there!

Mt. Fuji, teasing us once again!

A beautiful brisk bike ride on a fall day. 

FINALLY! Mt. Fuji!

Fresh sushi dinner in Kyoto. 

Delicious. 

The next day, our last full day in Japan, we had free in Kyoto. So we rented bikes, and rode around the ancient city! We saw some of the world's largest wooden structures, including a massive temple. Japan is mostly Shinto (aka ancestor worship). They also mix Buddhism and Shinto. We saw quiet a few Chr-stian ch-rches though, which was really great. We went to Nijo Castle, The Imperial Palace, and saw a group of old people in a temple-like building practicing with samurai swords. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch (yup, it was amazing), and headed back to the hostel eventually, and got on the fast train back to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo, we went to the harbor that overlooked the skyline, by Rainbow Bridge. A big city. Not as impressive as a skyline as Hong Kong, but still pretty cool. We made it back to the hostel and went to bed. Our last day in Japan, we woke up early and went to the world's largest fish market. People, cars, and trolleys bustled about everywhere. It was very busy. So we left and went to Asakusa (the oldest part of Tokyo). There was a huge tower built in typical Japanese fashion, and Tokyo's biggest temple. After another Starbucks, we walked down the river to the sumo wrestling arena. It was closed. We ended our Japan trip with a delicious noodle/soup/dumpling meal. Very tasty. We went back to the airport, and caught the flight back to Hong Kong. Once in Hong Kong we bused back to Andrea and Lyrica's apartment, and hit the hay. The next day we took the fast train back to Wuhan.

One of the temples made entirely out of wood. 

We found Darth Vader. 

Back in Tokyo, at the Rainbow Bridge!

Asakusa, Tokyo. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip. We saw so much in just a matter of a week! Japan is a great country, it would be cool to return someday. Things are back to normal in Wuhan. It's great weather. The short period between extremely hot and extremely cold. The pollution has been pretty bad. I just read in an article that the World Health Organization considers a rating above 20 to be hazardous. A very clear and perfect day in Wuhan is around 50-60. It probably averages around 150. A few days ago a city in northern China reached 1,000. 

Please keep in your pr@yers us and our Chinese friends, who live somewhere surrounded by pain and despair, pollution and congested roads. Pr@y for a renewed and strengthened faith in Him! Please pr@y for continued blssing on our Work here as well. Gd's blssings!

David

P.S. I completely forgot to expand upon my reference at the beginning to the claim that Japan has the world's best toilets. The toilets have remote controls for heat control, and when you're done, it sprays you clean....yeah....that's it.