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Well we made it back from Japan. It was an amazing trip, probably the best one I have ever had. Tokyo was an amazing, bustling, insane, but so very organized city. Everything just runs like clockwork there, the trains, the roads, just everything is buttoned down and in place. In a place like NYC where chaos seems to run everywhere, it is crazy to see a city with more people, more bustle, but so much calmer still and in control. Kyoto was very beautiful with a modern city center and then the historic old Kyoto districts of tea houses, Geishas, and temples. These two cities and Japan in general have such an interesting contrast between old Japan, with its gardens, crafts, and very conservative traditions; and new Japan, with its crazy colors, ultra-modern feel and a general no-holds barred aesthetic. These two very different sensibilities seem to exist side-by-side without much problem. The people there were also really great. Not many people spoke English, but everywhere we went people went out of their way to make us feel welcome and to help us to understand as much as we could.

Things got a bit rocky towards the end though, when I came down with the flu. It made my last couple days there a bit long and we weren't able to do a ton of things without me getting extremely tired. The flight back was twice as bad while being sick and then I got worse once we got back. I am recovering now though, so that is good.

I put up the photo links before, but here is a condensed version of the photos, since I'm sure the whole lot of them is a bit overwhelming. Click me please.