Here I come, land of the rising sun

[Kasai Rinkai Park, Tokyo]

You have no idea how surreal it felt standing here among all these people. I just felt like I was in a movie or something. This is a tween dream come true. I guess fulfilling this dream 17 years later is timely since I know several people who live here now and my pocket digs in a little bit further for some retail therapy.

Touched down Thursday p.m. in Tokyo and now spending the long weekend in Matsuyama 松山, the main city in Shikoku island. This is a small city backed by mountains and lined by the Setonai sea, so it's very beautiful. It reminded me of a smaller version of San Francisco. Open freeways, lotsa space, lotsa green, the mountains and the water. A very kawai girl I knew from my college days in Michigan, Reiko Watanuki, offered to take me to her hometown. We boarded the plane from Haneda-Tokyo airport this p.m.

The Japanese are very hospitable people. Extremely polite and considerate (no blabbing obnoxiously on cellphones in the metro). I was treated by the Watanukis to a feast fit for a king -- 8 exquisite courses and cold sake to smooth them down. Tomorrow Reiko's dad is gonna be our designated driver and tour guide. Despite the language barrier we had a good time. We were all laughing all the time. Otosan and okasan were able to communicate with me with the survival japanese I taught myself as a tween. It all worked out with the few phrases of english, french and spanish Mr Watanuki learned from pop songs from the 70s!!

More stories and pictures to follow but meanwhile, check out my friend Alan's photostream on flickr. You'll see he really has an eye for things. Well, considering him being stage manager for Cirque and having a gorgeous star artiste as a girlfriend ;)

Photo credit: ampontour