OK..wrap ups...this will be a long one..
well..at least its the Japan one....(i started it yesterday...so it still counts as that day =p)
Japan

It was sooo cool. I went on the trip not expecting anything...so i throughy enjoyed it. For starters, we flew on a 777 ANA plane. Now..this thing was cool. There was a plane cam, so we could watch on the monitors as we were taking off, landing, and even in flight. cool?... it was actually pretty scary to see how the planes get set to take off. Well..we all took it in stride, as our convention group acted like it was some roller coaster ride. Bet the Japanese passengers were thinking crazy Americans. Anyways, it was a direct fight - about 10 hours each way. The nice thing was each seat had an entertainment system. Movies and games. I watched a bunch of movies and even played old school nintendo. well..on with the story.

Once we landed, we took a bus to Ikebukuro, Tokyo - The location of the hotel and the convention. Cool thing is the Sunshine Prince Hotel connected to the Mall that is connected to the convention center. The mall was like 5 stories tall, and had pretty much every store. (yes..i spent a lot of time there.) We didn't stop once we got to the hotel...and instead started walking out and touring the city till the wee hours of that morning. Had Ramen by pointing out which one on the menu it was =p (thats how i ate through most of the trip...by pointing on menus). It was great...had a New Orleans sorta feel to it. Video games, UFO catchers, convience stores that sold onigiri. It definately was the life.

Woke up the next day to do our convention requirement of a 1 day visit. AXTokyo. Odd. Its like having a mickey mouse convention in Florida. Shoot. Anime is all around Japan, why have the american version of it where it all began? Suffice it to say, it doesn't have the magic that AX does. I look forward each year to see the latest in "stuff". Well..in Japan, I just walked across the street to the 7 story Animate store to get that. So yeah...the convention was ok... It had it problems....can't say much for programming. I was just glad to get it done. We spent most of the day just getting accustomated and planning for the rest of the trip. Felt kinda bad leaving behind 2 of our crew (mantha and bren) since they had to work at the con.
Well..during the week, Ed, Sharon and I got familiar with the JR rail system. Quite a feat...least when you start....but i've definately fallen in love with public transit. It was great being able to hit all the cities, and not worry about parking or much of anything else. (yeah..i like the BART too). We took the Yamanote Line for everything. We visited Tokyo, Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shinagawa, and Ueno. Each city was great having a high tech and new york feel to it. I had Kaiten Sushi which is sushi served via conveyor belt. We walked through the Japanese Farmers market of Tobu. Each location gave me a greater appreciation for the country, as well as our own. I can see similarities...and the obvious differences. I guess i can sum it all up saying that i could definately find myself living there. The people are just so respectful and courteous. Besides the obvious language barrier, I think the atmosphere could definately fit my lifestyle....oh..and the girls...man....you wouldn't believe how many cute girls there were. =p

Anyways...the trip was too short...but oddly i didn't feel sad as i was leaving. For some reason I feel that i will be heading back there in the future. I'm actually thinking of implimenting a conveyor belt in my house. =)