Hi, everyone. Sorry we're falling behind on the blog. We'll catch up soon. Our last day in Tokyo was very busy, then Wed was moving day as we sadly left Tokyo and moved down to Osaka. Then our guide Satoko, was only available to do Kyoto with us today (Thursday) so we spent all day there. The morning wasn't bad but about 2 o'clock it started to pour and continued all day and evening. The 3 of us got soaked, but we still enjoyed ourselves. I'll post photos tomorro...

Today was a relaxing day with little walking. We found out that just a few blocks from our apartment is the anime capital of the world. Every storefront for 3 or 4 blocks is an anme store 6 or 7 stories tall. We also washed our laundry and did some more trip planning. Talked with Emily by video this morning (her Sunday night).

Today we had 2 tours. The first was of the Imperial Palace East Garden. Our friend Sam was coordinating the whole thing, so he assigned us to someone else and he caught up with us a little later. We had a very informative tour 2 hr tour of the gates and walls surrounding the Imperial Palace and the huge garden areas, and they explained a lot of the history of the palace and why they felt such security was necessary. It was cool, about 40 degrees, with a constant ...

Went to Odabai Island todday, a new area in Japan Bay of modernistic buildings. The very modern looking one is a TV network. This blog will be short. I'll expand it later. Our feet are sore but we're hanging in there. Toured a shrine with English speaking guides and then walked a very crowded area where teenagers in wild fashions hang out. Very interesting.

Still affected by jet lag, waking for good about 3AM.Started the day by changing all our money into yen because it's hard to find a bank that'll do it, even with traveler's checks. That was in Ginza, the most expensive shopping area in the world. All the expensive stores are there. At noon we went to the top of the Tokyo Govt Twin Towers. That's on the 45th floor. Could just barely make out Mt Fuji 50 miles away in the clouds. Then we walked to The Imperial Gard...