STAYING WITH NORIKO: Shimogamo, Kyoto, Japan. October 19th, 2013, 11:43pm. Well, we finally made it to Kyoto! It didn't seem like a very long trip, since the train was going about 300 mph and I was typing my blog the whole way. We got of the train at around 5pm, and walked a while with the Australian couple. We took a bus to Noriko's house. Noriko is Saburo's sister. And if you don't remember who Saburo is, he is my grandma's cousin. He is married to Michiko, ...

EN ROUTE TO KYOTO: Hakone-Yumoto, Hakone, Japan. October 18th, 2013, 2:17pm. Oh my goodness! I just realized that my 19th birthday is in 10 days! Woaaaahhh! I don't know how to feel about that. I'm sort of sad I won't be able to celebrate it at home with my family, but at the same time, how many people can say they spent their 19th birthday in Japan? Well... I guess millions of Japanese people can say they have... You know what I meant!!! So last night, after...

HAKONE HAS STOLEN MY HEART: Hakone-Yumoto, Hakone, Japan. October 17th, 2013, 11:01pm. Hello all! Today has been awesome! We woke up at a decent time. The sun was pouring into our Japanese-style room, and the sound of the neighbouring river flowed through the area. It was a great way to start the day. The times of all the restaurants around here are hard to follow. They all say 8:00 - 11:00, but they don't have any pm or am signs on them. We tried going for su...

HELLO HAKONE: Hakone-Yamoto, Hakone, Japan. October 16th, 2013, 7:21pm. Well, we've arrived in Hakone! My god, it's so beautiful here. If you don't know where Hakone is, you can type it into Google maps or something and you'll see where it is. It's South West of Tokyo, South East of Mt. Fuji, and it's close to the Pacific Ocean. Its surrounded by mountains and lush green forests. Our train ride here was an experience in itself. Well, once we left our Ryokan in...

FISH MARKET FAIL AND TYPHOON WIPHA: Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. October 16th, 2013, 3:29am. Oh my goodness! What a way to start our day. At about 11:30pm last night, we decided to give the fish market one last go. We went down to the lobby of out crappy Ryokan, and booked a taxi for 2:30am. We had to take a taxi because the subway lines don't start running until 5:30am. I think I've mentioned that before. We walked down the street to the nearest 7 Eleven, (yes, the...