It seems our group leader carries a whip rather than a Hello Kitty Baton! We have pounded the pavement in both Tokyo and Kyoto. When we are tired he pumps us full of pastries and caffeine and off we go again with Russ shouting in his best Sergeant Fury voice, "Back to battle troops!". He could write his own guide book, "See Two Months Worth of Japan in Two Weeks".

I am just joking. We are having a blast, and really enjoying the beauty and culture of Japan. We have fantastic memories with the best friends ever and are so grateful to Russ and Karyn for all their work planning our trip. I am personally thankful that we are so busy. It keeps us from thinking about the fact that the end of our dream trip is right around the corner.

Since I last wrote we have been to more temples, pagodas and shrines in Tokyo, eaten lots of yummy street food, shopped, went up Tokyo Tower, drank and ate at the Sapporo Beer Hall, checked out the intersection in front of the Shibuya Train Station - one of the busiest in the world, shopped in KiddyLand, ate sushi from a conveyor belt restaurant, went to a Japanese baseball game, shopped in Harajuku - a famous area for teens and outrageous fashion, wandered Yoyogi Park, took the bullet train to Kyoto - enjoying Easter baskets from Karyn for all the kiddos and sake for adults along the way. We went to the unforgettable Fushimi Inari temple, which honors the Shinto god of rice and has 1000s of torii gates, walked a beautiful trail in Kyoto along the river and past shrines and temples that were lined with cherry blossom trees. And shopped and ate and walked some more.

Tomorrow we head further south on the bullet train to Hiroshima. We have plans to see the Peace Museum and are trying to book a talk with a survivor of the blast. The next day it is back to Tokyo for one more night.

Add Japan to your bucket list. They have it all figured out here. The Japanese are polite like the English, punctual and organized like Germans, clean like the house of someone with OCD. There is great shopping, history, food. We all are having a great experience here. I close with our new favorite catchall comment, "Shibuya!"

Amy