Japan

I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages, but I've been traveling some more and working my tail off!

Anyhoo, Tokyo was incredible of course. Tanya and I decided to go there to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Tokyo Dome, which is emaculate!! But what really struck me was how clean, orderly and organized the city and the people are. My image of Tokyo was totally different to what I experienced. For example, on the escalators in the crowded subways, those who want to stand make a line on the left side and those who are in a hurry run up the right side of the escalator. And when getting on the subway, everyone makes perfect lines along the sides of the doors and don't even dare to get on until all those who want to get off have. It's just so impressive how polite Tokyo people are, yet there are more people crammed in Tokyo than any other city in the world.

I always felt safe, too. Sure, there were some quackos running around, singing and stuff, but they really just keep to themselves and pay no mind to other people. When I went to New York, the crazies bothered everyone and asked for money, but in Tokyo, they just mind their own crazy business. It's really quality entertainment! And several times people stopped to ask us if we needed help finding something. It's just quite an exceptional large city.

We stayed on ODaiba, which is actually not a real island, it's reclaimed land created on top of tons of blocks of garbage and waste material. Sounds pretty dodgy, but you would never know the difference and it was really nice and spaced out. The view from our room was spectacular.

We also visited Shibuya, Roppongi, Shinjuku and Hakone to see Mount Fuji. I had climbed it a couple of years ago, but it's always so cloudy I never actually got to see it, just the view from it. So, I was really disappointed when we arrived because we were surrounded by thick clouds all the way. You can even see from the photos how cloudy it was. Inside the ropeway car it looked like a sauna. But, we rode the ropeway with some Russians and that made it more interesting!

Other than that we took part in such luxuries and Subway, Red Lobster and any non-Japanese food we could find!

Here are a few shots from my trip to Guam last week.

Guam was so relaxing and refreshing. It's as American as Tennessee, just with a coast and a ton of Japanese tourists. I have to admit it was fun watching them run around having no clue what to do for a change and me knowing what's goin' on! Of course, I did help them out anytime I could - in fact, I helped a young Japanese girl who was getting ready to tip the TGIFriday's waitress 25 cents. That could have gotten ugly, perhaps...

I mainly just laid on the beach and ate Taco Bell, Lone Star and at other restaurants I missed terribly. I rented a small Toyota Echo and drove all around the island. The scenery was breathtaking!

It was just so nice to be around and speak natural speed English to friendly, down-to-earth Americans for a few days.