Day 4: Mt. Fuji

The train to Mt. Fuji.

The views along the way.

Rice fields.

Wasabi flavored Kit Kat (which I didn't eat or even buy because it sounds super disgusting).

Eating lots of noodles here.

My. Fuji...which unfortunately is covered by clouds...

A boat ride around the lake to see the beautiful mountains and Mt. Fuji (at least what parts of it were showing).

Our hotel is true Japanese style. Drop your shoes off at the door and put on slippers.

Went into the public bath or onsen.

Our room with one table, tatami mats, and tea.

We found my dream come true for dessert: Oreo Mochi ice cream balls.

Downstairs they had a dress up area for picture taking.

And now it's off to bed on our futons that we pulled from the closet and laid on the floor.

Goodnight!

Day 3: "Fish Market" and Takao

I enjoyed the "fish market" although it wasn't really THE fish market.

Apparently today is a holiday.

Though, I am unsure what holiday it is.

But it's enough of a holiday that the real fish market was closed.

There was a few fish sellers outside though as well as several restaurants available for some breakfast sashimi.

Then we went to Takao, a city outside of Tokyo with a Buddist temple and lots of places to hike around.

It was so beautiful! 

We rode a cable car up the mountain, walked around (and walked up lots of stairs) and rode the chairlift down.

And just for documentation sake...

Here's what my last 24 hrs looked like on Fitbit steps.

And how many stairs...

 

My Fitbit is still on Utah time. So it was half yesterday and half today. But we did a crazy amount of walking and stairs in the last 24 hrs.

Day 2: Trains, Tokyo Temple, Asakusa, Shinjuku, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Building

We ride the train to Tokyo.

....and we ride the train everywhere else we go as well.

Tokyo Temple. 

We were able to do a session (with headphones for translation).

McDonalds for lunch.

It's better in Japan than the US...mostly because I share their belief that hamburgers are best with egg in it.

Alyssa appreciates the shrimp burger their menu also offered.

Next stop: Asakusa

Shops.

Buddhist temple.

You shake the tin outside the temple and a stick with a number will come out. The correspond the number to a box with the same number and inside you will find your fortune.  In a nutshell, mine said that my time is not not...just be patient. Poo.

Washing before entering the temple.

Snow cones...which taste much more like actual snow than a snow cone in the US. Very delicious melon flavor. Mmmm.

Mom and dad got lemon. (Yes, they ate yellow snow.)

Strange statue...

Waiting at the train station. Alyssa and I decided to swap cameras. We had a good time taking pictures. 

Tokyo Metropolitan building.

Went up high to see the view of the city.

Amazing! 

There were Windows around the entire building and all you could see was the huge city of Tokyo. It was beautiful.

Here's the busy city from ground level.

It was a late night. 

After sight seeing for the day, we ate some good authentic Japanese food at a restaurant in the train station.

I slept well.

Day 1: Narita

Narita airport.

We made it!!

Aeon Mall shopping and REAL ramen noodles (in a massive size bowl).

Me pretending I'm not ridiculously exhausted from the time change.

Keep those eyes wide open! Stay awake!

Apparently, I don't sleep well on airplanes. Instead we went to bed by 9 pm and woke up at 4 am. 

The sun goes down around 5 pm...so that helped.

We Are On Our Way!!!

Japan, here we come!!

Woohoo!!!

I feel like a kid in a candy store!

See how I feel after the 11 hour flight!