April 16th, 2005 15:55 hours
Currently listening to: "Cherry Blossom Girl" by Air
Feeling: very much in love ^_^

Thursday, March 30th -- I think I slept for maybe 3 hours the night before. I was too excited to get back to Japan. I was last there in May and that's just way too long. I had saved my packing until after I woke up. My brain was just too scrambled to do it last night. I met up with Yuka on Ineen for a little bit. She was as excited as I was. The weather was perfect. I walked to the train and had no problems getting to the airport. I had a window seat on the starboard side. There were 2 seats to my left and the woman in the middle slept a lot, so I didn't get many chances to get up and walk around.

I drained 4 AA batteries watching movies on my Ipod. I can't recall which movies they showed on the plane, although one of them was Walk The Line. I wanted to watch this one, but I woke up 30 minutes into it. That was pretty much the only time I slept. I read a large chunk of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince as well.

Friday, March 31st -- I tried to sneak up on Yuka so I could tap her on the shoulder, but she always finds me before I find her. :P Granted, there aren't many 6'1" redheads at Narita airport. We took the Narita express again and I realized how much I had missed Japan. Having a much smaller bag helped out a lot. We stopped by her apartment so I could drop off my bag and also say hi to Chobi. Then we got some groceries and went to the cool little restaurant near Yono station for dinner. Just like last time, I was falling asleep as soon as food hit my stomach. She dragged me back home and we passed out together. Soooooo good to be back.

Saturday, April 1st -- After breakfast, Yuka took me to her "secrete sakura place" so we could take pictures. The normal walkway was closed for some reason, so we hopped a fence into an apartment complex to get up close to the blossoms. They looked like snow from a distance. I was really surprised that they had no fragrance at all. Yuka got me an incense oil pod with "sakura" oil and that has a really nice scent, but these trees didn't have the scent at all. We stopped by the mall north of her house so she could get some spring clothes, then we went to Omiya for.......sakura party!

The cherry blossoms only bloom for about 1 week and these were about 70% in bloom. I had never seen a cluster of trees like this. It was amazing. A sakura party is when people have picnics when the trees are in bloom and we got super lucky with this weather. It was perfect. This park had tons of food vendors of every kind. People had tarps, picnic tables, they brought food, beer and even a karaoke setup. Uh, yeah. :P We bought lunch boxes before we arrived. We sat on the large roots of a tree and enjoyed the day. Here are 2 videos I took: vid 1 "the look" (13 megs MPG) and vid 2 "hey, man, I'm eating pocky" (13 megs MPG)

We got 2 different Japanese desserts on our way out of the park. One was a bag of what I can only describe as little pancake balls. They tasted just like Nilla Wafers. Then, we stopped by a vendor who sold these pancakes with different filling inside. We got one of chocolate and he gave us a free one filled with custard. Super good.

We dropped off our stuff and then took the trains down to Koenji to visit Linus Records again. The owner recognized me right away and I gave him so airiel sticker. I bought the new Clientele album from him and also his last copy of Alpha and Omega magazine, which featured Airiel. He also gave me his promo copy of the new Robin Guthrie album! Score! The next time I come back to Japan, he wants to me do an acoustic in store Airiel set. Hell YES.

We went to Shinjuku next to meet Taka and Yukari from Hartfield. I had talked to them much since the tour with Airiel. Yukari couldn't join us because she had a cold, but Taka was doing well. We got dinner and caught up on gossip. Take told me that if I couldn't find any Coaltar of the Deepers CD's at HMV that he would copy the 2 that he had for me. Excellent. I was on a mission. We got a drink at the same whiskey bar we went too last year. Nice that things don't change too much, you know?

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Sunday, April 2nd -- We went to Shibuya to buy Shu Cream. I think I'm spelling that correctly. What is it, you ask? It's a cream puff, basically and it's one of the best tasting things ever made. There was a really cute video on the train explaining the problem with the English term "shoe cream" and the confusion that's caused when Japanese people ask you if you want to eat shu cream. We were meeting with Yuka's boss and some of her friends and wanted to bring cream puffs for everybody. We made a brief stop at a hair salon to pick up bottles of that awesome grapefruit shampoo and conditioner.

Chobi goes shopping (8 megs MPG)

Yuka's boss is really nice. He has a great apartment too. I introduced myself and then said "Annata wa... Saru-san, desuka?" (You're, Mr. Monkey, right?) Saru is Yuka's nickname for him because she thinks he looks like a monkey. Anyway, we all got a laugh out of it. Yuka's former coworker, Yumi, arrived and then Saru-san made is spaghetti. It was good, but I honestly wish he hadn't given us food. He was taking us out for Korean BBQ later that even and it was now 3:00 and I was totally full. He also gave me a bottle of Hibiki, which is an 18 year old whiskey and we had a couple glasses. It was really, really good.

Yuka's friend Chachi showed up. Chachi lived in LA for a few years and her English was excellent. I always find it neat to hear someone speak a foreign language and then speak in English with almost no accent. This was also good for me since Yumi and Saru-san didn't speak any English. Saru-san showed me the online mode for Metal Gear Solid 3, which was cool, but the new camera function was confusing the hell out of me, so I pretty much sucked and got killed a lot.

We took a couple cabs and went to Ropongi Hills to the restaurant. The food was amazing, but I was so full from the spaghetti that I couldn't finish everything. Plus, I was really tired from the time change. I felt bad about it because I wanted to party with everybody. Cachi rode the train home with us since she lives one stop away from Yuka. My stomach was being weird at this point and we made it home in a hurry.

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Monday, April 3rd -- I'm so glad I chose to bring a smaller bag this time. We made our way to Tokyo station to board the Shinkansen for Kyoto. We got some snack food for the trip down and once again I love the fact that I can buy large cans of Kirin at a train station snack counter. The ride down there was beautiful. We were on the right side of the train, so we got a great view of Mt. Fuji. Didn't get to see much of the sea this time. We took a couple trains to get to our hotel. We walked to some familiar places. I hadn't been to Kyoto since December of 2004. It was so good to be back. Kyoto is beautiful. The sakura weren't as in bloom as they were in Tokyo. This surprised me since Kyoto is south of Tokyo and should have been warmer. Kyoto, however, sits in a valley and the seasons change a bit slower.

We had a reservation at a Shabu-shabu restaurant later in the evening, so we walked around a lot. We stopped at a little cafe and had tea to warm ourselves up. The weather was clear, but a bit chilly. We eventually arrived at Kyomizu temple. This is the place I fell in love with over a year ago. Yuka left to find a bathroom and I checked my pocket for something to make sure everything was ready. Kyomizu temple is a very busy place and it was hard to find a quiet area out of the way. We walked over to a little water shrine and I gave Yuka a ring and asked her to marry me. She stared at me in complete surprise and said yes and tears came to her eyes. I hugged her and spun her around and around.

The ring did not fit at all. We both laughed, though. I had planned on getting her ring sizes via my mother while Yuka was with my family for x-mas, but I never got around to it. I had met a designer named Paul Philips who designed the wedding bands for my friends Jeff and Kim. I got Yuka's rind sizes by writing her an email saying something like this: "Honey! I met this guy at the bar tonight who is a ring designer. He does really cool work and makes rings for every finger, including the thumb. So, I want to get you one and I need your ring sizes, ok?" She gave me all 10, but it looks like something was miscalculated. I guess you could say that it was HER fault that it didn't fit. Hahahaha. :P She's wearing it on her left thumb now and we'll have it adjusted by Paul when she gets here. Moving on...

We walked through the grounds of the temple but at this point, we really weren't paying any attention to the temple at all. Hahaha. We were both so shocked. I mean, yes, I had been planning this for a long time and had even written a letter to her parents (more on that later), but actually asking her was like having time stop and suddenly we were back in the real world, holding hands, walking with other people. We were just like everybody else but at the same time, we were both so different. The world became a new place all of a sudden. I kept thinking "did that really just happen?" ^_^

We went to dinner and it was funny how silly we acted. "So...... uh..... what's for dinner? hahahah" The food was really good, though. Shabu shabu is a style of food where it is all cooked in boiling water right at your table. You put in vegetables and let them cook. You add meat which cooks almost instantly because it is so thin. Then you dip it in sauce. Really fun way to eat.

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*special*

Tuesday, April 4th -- The next morning we went to Nijo Castle. We didn't have time to visit this place the last time we were here. We were not allowed to take any pictures once inside the castle, but it was a cool experience. The floor-boards creak when you put pressure on them. This was called the "Nightingale Floor" and it was a way for residents of the castle to hear people that were sneaking in. Yuka also pointed out the secret panels in the walls were guards would stay and jump out in case someone tried to assassinate their lord. The grounds outside were beautiful and matched the weather.

We walked through the open air market again and had lunch at a great unagi restaurant. She had discovered this place online and it was a super cute upstairs place that only sat about 15 people. We then stopped at Mr. Donut for dessert and then bought a postcard for Yuka to send to my parents. Near the market we bought coffee for the french press that I was giving to Yuka's mom the next day in Shizuoka. The woman at the tiny coffee shop was really helpful and gave us directions to the unagi-ya. With food coma setting in, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a nap. The bed there wasn't so great and one of the pillows felt like it had been filled using uncooked rice.

Giant crab!!! (5 megs MPG)

It was raining a bit hen we left for dinner so we bought umbrellas at a convenience store. Actually it was sort of jewelry and perfume store, but whatever. There is this alley near the river that is home to countless small restaurants. It makes you feel like you're going to a secret meeting somewhere. Yuka found this restaurant a long time ago had talked to the woman who owned it while she was there. It was a small bar that only had room for 8 people. Yuka had made a reservation in advance. There was a man cooking and a woman serving food behind the bar and that was it. It made for a nice, personal atmosphere. Eventually the owner showed up and she talked with Yuka for a while, happy that she came back. After dinner we went back to Shaft '65 (Soul Sonic Force), which I wrote about here from our 2004 trip. We had a couple drinks and talked more about wedding possibilities.

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Wednesday, April 5th -- We got up a bit early to get to the train station. We were visiting Yuka's parents (and now my future in-laws) today. I'm going to have Japanese in-laws. That's awesome. Anyway, the weather was pretty overcast and there was a cool layer of clouds covering the mountains and hills on the way to Shizuoka. As we walked to their restaurant, we both admitted to being a bit nervous. I already knew that they had receive the letter and that they were excited to se me, which was good. There were instructions in the letter not to tell Yuka about the upcoming proposal in Kyoto, but they did tell her that I had written them a letter. Yuka's mom was waiting for us on a street corner a short distance from their place, smiling and waiving as usual. ^_^

Once again I'm so frustrated with myself that my Japanese isn't conversational. We really wanted to talk to each other and Yuka was once again out translator. Her dad started making sushi right away. Apparently he gets a kick out of seeing me freak out over how good the food is. Hahaha. They were dying to show me the birthday cake that they had for me. It was beautiful! Covered in white and pink grapefruit wedges. I was excited. They put it away and we stuffed ourselves full of sushi. The pieces of shrimp that moved last time weren't quite so active this time. Oh well. We gave them the presents I had brought. I already mentioned the french press earlier but I also got them a framed shot of downtown Chicago take from a plane over the lake. Along with that was a small tour book written in Japanese. This one just gave an overview of most of the tourist attractions, museums, etc. We'll get them a bigger one before they visit Chicago.

They asked if it was ok for Yuka to see the letter that I had sent them. We had not yet told them that we were engaged. It was a very touching moment and both of her parents cried. They're both really happy for us and I'm so glad. Despite the fact that we speak different languages, I'm so excited for them to meet my parents.

It was now time to make some coffee and bust out this amazing cake. It had a cookie-like crust, then custard, then whipped cream and tons of grapefruit and a few mint leaves. It was heaven. They sang "happy birthday" to me and I almost cried. We talked for a long time and suddenly it was 6:00 and time for us to go home. Yuka's mom walked us to the train station and gave me a big, teary hug and kept waiving to us until we were out of site. We didn't talk much on the train. We both fell asleep thinking about what a great time we'd had.

Cloudy hills from the Shinkansen (8 megs MPG)
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Tail didn't move as much this time (4 megs MPG)

Thursday, April 6th -- We finished the birthday cake for breakfast that morning. Sugar buzz! We went down to Harajuku to meet up with Hiro, my counterpart at the Tokyo office. We got the OK to expense lunch on behalf of my boss's boss and Hiro opted for us to go to a nice place to eat. However, I had my heart set on going to Harajuku Gyoza to get dumplings. We talked about work stuff and what our plans were for the rest of my visit. He was a big fan of Hakone, which is where we would be going tomorrow.

We stopped by KiddieLand again because you can't go tot Harajuku without visiting a multi-floored toy store. We walked around the Meiji shrine for a while. The weather was once again perfect. On our way there, Yuka had us stop by a shop that sold chocolate croissants. Yum. We stopped in Shibuya so Yuka could get some paperwork for her shooting job and I went over to Honorary, the scooter store that I love to visit. If I had my vespa in Japan, I would blow so much money at this store, I swear. We made a stop at HMV to get Coaltar of the Deepers CD's. I laughed when we discovered that they were located in the "punk/loud" section.

We stopped at a cafe to rest for a while. This cafe was right across the street from the tempura restaurant that we were going to. We were going to meet her friend Shiho, who Yuka has known since college. The food was really good. Shiho was excited for us that we were engaged. We stopped at a bar for a couple drinks, said goodbye to Shiho and took the trains home. When we got home, Yuka had to start working on her birthday cake project, so I wasn't allowed in the kitchen at all. I'm pretty sure I passed out a couple times.

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Friday, April 7th -- The next morning she made me sleep in while she finished her cake for me. I had to cover my eyes when she brought it out. This was the coolest birthday cake that anyone has made for me. Thank you so much, honey. She and Chobi sang happy birthday to me and we ate awesome cake for breakfast. Yeah!

We made our way to the train station to go to Hakone. Shinjuku station has an impressive food court in the sublevel. We made several laps through it before we finally decided on what kind of lunch boxes to get. The train that we took was so cool. The train conductor's box was on the top of the train, so people could actually sit in the front of the train as if they were driving. I thought about how cool that was and then realized that we had those seats!!! She had waited online to reserve these seats for us. My birthday was kicking so much ass. We had ate lunch while we zipped through Tokyo.

Hakone is a very beautiful town. It is nestled in a valley and the hills are very steep. It's so nice to be in an area with topography. Growing up and living in the Midwest makes you really appreciate areas that aren't just flat. We took a bus up the road to the hotel which was a traditional Japanese place. The slippers that they provided for the guests didn't fit my feet at all. If they had been open toed, then I would have had a chance. Hahaha. Our room was simply amazing, as you can see in the pictures. I ran around like a little kid when I saw it. I was so happy to be in a place like this. And then I got to the back door of our room and there sat our own private hot spring, overlooking a river!!!!!!!!!

There was a tap to provide cold water if we needed it, but it didn't seem to work, so I used a bucket to poor cold water into the hot so that we didn't melt as soon as we got in. This was such a great experience. Got to run around naked and be outside and all in front of this hillside view. ^_^ We changed into the robes that the hotel provided us, but of course mine wasn't log enough for me. Yuka laughed. :p We made our way up to the 4th floor for dinner, which was really good. There was a soy milk stew, smaller dishes and an amazing fish that was supper yummy. Yuka still makes the best miso soup, though.

We wanted to get some soda water for the plum wine that we brought, but the vending machines just had cocktails. We got back to the room and Yuka passed out. I woke her up to get into the hot spring one more time and then we put the futons on the floor and fell asleep immediately.

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Saturday, April 8th -- The hot spring wasn't as hot the next morning, which was a good thing. We went upstairs for breakfast, which again, wasn't the type of breakfast that I normally eat but it was still very good. I did not want to leave and kept whining like a little kid and tried to fall asleep on the comfy futons again. We got dressed and checked out, then walked down the winding road to the train station. We had time to kill, so stopped at a cafe and then walked along the river, watching the ducks play in the rapids. We had the same type of seats on the train and we watched the rain dance across the windshield.

Our normal routine on the last day of our visits is to stay in an be lazy. This time Yuka showed me how to make dumplings, which I love. I have to say, I outright SUCK at making dumplings. I was also tired and hungry, so I wasn't concentrating very well and when I rolled the dough, they came out like squares instead of circles. Obviously I need more practice. We tried to watch another Harry Potter movie, but the food made us too sleepy, so we passed out.

Sunday, April 9th -- Normally the last two days of my visits I'm kind of sad, but this trip was different. We had another beautiful day and Yuka helped me pack. I think there was only one thing that I bought that I had to leave behind; this awesome ceramic robot head/toilet paper dispenser. Has to be seen to be believed. Seriously. We did our normal routine of checking in at the airport and finding some food. I also found the candy I was looking for souvenirs. We talked about wedding plans and laughed a lot. It was a nice change since usually Yuka and I are both in tears when we're at the airport. So much to do!!!!!

I waived goodbye from the escalator and blew her kisses. I was really surprised that I got through the security check with an open bottle of whiskey in my backpack. I thought for certain that it would be confiscated. I stopped at the duty free shop and bought another bottle of Hibiki and also a Yamazaki. Awesome.

Finally we are taking the next big step.