What day is it?

The last few days have been like an epic breakdown of dynamics in a fullblast song. I climbed up to the 5th station on Mt. Fuji in snow and had a great victory. A number of the friends we met went out to Karaoke and drinks two nights in a row and had a great time. In Japan you and your friends book out a room instead of the karaoke bar style we have in Canada. And we all returned safely to Shinagawa in Tokyo for our last meal together. We went out and had some fantastic tempura. Then came the lingering and not wanting to say goodbye.

That night we were up until 3am reflecting with our friends Maya and Pam, having a drink in our hotel room (from the appropriately placed beer vending machine) and talked about next steps in travel etc. Lauren and Josh had met up with a friend and were out on the town but somewhere between Maya and Pam leaving and us going to bed they showed up, knocked on the door like we've come to love and talked about their crazy adventures for the day. This was the last time we've seen them and we kinda missed them.

In the morning we had breakfast with Maya and Pam and spent the last bit of time with Pam she had in Japan. We departed on a JR train and have been missing her since. The great thing is that Pam only lives in Whitby so we'll be visiting shortly after returning home for a tea party. The three of us shot off towards Akihabara to check out the flea market and find some funky and shady shops in the area. We had to stop for food half way there and stuffed ourselves with zaru soba and udon. We later figured that we probably weren't that hungry but felt a little bit of a void after parting with some of our newest close friends. Akihabara was great. The flea market area was nuts. So many shops with amazing electronic deals and cool stuff. We didn't spend too much time looking around but had a blast looking at all the cool stuff for uber cheap. Right after that we had b lined for Harajuku station to Yoyogi park again to see the goths and the bands and the dancing greasers. Maya hadn't seen these things yet and it was even more amazing than when we had been there before. The bands were setting up and there were people practicing dance moves for boy bands, having photo shoots, and all sorts of fun stuff. If I lived here, I'd be there every Sunday. Maya loved it. We later met up for dinner and planned for the following day not wanting to let go of our Maya, our tall blonde beacon among the sea of shorter black haired asians.

Today we went to a store LOFT with Maya and her friend Melissa. Melissa is part of this cultural immersion thing Maya and her are doing in Kichero when they leave Tokyo. After that we took a chance and headed off for some Sumo. It's the Championships right now and it's only the 2nd day of 15 or so. We knew where the arena was already - right across from the Edo-Tokyo Metropolitan Museum. We popped our heads into the ticket booths and to our surprise got tickets for 36 bucks a pop. SOLD! How often do you get to see Sumo wrestling. It was amazing! For the next 3 hours we ooohed and awwed at the matches, the custom and the whole thing. Novelty factor... HUGE! We loved it! We got out, searched for some food and then it was time to finally part ways. None of us are really great at goodbyes so we made it short.

Joanie and I were supposed to plan a small trip to San Fran in September or there abouts on a long weekend maybe and we now thing we'd like to visit Josh and Lauren instead in Boulder. Maya might meet us there.

It's strange, only now has the full weight of the amazing people we've met hit us. We miss everyone so much. Sean with his interesting personality, observation and determination. I only found out today he was 40. Thomas the swiss genius. Alain and Mil our fearless leaders. Josh with his comments of "That Rocks", "That's funny as shit", and our favorite "nutty". Lauren with her amazing ability to be super blunt, and be funny at the same time. Pam!! and of course the one we'll miss the most, our Maya. At least now we've got each other.

It's been all happy and sad all together in an epic ending to a trip that will likely change our lives, our directions, our futures, and definitely our travel plans. Right now, to bring an extra note of drama to the beat of the blast in my head, it's raining and I love the sound.

Love you all.

Justin in Japan, wishing that it had all just begun.

Ochidoricho Tokyo