Tokyo - Meeting Half Way

My schedule affords me time to do many sub-48 hour trips; however, that's not particularly helpful to get me home, which is about 23 hours in transit. Likewise, Erik's intense work schedule this half has not opened up large gaps for long-distance travel. The solution? Meet 'half way'.

Technically, half way would look more like Hawaii; however, flight logistics on both ends makes that a sub-optimal solution. A highly technical review of flight patterns combined with a cutting-edge cool-factor analysis led us to Japan as a more suitable meeting point and, after two long months apart, Erik and I were united.

Tokyo is attractive, clean and relatively easy to get around. We opted for a more relaxed itinerary, which enabled us to enjoy some of the more subtle attractions of the area, including:

vending machines that serve hot coffee (in a hot metal can!)

some of the culinary delights - elaborate meals

and mystery goo. and bean pancakes shaped like fish!The architecture was awesome. We felt like the city was a lot less busy than we'd expected - like there was nobody around. This seems to be possible because the city operates on so many levels. It's like there are 3-7 layers of city at any given point.

We also checked out the cultural sights, including a day trip to Nikko to check out a templea walk through a local fairgroundand chilling out around some of Tokyo's temples and gardens (like this local did).

Japan is definitely a place that I'd like to come back to. Maybe next time with my bicycle.