Our Final Hours

It is our last day here in Tokyo as well as our last day abroad. A good deal of reminiscing has taken place today but I am sure you all want to see what we have been up to!

Hiking up Mt. Fuji has left us in awe. In an attempt to see what else Tokyo had to offer, we began researching. Out of the many search results, we first decided to visit the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, Shibuya Crossing.

Around Shibuya is an impressive market where we purchased some souvenirs as well as $20 ramen. What? You spent $20 on ramen? Yes, yes we did and wow, was it worth it. Why was it so expensive you ask? Well, the main protein in the ramen was kobe beef. I am sure most of you have heard of it but maybe not all are familiar with the process to make it. In a nutshell, the cows are fed well, limited in movement as well as massaged daily to create the famous marbling that kobe beef is known for. Below are pictures of the crossing, the ramen and a 360 video of the crossing.

After shibuya crossing, Nick and I grew tired of the cityscape and needed to get back to nature. This led us to Yoyogi Park. An escape from everyday lives where people could let loose and be themselves. Here we saw people practicing for plays, rapping to music played on a bass as well as a delightful dog park.

Near the park was the first Japanese Shrine and Buddhist temple that we have seen in Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine. Now you and I have both seen plenty of temples by now but it is interesting to see different renditions of temples in each of the countries we have visited. The Meiji Shrine was even better than we could have imagined. Within this serene forest we passed under a torii (shrine gates) which stood nearly 40 feet high which then led us to the msin temple. It turns out that this shrine contains the two largest torii in all of Japan. Below are some pictures of the torii as well as the Meiji Shrine.

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We then had a japanese pottery class scheduled. As some of you may know and the rest of you will soon come to find out, I have recently become consumed with the process of creating things out of clay. Upon arrival we found electric wheels and clay already centered for us. This was very exciting as centering can be the most difficult and frustrating part of making pottery.

As Nick says: "It's harder than it looks"

As we soon learned, the tools used in Japan as well as throwing techniques were much different than Cambodia and certainly different than western techniques that I am used to. I won't "nerd out" on you but it was nice to see a different perspective on the making of pottery. After finishing up our hour and a half lesson, we had the option to fire and ship our pieces back home. After figuring out the costs, we soon abandoned our pieces of pottery and decided it was worth it just for the memories and learning experience.

So concludes our adventure through Asia. Many memories were made and I hope you have enjoyed living vicariously through my blog. I cannot emphasize enough how lucky we are to have been able to go on a trip such as this. And to have had such incredible weather during the so-called monsoon season? Just icing on the cake.

Nick and I are very thankful to have been able to make such great memories. We are just as thankful for you to have taken the time out of your day to join us on our quest. I took a good deal of time and effort to make this blog a reality and I enjoy hearing that you are getting a kick out of it. Until next time, I hope you have enjoyed us fools exploring paradise!