A Post by Jenny and Todaiji Digest (Eliza)

J: So we have had an unbelievable time in Japan so far.

TD: Yeah.

J: We have done so much on this trip that it is hard to decide what to talk about.

TD: A definite highlight of Tokyo was our sumo wrestler hunt. Jen and I ran around the Ryogoku area with out cameras looking for sumo wrestlers. We were fortunate enough to see several, and got some good pictures. Sumo wrestlers are easy to spot by the robes they wear, their hair style and obviously since they are rather large.

J: I love sumo wrestlers. It was great to see them in their natural habitat. They wear special split-toe socks to go with their thong sandals. We accidentally snuck into the sumo arena (the door was propped open for cleaning and we couldn't read the "do not enter" sign in Japanese), so that was exciting. We got kicked out.

TD: Another favorite stop was Kiddy Land, a 5 story toy store in Harajuku. It had toys/merchandise of every animated character you could imagine and is enjoyed by Japanese kids and adults alike. I witnessed a woman in her late-twenties purchase a Hello Kitty rolling suitcase.

J: It has been awesome to hang out with Michael and see where he lives. Before coming here, we spent a day in Nara, where we saw a huge bronze buddha with 5-foot nostrils, sacred deer that bowed, a shrine with thousands of stone lanterns, and many other interesting and beautiful things.

TD: Nara is also home of the amazing Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden structure in the world. The buddha with large nostrils sits inside as does a miniture replica of the original Todaiji Temple (33% larger than today's) that was constructed by researching the Todaiji Digest.

J: Before Nara, we were in Kyoto, where we stayed for two nights at the Ana Hotel. Ana is also the name of TD's niece. We did some major temple hopping in Kyoto, saw some Very Important Moss, walked on beautifully squeaky nightengale floors at the Nijo Castle, and found T-shirts at a thrift shop that said things like "Birmingham-Bloomfield Safety Town" and "I'm going to kindergarten in Kalamazoo!"

TD: Speaking of fun t-shirts, if the shirt had fit someone bigger than a 3rd grader, I would have totally bought a shirt that said "I heart Jennifer". Jennifer is a monkey (with glutton friends) that has a line of clothing in Japan. Jennifer is also the name of my favorite traveling partner.

J: Thanks! Mine is named Eliza, but she is getting her name officially changed to Todaiji Digest for some reason. There was also a T-shirt that said, "My Monkey Name is Jennifer." The back of the shirt said, "A thing of banana is a joy forever." So before we went to Kyoto, we were in Osaka. At our hotel in Osaka, there was one control panel on the wall that controlled the alarm clock, the radio, and all of the lights in the room. The radio played through speakers in the ceiling, and there was an overwhelming variety of radio stations to choose from. There were some broad categories of stations like "Japanese Pop" and "Classical," but there were also some extremely specific stations, including one called "The Theme From Rocky" which literally played the theme from Rocky over and over again. There was another station that only played Auld Lang Syne over and over again. There was also a bird chirping station.

TD: Another great thing about our hotel in Osaka were the heated toilet seats. We kept ours on high the entire time. The hotel reception also provided us with an English map, labeling things like every beer machine in the area.

J: Well, it's Buddha's birthday today and we're going to celebrate by having some kaiten sushi and doing some karaoke.

TD: Hopefully Jen will be able to join us for sushi and karaoke, she was unfortunately attacked by a cat-like robot from the 23rd century this afternoon. She is expected to have a full recovery and it would be so sad if she missed my last night in Japan.