One week in Japan
or breakfast at Tiffany's Starbucks

Actually the story started already in January, when Josh told me that his parents invited us to visit his dad in Yokohama, as he was currently working there. Of course I was more than excited, and could not wait to go.
Finally March arrived, and my first flight went to Austin, where I stayed for two days and then Josh and me were on our way to Houston. But before we could hit the road, our first stop was at Starbucks, to get a little drink for the road.
We stayed overnight at Wendy's place and drove the next morning to the airport, where we had a quick little breakfast at ... right, Starbucks, before we boarded the plane and were on our way to Japan!

Narita Airport is nice! Not very big, and very friendly (nothing compared to other airports I know, like Frankfurt or Chicago ...), but we had to take a bus to Yokohama which was not so nice, after sitting in the plane for hours already, those two hours in the bus were very tiring so that we could not really enjoy our first impression of Tokyo.
When we finally arrived in Yokohama, it was all very overwhelming, Landmark Tower, the ferris wheel, the taxis which opened the doors automatic ...
We brought our luggage to the apartment and after a quick dinner in a very nice Italian restaurant on Motomachi, we went to bed and had a very refreshing good night sleep.

The next day we had another nice breakfast at Starbucks (which is very nice because it is right on the way to the subway station) before we started to get a first view of Yokohama, strolling around in shopping malls and met Josh's dad for lunch in a very nice Tempura place.
After lunch we had more sightseeing and shopping and for dinner we had another very non-traditional meal, as we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. :-)

The weather forecast was not so nice for this day, so we planed a museum day. We saw the Toy Museum, the Silk Museum and before we went to Yokohama Art Museum, we made a little stop at Starbucks, as we had breakfast at home, but we needed our daily fix.

Again, breakfast at Starbucks and then we were on our way to Tokyo. As I could not finish my Chai Tea Latte there, I took the cup with me and soon had to realize that there are nearly none public trashcans in Japan, even more surprising that the streets are so clean!
We went to Shibuya and had a nice shopping trip where we spent so much money that we had to leave earlier then was planed, as we were running out of money... .

Next day, again breakfast at Starbucks (we should ask them to sponsor our next trip ...), then we went again to Tokyo, where we first were on a search for a big Hello Kitty store but we were not very successful.
We gave up after a while and went to Ueno, where we first had a nice noodle lunch at the zoo restaurant and then we visited the zoo.
Very nice it was, a bit like the one in Dortmund, but a tad bigger. And they had nocturnal houses with bats and fennik foxes and other night active animals, very nice, especially for me as a big bat lover!
Very nice was also this gorilla lady, who carried around a piece of cloth and then made herself a little nest which she decorated with hay. When she was done, she sat in it, and put her piece of clothes over her head and looked proud around. Later we found out that she does that more often as there were picture of her with different towels on her head.
Sadly it started to rain, and on our way back to Yokohama we got caught in the rushing hour in the train.

No time this time for breakfast at Starbucks (don't worry, we always got our daily coffee / tea, there), but early rise to go again to Tokyo.
At Ginza we found a "decent" size Hello Kitty store (later we found out that there is a Hello Kitty Museum near Tokyo ... so another reason to go back to Japan), and full packed as we were, we went to Asakusa to visit the Shinto temple.
After sightseeing we went to Kanda, to make more shopping but this time at music stores where Josh got a shit load of cds and dvds.
It was a very windy day and on the train they had announcements that some lines would not go because of wind (others did not go because of strikes, and when I read that I had to chuckle and felt like home).
For dinner we went to a very fancy Vegetarian restaurant, which sadly did not had the menu in English, but somehow we managed it to order something. For dessert we finally went to Starbucks though. :-)

Last day, it was Josh's dad birthday and he got a little birthday song in the morning before we went out to start the day with Starbucks of course.
Today's trip was to Kamakura, where we first visited another Shinto Temple. And we had luck, we even saw the beginning of a Shinto Wedding, which was a very interesting view.
Later we went to see the Buddha, in which you could also go inside. (If I remember right that was also possible for the one in Hong Kong, but Hella and me did not wanted to pay the entry as it was high, as it was also the entry for a museum...) We did more souvenir shopping before we went back to Yokohama.
For the night we went to China Town, and I have to admit, we never had Japanese food for dinner, only noodles and Tempura for lunch. :-)
Later Josh and me went to have an unforgettable moment at the ferris wheel, only the two of us.

This day we went back home to Texas, and even though Narita airport is nice, it is still huge, but good thing we arrived early enough. And another funny thing, Josh met a friend from school at our gate!
Back in Houston, we were driving back to Austin, and of course we were in desperate need for a coffee after that long flight, and what was ... we could not find a single Starbucks!!! So many stores in Japan, but in the motherland, none at all on our whole drive back from Houston to San Marcos!

One week was way too short though, and we have to go back as soon as possible!!!