Mann Alive: 3 Days of Fun in Tokyo

Or first day out Jen and I leisurely strolled around the market and shrine

close to our hotel in Asakusa. I saw my first Japanese shrine and Buddha's sandle. Then it was onto the subway as we made a beeline for a park near Tokyo Tower for some geocaching. Tokyo tower itself is ugly and we were not impressed; even the fact that it is suppose to be taller than the Eiffel Tower didn't seem to amaze us.We think the reason it's taller is the LONG spike at the top but I believe the reason we didn't like it was because it's bright orange. Either way we made sure to snap a few pictures and continue on our geocache hunt.

The hunt for buried treasure eventually lead us to the Meiji Shrine. While there we stumbled across a Spring Festival, some traditional dancers, and an older gentlemen who was thrilled to be talking to Americans. He talked our ear off, took way too many pictures, and even gave us some cakes. We would have stayed for what looked like a really neat ceremony with the gentleman but hunger won that battle and we headed to lunch instead.

After lunch and no luck with any more caches we headed to Shibuya for some

more sightseeing. This included 1.5 hours of people watching from the second story Star Bucks. Shibuya's main intersection is definitely something to see and we enjoyed our moment of rest and caffeine.

Day two we hiked from Kamakura to Daibutsu where the Great Buddha rests. The hike was long, strenuous, beautiful, and I had blast! We made stops along the way at a really neat mountain side cafe and a couple shrines; including one where they wash their money. It is believed that if you spend the money you wash at this shrine that it will come back to you multiplied. You can be the judge on whether or not you believe that one.
After finally reaching the Great Buddha we picked up our cache hunt once again and it lead us all around the town. Along the way Jen caught sight of some

women selling one piece kimonos; they would let you try them on in an attempt to show the Japanese women how easy they are. Feeling brave I stepped up and let the women dress me. It took longer than I would have thought and it was much heavier than it looked but it was gorgeous!

Day three was spent bathing! The Japanese are known for their Onsens or baths. The Odeo Onsen, where we went, is the Disney world of baths with 17 different types of baths to choose from; since Jen and I both are serious bath takers we were in heaven and spent 5 hours bathing, eating, and lounging. This definitely ranked in my top 3 favorite things in Japan!