This keyboard is really annoying the crap out of me. It`s almost the same as an English keyboard, but the space bar is smaller, and on either side where I`m used to having the spacebar continue, there are buttons with crazy Japanese characters on them. And every so often I accidentally hit one and the keyboard mode switches and everything starts typing in Japanese and I can`t figure out how to turn it off! Then I have to open a new window and copy, paste, start over. Blargh.
Hard to believe our trip is rapidly winding down. Only 3 nights and 3 days left before we have to go back to the real world. We have spent the past 4 days in and around Kyoto — 3 days in Kyoto itself, and then today we took the train to Nara. Nara is an hour away and was capital of Japan for about 100 years in the 700s. It`s chock full of shrines and temples, most of them located in one very lovely park. It was rainy and overcast today, but it was still beautiful despite the weather — the leaves are starting to change colors so there are greens and yellows and reds all around. We saw Todai-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world apparently, and home to Japan`s largest Buddha. It was HUGE. We also saw a cool temple surrounded by thousands of lanterns. It would be very cool to visit that one again during the lantern festival that they have twice each year. I can`t even imagine how many people it must take to light them all.
The rest of the trip is a whirlwind. Tomorrow we head to Hiroshima and then spend the night on a small island nearby called Miyajima. Monday we head back to Tokyo on the bullet train, and spend a final morning there before flying out Tuesday evening. We get back home a few hours earlier than we left — on Tuesday afternoon. Crazy time zones and date lines.
Glad you guys are having a great time!