Resolution: Have an amazing New Years in Tokyo...Success!!!

For the past 10 days, we have had the been able to visit and travel with Amy's family. We met them in Tokyo back in 2010. Amy and I were fortunate enough to have a couple days off before the New Year, so we caught an early flight on Thursday for Japan.

We arrived at Norita airport around 11am, made it though customs and onto the shuttle ride into the city.

Quick note to all you world travelers: Both Tokyo and Seoul have their main international airports about 1 1/2 hour drive outside the city.

An airport shuttle bus picked us up, and we got cozy for a ride into one of the world's largest and most diverse cities. The small farm plots and wooded areas intrigued me for the first 30 minutes. This happens to me in Korea quite often as well. Coming from Texas with all its vastness, it's hard for me to imagine how other places can function with farmlands, pastures, and extra space if the amount of land they start with is factions of my home. But, they do it. Farms and ranches don't stretch further than sight, but they're there.

The outskirts of the city began after about 20 minutes and didn't stop.

We arrived in Ebisu at the Westin Hotel right at lunchtime. The hotel was absolutely amazing. I've never had the pleasure of such lavish amenities.

Every morning, there was a complimentary breakfast 'buffet.' I use the quotations, because the word in between them usually refers to something cheap...not so at the Westin. The breakfast included all the great American staples of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and french toast. It also included, smoked samon with mushrooms, tuna, a sushi bar, fresh squeezed orange juice, grilled veggies, and amazing coffee.

Complimentary Happy Hour on the 17th floor was also amazing..but enough of me rambling about everything that isn't Tokyo!

Amy and I had a few hours to tour the neighborhood around the hotel before Harry, Cindy, and Adam arrived.

We immediately noticed a vast difference in architecture compared with our home in Busan. The neighborhood of Ebisu, which is located inside the circular subway line of Tokyo, had rich culture and personality. The buildings were all unique from the next, which is a quality paralleled, by their people. We walked through a shopping area with a victorian style mansion at one end, a massive crystal chandelier on display in the middle of the square, and a great sandwich shop at the other end.

We had the best sandwiches we've had in 5 months that day. Korea doesn't really believe in sandwiches for some reason. This was one of the big shocks that can't be expected before you go somewhere new. No sandwiches has been hard.

After lunch, we circled the neighborhood for hours, taking in the wondrously artistic buildings and people. The Sapporo brewery had a Beer Museum across the street, but it was unfortunately closed for the holidays.

These tall white towers around 250 ft. tall were scattered throughout the city. Here's me fixing one that was leaning:

We found a quaint bar/coffee shop at the end of our walk that was in a three story house. Wood floors, low ceilings, and hand painted walls created a wonderfully cozy atmosphere for small groups of friends and travelers. It was a refreshing contrast to the contemporary settings we're accustomed to in Korea, where no buildings more than 50 years old remain.

Family! They arrived that evening to warm hugs. Friendly and familiar faces was by far the nicest part of the entire week. They were understandably jet-lagged after the 24 hours of traveling. We ate dinner at the Sapporo Beer Station, which had good beers, but food that was...meh.

On Friday, we enjoyed the amazing breakfast and went for a walk around the neighborhood.

After about 30 minute stroll, we ended up in Shibuya. This is the epitome of Tokyo. Neon, fashion, and non-stop action fill this square that is featured in famous films such as "Lost in Translation." It was hard to watch where I was walking with my eyes on the sky-scraping billboards. At any given crossing, there must be 2,000 people in the middle of this square.

At noon, we joined a group of foreigners for a English guided bus tour of some of Tokyo's famous sights. Our animated Japanese tour guide kept a playful mood for the day with perfectly fluent English. Headsets were available for anyone who wanted the tour given in, Spanish, Chinese, or Korean.

The first stop was at Tokyo Tower, a slightly taller, and orange, replica of the Eiffel Tower. It stands 333 meters tall and was built in 1958. Tokyo is currently constructing a new Tokyo Tower that will be taller and include restaurants. Luckily, we had the pleasure of visiting the original.

The view of Tokyo was endless. The only things that break the view of buildings is the river way/bay and Mt. Fuji far away to the south. I am still amazed at the magnitude of a city that boasts a metropolitan population of 9 million+. Amongst the steel below the tower, an temple and ancient cemeteries graced the inner most part of the city.

We boarded the bus and headed for the Emperor's Palace grounds. Japan still has a seated Emperor, yet he is merely a figure, like the UK's. He was replaced by a democracy after that little thing in the 40s, WWII. Visiting the inner part of the palace is only allowed on two days throughout the year, which we were not there for. We did get to see a gated corner of the palace from the other side of the palace moat. Moats are cool.

The third stop on our tour was the Buddhist temple at Asakusa. Wow. Thousands of people visit temples for the New Year in Japan. New Years is the biggest holiday for Japanese people. It is when they reflect on the past and plan for the future. Resolutions or wishes for the upcoming year are asked for with a bow and maybe a small coin donation thrown into the temple. Note: the smallest paper bill in Japan is roughly $10...all $1 and $5 are coins...this would imprint a much different value system toward coin money in the states.

The temple was extremely ornate and much bigger than the ones we've visited in Korea. The have these small metal containers with chopsticks in them that give your fortune. The first one I drew was labeled "Bad Fortune" No thank you. The second was labeled "Regular Fortune"...I'm ok with that. I don't need anything spectacular to be predicted for me. I'm a strong believer in making your fortune...as in life path, not millions.

We then walked down a vast stretch of vendors away from the temple. If you make it to Tokyo and want to get your souveniring on, go to Asakusa.

We made our way 'home' on the subway to relax before one of the best meals I have ever had.

Note: if you can, always take the subway in Tokyo, it has been intricately planned to go to almost anywhere in the city. Also, taxi prices START at 710 yen, which is about $8.

New Year's Eve dinner was unbelievable! We went to a Japanese restaurant on the top floor of the Westin. The five of us sat around a U-shaped bar with two flat grills on either side, coupled with expert Japanese chefs. The menu included foods ranging from lobster, fish, and scallops, to the finest cuts of Japanese beef. All main dishes had salads, fat chunks of grilled onions, and either fried rice or hot noodles.

I had the scallops topped with a local garlic radish spread. They were deliciously cooked to perfection. The sides and salads were all amazing. I was most surprised by my sirloin steak. Being from Texas, I've had my fair share of steaks. The texture was the most surprising thing of all. This was by far the most tender cut I've ever had. It, quite literally, fell apart in my mouth. I could basically chew it with my tongue.

We topped of the dinner with ice cream and coffee.

We finished dinner around 10 and Amy and I decided that we were going to try to make it to this special temple for midnight. We headed for the subway toward Tokyo Tower. Young people littered the streets dressed in their craziest and happiest. We reached Tokyo Tower around 11:40 just when the lights were turned off before the New Year. As the midnight quickly approached, we joined the thousands of people partying at the bottom of the tower.

At about 5 minutes till, streams of randomly flashing lights slowly ran around the tower. The mood rose as people began screaming and someone busted out a djembe. As 2010 diminished, I could hear nearly a dozen different languages excitedly preparing for the 2011. Tokyo is the most internationally diverse place I have ever visited.

The random lights sped and sped and sped and sped until 2011!!!

The vibrance was warm and refreshing. I had the pleasure to welcome the new year with a warm kiss from my lovely partner in the amazing city of Tokyo. I am still excited.

After a stroll around the neighborhood, we headed back for the hotel, tired and content.

On Saturday, we headed for a different view of Tokyo, the water. Enormous, low lying boats, give tours down the river that runs through the middle of Tokyo to the bay and then the ocean. Twelve differently colored bridges line the river out to Tokyo bay. The cool and calm ride out through the city's water ways was a nice contrast to the bustling streets of inner Tokyo.

The next on our compact yet expansive three-day tour of Tokyo was the eclectically artistic neighborhood of Harajuku. Once a goth community in the 1990s, Harajuku has evolved into a busy shopping and people watching must see if you visit Tokyo. Young people spend hours preparing elaborate costumes and disguises intended to shock and intrigue foreign visitors. These teenagers dress in the most random yet cohesive looks for the pure pleasure of attention and photo opportunity with tourists. On Saturdays they are a met with awestruck visitors to their city and on Mondays they meet their teachers as normal Japanese students. There is something inspiring by the will toward art for the sake of expression and nothing else.

Saturday night, we headed for Roppungi Square to see the sights and hunt down some dinner. I was constantly amazed with Tokyo's vastness of neon energy. We searched for some restaurants we researched prior to that night, but could not manage to find them. We did, however find the Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo. Massive burgers and mediocre margaritas beaconed Amy and I from our rice-induced stupor. It was just the comfortingly familiar experience we needed.

Before our plane back to Busan on Sunday, we were able to make it out to Ginza, a huge shopping center in Tokyo and home to the Sony building. The gals went off to the wonders of H&M and Forever21 to gawk at the hottest new trends in fashion. Meanwhile, the guys went to the Sony building to check out the newest technologies the world has to offer. Inside the Sony building, we travelled through upwards spiraling rooms that started with everything 3D, went on to some amazing mp3 players and headphones that priced at $500+, then to the cameras. One of the most interesting gadgets was a camcorder with a microphone that zoomed-in on the picture and sound! Also, they had two camcorders on little shaking tables facing the viewers. One of the camera's pictures was shaking on the screen accordingly...the other, with the latest image stabilizing technology, was completely still. We went on to some amazing sound systems and computers and on and on....

We had a quick, yet delicious, Italian lunch in Ginza. Then, it was unfortunately time to go home....to Busan.

Thank you so much to Harry and Cindy for this amazing journey!

And thank you to Tokyo for your awesomeness!

It was surely a New Years to be remembered.