our flight was scheduled for about 8:30am so we had to get up and leave really early this morning. my early bird uncle came to the house at about 5:05am. we didn't leave until around 6am. it took 30-40 minutes to get to naha and then to the airport. we left early to avoid the traffic and ended up at the airport much earlier than expected. we didn't spend as much as i had budgeted for during the trip so it was time to use up yen! hey, i don't want to go through the crappy exchange rate and get cheated to get some dollars so i might as well buy things. all of us bought something for ourselves and increased our gifts to others. i bought another shirt for myself. we then flew to haneda airport. we had to take a bus to go to narita airport because that's where our flight back to america was departing from.

haneda is in tokyo metropolis, narita is in chiba prefecture. i researched that you can take a limousine bus and this seemed the simplest choice. we walked over to the bus area and there were electronic ticket devices, much like at train stations. these were both in japanese and english. just punch in your choice and put in your money. your ticket and change and be returned to you. the only thing is that you can only purchase 1 ticket at a time. or at least i'm too dumb to figure out how to purchase more than 1 ticket at a time. the ticket already has a time printed on it for you. you cannot pick which bus time you would like. it prints out the next available bus. who wants to wait at the airport? the problem is that there are 3 of us and 2 tickets were for one time and the 3rd ticket was for another time, though only 10 or 15 minutes later. as luck would have it, there was an american couple of japanese descent who knew no japanese and i assisted them with their ticket purchases at the machine. i explained our situation and traded bus tickets so that they could depart 10-15 minutes earlier and we could all ride together. i told them where to board the bus too. i think they were a little worried 'cos i tried to do this very quickly. well, i had to go to the restroom! we all went to the restroom and then finally went in line for the bus. they spotted me and i saw a sense of relief come over their faces! they knew then that they were in the right spot and their tickets were good. get on the bus, bye-bye!

at narita airport, we checked in our luggage and then killed time before it was time to board our flight by having lunch and more shopping to use up our excess yen. twiddle thumbs and i both had zaru soba and inari sushi for lunch. i passed by a music store and had to look in for my final chance at purchasing music in japan. lo and behold, i found something i was looking for! i purchased the new album by lucy, a buck-tick side project. at another store i bought a nice japanese design business card holder as i had been wanting a nice business card holder. ideally i wanted it before the trip so that i could use it in japanese since there is a big deal about business card etiquette in japan. however, i knew i wouldn't be passing around my card much so it wasn't necessary. next time though, i will be prepared and even come to japan with two-sided cards, (one side in japanese, one side in english, as is custom to do so for foreigners).

we boarded, left a little after 5pm. on the plane it was the same movies being shown so i watched one of the films i didn't see on the flight over. ("the breakup", it sucked). we had dinner, i slept, woke up and had breakfast, arrived in los angeles, and kissed the ground (just kidding!). my mom's boyfriend picked us up and took us home. we then took twiddle thumbs's sister home as no one was able to pick her up. after that, we went to eat at teashaker. it was time to eat a proper, healthy meal.

today's expenses in yen:
¥1575 t-shirt
¥3000 bus from domestic airport to international airport
¥950 lunch
¥3045 cd
plus gifts

trip summary: it was good and time went by very quickly. the lows were quite low but we were able to shake them off and not ruin the rest of the trip. it would've been better to have a camera that uses regular batteries instead of a special rechargeable kind. i also should've packed more moleskins to protect my feet from developing blisters. another pair of clothes wouldn't have hurt either but that's alright. i wrote down some highlights.

tips learned during this trip but good in general for travel:
1. must bring hand sanitizer and a handkerchief
2. this country needs more trashcans/benches
3. if you can't use chopsticks, bring utensils
4. good walking shoes and lots of moleskins
5. bring long life batteries with you from home
6. dress in layers
7. bring a modern suitcase (wheels, handle), the smaller the better
8. you can't do it all--if you plan a tight schedule, prepare to be disappointed (plan for rest periods)
9. have lots of coins on hand for vending machines
10. get used to using a japanese toilet
11. internet cafes are expensive--bum off cheap/free places when possible
12. if you look foreign, you will get friendlier treatment then if you look/sound japanese
13. research as much as possible beforehand if you don't want to waste time, want to see/do/eat something specific, have special needs, etc.

best moments:
1. feeding the deer in nara
2. sanjusangendo in kyoto (craftsmanship--to make it all by hand!)
3. tokyo rush hour morning--being squashed in by the workers
4. osaka dinner on dotonbori street

funniest moments:
1. feeding the deer in nara
2. twiddle thumbs looking for her sock even though she was wearing it, "where's my sock?"
3. twiddle thumbs getting off the bus at 2pm and saying to the driver, "ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning instead of thank you!)
4. my mom imitating twiddle thumbs's sister's phone call to her husband (i could've peed myself!)

worst moments:
1. first night, porky soup/noodles incident, sprinkling and can't make an international call
2. look on everyone's face at the hotel in osaka when we found out the rooms do not have private attached bathrooms
3. twiddle thumbs's pissy moments and my mom being difficult

shocking moments:
1. seeing the remodeled version of my grandmother's house

total expenses paid for 12 days within japan (AKA you could do this too):
¥29325 hotels (including towel rental and luggage storage)
¥9900 transportation
¥28738 food
¥9448 entrance fees to attractions (temples/castles/feeding animals/etc)
¥1650 laundry
¥1115 internet cafes
¥3885 beach chair/parasol rental
(the stuff i paid for other people balances out the drinks i bought in vending machines and perhaps some small souvenirs that one might buy; any gifts you buy for yourself or others is extra of course)

total within japan: ¥84061 (or $730.97 using the exchange rate of $1 = ¥115)
**we saved considerably by buying a rail pass outside japan (approximately $250), using frequent flyer miles for airfare discounts, staying with relatives/cheap places, not eating fancy meals often, and all the freebies/discounts that were given to the uchinanchu taikai attendees in okinawa. (thank you again! ippei nihei debiru!)