...and there were kimonos instead of robes!

Nothing like jet-setting to Japan on three days notice.

Yep. That's what happened. Let's just be grateful this all worked out to my advantage. The original intent of this trip was for my dad to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and niece by himself for 9 days. My mom "wouldn't be able to handle the flight" and I wasn't really asked to attend and figured I wouldn't be able to take the time off of work. To make a long story short, my brother and mom were able to convince me on Wednesday that I should go with my dad, and at this point he was regretful in booking the trip alone. I didn't want him to go alone, and felt it would be important to take the opportunity not only to travel with my dad, but to see Japan and my family before they planned on moving back in December of 2011.

I have a boyfriend who is itching to go to Japan and has been for years, telling him I would be taking this little venture on such short notice, brought out of the best of the stress in me. However, coming here when we have a direct connection to the country (my sister-in-law is Japanese) is such a treat. We are able to see the sights and have the advantage of having someone who speaks both English and Japanese. It will make it that much easier when Eric and I plan to come here again in the future with one another!

Ugh. I know that Dexter is on right now. I guess requesting that Eric didn't watch this while I was away might have been a little bit of a stretch, but I was hoping for the best! It is 11:03AM here and 8:03PM back home! I am anxious to get out and explore more of Japan today.

I am one of those people where new places really excite me, but I hate touring around all day long. There just comes a point where my brain shuts off and I can't retain anymore. I am glad that all of us are on the "take it easy and see Tokyo" page. We had some mishaps with our flight yesterday and we were delayed four hours because of apparent problems with the plane, they eventually had to put it back into service and snatch us another 777. Which, by the way, whoever configured the seating space for those planes has something comin to them. Nothing like 13 hours with just inches of legroom. Those in Business/First class are to be envied.

For now, we have not really left the base in which we are staying. Due to the fact that my brother works for the U.S. Army (he was stationed here four years prior to moving here) we are able to stay in the hotel on base which was just recently renovated and is quite accommodating! I thought I was going to have to tamper with converter plugs and minimal TV (not like it totally matters, but at night when you're trying to go to sleep, TV is a big plus) but luckily I was wrong and I even got to watch some Sunday football! What a treat! Today will be our first day out and about due to us getting in so late last night. I am already anticipating a good night's sleep tonight. Luckily, jet lag didn't SCREW me because the plane did. I slept for about 20 minutes and the night before the flight I thought it would just be divine to get three hours of sleep so I would be able to catch a few ZzZz's mid flight. Oh hey! I can't sleep sitting up. So that plan failed me, but that meant I was able to sleep like a baby all through the Japanese night. I got a solid nine hours of sleep, unfortunately my dad is suffering from heavy eyelids. Enough about sleep! More about miso soup and seaweed salad!

I am extremely excited to go to Harajuku and The Comme Des Garcons trading museum.

I'm also jonesin' to visit this shop

A few GREAT street shots from Japanesestreets.com

I wish there was a common gathering place somewhere in Chicago where people interested in diverse fashion got together to talk about it and collaborate. I guess that would be called "Good Will" on a Saturday, but it's really not the same.