Goodbye, Seattle, Hello, Kitty!

Where've I been? Rob and I and a friend, Sue, just got back from 10 days in the Land of the Rising Sun -- J A P A N.

Anyone who knows us knows that for years we've been talking about this trip, so much so that one of our friends flatly told us a few months back that he never expected us to really go.

But finally this spring we decided: Now or never. We booked the tickets, found a hotel deal on Expedia and a couple ryokans (traditional Japanese inns) on Japanese Guest Houses, dug out our language workbooks from a class we took a few years back, closed our eyes and jumped into the unknown.

It was expensive (though Sue, aided by working for an airline, did it for less than $100 a day), but it was absolutely worth it. The pop-culture craziness was right up my alley. I'll be sharing more as soon as I unpack and upload our many, many photos, but here's a teaser:

• Green-tea KitKats
• Bubble Man II from Soda Planet
• Hello Kitty land
• "Banana chimichanga, kudasai. That is the weirdest sentence I have ever said in my life."
• "The plum tea tastes like meat."
• Umbrella condoms
• "I'm going to visit the toilet slippers."

Much more to come as soon as time zones click over in my head.