Japan

Official Name: Nippon

Capital City: Tokyo
Other Major Cities: Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya
Area: 377, 915 sq. km
Bodies of Water: Pacific Ocean
Climate: Cool Temperate
Environmental Issues: Volcanoes, Tsunami’s,
Typhoons
Population: 127,078,679
Language: Japanese
Religion: Shinto’s, Buddhism
Life Expectancy: Male – 78.8 Female – 85.6
Per Capita GDP: 34,100
Exports: Oil
Imports: Oil, Natural Gas
Day 1 – December 18, 2009

We just arrived in Tokyo and it’s like a dream come true! This city is the origin of
almost all video-games. We’ll check out here for a while, then head on over to Fukouka,
another Japanese city south of here for the remainder of our stay. I really can’t wait for
this trip; it’s almost like an extra-big Christmas present. However, this Asian country isn’t
Florida: it’s really, really cold here, and it seems like we’re in Alaska. At least the low for
the week is above 0°C. Everything here is metric, and it seems like America is lonely
with its irregular figures. I think tomorrow I will visit the Tokyo Tower.

Day 2 – December 19, 2009

Today at the Tokyo Tower was awesome. It was over 1,000 feet high: that’s
higher than the Eiffel Tower. I saw it while we were flying in, and I’m glad we finally got
to go up it. It took almost forever, but we got up to the viewing deck to check out the
city. It offered a full, panoramic view of Tokyo and Mt. Fuji. Also in the tower complex
was the Tokyo Tower Wax Museum and Trick Art Gallery.

Tomorrow, I’ll be off to the Sony Building.

Day 3 – December 20, 2009

Even talking about the coming technology and gadgets with my friends makes
me get excited, but that doesn’t even compare to the Sony Building: pretty much the
starting point of all things Sony. Once I submerged into the waters of the interior, I was
a zombie, amazed at all the types of screens and consoles they had. I wandered around
the building, wanting to lay my hands on everything I saw. Finally, we reached the sixth
floor, common name: Play Station World. It was like I was lost in a high-tech theme
park. At 4:30, there was a free movie in their High-Vision Theatre that was pretty much
top-of-the-line-state-of-the-art equipment with surround sound and all. Since it had been
out in Japan for a while, we got to see Avatar - on a big screen and in 3D. Overall, it
was a video-game junkie’s heaven.

Day 4 – December 21, 2009

Today, I’m told I will pretty much enter a whole new city. This place is called
Dome City, and it’s the equivalent of Wannado City, except it’s family friendly (meaning
parents can have fun too) and a lot larger.
 Wow. That’s all I can say. I got to ride some amazing rides in the theme park
area while my parents got to lounge in a hot spa. Afterwards, we ended our day by
shopping a bit for souvenirs, and we found a miniature Dome City replica to put up
somewhere in the house. We even got to eat at a Japanese cuisine restaurants- one of
many in Dome City. I had a little bit of Kuri Kinton, a sweet-potatoish kind of dish that
was only served in December there because it is a food they save for new-years.

Day 5 – December 22, 2009

Today, we visited a great architectural site, the ACROS Fukouka Building. It

looked like a huge glass set of stairs. We had lunch and found a little souvenir of our
Zodiac signs on a little keychain. It was the ideal place to go on a weekend if you were a
Japanese family.

Tomorrow will be the grand finale of my stay here, with Canal City.

Day 6 – December 23, 2009

Well, it’s my last full day in Japan, and my last day in Fukouka. I guess it could
be a Japan tradition, but here we go to yet another city-within-a-city type place on my
last day in the city. I didn’t spend too much time in Fukouka, but it’s a nice city.

Canal City, as it is called, was awesome. It was like the Paris of your dreams,
canals and awesome water-front architecture. There was an awesome amusement
park, at which I spent most of my time, along with a fine restaurant, where I ordered a
kind of soup called Udon, which looked like someone mixed water and soy sauce with
random things in their kitchen, but it turned out to be pretty good.

Day 7 – December 24, 2009

It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m just in time getting home to enjoy Christmas. My stay
at Japan was amazing, and I can’t wait for another journey.