Japan I Can

Japan was really a surprise! We ported first in Kobe where we hiked to a little town on top of Mt. rokko called Arima which is famous for its  hot springs. Naturally I wasn't as excited as everyone else because I've grown up going to hot springs, but it was such a cute little town. There were little hot springs on the sides of the cobblestone streets where you could soak your feet. The bigger hot springs were all made into spa's which is definitely a breath of fresh air coming from the naked hippy infested waters of strawberry park. (though I'm not complaining)  After that my friends and I went around the city to get a feel for it. It was extremely clean,  but very much like the U.S. believe it or not. I was expecting it to be a little like China, but it was like night and day going from China to Japan. Everyone dressed so cute, and there was such order as far as crossing streets, and the metro...etc. Our last day in Kobe we were a little tired from our long night of dancing and sushi, so we went to a Japanese Bath-house. This will be a paragraph in itself.
        OKAY so we had heard that a bath house was like a public pool with separate spaces for men and women.  Failed to mention that bathing suits are not required, actually they're non-existant. So here we are 3 American girls running around the bathhouse like fools, trying to cover up as much as possible with our miniscule hand towels that we were given. I thought maybe the pools would be indoors with dim lights or something, but they were out in the broad daylight. No hiding there! Needless to say, it was the most fun, and most uncomfortable thing I did in Japan.
        After Kobe we travelled on the ship to Yokohama. As soon as we reached shore we went to Tokyo to spend the night and check out the city for a couple of days. After a 40 minute train ride we arrived in the city which is like NYC of Japan except gorgeously clean and new. It's very compact though with tons of skyscrapers as well as being very international. We went to Harajuku St. which was most important to me... For those of you who dont know it's filled with Japanese fashionistas called Harajuku's who get decked out in all the craziest styles. It's like disneyland meets 5th Ave...very interesting. My friend Katie and I had lunch with a group of old Japanese people who were trying to learn english. They were so cute, they were giving us gifts and they payed for our lunch... Other than that we mostly walked around the city and saw all the touristy stuff. We did  use the Metro though which was also much nicer and easier to use than in NY. They charge you by how far you travel on the metro instead of a flat rate, kind of nice seeing as how we never went too far. Japan was definitely expensive though, cabs started at $7!!!
        Tokyo is definitely a spot to see again!