The Road Home.....

Our journey home was wonderfully uneventful compared to our traveling experiences coming into Japan. We began on a shuttle to the train station, took the bullet train to just outside of downtown Tokyo, and then the airport express train to Narita. Our flight left only a few minutes late, and arrived in Shanghai at about 6:45pm. Mr. Tao picked us up, and we were home by 8:00pm. 

Besides a few "end-of-vacation-blues," we are happy to be home. On the last day in Kyoto, I came down with a full-blown cold, so it is nice to be at home resting. Since the kids have missed quite a few days of school lately, due to illness, I am hoping they do not get my cold, although considering our close quarters this week, I am not optimistic.

We really enjoyed visiting Japan this week. We noticed that the general public was much more polite, than in China, paper products, trash cans, and soap, were more readily available in public places, and service personal at the hotel and parks were eager to please, and actually seemed to be upset if they couldn't do something that you asked.

Although, we have all heard about the stressful work atmosphere in Japan, the people are much more subdued and quiet, than in China. Where in China, people often get into conversations which seem to be heated debates, we heard nothing like this in Japan. There were no over-capacity elevators, and everyone took their turn in line, instead of trying to walk to the front. The drivers, and roadways, were much less chaotic. We heard no car horns.

We loved Disney, as always, and thought the DisneySea was a great twist on the classic park. It was a combination of MGM and Epcot, and had themed rides, that sometimes related to a movie, sometimes a character. The special effects and animatronics were great, and well thought out. 

It was bigger than Hong Kong Disney, and definitely more crowded, and this had its good and bad points. Although there was more to do, it was also impossible to get through in one day. We didn't get any pictures with characters, and didn't see many either, as the lines were too long, and required going to their houses in Toon Town, instead of finding them on a corner.

We did get through a majority of DisneySea, and this was our main interest in Tokyo, and we enjoyed what we did get through at Disney. We LOVED the Cirque du Soleil show, and the boys had fun going to a movie. Our Pirates of the Caribbean restaurant lunch, was a fun experience, as well as the renaissance restaurant at DisneySea.

Kyoto was a peaceful and beautiful place, and we enjoyed the small town feel of the seventh largest city in Japan. We were able to see some of the famous cherry blossoms, and some very historical sites. We enjoyed the scenery of the rolling hills that surround the city on the north, east, and west sides, and the river that flowed through the center. This was the city we read about in books, and what we imagine when we think of an older Japan.

All in all, we had a great experience. We went into Japan, saying that this was the only time we would go there, and left saying we would be back.