If you know me in almost any venue outside of this blog, you’re aware I was in Japan for the last couple weeks with Jori. No surprise, the trip was awesome. I’ve got a bunch of blog posts about various aspects of the trip and a ton of photo editing in the works, but here’s a quick rundown (in no particular order).

• The iPad is the ultimate long-flight gadget. There are very few flights that will outlast the iPad’s battery.
• How to Train Your Dragon is a fun movie.
• The most basic of sushi spots in Tokyo is about as good as the best sushi spots in NYC.
• Baseball in Japan is a ton of fun to watch. The coordinated cheering is impressive, to say the least.
• It is motherfucking hot there in the summer. Last week, one day in Tokyo it was 101 Fahrenheit without the 90% humidity. It severely limited what we could get done in a day.
• 3G is available everywhere and getting the cheapest package of international data is worth it ($25 for 20mb), but plan on just using it for maps and email if you want to stay within your limit.
• The Mori Art Museum was awesome again. One of my favorite museums I’ve ever been to. See the Sensing Nature exhibit if you’ll be in Japan between now and November.
• Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki was more delicious than the Tokyo version.
• Kamikochi, in the Japan Alps, was incredibly beautiful.
• The train ride from Nagoya to Takayama was awesome. Try to sit in the very first car as you can see straight out the front.
• The Ghibli Museum was great the second time.
• If you like art or beautiful spaces, pick up Art Space Tokyo before you go.
• I think I actually lost weight on this trip because we walked so much.
• The best, and only in my findings, place to get green tea flavored Kit-Kats (yes, they are good) is at Narita Airport. Don’t bother looking around elsewhere.
• Kyoto’s International Manga Museum was worth a visit, but would be far better if we could read Japanese.
• Eating at a 545 year-old noodle shop in Kyoto was awesome.
• Ramen with noodles hand-pulled immediately before consumption is also awesome.
• Japan is expensive, but the food doesn’t have to be. Lunch and dinner probably averaged out to $13 per person per meal.
• Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Museum didn’t blow me away, but it was certainly depressing. It was like Holocaust Museum Lite.
• People don’t really speak English, but at train stations they speak Train English and at restaurants they speak Food English, so you should be okay. Most hotels have someone who speaks a decent amount of English, especially if you found the place in a guidebook.
• The country is incredibly homogenous. Walking to the subway in NYC this morning, it was a shock to see such a variety of colors and shapes as people passed me.

I’m sure I’ve got more in me, but I wanted to get out a quick list, lest I procrastinate.