Catching up...

I didn't realize how remiss I've been with updating the blog until I logged in just now. It's been quite the week since then with a lot of stuff to catch everybody up on. (NB, the sketchy internet here means I will just wait to upload pictures, rather than tear my hair out with this weird connection.)
Kyoto was pretty cool, although we didn't do too much sightseeing when we were there. Partly because it was really hot a humid (big surprise, I know) and also because we had to spend a lot of our one full day there back in Osaka to look at a couple more apartments. The travel time wasn't so bad though and in the end it was totally worth it because we ended up putting a deposit down on one of them the next day. Oddly I think this apartment is going to be the nicest and most "adult" apartment either Rachel or I have ever had. It's what referred to here as a 2LDK, which references (here in reverse order) a kitchen with a dining space inside of it and then a living room, which counts as one of the "2", and the bedroom. Anyway, it should be awesome, it's not in the most happening neighborhood but I think we both prefer that, and it's right next to both the local subway lines and the JR lines, which will be good for getting around the city for both of us and to neighboring towns in the Kansai region (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto) for Rachel's research.
Since Kyoto we've been back in Tokyo at our "Funky Flat" that we've rented with G&L for 10 days. It's honestly slightly more strange of an apartment than we thought it would be based on the online profile, mostly because the shower never gets hot (even though the gas water heater is in the shower room, which is a whole headache by itself) and there isn't a good communal hang out area. Also the internet is a little spotty, which is one of the reasons I've been bad about updating.
The other reason, however, is that we've actually been pretty active during our time here, getting around to lots of different areas within Tokyo and out to some outlying areas. At this point I am tempted to rattle off all of our various adventures for all of our loyal readers, but I fear that would tax one's patience unduly.
One of the more important parts of coming back to Tokyo was that I finally got to meet Rachel's host sister Keiko. We meet for yakitori and beers on Thursday and then the following day went to a cookout with the teachers from her school at a very strange park near the water. The food was awesome, and the pace was actually quite nice, having made a shift from shopping/sightseeing to hanging out.
Our biggest day so far, though, was Saturday. We spent a lot of time on trains going back and forth throughout Tokyo and also a lot of time with music, which had been surprisingly spare up to this point in the trip. In the afternoon we descended to Asakusa for the 2012 Asakusa Samba Festival (which was my first bonafide samba experience). Apparently this has been going on for decades and had about 20 groups performing in the parade. Mostly they were local samba schools, with baterias of varying quality. The costumes and dancing were all pretty awesome - even if just for the sheer absurdity of it all. We didn't stay for the whole thing though, mostly because it was damn hot and the throngs of people lining the sidewalk were unrelenting in their need to get as close to the action as possible. (This included more than a few middle-aged photography enthusiasts snapping pictures of the revealing outfits with telephoto lenses...)
After escaping the hordes in Asakusa, we began our epic train ride down to the coastal town of Kamakura, where Garreth was performing in an awesome little bar with a musician he knew from his tour here 9 years ago and another local performer, bracketed by two other local Jazz bands. I'll spare the details here, but the music was fantastic (from all three bands), with good snacks and a very simple pricing scheme for the drinks (¥500 for everything). It was also my first view of the pacific rim from this side of the world...
The last couple of days have been more chilled out, punctuated by more good food (Okonomiyaki in Ginza and Sushi in the Tsukiji fish market area) and an ill-fated trip to the Park Hyatt hotel bar of Lost in Translation fame.
At the moment we are all lounging around the apartment resting up for the next big outing ----
Japanese Pro Baseball!!!
It's the Yakult Swallows vs. the Hiroshima Carp. We expect to purchase any or all of the following: wristbands, towels, tiny umbrellas and stadium food. Apparently this will also be Rachel's first professional baseball game in any league, which we all decided was appropriate.