As the title implies, I am back from my trip from Japan, and it was very interesting. Things ran the gambit from neat to even a little depressing. Overall, a very good experience.

My traveling buddy picks me up and we return to her place where we are met by a family friend that shuttles us to LAX. For the first time ever, I remembered everything that I needed to pack, and then some! I started documenting our trip ala my camera.
We hit LAX, get our stuff checked in, and discover our fight is delayed, so, as a result, we had extra time to screw around in the duty-free store, not that I really bought anything, despite the ridiculously cheap booze.
After we get out of the shop, I discover I am missing something: my camera. Like an idiot, I left it on the seat of the car that took us to the airport, which was already en route back to home. In Arizona! So, like any sane person, I kindly asked him to FedEx it to our first stop in Sendai; yes, it was expensive, but at the rate we were going to and coming from different stops on the trip, I would have missed it. Yay.
So, 6 hours of writing, talking and one Gran Torino movie later, we arrive at Tokyo airport, where the first thing that greets us is my arch nemesis, the Coca-Cola corporation, and customs. We get our bags, cell phones, currency and immediately meet up with my friend's father for the 5 hour car ride to Sendai. Now, I don't mind long trips, heck, the plane ride was a breeze, but when I don't know where I'm going and about how long it's gonna take, I get irritated. I was good until about the last hour of the trip. And, no, I can't fall asleep in cars, planes, trains, or automobiles. So it was like, sitting and staring at TV without blinking an inch away. Yarrrgh. We hit a rest stop half way, and DAMN! The revenue from the highway really goes to making luxurious potty stops! I felt under dressed!
When we did get to Sendai, we stayed at my friend's aunt's home, which is located in a historical portion of the city in which they keep traditional practices alive by teaching them to school kids, college students, the community, etc, as well as selling the goods. The aunt is an indigo dyer; we did spend some time learning and doing that too. Was really neat.

Sendai was really beautiful; it was truly "the city of trees." I spent a good amount of time hiking, in addition to shopping and EATING! I've never eaten so much in my life; the family we were staying with absolutely insisted! The only meal I got to serve myself was breakfast, which was just fine in my book; a bowl of oatmeal and protein powder to help offset the insane amount of calories consumed! Some of the stuff we decimated: home cooked meals, sushi, okonomiyaki, cold side-of-the-road-boonie-soba (the best kind), high-grade Korean beef, traditional Japanese pork bbq.
Some of the stuff we did: Sight seeing around the city, the visiting of local malls and shopping districts, learning how to fly fish in a gorgeous river and man made lake, exploring local forests, visiting an onsen, shoot off fireworks, pick indigenous edible plants, visit an all-you-can-eat cherry orchard, and many other things I'm sure I am forgetting. Before we left, I got my camera...:S

After about five days, we left for Tokyo, which was not what I expected it to be.
TOKYO:
5 days and no doubt eight pounds later, we say our goodbyes to our host and head to Tokyo. The place we stayed at was my friend's aunt's apartment near a university in Tokyo. The aunt was out of town on business, and we had the place to ourselves. Despite all of the generosity and hospitality that was showered upon us in Sendai, it was nice to just kind of be by ourselves for a little while. We also had individual rooms, with beds, which was, I admit, rather nice. I'm cool with tatami mats, but I had been pretty sore and my right shoulder was irritating me at the time, and come to think of it, is now, but I digress. -EDIT: WILL FINISH LATER-