My first visitor

Sean Simpson--one of the few guys I formed a very long-lasting bond with during my undergraduate years at EWU--is coming all the way from Alaska to visit and travel a little bit of Japan with me. Since I am housing and probably feeding him alot of this time, as well as being the translator (since he only took a year of Japanese many years ago himself and has forgotten almost everything) he has decided to pay for hotel for a 2-day trip to Tokyo on his way out. So I'm going to go ahead and do that! This will also help pave the way for our trip a month later to Tokyo. Hopefully all goes well. I have traveled Kansai extensively now, and I haven't had any REAL problems getting around at all. Things are more-or-less logical, except for the maps and the strange ticketing machines. You kinda have to know the kanji names for where you are going, unfortunately! You also have to know the name of the lines in some cases, which can be confusing too. So I will be heading to Shin-Kobe to pick up Sean tomorrow, and if all goes well picking him up with limited contact capabilites, then that is rad. If not...well, we'll get it worked out, and hopefully it isn't too painful for any of us. Wish me luck!