Damnit - my vacation is over!

My last day in Japan and I went through another sleepless night. I can tell you that I will NOT get used to sleeping in a yukata (Japanese pajamas/bathrobes) I REALLY did not want to go back home, but my plane ticket says I had to leave home and I need to go back to work to make some money for the next trip. Also, I need to play hockey again and install BLUE to my helmet!

	A diagram of the Asakusa subway with escalators for easier transportation of items such as heavy luggage!
	Unfortunately, the setup was not ready at the time; therefore, I had to lug that heavy luggage up and down a bunch of stairs again...

I made it to Tokyo Station and I had a lot of time to kill before I catch the NEX back to the airport; therefore, I decided to have one last internet session at Kinko's (initially, I thought that the service charges were a bit high for net use, but in the end, I would learn to love this place for surfing the net) and one last sushi lunch. Now, when I had the sushi lunch, I noticed a sign that they had fugu, which is the famous Japanese blowfish. If you do not know, special sushi chefs are only allowed to serve fugu because there's only a certain part of the meat that is edible; the rest of the meat are pure poison. However, I did not try it - I'm still young enough to live for a while.

Eventually, it was time to catch the NEX, and I was off... time to go back home.

	Here's a couple of arcade games that allows you to become a pilot.
	Don't feel like being a pilot? Then step right up here and try your luck in becoming a shinkansen train conductor!
	There's my United Airlines plane back to Seattle. The weather outside HAD to be raining - it did not help raise my spirits going back home. Or maybe the Japanese Gods are crying because they cannot curse me in Japan until I come back... whatever. :P

When I arrived at the United check-in counter, the lady asked if I wanted window or aisle seat - aisle, of course! Ain't gonna risk getting blocked by a person and bring more pain to my now-pampered ass (I miss the washlets). However, as it turned out, the plane was not full by the time it took off, and I ended up having the window AND aisle seats to myself! Woo-hoo! However, the sucky part was that there were other people who would end up getting the entire middle row to themselves (and that would cover 5 seats); therefore, they had a super easy time lying down to catch some sleep. Me, I had a bitch-ass time trying to sleep - the seats don't lean back too far; therefore, I had to make myself REAL compact by rolling myself into the smallest human ball I could be, but it was really uncomfortable. I ended up feeling some nice back and neck pain. And on a side note, the headphones for the video screen did not work properly again.

When I arrived in Seattle, I had to go through the fun people at customs... this time, there was no strip searching - just a shitload of questions to make sure I'm being consistent. After that, I waited for a couple of hours before I had my final flight to Vancouver. Vacation time is nearly over...

	The PCL bus to the ferry terminal. Before I got my ticket to go back home, a female ticket agent was acting quite rude to a couple of customers. I was really surprised - I guess I was really spoiled with the great customer service of the Japanese people.
	BC Ferries - my final ride before I return on the island. Unlike the many, out-of-date ferries currently in service, my ferry did not break down. :P

Once I arrived back at the Swartz Bay Ferry terminal, my brother-in-law picked me up and that was it - the vacation was over. I was back on good ol' Canadian soil, but I really wanted to go back to Japan!

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