Well, getting ready is harder than I thought. But I wanted a challenge - and here it is. What we have so far - an I -Pod, a camera, and a laptop :)

OK, so although I survive here with little else, Japan requires a bit more. We have been shopping for new clothes. They are a bit more conservative so we are going with capris for the girls and khakis for the little guy. Trying to find things that will transition to summer well. A few shorts and swimsuits. It is an island after all. We hope to do plenty of swimming,a nd maybe even some diving! I may have that set up very soon. I am bummed because my entire wardrobe revolves around jeans and they are not what is in over there.

Besides clothes, we are stocking up on OTC meds - Zyrtec for allergies especially. Most of what we allow here OTC is very hard to get even by Rx over there. Deodorant and toothpaste are two more hard to find items. We are set in that area I think. We are also bringing over a bunch of easter candy - M&M's and Skittles to hand out to all the people nice to us. It is the custom over there to hand out treats and gifts to everyone. It will be fun to have something especially American and fun and yummy to share!

Plans - now here is the fun part!! We are set on two apartments. One is in Tokyo - can you believe I got it for the same price as staying in the cheapest Youth Hostel dorm room! Yeah me!!!I rock I rock oh yeah... OK - sorry for that. Well it turns out to be quite the pad. I will write more about it when we are there - but we probably will not have windows because the rooms are lined up on each floor in a straight line - most rooms max out at about 20m2 (20 meters squared). Not very big! And that includes the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, laundry, closet, etc! But they are well equipped. The toilet in this one has a computerized flushing system with many buttons I am afraid to try (one sprays water on you :)). The washer/dryer is only one machine. You put in the clothes and soap, turn it on, and when it is done, they are dry! We also get high speed internet and a plasma TV with cable - all in Japanese of course (except CNN). So many cool feature! I will try and post some pics here if I can figure out how.

We will be there for three weeks. We hope to explore Tokyo to the max by then. We will be going to the Children's Hall - 5 stories of free stuff to explore with a rooftop playground and skate park. We will also definately look up the Sony building. Apparently you get to try out all the latest games - even before they are released. Then it is a move via the bullet train going 300mph to Kyoto. We have a two bedroom apartment there in the heart of the historical city. Again, if I can I will post pics.

After that we hope to meet up with a firend living in Northern Japan on our way to a horse farm. We will be staying there a week before going to a silk making farm. Perhaps we will see monkeys flying through the forest trees. We hope so.

So much to do - have to run. Forgive the typos - still have a broken finger :(

Hope to write again soon!!