i haven't gone past new year's eve in my paper journal. actually, i haven't even finished new year's eve yet. we've been doing so much each day. today we went to ueno zoo and i fell in love with many animals.

i think i may just finish out my writings and then attempt to make a travel diary upon my return home. it would probably be more interesting with photos, anyway.

we're going to hakone tomorrow. i'm still nervous about going to the hot springs and sharing nakedness with complete strangers, but considering that they don't really care at all, i don't know why i'm so nervous. public baths are just so not part of american culture.

speaking of culture, this morning we were going to go to a big department store (i forget the name) for opening - my brother said all the workers line up and bow to customers as you enter the store. so we get there and there's a huge line - down the street, around the corner, down a couple of blocks. we're wondering what the ?? so there's a thing they do on new year's with these surprise packages. you pay a set amount and you're guaranteed that whatever is in the package is worth at least that amount. if you get lucky, you might get over 10x the value. so this is what the line was for. we tried another store, too, but the lines were just as bad so we gave up and went to eat. at least 6 people were injured in the rush of the crowd at the first store we went to this morning. my brother said he read in the paper that people got trampled in another place yesterday. there's some culture for you. japanese shopping maniacs.

also, the pachinko (is that how you spell it?) parlor was quite insane.

i must sleep now as it's nearly 11pm. we have to leave here by 7:15 so that we arrive in time to catch the 'romance train' to hakone at 8:55 tomorrow morning.