Episode 1 ICAA Japan Tour 2007
Bryant Irawan / Indonesia Media
 Imagine a world where rugged forests combine with bustling urban metropolises yet still able to preserve its culture. Last week, ICAA planned another 5000 mile away spring break tour to Japan. Although Japan’s rural city hotel rooms are traditional with no mattresses, Japan’s urban cities has increasingly modernized itself and has obtained the status and dignity to be compared to Shanghai and many other large Asian metropolises. ICAA planned the tour to be seven days visiting most of Japan’s famous highlights.
Group photo at Hei An Temple
 
Left image: Dr. Frits Hong, president of ICAA leads the tour
Right image: Bryant Irawan
 
Left image: Dr. Frits Hong dressing up his Yukata
Right image: The principal shows the principle of rest
 
Left image: Four companions
Right image: Toast with the leaders
DAY 1: 
With everybody accounted for at LAX, the eighty eight company was ready to be deployed to Japan. With the help of the leaders, the group was able to go through screening in record time. All there’s left to do is eat McDonald’s and board the plane.
Image: Tour Bus # 1
DAY 2:
After a smooth landing, we met with our local tour guide and headed to our hotel in Narita to eat a giant dinner before going to sleep. As expected the rooms were very tight due to the extreme population density of Japan, but everyone could not resist the temptation of Japan’s renowned electronic toilet.
 
Left image: Tour bus # 2
Right image: Ruvalcaba's Friends
Day 3:
Image: sakura
 After packing our bags, we headed down to eat the hotel breakfast before going to Tokyo. On the one hour drive to Tokyo, our bus was shielded from most of the views along the highway by giant sound proof walls on both sides. Though the walls served as sound barriers, they also protect drivers and cars from merciless typhoons and horrible weather. However, we did manage to take a glimpse of Japan on the highway and tour guide explained to us that we were extremely  lucky since last week was a very special week in Japan. When the walls cleared up, our group was flabbergasted by the beauty of Japan’s true nature. Left and right, sakuras were popping out to greet our arrival. The tour guide, Joey, explained that sakuras were only visible
Image: sound proof wall
for a week. The last tour group Joey led came to Japan just for sakuras, but when they arrived expecting to see gorgeous pink sakuras… they were disappointed to only see naked sakuras tree branches. Our group was the lucky group. Of all the weeks the sakuras could bloom, they chose to bloom to celebrate our arrival and our group roared with enthusiasm in response as we travel to Tokyo.
 We finally reached Tokyo and we were all surprised to see sakuras were also alive in the boisterous city of Tokyo. After penetrating through the dense metropolis, the sakuras led us to the Imperial Palace, home of the royal family. The Imperial Palace was tightly guarded and had top of the line surveillance so we were not permitted to take a group picture with two banners.
Image: Niju Bashi Bridge Tokyo Imperial Palace
Our next stop was to the oldest temple in Tokyo, the Asakusa Kannon Temple. However, before actually stepping inside the temple, one must bore his or herself through the dense crowds of tourists to reach one of the four gates.  There was only a small, cramped aisle to reach the gate and the aisle was surrounded by small kiosk and sakuras gardens, making the passageway extremely overcrowded, but our eighty-eight company was confident and were ready to throw themselves into the large crowd. Our tour leader commenced a charge through the thick sea of tourists and natives and we bored our own passageway into the temple. In no time, we reached the gate
Image: Purifying Water
and there was only one obstacle, but there was one more obstacle we had to overcome before entering. Purifying.  The Japanese tradition before entering a temple is to purify oneself by drinking holy water and bathing yourself in incense smoke. Once the preparation task is done, you are permitted to pray in the temple. Inside, one can find fortune sticks and a circular praying area. All temples come with a coin box for donations and a statue of Buddha. After we prayed, our group rendezvous at a famous gate guarding the Asakusa temple near a cluster of rickshaws and ate a classic Japanese set nearby.
Image: Crowded Asakusa Kannon Temple souvenir shops
 Once our company was in order, we headed onward to the Ginza shopping street. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Apple, and Tiffany & Co. stores swarmed the street and malls climbed skyward. Although our group was allowed to browse around, nobody spent a single yen in the stores due to the outrageous price from all the top-name brands.
Image: Ginza Shopping Street
After fifteen minutes of browsing, we advanced to Tokyo’s central park, the Meiji Shrine. With its 700,000 square feet of forest, it can be seen clearly from any Tokyo skyscraper. Shrines are completely different from temples. Shrines are religious places for Shinto believers and are always guarded with a Torii gate. As expected, the group experienced two traditional Japanese weddings. After quickly glancing through the main building of the shrine we charged onward, advancing into Tokyo’s dense urban area once again.
 The sun started to set so we all rushed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office to get a nice view of Tokyo before the sun vanished. The government office was famous for its 45 th floor panoramic view and café. The elevator was packed with our eighty-eight tour group and the revolutionary elevator took us to the top in no time. In the observatory, we spotted for Tokyo hotspots and were able to see almost all of our spots today and even our next destination, Shinjuku.
Image: Tokyo Government Building
With shops, restaurants, underground shopping malls, and neon lights Shinjuku is the true heart of Tokyo. Instead of flushing away precious yen on the pricy stores, we visited a secret underground shopping department and ate a shabu-shabu dinner afterwards. Luckily, the dinner was all-you-can-eat because everyone begged for more. Our final task was to sleep. 
Day 4:
Image: Shinjuku Shopping Street
Fortunately, we had a lot of rest the other night because today we would be climbing up two mountains! Obviously, the first one would be Mt. Fuji –perhaps the most famous mountain in Japan- and the other mountain is Mt. Hakone –another famous volcanic mountain in Japan-. Last but not least, we planned to visit the Owakudani –a sulphurous erupting area with hot rivers and hot springs-. Lucky for us, the climb to Mt. Fuji’s 5 th station -3776 meters- was by bus. On the other hand, the weak still had a tough time in Fuji for the chilly winds and slippery snow targeted them. Needless to say, Mt. Fuji –Warrior Mountain- is still an active volcano, but its last eruption was all the way back in 1708. After a few pictures and snowballs, our group rushed into the tour bus and headed to our second destination, Owakudani.
The meandering road got to the best of us and the unfortunate dizzy souls had to move up front, but we managed and we were already at the base of Owakudani. The dizzy tourists were ecstatic to finally get off from the roller-coaster, but disappointment quickly took over.
Image: Mt. Fuji
 Image: Owakudani's Black Egg
The mist thickened and our visibility decreased to only of a seven meter radius and the probability for injury was very high especially since the steps were uneven and wet. Fortunately, the zenith of the mountain was much lower compared to the Great Wall visit in the first ICAA China Tour and the journey only took twenty minutes. In addition, the slope was much more welcoming. However, the low visibility and injury-friendly terrain problem didn’t make the climb as easy as we thought. Nevertheless, one more enormous challenge stood in our way. The stingy aroma of sulfur. Then again, we had a trick up our sleeves… our dedicated will and motivation. Ancient myths say that once you reach the summit, there is a little shop that sells black eggs that are boiled in hot spring water. As well as its irresistible taste and aroma, the eggs provide an extension of seven years to your life. Even though there were some critics, all the same, we came, we saw, and we conquered.
Left Image: Phot with yukatas
Right Image: Famous Shinto Torii Gate
  Finally, it was time to hop on board the pirate boat theme cruise ship in Lake Ashi home of a famous Shinto Torii Gate that was believed to protect the residents of the area from a dragon dwelling beneath the lake. A neat fact of the lake is it covers the whole crater of Mt. Hakone. After a short trip, we headed back to the hotel and dressed in our yukatas for dinner. An interesting trivia of the regulations for Japanese hot springs is that nobody is permitted to have any kind of clothing to prevent contamination. To conclude the day, we jumped to our hotel hot spring and sleep.
Left image: Pirate Boat ride on Lake Ashi
Right image: ICAA tour buses
 
Left Image: Wisma and Husband members that came all the way from East Coast
Right Image: Melanie Gitaadji and Husband at Todaiji Temple
 
Left Image: Mr. Soto at Ginza Shopping Street
Right Image: Oldest gate in Asakusa Kannon Temple
 
Left Image: Dinner with yukatas
Right Image: Lanterns corridor to the Asakusa Kannon Temple
 
Left Image: Even Mt. Fuji has Indonesian wording
Right Image: Finger food vendor
 
Left Image: Traditional Japanese Dinner Set
Right Image: Japanese rickshaws
 
Left image: kimono outfits
Right image: Johana at Mt. Fuji
 
Left image: Mt. Fuji at 5th level
Right image: Mt. Fuji from a distance
 
Left image: Mt. Fuji's bus stop
Right image: Owakudani a sulphurous erupting area
 
Left image: Cooking black eggs at hot spring
Right image: Praying at Meji Shrine
 
Left image: Purifying water
Right Image: sakura at entrance of Osaka temple
 
Left image: Shinjuku District
Right image: First breakfast at Narita
 
Left image: toast with leaders
Right image: Torii gate in Meji Shrine
 
Left image: Tokyo Imperial Palace
Right image: typical houses at Hakone
 
Left image: Typical tatami room
Right image: wedding ceremony at Meji Shrine
 
Left image: Shopping at Mt. Fuji's store
Right image: Let's get into Todaiji Temple
 
Image: Shabu-shabu dinner! ALL YOU CAN EAT!
TO BE CONTINUED...
| 
