So, the last few days have been a bit crazy and exciting.  Today was gaijin goes to a baseball game! I saw the Yomiuri Giants (of Tokyo) against the Chimichuri Dragons (of...somewhere else in Japan :p) Up until the 4th inning, the game was close and it was mostly a pitchers duel but as the game went on it felt like the dragon's batters were figuring out the Giants pitching, and scored on a homerun in the 5th.. They hit it right into their section of the stadium, which was left field.  It seemed like the entire area was cheering for the Dragons (in blue) while the rest of the stadium was pretty much a sea of orange for the Giants!  It turned out that today, the Dragons would beat the Giants and the Tokyo fans would go home quiet. It was an interesting game, and very cool to see how baseball is in another country.  Most of the rules of the game are the same but apparently in Japan the stadiums are smaller than MLB regulation which I think is because they aren't power hitters like in MLB.  It was much more strategic hitting and fielding which made the game exciting to watch:)

Other than the baseball game, I have been doing a lot of sweating.  It's been unbelievable how hot it has been, and no matter how much water I drink, its NEVER enough.  Some days have involved going out in the morning, then coming back at lunch/early afternoon showering and going back out later in the day.  35 degrees with 60% humidity will do that to you.  Talking to locals, they say it has been like this for a month after the rainy season, and even while they live here it doesn't get much easier.  I have gone back to my old tricks of ducking into stores that have the AC blasting, just to cool down for a bit before going back out into the heat.  Yesterday I walked around the Imperial grounds, which while beautiful and interesting to see how they guarded the King and Queen was swealtering and I cut the walk short early.  The 2 hour walk involved 3 litres of water.  Walking around. Not some nasty run/bike ride up a mountain. Just walking.  I hope the next few cities are a bit better and cooler than Tokyo has been!

 Dimitri arrived today and we will be moving to a new hostel that is closer to the fish market, as a 3 AM wake up call is going to be nasty, but hopefully worth it to see the tuna auction and for some breakfast sushi :)
After that we will be heading around Tokyo for the day before heading to Yokohama for a fireworks display that Dimitri found and looks fantastic!

There will be more updates coming soon as we take the train to Hiroshima I will have lots of time to update with pictures, so keep an eye out!