Bootstrappin’

Japan has a lot of rules, and there are signs like this posted everywhere. I don’t know what half of these pictures even mean, but I have some guesses (from left to right, top to bottom): 1. No smoking. 2. No black dogs with white ears. 3. No calculating of the air speed velocity of […]

The Japanese are very thorough people, especially when it comes to signs. That’s why the put SEVEN (count ’em, SEVEN!) signs warning of “Falling Rocks” within twenty feet of each other on this slope on the way down from Mt. Fuji. This, of course, is just a small selection of the hundreds of warning signs […]

Before I came to Japan, I had already formulated a pretty strong opinion about Mt. Fuji. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan, and one of the most famous mountains in the world, climbed by over 200,000 people per year. In fact, I’d say that more people could identify Mt. Fuji by picture alone than […]

I’d heard all about Japanese efficiency before coming to Japan: conveyer belt restaurants; auto-parking bike garages; toilets that do the clean-up for you; and of course, capsule hotels. So, after a few days in the country, I figured it was time to experience one of these most definitively Japanese hotels first hand. Capsule hotels consist […]

In my first few days in Japan, I’ve observed two things: Japan is a filthy country, and the people are all incredibly rude. … … … Yeah, yeah, yeah… that’s not true at all. Tokyo is probably the most hospitable, comfortable places I’ve ever been — aside from the overwhelming heat, that is. Yes, the […]

Pete and I arrived in Tokyo yesterday. Here we are on our first full day in the city: So…now what?

I’m leaving on a jet plane…don’t know when I’ll be back again.

September 2007, just past dawn. New York State Route 17. I’m squeezed in my Los Angeles-bound Ford Taurus, packed with all of my earthly belongings, on my 8th cross-country drive in two years…feeling like a sell-out. When I graduated from Ithaca College the previous May, I vowed to myself (and anyone who would listen) that […]

Once upon a time, there were these two guys named Pete, who traveled around the world. This is their story. Welcome to The Adventures of Pete and Pete! We’re two guys from upstate New York trying to travel west around the world for as little money as possible. This is a blog where I (one […]