Dec 30, Locked up Aborad (almost)

5:30 alarm goes off. I am in an ice cold bed while Max is on the steaming hot floor of a love motel. We both are groggy from a night sleep that I can forget about. We both take showers, at least those were hot and head out of the motel toward the Busan Interantional Port. The walk is easy and get there in less than 10 minutes and have time to figure out where we are supposed to go. After a few minutes find the check-in for our ferry and wait until the window opens. Window opens and we get our tickets and go through customs. No problem there. Board the hydrofoil which is an express ferry from Busan to Hakata, Japan. (normal ferry which we will be taking on Sunday takes 6 hours, while this one takes 3.) The Ferry leaves right on schedule and we are off to Japan!! Fall asleep for a couple hours and the next thing I know is that we are arriving in Japan. Fill out our customs and declarations forms, dock, and get off the Ferry.
Head toward immigration, where everyone is required to give fingerprints and a photo. That went well for the both of us. Then we head on to customs were the man asks me if I smoke cigarettes? I reply no, and he asks if he can check my bag. I hand it over to him because I have nothing illegal whatsoever. He starts checking the top part of the bag, where my toiletries are, which contain most my pills. I always have to be prepared in case of any situation. I guess the guy was shocked or new at the job, but was very curious about each one. He called another security guard over to check it out. I guess that wasn’t enough, so they escorted me into a small room and shut the door. Reminded me of the show locked up abroad. He checked every part of my body, luckily no strip search. Emptied all my pockets, then unpacked my whole bag. Took the pills that were not prescribed like, Sudafed, Tylenol cold, and such asking what they were and how many mg. I told them everything honestly because I had nothing to hide. Another security guard comes in who knows better English than the other two. He translates and then another guy comes in with a pen and paper to take down the pill names and went to research it. Meanwhile, Max made it through perfectly fine and is waiting on the other side not knowing what is going on. Back to me, I am just sitting there freaking out thinking that they are going to A) not let me in the country, B) take all of my pills, or C) arrest me. I guess they could see my frustration and nervousness and told me not to worry. As they were doing this they looked through my passport and asked about Israel, Costa Rica, and Mexico. I thought I was fucked (excuse my language). Finally after 40 minutes and six security guards the main guy comes back in and tells me everything is okay. I tell him thank you and understand that it is his job. They escort me out of the room and into Japan where I saw Max and gave him a hug and told him what happened.
We leave the Hakata port, get in a cab and head toward the Hakata station where we get the bullet train to Hiroshima. Purchase our tickets to Hiroshima and also from Tokyo back to Hakata on the 3rd. We had 15 minutes to catch our train and figure out the location of it. Task accomplished, got on the bullet, and man does this thing move. We got to Hiroshima in 2 or so hours and think it would have taken us 8 hours by a regular train. Hiroshima is a pretty big city and we wanted to see the A-bomb memorial, so we asked the Information desk, who pointed us in the right direction. Got on a street car and went to the memorial, but first had to get a bite to eat. We were really hungry so we went in to the first thing we saw, which was Subway. 2 sandwiches and 2 drinks; 20 dollars, damn this country is expensive! After a fulfilling meal went to all the Hiroshima sights, which were incredible and I am unable to explain the damage we caused to this city. Just unbelievable, and the fact that it was an overcast day made it that much more intense.
After walking around the memorial, took a stroll through this underground mall that had hundreds of people going in and out of shops. Took a break at a coffee shop and still had some time to kill. Max found this temple surrounded by a moat, which was completed destroyed by the a-bomb and rebuilt in the 50’s or 80’s so we headed there. Very beautiful and saw the biggest coy fish that I had ever seen. Walked around the area, Max in his King phase; acting as if he were the King back then. Finished wondering around and headed back to the street car to get back to the train station in order to get the overnight bus to Tokyo. Had some dinner at the station and then boarded the bus now on the way to Tokyo.
Key notes- this place is very expensive. Let me repeat very expensive. Not a place to travel if you are a backpacker.
Never have I traveled so much on so many different types of transportation- subway, train, ferry, bullet train, bus.
Love you all, Jeremy