Nintendo

One stop we had to make while in Kyoto was to wear Nintendo started. Dustin and I both grew up playing Nintendo games. We just had to see where it all started. While researching I could only find the name of the road. I took that information to our base travel company. After a good laugh they started searching for more specific directions. Finally they gave up and called the Nintendo offices in Tokyo to get better directions. Finally we were able to narrow the location down to five blocks down a street.

In Kyoto we took a bus to the nearest stop and then used a geocache website to get us right to the spot. We walked down narrow streets until we came across an alley with a small chain guarding it.

That's it! The million-dollar Nintendo company that we know and love started in this alley.

As we walked out to the main street to catch a bus back to touristy areas we met a man walking. Often when we are traveling Japanese locals will ask us where we are from and want to talk with us. A coworker explained that they want to practice their English. Most of the time when we say we are from Iwakuni-shi in Yamaguchi Prefecture we get nods, but no real recognition. That would be like saying I'm from Clinton, Ohio. Okay, great. I have no idea where that is, but go on. This time he immediately recognized the name from the Japanese news programs regarding the Osprey protests. It was nice to have recognition, but not for that!

Oh well, we still got to see the starting place of Nintendo!