Blogs from Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 4

It rained for the first time I've been here today! After a delicious lie in a few of us headed off to the wonderful town of Ginza. Amazingly we had chosen a day to go when there was a festival and all the main roads were blocked off, they had chairs in the middle of the road and everything! Apparently Ginza has a few art galleries that we were interested in seeing. However they were unbelievably hard to find and in fact didn't get to any of them.. we did however manage to stumble across one of the most fascinating, bizarre shops i've ever encountered. It was full of these porcelain dolls.. but unbelievably freaky and all very different. Some were lifesize and were so humanlike it was unbelievable. One of the designers of the dolls ... read more

Okay. So it appears i should have done what most normal people do and ask about internet access in the room rather than just using their internet kiosk in the lobby. They offered me a laptop rental service. I said I didn't need as I had my own. I was then given the necessary cable to access the net from my room.... free of charge. Doh! Anyway where was I... oh yeah I finally got to scrub up and rid myself of wearing jeans (the day started out with rain and 14 degrees but cleared to a comfortable 22 degrees with low humidity) and into more appropriate shorts and a t-shirt. I was picked up around 1pm to go on a 1/2 day tour to Tokyo. It was a bit of a rigmarole. i got picked ... read more

We are confused!!　crazy　ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ　keyboard; train ticketing, maps;phones not working but will sort in paris. weve enjoyed shopping and eating. very expensive here and they love THEIR brands TIFFANYS chanel louis vutton etc etc. headed down to harajuku to check out the winter fashion and we are staying in ginza. IZZY has refused to eat whale, apparently its not for scientific purposes after all. WE will update the photos in paris because this computer is　doing our heads in. about to head out for some tempura. bye for now.,..... ... read more

Kabuki was a popular form of entertainment among commoners during the Edo period (1603-1868). Each season began in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, so theaters presented kaomise kyogen (face-showing drama), which introduced the actors who would appear on stage for the next year. Kaomise banzuke (pamphlets with actors' portraits) were published, and many people visited the theaters. Kabuki was established in the early Edo period by a woman named Izumono Oukni at the Shijo River in Kyoto. It initially became popular as a kind of review or operetta performed by courtesans and beautiful young boys, but they were eventually banned for reasons of immorality, leading to the present style of kabuki performed by adult males only. Kabuki's spreading popularity reached the warrior class to the point where even ladies who worked in o-oku (living ... read more