Blogs from Minato, Tokyo, Japan, Asia
November 20th 2010
Here are photos of Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple, Minato area of Tokyo. Both are well worth the visit... read more
August 1st 2010
We're sorry we couldn’t get to you (more on that later), so we're giving you the whole of our time in Kyoto in one big blog entry. Yesterday, but there was no internet connection in the Ryokan. No photos today either as not enough time to load them. We'll put them up tomorrow. We went to Tokyo Station and took the Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Kyoto covering 500 kilometres in two and a quarter hours. We wanted to see Mount Fuji from the train, but thick fog meant we couldn’t see anything. Just before I tell you anything else I just want to say the bullet train is incredibly fast (and cool). We checked into our Ryokan (a traditional Japanese guest house-google it) and then we went to have some noodles for lunch. Compared to ... read more
April 27th 2009
I woke up today and thought to myself...why is my voice all scratchy? This isn't normal. Then I realized that wow...I think I just hit a milestone in my language study. Went out with the circle at 1:30 in the afternoon yesterday and came back at 10pm that night. No english was spoken. And I talked enough to burn my voice out a bit...now that is cool. Today was the big welcome for the new students that decided to join the circle. Stuff before was just to drum up interest so we had plans for going to a fair trade shop, bowling, and then dinner and a fancy place called umeko (food was so-so) The day started off great and just kept getting better. I learned how to say properly in Japanese "the more I improve ... read more
March 31st 2009
The Tokyo metro area by most measures clocks in at around 12 million people who's main protein source is fish (although this has been changing as McDonalds etc. has been colonizing the world). It makes for the biggest fish market in the world, called the Tsukiji Wholesale Market, a 40 minute train ride from my house. This is the market responsible with providing ALL of Tokyo either directly or indirectly with its fish. From the top restaurants who go directly, to major supermarket chains who take deliveries from a middleman, to the little neighborhood fishmonger, if you eat fresh fish in Tokyo, it comes from here. Everyday with very few exceptions fishing boats from the waters around Japan come in and unload everything you can imagine that lives in the ocean, starting around 3am in the ... read more
March 14th 2009
After a two hour nap between our visiting to the Fish Market, and meeting our friend, Itsuyo, we took the subway to Ebisu to meet her. Naturally, we were standing on the wrong side of the station. So, she called, and we finally had the joyful reunion we had anticipated for several months. We headed to the 28th floor of an Ebisu office building for lunch, a Korean barbecue place with a fantastic view of Tokyo. Though it was cold and rainy most of the day, the view was clearly fantastic. We proceeded with a gift exchange, and sat down to a gourmet Korean lunch of Japanese beef, so tender and flavorful. From here, we headed out on the subway to Akihabara or Electric Town, the electronics heartbeat of Tokyo. It is the home of the ... read more
March 12th 2009
Everyone knows that Tokyo is the capital and the largest city in Japan. Tokyo is one of 47 prefectures, although it is called a metropolis, consisting of 23 wards, 26 cities, 5 towns, and 8 villages, including the islands of Izu and Ogasawara. Prior to 1868, Tokyo was known as Edo, a small castle town in the 16th century, became known as the political center of Japan in 1603. In a few decades, it became one of the most populous cities in the world. And the Meiji Restoration in 1868 moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo. The earthquake of 1923, and bombing during WW2 in 1945 destroyed parts of Tokyo. Today's Tokyo is a dense network of railways, buses, and subways operated by about 12 different companies. The major train line ... read more
March 11th 2009
The long awaited day and trip are finally here. We are off to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan for a trip of a lifetime (we hope). I do have some trepidation about being a Japanese American in Japan, and unable to speak Japanese very well. But it will be a stern test of what little I know and understand from my childhood days with my grandparents, who lived across the street. I will first rely on asking questions and directions. Second, I (we) are taking the Pimsleur Learning to Quick and Easy Japanese. Third, we can always hire a local guide, who can speak both languages to show us around the four cities on our trip. Our first stop is Tokyo, of course. And we are most looking forward to seeing our dear friend, Itsuyo. Sheri ... read more
October 27th 2008
I have a lot of people ask me what the food is like. The fish is incredible, of course. It is the best sushi you will ever have. They sell it everywhere. Stephen eats sushi everyday for lunch from Seven-11 and it is good. I ordered crab miso soup the other day at lunch and I got miso soup with a whole crab in it. Not what I was picturing I was going to get, but there was meat in the crab legs I could eat and it was excellent. We try a new restaurant every weekend and we try to stick to Japanese food. Out to eat last weekend the brought over a platter of the different fish of the day. The urchin was still moving! This past Saturday we ate at a new restaurant ... read more
October 7th 2008
I am constantly having to do math. Getting used to the money is hard in itself. Stephen taught me to think of 1,000 yen as being $10, but 100 yen (which would be a $1 if you are keeping up) is a coin. I have several times offered to buy my grande vanilla latte at Starbucks for 4,000 yen which would be $40. Thank goodness the Japanese are such honest people. They also show the temperature in celsius, not that I am reading to many papers here. I just look up on weather.com and it shows me what the temperature is going to be in good old fashion fahrenheit. They also show time in military time. I am having to do math again to figure out what time my workout class is when it is at ... read more
September 30th 2008
After 2 weeks in Tokyo we have a few obervations: 1) It rains a lot, but the Japanese do not wear rain jackets for some reason. They always have umbrellas with them because even if it is not raining (rarely) they are using it to block the sun. Which brings me to my next point 2) They don't wear sunglasses (when the sun is actually out). The only time we've seen anyone wearing sunglasses, it has been girls in their twenties, and they are wearing them at night, clearly for fashion, leading me to my next point 3) The women are always wearing heels, ALWAYS. And it doesn't matter what the tempature is out, they will wear a wool dress or knee high black boots on a 80 degree day. I've even seen Uggs pulled out ... read more
