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Blogs from Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Asia
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Kimonos, Pandas and the last chance saloon
Published: December 31st 2012Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku
December 4th 2012
Day 14, 15 & 16 Our final day with the tour group was a grey one. Despite the assurances of Kim, the day was dark and dreary and quite cold. We started with a trip to a temple in Tokyo, which had an impressive gate at the entrance. It was still quite early, so the boulevard of shops where not all open, meaning there was less to distract everyone. We had a go at our fortune, where you shake up a wooden box of sticks and through a small hole one pops put. On the stick is a kanji which you match to the ones on the wall and take the paper fortune of the matching one. Kathryn got very bad luck not once but twice. We tied it up, and left it there, hoping the ... read more
October 4th 2012
Day 1: Landing at Narita, Eleanor was very excited about seeing her dad. We had seen on le news the previous night that Tokyo was going to be hit by a typhoon (well, my rudimentary French picked that up, although Tokyo could have been about to be bought by a tycoon as the predictive text on the tablet seems to think). I hoped our flights wouldn't be delayed but all was well - I think the tycoon purchased some, but not all of Tokyo! We caught an express bus to Shinjuku because I wasn't ready to take on the railways yet and that was easy. Dean was in the hotel foyer doing something unusual for a change - reading a newspaper! Surprised to see us, it was a happy family reunion. He didn't have quite the ... read more
July 20th 2012
Was Mike naked or not? Well arrive back in in Tokyo and just get settled into the hotel and first thing get the blog off and catch up on what you have all been doing on facebook. Facebook is a little bit of home for me finding out what you are all doing. Anyway a good friend (Amanda) sent me a message through facebook to facetime her. So quick like a shot I try using my MacAir and cannot seem to connect. So try via my phone and hey presto there is Amanda talking to me from Starbucks at the Fort in Manchester - isn’t technology brill. So we are catching up on what is going on from both Amanda’s perspective and mine and Mike decides to wave at Amanda. Now picture the scene I am ... read more
Wifi or not wifi that is the question? I know you have missed me (like a hole in the head I am sure some of you are saying, ha ha)
Published: July 19th 2012Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku
July 19th 2012
I suppose you have all been wondering - where is Mike and Paula’s blog! Well I can tell you the hotel that I suggested said it had wifi but when you tried to connect you just could not do so. Not only that we had to get a taxi to it - the hotel Mike suggested was across the road from the train station and probably had wifi! Does not stop there as we try booking in at the hotel reception and they have no booking for us - they can find a room but it was a smoking room and not a Japanese Room that we booked - Decided that keeping head down at this stage was a really good thing as anyone who has seen steam coming from Mike’s ears knows this was a ... read more
July 15th 2012
so it's been a while! i dont have much of an excuse sorry! the internet has been bad at my new place due to a resident of the guest house and i was a little worried it was me so didn't use net very much! but its not me so i will try and do a few updates! Pictures are the hardest thing to update so i may do a few blogs without them even though i have a camerafull! My job is pretty cool i am enjoying it! there is a website too it's called http://cue-group.co.jp/ChappeDining/ you should be able to surf round it even though it's in japanese, theres pictures of me up there in a funny uniform so please go ahead and look and laugh! the weather here is pretty dam hot it's ... read more
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July 4th 2012
Well talk about jet lag we kept on waking up and then finally woke up at 11.44am. Still in work mode we jumped out of bed and rushed out the door to catch the bus into Shinjuku metro station. When we got there we suddenly remembered we are not a timetable anymore ha ha. Anyway first stop was to the Imperial Palace where the emperor and imperial family live. Anyway as anyone knows trying to read Japanese is extremely hard (and that is being nice) so we asked at a travel agency and they did not even know what we were talking about, even when I showed the lady in Japanese where we wanted to go. So true brits we eventually found it (just like the true brit Sherlock Holmes). Attached a photo for you to ... read more
July 3rd 2012
Arrived in Tokyo now and it is hot and humid. At first glance it seems very industrialised and concrete but that is only my first impression. Guess what we got from the airport to the hotel without a bad word between us (we must be learning, ha ha). Once booked into the hotel, Mike goes for a shower and I start reading the hotel directory. The last section is on personal safety - which puzzles me until I start reading it and it tells you what to do in an earthquake situation (talk about scaring the living daylights out of me). Not only that just as I finish this section the bed starts to shake (and before you say anything Mike still in the shower) and then the room rocks. What do I do? Scream Mike ... read more
July 3rd 2012
Well our first evening in Tokyo has gone brilliant. It is like New York but 50 times more vibrant. Even the side streets are a blaze of neon colour. We are planning to go to see the Imperial Palace tomorrow so we have to try to get around on the underground/metro system. For anyone who has used the underground system in London - just look at the complexity of this. We just found a great place to eat - mind you Tokyo seems to have millions and yes I mean millions of them. Anyway jet lag is now hitting so signing off. Night Night... read more
May 16th 2012
After visiting Nikko, my friend Hiro and I went back to Tokyo for a few more days. I did some more sightseeing while he took care of apartment hunting, as he is moving back to Tokyo soon. I checked out some of the popular tourist spots, including Harajuku, which is essentially a shopping area, packed with tourists from all over the world. It was crazy!! There were so many people it was hard to even walk around - but there were lots of girls donning the Harajuku look - kind of a mix between porcelain doll and goth. There are also lots of hip and trendy stores, which kind of remind me of the haight ashbury district of San Francisco, or the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica. I also went to Yoyogi Park, where I ... read more
Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita via a Singapore Airlines A380
Published: May 3rd 2012Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku
May 1st 2012
Tokyo Day 1-2 I left LAX and flew on Singapore Airlines to Tokyo, it was a long flight but the service was fantastic and I had an entire 4 seat row to myself on the upper deck of an Airbus A380. It was surprisingly quiet and I had downloaded a few movies to watch on my iPad, so the time actually went by fairly quickly for an 11.5 hour flight. I did not sleep at all, knowing that I would land in the evening in Tokyo, and hoping to adjust to the time change as quickly as possible. I snuck a 20 minute nap to get some energy before landing. Immigration and customs was a breeze! I got through immigration in less than 5 minutes, got my bag 1 minute later, and walked through customs with ... read more
