Blogs from Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Asia
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
April 29th 2012
CHRIS We went to a very old town where we did a lot of walking. We saw some kids on a school excursion and they were playing a game of hookeye which I did too and I was 5mm away from getting them on the hooks. We had yummy fried rice for lunch and had a very good hot chocolate. After that we went up to the Buddhist temple but it was closed so we went to a museum where we had to take our shoes off as we were walking on bamboo matting and we saw some samurai costumes some swords and guns. We saw how heavy the chest of gold would have been. We went to the Buddhist statute place with a 534 Buddhist people who were doing different things. Some of them were ... read more
April 29th 2012
CHRIS We woke up very early and went to the fish markets (you don't want to go there it stinks even if you do like fish). We walked around and saw a lot of dead fish, fish with their heads cut off, clams, eels and other things I shouldn't mention. When we got to the end of the market where they were selling the dead tunas we were told by a guard we were not allowed to be there, so we were pretty lucky to see the big tunas. On the way out we saw a huge pile of used foam containers which is what they stored the fish in with ice. After that we went to breakfast at a traditional sushi restaurant and it had raw fish that I refused to eat. We walked to ... read more
April 29th 2012
CHRIS We got up early to see the sumo wrestlers and they were huge. Afterwards we saw some statutes of the champions and underneath the statutes were hand prints that were three times the size of Sam A's hands. We went to a musuem, the escalators went on forever. The dinner that night was the best dinner I have ever had. It was like a banquet of Japanese food. MATTHEW On Sunday we got up at 6 to go see the, wait for it.....SUMO!!!! Sumo wrestling is exactly what you think it is, two huge guys trying to push each other out of a circle, bt more they pick each other up and give each other wedgies. yeah I'm serious, they pick the other guy up by the waist band of his undies and throw him ... read more
November 16th 2011
(or Tokyo, at least. It's always dangerous to generalise...) Prepare to have your mind blown in 3.......2.......1....... -Escalator handrails are blue. (SEE? Amazing!) -Uggs are VERY in. See also: knee high socks. -Everyone is very tired. People fall asleep within seconds on the train. -Convenience stores are ACTUALLY CONVENIENT. They are everywhere and they sell real food which tastes good and is super cheap! We get our breakfast there each day (pastry + can of coffee = $2) and often our lunch of onagiri too (rice balls with random stuff in the middle - bit of a lucky dip as labels are all Japanese...we were doing well til we picked 'fish roe' today...) -Toilets have all these fancy buttons to spray water at ya, warm the seat, blow hot air at ya, play a 'toilet flushing' ... read more
November 15th 2011
We're here! in Tokyo! Konichiwa and all that! (I say 'all that' all-flippant-like as if I have tons more Japanese up my sleeve but it's a big lie. I think we have a total of four words up our collective sleeves. Which is good - not too heavy, one word per arm.) Having had our first proper night's sleep in about 48 hours (before that had been operating on maybe 3 MEASLY hours!) we are feeling infinitely more human today. Aisha did enjoy being continuously pummelled in the leg by the alternately hyperactive/cranky 2 year old Indian kid sitting next to him (you know how much Aisha looooves kids! additional note from Aisha, I think kids are fine as long as they don't move or make any noise...). The sketchyness of waiting around Kuala Lumpur from ... read more
A Walk in the Park (and success in the subway)
Published: October 20th 2011Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku
October 20th 2011
We took the train to downtown Tokyo this morning, after Matt left for work and Justin for school. We got off in Shinjuku, a whirlwind of people and business, and decided to walk to Yoyogi Park and revisit the Meiji Shrine, where we had gone with my brother and his family in 2002. We only need to ask directions once, and got to the park after a 20 minute walk through a shopping plaza and along busy streets. A strange thing about Tokyo is the mix of highrises, small shops, houses, parks and apartment buildings everywhere in this immense metropolitan area. You are never in a purely residential or purely commercial area. Entering the park is like walking into the wardrobe on your way to Narnia: you transition from intense cityscape to deep woods, and at ... read more
September 27th 2011
Today is our last day in Tokyo... and it’s M’s birthday!!! Yesterday we took our clothes to the laundry (ah! the luxury of fresh clean clothes!) and took a walk around an area of Tokyo known for businesses managed my Italian and French ex-pats. It’s also a geisha district but to be honest we didn’t see any. Perhaps because it was raining and we did the walk in a rush. Then went to Ginza in a leap of faith to try and find some Okinawan tea (we bought it in London) but no one seems to know where we can find it!! Today just some last minute errands; buy breakfast for tomorrow (leaving at 7 am for Shanghai), lunch at a steak place (happy birthday babe!) which was delicious (Wagyu Beef) and arranging our suitcases. I ... read more
September 26th 2011
First night back in Tokyo, we’re feeling pretty knackered. After dinner in a local restaurant, I’m feeling quite sick after discovering half way through a skewer of meat, I’m eating chicken hearts. I literally want to do an exorcist special in the restaurant. I still have the odd piece stuck between my teeth, urgg! It gives me the shivers. Back at the hotel we finally go to bed, it’s been a long day. They say; on average we swallow 8 insects, including spiders, when we’re sleeping, a year. 2am I wake up coughing my guts up and feel my throat tightening, I think I’ve just swallowed an insect, I feel like I’m going to die, the feeling passes after about 15 minutes. B gives me a Strepsil, I much on it quickly and B has a ... read more
