Blogs from Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 6

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

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

(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

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

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