Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia

Tokyo After saying our farewells to Brian at Matsumoto Backpackers, we head to the train station to catch our Limited Express train back to Tokyo for our final three days in Japan. On the way we have more great views of Mount Fuji – though this time it has much more snow on its peak. The scenery changes from lovely lush hillsides and valleys to flatter land with more settlements and industry. Japan’s countryside is definitely more interesting for us than the cities. We are staying again at Asakusa Toukaisou Ryokan for 1 night (room not quite so nice this time) before moving across to a hostel, Khaosan Tokyo Kabuki, for the last 2 nights, where we have a nice en-suite room on the 4th floor (with a lift thankfully!). The staff are very ... read more

We fly from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (5 Hours) with Malaysian Airways as part of the first leg of our mammoth journey to Japan. The food is good as is the service – however, the airhostess seems to have taken a liking to C as we are plied with red wine and whisky & peanuts (which the others did not get), so much so that when we arrived in KL, C was a bit worse for wear and can’t recall getting off the plane or (!!) the transit 3 hours when we had Burger King – her staple hangover cure – while M enjoyed some Malaysian Street Food as well. The next leg (Malaysian Airlines again) sees us depart at 11 pm for a night time 5 hour flight to Narita airport Tokyo. Snacks are on ... read more

Mark, Kami, and I were at the bottom of Tokyo Tower at 9:30 ready for our trip to the top. It was a beautiful morning—the sun was out already, and the sky was pretty clear. url=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Z7j9ehH96O8/T-mUOyFvisI/AAAAAAAALSA/29-JYKViP3Y/s1600-h/P1070253%252520%252528Large%252529%25255B4%25255D.jpgimg=http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Y_GeC6mOZak/T-mUPneh-CI/AAAAAAAALSI/IhMSMnva5UY/P1070253%252520%252528Large%252529_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 url=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7FEmtgWt2wg/T-mUQe2B7lI/AAAAAAAALSQ/xY5M1vlFzVs/s1600-h/P1070251%252520%252528Large%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpgimg=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DlF7vXXmHe8/T-mURPIiJPI/AAAAAAAALSY/xJeHcvzBYvo/P1070251%252520%252528Large%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 url=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2UlMyOvtJmQ/T-mURqCcs8I/AAAAAAAALSg/d4ilulFOgYY/s1600-h/P1070252%252520%252528Large%252529%25255B5%25255D.jpgimg=... read more

Up and off this morning. While Kami and Mark went to breakfast, I took a shower, and Kami and I were out of the door by 10 A.M. We were off to see Big Buddha this morning, and it’s about a 90 minute train ride out of Tokyo. Its about a 10 minute walk to the nearest Metro station from our hotel, and you can reach pretty much anywhere in the city from where we are. Although there's not much around us apart from Embassies and offices, the hotel really is faultless and certainly lives up to, if not surpasses, its 5* rating. Our 5* hotel—amazing service. url=http://lh6.ggpht.com/-czsUUW8ZhJE/T-l9zcAPdhI/AAAAAAAALe4/8MmxeIJsVxY/s1600-h/P1070099Large%25255B1%25255D.jpgimg=http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tPctTIaYwyA/T-l90bRApfI/AAAAAAAALe8/ujrTyQ4A_RI/P1070099Large_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 url=http://lh5.ggpht.com/-z2kDM3eCCEM/T-l91Jxvb9I/AAAAAAAALfA/fhaGDuuAbfQ/s160... read more

I definitely wanna try use one of these before i leave:) I’m afraid there wont be any pictures though! img=http://lh5.ggpht.com/--ZbwZJlxFjE/T-g1H8cZx5I/AAAAAAAAKws/O4pMTuMgi2E/P1060652Large_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800 So all the gas stations here have the hose and pumps hanging from the ceilings!, they have a long cord that you pull down and then grab the pump, after use it springs back up, guess it saves space on the ground. There's huge red LED displays above too that show you the amount etc img=http://lh5.ggpht.com/-gU1cvPQSDcs/T-g1Jkq6fqI/AAAAAAAAKw8/cTDpoleqywU/P1060680Large_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800 url=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-uv59h91Kfjw/T-g1KS0-4VI/AAAAAAAAKx... read more

The three of us were up and having breakfast at 8am, they have a fantastic buffet breakfast at the hotel and i was set up for the rest of the day after having it. When i was in my early teens i used to (and still do) listen to an album by the group MSG, titled,- One Night At Budokan. Its an amazing live album that features Michael Schenker band, a guitarist I’ve been a huge fan of for over 30 years. I googled the venue before i left the US as it was one of the places i wanted to visit just to say id been. Mark wanted to visit the Japanese war memorial and museum today and this happened to be across the street from the Budokan venue! The subway system here in Tokyo ... read more

Since "full bloom" fell roughly in the middle of my work week, I knew I'd be hitting sakura in the tail-end of "full bloom" by the time my weekend rolled around on Wed/Thurs. Wednesday was a miserable, cold and wet day, though I did take a long walk around my area proving you don't need to go far to see something beautiful here! But Thursday was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, and I made the most of it by heading into Tokyo to see the spots my students recommended to me. My first stop was Chidoriga-fuchi, an area that sort of loops around the outside of part of the Imperial Palace. I visited the Imperial Palace in 2009 when I came here with Jamie, but hadn't been back since. I was SO GLAD my students told ... read more