Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 204

Hanami Party and Karaoke Debut Asia » Japan » Tokyo By BradLApril 7th 2007Brad Lurl='/Videos/2718.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2718.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Karaoke Debuturl='/Videos/2719.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2719.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Al's Karaoke Each year in Spring, Japanese people have 'Hanami Parties' (English translation = Cherry Blossom Parties). It's a real old traditional thing where everyone has picnics in some of the big parks under the cherry blossom trees, drinking and eating the day away. I was lucky enough to go to a party with one of my sister's English groups. It was pretty much all I coul... read more

Hi Everyone, (Note you can click on any picture to see a larger version of it) I have a lot of things on my wish list to do while we are here in Japan, but without a doubt at the top of the list was to see the cherry trees in bloom in the spring. Last weekend they were at thier peak, and it was glorious! Marc took friday off, and I skipped my Japanese lesson so we could go explore. There are cherry trees everywhere, but there ares several places where they were planted "en masse" and those areas are the most popular for "cherry blossom viewing" On Friday we went to the moat around the Imperor's Palace. It is just breathtaking. They are on both sides of the moat, and we could could ... read more

A big g'day from Omori, Tokyo! After a few goodbye tears at the airport with my parents, and 10 hours later, I made it to Narita airport, Tokyo 6.30am Wednesday. (And yeh, thanks for Al's number dad, I needed to put it down when I went through customs and used it to find where she was waiting!) You could almost think you were in Strathfield or Chatswood at the airport but as you walk through the streets you notice that there are absolutely no Caucasians...everyone is Japanese! Funny that. And everyone rides bikes on the footpath, it's pretty amazing that people don't get run over. People seem to find Westerners interesting, and acknowledge you on the streets sometimes...bizarre, but kinda cool. I tried sashimi ('raw fish') for the first time ever last night. Can't say ... read more

OK everyone sorry for the offical update its been a long time coming. entry by Rob March29th: we arrive in the late afternoon and right away off the plane, the language barrier obstacle comes into effect. thank goodness for some partially english speaking people on the transit counter otherwise we wouldn't have been able to leave the airport. After a 50 min train ride we were at our stop in Nishi-Kawaguchi. Sort of the East Van of stops in tokyo, kindy shady but safe once you realize that japanese people aren't hostile at all. Dodging people trying to get us into the Pachinko Parlors, we find our hotel; A quaint little house if you want to call it that off of one of the side streets. We find out our reservations have not been registered, so ... read more

April 1st: Today we hit Harajuku because sunday was the day that all the teenagers come out in their gothic outfits and actually become a spectacle for tourists and fashion people alike. We got off the Harajuku station rail station and headed toward the Meiji Shrine first before hitting all the stores. On the way we stopped to take pictures of some people in their interesting outfits and the guy who was giving away free hugs, that was generous. The most entertaining was the one man who just randomly set up a boombox on the bridge before the shrine and just started to dance and sing. We heard the music playing, saw the feet start tapping.....and got it all on video. The shopping afterward was intense as easily a thousand people tried to cram down a ... read more