Second day the four of us decided to hit a few locale's... first up was Shibuya. The crowds here never get old! They checked out the massive CD/DVD/Book shop right at the main intersection, and I grabbed a coffee and scone from the Starbucks inside (ya I'm weak for Starbucks...) From there we hit the 109-2 building, the "mens" fashion tower but only about half is men's, rest is women's (109-1 is ALL women's) After making through the Hello Kitty and Barbie shops we checked out the psychotic fashions that are all the rage in Japan these days. Rod took some [View Full Entry]

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Our first day in Tokyo started interestingly enough.. ran into a very friendly school teacher at the Ryokan, Yoshiko. We also met Pablo, a guy from Spain (Basque Country might be more accurate, seems a slightly contentious issue...). Although he speaks very little English or Japanese Yoshiko decided to help us all out and show us around Tokyo. She is quite a talker, stopping to ask for directions for this or asking us about that... ended up meeting another women on the train ride over who was helpful enough to show us which train to catch (although i didn't have the [View Full Entry]

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And so it seems I am unable to escape the allure of Japan... not even a year after my previous trip I find myself back in Tokyo, back in Kangetsu Ryokan, enjoying the sites and sounds. Of course an insanely cheap price of $400 CAD for airfare MIGHT have had something to do with my desire to return.. and this time I'm not alone. For the first week here a good friend of mine Rod has joined up for his first trip to Tokyo. And so far it has been VERY eventful. Since I'm only here two weeks I wasn't originally [View Full Entry]

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Spending the last few days here in Tokyo, been taking it easy my leg isn't improving much. Checked out Hibiya Park, a really nicely done up, "Western" Style park near the Imperial Palace. I really liked it last time, peaceful, but didn't have much of a chance to look, so I made sure to look this time! Although it was razed in the war it's about 100 years old I believe, shortly after Japan opened their borders to the world. From there checked out the Sony Building, decided to see if anything had changed from the last time I was there. [View Full Entry]

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So after checking out the temples, shrines, the fashionable bits of Tokyo, it was time to go for something a bit different... the Tokyo Game Show, 2008. It pretty much is exactlly what it sounds like. Essentially it's a trade show where all of the big video game companies like Sony and Microsoft show off their latest and greatest. Unlike others like the American version, this one is open to the public for 2 of the days. How could I pass that up? Getting there wasn't too hard, although being on the same train that goes to Tokyo Disney Land, on [View Full Entry]

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The first two days back in Tokyo I did a bit of sight seeing. Before heading to the Ryokan I went around the Imperial Palace grounds again, very beautiful but not much to do since the "good stuff" is completely off limits to basically everyone. I wanted to take some pictures of the actual Tokyo station too, it's done up in a very nice style, but they're currently renovating it and repairing it to return it to it's former glory from the turn of the 20th century. So just a bunch of construction stuff sadly. The next day, Saturday, I met [View Full Entry]

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Well I can honestly say that Nagoya is probably going to be the highlight of my entire trip. Yoriko-san and I traveled to the Inuyama area, about 1.5 hours by train. After arriving there we grabbed lunch and checked out the Shinto Shrine there, Atsusa Jinja. It's a very important Shinto Shrine, dating back to the 3rd century I think. Back in ancient times this would be a destination for people on a spiritual journey. After that had some traditional Japanese sweets at a nice little traditionally styled area, then headed back. That evening went to an aussie bar, nice quiet [View Full Entry]

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Ok so... things are rather weird here.. this is my first chance to actually sit down and just relax since arriving here. Yesturday Im on my way to where Im staying, a small Ryokan. I generally knew where I was going, but all of a sudden this business man walks up and asks where Im going in English. I show him the map Im using and he looks at it, and instead of pointing which way to go like usual, he motions me to follow him. After he asks a few people, including one guy looking up the directions on his [View Full Entry]

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Kobe turned out to be a really wonderful little city. Some might recognize the name from the 1995 Earthquake here that killed about 6000 people. Since then it's been rebuilt and it definitely feels nicer then an older Japanese city. Wide room streets and walkways and a very cosmopolitan atmosphere makes this a lot nicer I think then Osaka was. Lot's of parks and a nice memorial to the Earthquake is here as well. I'm staying a place called Kobe Dears Guesthouse, on the way over a white guy I assumed was another guest here stopped on his small scooter and [View Full Entry]

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Sitting here in Kyoto Station... got about 30 minutes before the Shinkansen leaves for Kobe. Spent the night in a small little business hotel downtown here, got to check out some of the night life here in Kyoto. I went down an area of the city I forgot about... the Poncho District, an even better area to potentially spot the elusive Geishas. Paid off too, I saw a definite real one escorting a client to destination unknown, I can finally check that goal of this trip off finally. Also went to Atlantis, a small bar in Poncho that's one of the [View Full Entry]

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