Blogs from Kanagawa, Japan, Asia - page 19

Thought it was about time to finish off Japan and get this blog up and running again! My last 2 weeks in Japan were great. The weather finally warmed up above 15 degrees which made it easier to get out and explore. I checked out Yokohama, Japan's second biggest city behind Tokyo. It's on the coast about a 20 min train ride from Omori. There's a massive stadium there where the soccer world cup final was played a few years back. There's also a Chinatown, apparently one of the biggest in the world but it didn't look that much bigger than ours back home. I tried these steamed dim sim type things in Chinatown from a shop that had a massive crowd of locals. I thought it must of been good if the locals were ... read more

小田原, Odawara An hour by train from our hotel brought us to the charming town of Odawara. Famed for its famous Castle (小田原城), this place is extremely lovely every spring when the sakuras within the castle grounds are in full bloom. And for 2 weeks, fellow Japanese would gather their picnic mats under the sakura trees to admire the beauty from Mother nature. I’m impressed that despite a scarcity of waste bins, no rubbish would be “conveniently” left behind after the picnickers have left! I’ve only seen sakuras on TV and on postcards. To be able to see them happening right before our every eyes was great. J started collecting the flower petals and I was taking picture perfect memories of them. Nearby, the elephants and the red face monkeys were also capturing our attention. ... read more

So I was finally able to meet up with Yuka-san's friend, Yuuko-san, the other day. It turned out that Yuka-san and Yuuko-san were going to have a cup of coffee in Yokohama, and Yuka-san saw fit to invite me out to meet Yuuko-san, and have some coffee/hang out. So, it was kinda short notice, and I had to get ready to head out (I'd planned on bumming around Yokosuka all day with nothing fancy to do...), then hop on a train (1 minute ride by local train to a major station, then 22 minute ride by limited express. On this particular day, there was a 10 minute wait in between trains), and find which starbucks it was that they were in. Starbucks is WAAAY TOO BIG here in Japan! Around the Yokohama station, there's a ... read more

Woo! Yesterday, I spent most of the day working out plans and such to meet friends, and have actually managed to book myself close to solid for the next week, with some peppered bookings in the following 2 weeks. I'm starting to feel more Japanese now hehe. I'm confident that everybody I know in Japan is aware that I'm here now, and my schedulings with them are starting to roll in. Not to mention that Toshi is also helping me out, and constantly emailing me various things for gaijins to do in Japan.. club meetings, etc.. One such email he sent me, I'm bringing some of my friends to on our first meeting-- we'll be celebrating ohanami (Cherry Blossom viewing) with a buncha gaijin and probably some other Japanese as well! For the uninitiated, ohanami ... read more

I actually haven't been home for 2 days now since I went out to find TGIFridays at Yokosuka-chuo station area (literally a 1 minute train ride from the station near my house). After eating there, I hung around the station striking poses and writing emails in my keitai (cellphone). The Japanese have a thing for cellphones. No, you don't understand, they REALLY HAVE A THING FOR CELLPHONES. EVERYBODY has one. I'm talking elementary school kids, middle aged women, grandpas, dogs, crows, and cockroaches... Okay, so I exaggerated a bit. I kinda doubt grandpas would have a need for them. Anyways, all keitais come standard equipped with emailing capability. Each one has it's own email address that the user can change (I think at will.?). Any emails received to this address essentially makes it tell us ... read more