Blogs from Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 5

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka July 18th 2006

Kinichiwa!!! It has pretty much been raining since we got here and probably will for the rest of our time here. Our Mt. Fuji climb is not looking so great. We really wanted to do it but met some people at our hostels that had horrible experiences. Rain the whole way up, freezing cold, strong winds, someone was almost blown off the mountain. One guy described it as the worst experience of his life. When he reached the top, it was so cloudy that he couldnt even see the sunrise. I'm really dissapointed but I think it would be best not to climb, Ben still wants to do it though :( Any suggestions?? Anyway, despite the bad weather the past couple of days have been great!! So far, it is not at all as I expected. ... read more

We are here!!!

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka July 17th 2006

Regina

We are here finally. The 13 hour plane ride actually wasn't that bad. We had to take an hour and half train and subway ride to our hostel and when got off the subway we had no idea where we were going and were lost for a while. The streets don't have names and no one really spoke English and we really didnt know how to ask anyway. Finally we decided to just take a cab, that was interesting. By the time we got settled it was already 8ish. It's my first time staying in a hostel so I really didnt know what to expect. We have this teeny room with bunk beds and a common area to share with everyone else here. The shower only stays on for like 30 seconds at a time so ... read more

Back in Tokyo

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka June 9th 2006

Ramen

Amanda and Robert

Hello again, live from Tokyo. We left Shizuoka early this morning. It has been raining for most of the day with some pretty darn blustery winds too. My umbrella I brought with me couldn't hack it and broke within 5 minutes of stepping our of our hotel. We managed to get a pair of good sturdy umbrellas though, for only 200 yen a piece!! Taking full advantage of our Rail Pass,we got back on the bullet train and headed to Tokyo to drop our bags off. Then we headed to Shin-Yokohama, back to the darn Ramen Museum so Robert could get one last bowl of juicy ramen at the museum. We were going to buy some and bring it back but since the noodles are considered raw goods (they're not freeze-dried like cup-o-noodles) we'd have to ... read more

Asakusa and the Tsukuji fish market.

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka May 31st 2006

Asakusa

Amanda and Robert

We don’t seem to bet getting used to the time change. We up at 4am and for some reason need to take a nap at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. So we get up and take a quick subway ride to this fish market. We get to see the first catches have come in (since were there at 5:30 am) and the shops just starting to open. These people do everything possible with a fish. They dry it and shave it, roast it, pickle it, and cut it up 1000 different ways. They transport the stuff with these 3 wheeled electric carts, and they’re damn busy too. These guys are running all over and in a hurry. They have like 400 pound tunas they carry. So we walk for a while and Amanda ... read more

First Day

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka May 30th 2006

Here we are on the plane!

Amanda and Robert

Hi everyone! Well we’ve landed safely now and our first evening in Tokyo has been somewhat of an adventure. The plane ride was actually very nice and went by quicker than I thought. There was more legroom than we knew what to do with and the flight attendants actually knew our names and try to cater to our every needs. I love first class! The food was the best plane food I have ever had. Once boarding we had our choice of champagne or an orange juice cocktail, we both chose the orange juice. Then came hot and cold canapés, I’m not really sure what a canapé is, but we were served one gyoza and shumai and a couple pieces of sushi. From there we had our choice of lunch, I chose the Japanese lunch which ... read more

Last full day in Japan

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka May 1st 2006

Tokyo

greeblergoddess

Today was our last full day in Tokyo and in Japan. It was very warm today, 85 degrees (F). It'll be nice to go home to cool nights! We had breafast this morning in the Garden Court -- a room overlooking a beautiful garden. Afterwards we headed for Asakusa to see the temple there and do our last minute gift shopping. The street up to the temple is lined with touristy places to shop. We got a bunch of our gifts there. It's a souviner mecca! Then we headed to the hotel to drop off our goodies and had lunch at a sushi place close by. It had a conveyor belt that brought the sushi round and round!! You grab the plates you want, and then they charge you by the plate (they have 2 different ... read more

Tokyo

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka April 29th 2006

Tokyo

greeblergoddess

So we are at our final destination. As we were leaving Hakone it was getting really crowded, so I guess it was good we were leaving. Today is the first day of Golden Week. We took a bullet train to Tokyo - Very fast! And we got to our hotel, The New Otani, right as it started to rain. This hotel is gigantic. Very impressive. I hope I don't get lost in it. The hotel is located in Akasaka, and we have a metro stop pretty close by, so that's nice. We took the subway into Ginza to go to the Sony building. It was a pretty cool building -- Dad was drooling over the TV's! They had some other cool electronics, but nothing super super new (that can't be seen in the US). Afterwards we ... read more

One hell of a part time job..

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka April 27th 2006

Main walk - Akasaka

jetsetseattle

I don't really know how often I should update this thing, because I'm sure how much people want their inboxes filled with my trivial findings and what not. But after a couple of days at my internship, I figured I should write something. Through a series of unfortunate events (ha) I ended up interning at Akasaka Hikawa Jinja in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Jinja is Japanese for Temple, so I go to work and put on Shinto robes and sit in a temple. It's weird to get off the train in a huge party district of Tokyo, pass "Gentelmen's Clubs" and cheap bars on the street, but then turn left and walk up a hill to a quiet, somewhat secluded temple. I'm still not exactly sure what my job title is, but I pretty much ... read more

"Tokyo Morning" tour and on our own

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka March 28th 2006

Observation Deck - Tokyo Tower

Sakkie

First impressions of Tokyo... read more

Daves Blog 4

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Akasaka March 27th 2006

Louis Louis

There are many painful things in japan, possibly the most painful being getting my ass pinched by the toilet seat. Another very painful experience is lying in almost any bed in japan, as the matresses are as thin as a DVD, but hopefully that pain will soon end as weve found a matress with springs. There are more painful experiences, but nothing too interesting. the least painful experience by far in Japan must be being run over by a taxi. its all a blur now, but i remember starting to run to cross a road as the green man flashed. but regardless of his flashing a taxi driver ran into the side of me. he caught my right leg and almost ran over my right foot, but the most painfull part was for the taxi which ... read more

Brief history of Japan

In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol...more history

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