Blogs from Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan, Asia

Today I fly out of Japan to continue my Asia trip into the Philippines. It is bittersweet as I am finally familiarizing with neighborhood around my hotel and enjoying so much of my time in Tokyo. None of would be possible without the kindness of a fellow I just met 4 days ago - Yasu. I cannot thank you enough Yasu for taking your precious time especially after a couple of graveyard shifts to still show me the sights and sounds of Tokyo metro area. It is an experience I will never forget and will cherish forever. You have been a great friend despite just having met 4 days ago! I have scheduled a limo bus at 1:30pm today that will take me to Narita Airport which is 90 minutes away. So I met Yasu again ... read more

Met my local new buddy Yasuhiro last night briefly for a quick dinner at Cafe Restaurant Gusto due to the late hour as he was just coming out of a show by the band Yōsei Teikoku. Nothing spectacular about the menu but it served its sustenance goal as I was starving. After that, we agreed to meet the next day at 10 am at my hotel. Little did I know that he had planned a jam-packed day as we went to the following places: - Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura for brunch - Enoshima Island for lunch - Eonu for yakitori dinner (yummy innards) Getting to those destinations was an adventure in itself as we took the ever-so-complicated (at least for me) rail transit. A tip when purchasing rail tickets, get yourself a reloadable Suica Card ... read more

I have seen the future. It is filled with tall buildings, bright lights, endless noise and millions of people. Excitement, entertainment and enjoyment take place above your head, below your feet and in your face. The future goes non-stop and doesn't conform to any normal positions of the clock. It's bigger and more bright than I ever imagined. The future is reached by a train that speeds across the countryside at 200 miles per hour. The train passes volcanic mountains, verdant rice fields and miles of well tended farmland. It arrives on schedule, to the minute, in a massive station filled with well dressed people moving at a pace that immediately demands your full attention. Like a choreographed dance, the pedestrians move fluidly and efficiently through the maze of underground passageways, all the while multitasking with ... read more

Well after leaving home over 24hrs ago & flying for just over 17hrs we have finally made it to Tokyo. The 1st 2 flights were great Manchester to Frankfurt then Frankfurt to Hong Kong, as we all had a good sleep on the long 10 1/2hr flight over & woke up feeling refreshed & excited for our finally leg of the journey. We had what we thought was just over 3hrs in Hong Kong before our final flight but that time soon vanished waiting for our cases to come off the A380 we had just over on. We waited & waited & waited some more watching our layover time slip away quickly. We needed our cases so we could change terminals to re-check in for the final flight. You could see everybody around is starting to ... read more

Hey everyone! Wow it’s true what they say: time really does fly when you’re having fun! I honestly meant to write this post on time, but due to the need to wake up at a decent time for lots of days in a row, seemed to have run out of time every day for about a week. Oops! First of all, the trip to the orphanage was really cool, if a little underwhelming. While everyone there was very nice, and the kids were adorable, apparently somewhere along the way communication did not happen, so they didn’t actually know that we were coming. It was also pretty awkward because the woman who ended up showing us around was super surprised that we didn’t bring a translator of any sort. Just me, trying to translate as best I ... read more