Blogs from Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 3

i am in toyko and still have keyboard issues. this time my internet cafe is quite cosy. i have a thick cushion in my computer booth and have to take my shoes off before entering. this morning i went to watch kabuki - an old fashioned form of japanese theatre. i thought it was a cross between chaucer and the panto. the plays are meant to look like the floating world with every scene perfect and balanced. so much so that the story is secondary to how everything looks. the audience was filled with japanese ladies-who-lunch with some incredible designer clothes and some questionable plastic surgery. there were two plays - kokusenya and kanjincho - at a total of 3 hours. several people fell asleep but all woke up for the interval where the mingled smell ... read more

Not much to say, spent the morning getting ready to leave walked through the wholesale fish market, sat in the park near my hotel and ate breakfast. Now I am waiting in Naritawaiting to hear if they have a seatavailable for me. My flight leaves at 5:50. I am to go to the information desk at 4:40 to see if they have a seat for me that givas me an hour to get through security and to my gate. Wish me luck! Otherwise it is another night in Japan... read more

Hey World! Step one, celebrate the new year! Step two, share some of these memories with me! This could be my favorite set of pictures that I've sent out so far. Just putting this blog together had me laughing and smiling (cringing sometimes too) while looking at some of the incredible times that we've been having over here. So I focused more on the descriptions of the pictures to tell the story together with the shots so be sure to check them out and go through them full screen to get the best feel for it, cuz I love hearing that you feel like you're there with me and taking part in all my adventures, since I wish you all were closer to me much of the time! I'll let you get into the pictures and ... read more

Als kleinen Abstecher hatten wir uns vier Tage Tokyo in unserem Reiseplan eingebaut. Sozusagen als „Appetizer“ für mehr Ost-Asien….Im Flug von Hawaii nach Houston genossen wir den Film „Lost in Translation“ im Flieger. So kurz nach unserem Aufenthalt in Japan ist der Film sehr lustig, besonders wenn man selbst immer wieder mit dem Jetlag kämpfen muss…. Japan – modern jedoch exotisch anders als alles andere was wir auf unsere Reise gesehen hatten. Besonders frappant war für uns die japanische Zurückhaltung und Freundlichkeit, nachdem wir usbekische Aufdringlichkeit und russisch-unterkühlte Begegnungen nahe erlebt hatten. Viel über Japan wollen wir nicht schreiben, die Bilder sagen genügend aus. Besonders der Fischmarkt war als Erlebnis viel wert. Vieles aus Japan wird in unserem „statistischen Kapitel“ erwähnt werden. Unserem schlecht-Wetter-Projekt, dass wir vorhaben zu machen und ... read more

Tokyo 05.09.2010 Arrived back at the hotel around 3pm. Checked in and decided to go to Shibuya to do a bit of souvenir shopping. The place was buzzing with shoppers etc. Didn't really buy anything. That night we decided to eat in the Mexican we saw on our first day. The place was packed, but we did manage to get a table and the food and beer was nice. We then visited the bar we first went to. Had some umeshu and Edamame (boiled soya beans) served as a snack. Back at the hotel we see Amy. We have a chat about what we'd done that day; she was going hiking somewhere the next day. 06.09.2010 Last day in Japan. Our flight was at 9pm, so we leave our bags and travel to Tokyo tower. ... read more