Blogs from Minato, Tokyo, Japan, Asia

As I sit here by the wide window wall on the second floor of the Karaksa Hotel’s breakfast buffet which also serves as a lounge with free snacks and drinks in the late afternoon, a parade of working stiffs in white shirts, dark trousers and loafers are walking down the street below all in lock step, ready and eager to make Japan a better place for the world to do business with and an enjoyable tourist destination for those of us who are neither business minded nor care about the hustle and bustle of every life. Maybe not. And not that we really don’t give a hoot about the day-to-day lives of ordinary folks because after all, we are working stiffs ourselves, but we’re tourists in Japan enjoying life without having to think about work. And ... read more

Blog 4_Japan_2023 March 24 Weather – the fog & storm clouds have parted giving us a partly sunny morning: Forecast is an 80% chance of rain: Temperature high of 21°C. Our body clocks seem to be re-adjusting and as a result we had a relaxing sleep even though we awoke early again this morning. Today we decided to tackle the overhead train and subway system and head off to the inner regions of Tokyo. There is a station for the overhead train system connected to the hotel so that part was easy; the bigger challenge came with the transfer at the final station on this line to one of the multiple branches of the Tokyo subway. Our destination was Asakusa Temple and grounds. This is one of Tokyo’s oldest and most colourful Buddhist Temple, dating back ... read more

Blog 6_Japan_2023 March 26 Can we say it’s all the same again: fog, overcast & rain? – Temperature 14°C Today we were required to conduct our self-administered COVID test and submit the results to the VeriFLY website. So, this morning we did the test, photographed the results on our phones and uploaded the results to VeriFLY. We both had negative results, YEAH and have now been cleared to at least enter the cruise terminal. VeriFLY accepted my documentation, but Brooke’s is still pending, who knows what new wrinkle will appear tomorrow in Yokohama. Went back to watch the giant Gundam robot, Unicorn go through his motions. He has minimal animation of his shoulder armour, face, and horn along with some panels displaying red lighting. Recorded the show on my iPhone in the rain over the tops ... read more

Friday 10 May 2019 - erev Shabbat Today, Friday, we decided would be our day off. So we spent the day writing up the travel blog and generally relaxing. Don was feeling athletic so he, being a good boy, went to the gym. He found the Sheraton hotel health spa to contain a good variety of facilities including a large pool. He did not swim, but worked out with the exercise equipment. This evening we walked to the Chabad for the Friday night Shabbat service. As usual they had to wait for a minyan (ten men). After the service we were all invited upstairs for a meal. As expected, many more people appeared upstairs than prayed downstairs. The rabbi and his wife had prepared for fifty people and there were at least fifty there. The rabbi ... read more

Update on last night: We went back not to our local train station for dinner, but a more important one, the last stop before ours, where we were yesterday morning. There was a big outlet mall there, and we did a bit of shoe shopping, and got a couple more items from the Y100 shop, before having dinner: okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake with meat and veg in the batter. Stephen also went with the declared intention of getting some video for his e-book. He has brought a explanation in Japanese of how he would like to get some footage for students o talk about for English pronunciation practice, and tonight we saw some guys rock-climbing up a wall in the shopping centre, and also the okonomiyaki cook, who were all amenable to being filmed. We got ... read more