Blogs from Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 16

Today was のみほだい　(nomihodai) day. Because of the Typhoon my early morning classes were canceled and i just had my later class. Besides japanese I am taking a class called Japanese culture: from Ramune to Anime which is every tuesday and thursday from 3:10 until about 5:00 and then Fridays from 3:10 until 7:00. The class is taught by a really cool teacher. He met Yukio Mishima (one of my favorite authers.. of such books as "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"... and he also was asked personally by Mishima himself during the sixties to play the roll of Townsend Harris in one of his plays. So I'm totally psyched about this class. Its worth about 6 credits..so the equivalent of two classes. it should be great. After class me and a few friends headed out to ... read more

Salut c'est Katherine! Aujourd'hui, nous sommes alles a Tokyo, la mega ville et capitale du Japon! Nous voulions commencer par le temple selso-ji, mais a peine arrivees, nous nous sommes faites aborder par un groupe de japonais de notre age qui parlaient anglais et qui nous offraient de nous faire visiter les lieux gratuitement! Nous avons acceptes, ils etaient tellement gentils! la plupart d'entre eux etudiaient l'anglais comme deuxieme langue alors ils ont pu pratiquer! Nous avons discute de tout et de rien durant la longue allee de magazins qui mene au temple. J'ai appris la signification de quelques dieux et monuments importants. Nous avons aussi fait un petit jeu pour voir si la bonne fortune etait avec nous! Moi et une autre japonaise avons eu bad fortune!!! NOOOOON!!!! Nous avons donc attache ce mot sur ... read more

well good day to you all. i and my friend richard (mole), have been in tokyo since wed 25th morning and it has most definately been eventful. firstly mole and i took separate planes from heathrow. so i had to wait for his flight to come in. the waiting got longer as customs wouldnt let him thru cos he didnt know where we were staying or anything cos i had booked it. poor fellow. in the end he lied and got thru safely. meanwhile i was busy chatting with a little band called Kings of Leon who had come in on moles flight and were waiting for they drummer who had also been stopped cos sniffer dogs smelt cannabis on him. but everything work out and we stepped into the tokyo daylight. and f**k me was ... read more

In Japan, you work every hour God (or Buddha) sends in the employ of the same company for your entire life. You respect your boss (fellas back at Henry, please take note). In the unlikely event of knocking off work in time to spend some "quality time" with your wife, the walls of your tiny apartment will be too thin to get into heavy petting, and you'll have to hot foot it to a "love hotel". If that sounds as dreary as a dull grey day in the city, bear in mind that life insurance, pensions, healthcare, even family holidays are paid for, and a job for life still exists, indeed is expected, here. However, the lot of these so called "salarymen" (and indeed women) does not appear to be a happy one if the ... read more

Here's some photos from the rest of the trip. Uber happy that Dad got to come out and visit with us, even if for only a day and a half. Spent 2 nights in Shinjuku with Craig catching up on the sights, then 2 nights in Ikebukuro with Dad and Craig. Ikebukuro is a shoppig mecca. When Craig and Dad left early on Sunday, I was sad for a while. Then I got a 20 minute massage in the train station and went shopping! Everything went well until the ANA computer disaster that stranded Craig and I both, he at Narita and me at Haneda. ... read more