Blogs from Ueno, Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 2

Flight and train to the hostel were fine. I got checked in, but couldn't go to my room until three. I messaged my Japanese friend to come and meet me, since she doesn't live too far away, it didn't take too long for her to turn up. I had asked at reception where the nearest sushi place was and they had pointed it out on the map, and I had gotten them to add the name in Japanese characters as so I could match it to the shop sign. We headed to the sushi place, which was only a five minute walk away. The place we went to was called Magurobito. Since it was after two pm, we got a seat at the conveyor belt straight away. The restaurant was really nice inside. It looked traditional ... read more

So Japanese efficiency let us down yesterday. An accident on the bullet train line stopped the trains getting to Nagano so we couldn't get to the snow monkeys! Much tears and tantrumming was only plicated by a trip to the 'happiest place on earth' Disney land! Phil needless to say was not impressed but he endured 'it's a small world' and the parades in order to cheer me up. Today is our last day and so we went to a least see some Japanese macaques in the zoo in Ueno. We said hi to the dwarf slow lorris for you Cath! No the best zoo i've ever been to but Asia isn't that awesome on animal welfare so it was quite good on balance. We fly at midnight tonight so we'll be back in sunny Lancashire ... read more

I decided today I would head to Tokyo again but this time with a step-by-step plan, which went very nicely actually. I decided the only way to beat my fear of Tokyo would be to face it all again today and get it right. I had planned to see a museum about people's life in Tokyo before the 1930s? earthquake, buy some souvenirs at a typical Thai market in Ueno in the north of Tokyo and attend a tea ceremony, eat a nice meal and then get the Bullet train Narita Express to Narita airport where the owner of the hostel I was going to stay in for the weekend would pick me up. I'd decided I'd spend my last weekend in Japan in the countryside resting and collecting my thoughts together, and rural Narita would ... read more

Het afscheid nadert: dit is de laatste dag in Tokyo. We zijn gestart in Ueno en hebben langs de Ameyokochõ markt gewandeld. Deze markt is direct onder de spoorlijn tussen de stations Ueno en Okachimach. wat mij nog meer verbaasde is dat ook in een steeg tussen twee spoorlijn winkeltjes en restaurantjes zijn. Daarna naar Uenopark om diverse musea te bezoeken. Helaas. Bijna alle musea zijn op maandag gesloten. Nog wel een blik kennen werpen op de beelden van Rodin in de tuin van Museum van Westerse kunst maar daar hield alle cultuur wel mee op. Een beetje gezworven door Yanaka. Hier eindelijke een moderne tempel uit de jaren vijftig gezien. Doorgelopen naar de Kyū Iwasaki-tei gardens waar een van de eerste westerse huizen staat. De voorkant is erg Engels naar de achterkant komt rechtstreeks uit ... read more

So we are on our final night in Japan and we both absolutely loved it here. Today we had our most Japanese day of all. We started off visiting the Sumo Stadium and by luck there was a tournamont on for the Meiji Jinto Shrine with all the big names, yokazuna was competing with another 20 or so sumo wrestlers. It was fascinating to watch all the ceremonies and traditions. There was a minor tournament and the main even. The hours passed from 12.00 until at 4pm the champion was decided. Very exciting!! There was a little comedy sketch between tournaments also, brilliant! Then we visited Akibahara to see 2 shrines and visit a stand in Sushi restaurant. I still can't get over the chewiness of raw fish, but mark dived right in. I had a ... read more