Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 201

So, I just finished up my first day in Japan, and things are going splendidly so far. (By the way, I'm in Japan because my school has exams and I get a little time off for those...) Anyway, I flew out of Seoul early this morning (6 a.m. wake up call, baby!) and arrived in Tokyo (Narita) by 1pm or so. I took the train into Tokyo to check into my hostel, and then went out on the town. Fortunately, everything's gone smoothly so far. I was worried that with language barriers and whatnot I'd have a tough time. But, no! Everyone's been very helpful, and my English has gotten me by (I actually have a tendency to say things in Korean much of the time, but I'm working through that). So, today, tomorrow, and ... read more

Ok after abit of sleep, we got ready to have a fairly quiet day. I bumped into Rob and told him the adventures of the plane, and went to have a shower... soooooo needed. Our plans for today were to go to Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku. First we went to Mister Dounuts for our morning Fruit Juice and Apple Pie :p Soooooooooooo tasty. As usual we woke up far too early for the shops to be open so we walked to Ueno Park. It was greenery day today so we managed to get into Ueno Zoo for free. We saw pandas, red pandas, bears, elephants sooo many animals. After looking at all the animals we made our way to the first Hello! Project shop of the day :p There wasn't anything left that i wanted so ... read more

Thursday: Come Again to Kamakura! How's the sushi in Zushi? I had to make some quick changes. The camping trip to Yamaguchi was off. May 3rd, Constitution Day. Takeshi and I were getting along famously. Standing at the JR wicket where I learned it was no problem to extend my return journey free of charge, I asked if I could stay with my host the rest of Golden Week. He agreed. At his suggestion, we caught a noon train out of Shinjuku headed to Kamakura. The train was packed with holiday makers, seniors, families, a nice break from the suits. Kamakura lies an hour south of Tokyo, near the coast in Kanagawa Prefecture. On visits to museums and galleries, I'd noticed Kamakura Period stencilled under some beautiful wood carvings but I knew little of the ... read more

So it’s the first day in Japan.. I’m sooooooo excited… we landed at 9.15am this morning and yeah well didn’t start too well. Once we had been dropped off at the train station, kira and I went for a quick coffee and biscuit at Starbucks before heading off on the Skyliner to Ueno Station. Mad as we are, and sick of being on any moving transport we decided it would be fun to walk from Ueno station to The Taito Ryokan where we are staying. It was like an 8 min walk but it took us a little bit longer… we got a tiny bit lost :p I did get to practice my basic Japanese… 　 Me: すみません、どこですか。 Lady: いま。 Me: はい。 Lady points at map Me: ありがとぅございます。 Yeah so that was it XD so basic ... read more

Tokyo & KamakuraKevin Gurr Monday Evening: Rendez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir? Takeshi and I had met on the internet. I learned he used to live in Hiro, the next stop after my old hometown of Kure. He'd been manager at Moss Burger, a popular not so fast food chain, for eight months. It was a big change from Tokyo for him. He enjoyed the spacious apartment, four times the size of his Tokyo place and rent at a quarter the cost. He enjoyed his small town co-workers too, their motherly kindness and how they treated their new Tokyo-gin manager like a celebrity. Naturally, he found it boring. We met out front Shinjuku Station south exit. Considering three metro lines and five rail lines converge at Shinjuku, it was surprising how easily we found each other. ... read more