Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 205

Konichiwa to you all Arrived Tokyo and settled into hotel Next morning I had prebooked a visit to the Imperial Palace gardens which is limited to 120 persons per visit twice a day need to prebook as arriving on the day there were no places left Taken around Palace grounds and outside of Palace itself - a newish concrete building replacing the one destroyed in 1945 Went on to East gardens - litttle cherry blossom out yet Afternoon went to Electric City at Akihabara. Lots of neon lights and brash signs but prices only just lower than UK internet. Not as good as Hong Kong by what we were told Today went to Akabusa to see Sensoji temple and old market area After lunch got tickets for Kabuki-Za theatre to see one act - 50mins ... read more

the day started off at 7:30 am (why so early i dont know) with the same buffet breakfast at the keio plaza hotel. its ok, but getting a little old. then, a trip on the train to the the yoyogi park and the shrine that was there. there was actually one couple getting their wedding pictures taken there, and also a procession of another wedding party i think. it was very different than an american wedding. first off, people were in traditional japanese garb. and it was really somber and kind of depresssing. after that, we wandered out of the park and stumbled upon this outdoor market that we apparently caught the last day of. got some snack food and i bought some stuff to bring back to LA. after that, we went to shibuya which ... read more

i just got back from the hotel breakfast buffet that came free. it wasn't bad, they had an american section and a japanese section to choose from. i just tried to download my pictures and unfortunately for some reason they got deleted!!!! good thing there wasn't anything too great that i took between last night and now. we're going to ueno park now which has a park, shopping arcade, then we're going to akihabara the electronic district, then ginza for more shopping, then the imperial palace for some historical/cultural stuff. :o) i'll post some of shelby's pictures (good thing she has her camera too) and i'll write back alter! oh yeah a funny thing at breakfast.. its like 8 am and there's this middle-age business looking japanese guy with a 40 size asahi. yikes. weird. **** ... read more

After the Mitsui symposium on 14th and 15th March (refer to my previous posts), Victor left Tokyo while Mingxian and I stayed back in Tokyo for more exploration. Mingxian had 5 semesters of Japanese lessons in NUS and he did a 6-month internship in Mitsubishi Chemical, so he can speak fluent Japanese and he knows the Japanese customs and etiquettes. Mingxian booked a room in an inn in Otsuka (near Ikebukuro), so we travelled from Chiba to Otsuka to deposit our luggages in the Otsuka inn. After putting down our luggages, we took a tram to Sunshine City, one of the largest shopping malls in Tokyo. Sunshine City boasts an aquarium, a planetarium, a history museum, a office tower with an observation deck at the 60th floor, a Namja theme park (Namja is a Japanese ... read more

It's hard to find a single word to describe Tokyo. If you ask me how Tokyo is, I can easily find dozens of adjectives to describe the city, among which are "dazzling", "fast-paced", "efficient", "amazing", "crowded", "breath-taking", "religious", "disciplined", etc etc. If you ask me to use only one word, I guess the best choice is "exciting". Tokyo is indeed exciting. The city is like a hyperactive kid who is trying to attract attention, and it succeeded in attracting my attention. As a result, I'm also feeling hyperactive. Life is fast-paced in Tokyo, but I like the speed and efficiency of the Japaneses. People in Tokyo are also courteous and considerate. People switch their mobile phones off or to silent mode on trains, and people never talk on their phones on trains. On escalators, people ... read more