Blogs from Tokyo, Japan, Asia - page 8

23 rd December 2020 Tokyo A visit to the Shinjuku district was our tour at 9.30am this morning U.K. time. The area is the home of the famous night district in Japan best known as the best entertainments districts in the city where visitors can play, eat and shop till very late at night. Our guide, Yusuke, took us on a walk through the nostalgic Izakaya alley, full of a variety of restaurants, bars and clubs and the famous Robot Restaurant! I was reminded of my many visits to South Korea during my working career when eating Korean BBQ was a treat. There didn’t seem to be any specific Christmas lights but the many buildings with their neon lights still looked pretty. We passed along a wall covered in murals created by children commemorating the Fukushima ... read more

When dining with neophytes at a Japanese noodle bar, the question always comes up. What are the various types of noodles, and which one will I like? The short answer, try them all. Or just order what I order! So, basic flour and water, like most pasta, right? But in Japanese noodle cooking, the broth is the key. Stories abound, as some Japanese artisans trace their secret recipes back a century or more. And noodle apprenticeships can last decades! In Japan, there is a fellow who travels around the entire country, doing nothing but reviewing ramen! As I recall, he averages about two bowls of ramen each day. You can find his story in "Rice, Noodle, Fish", a great read for those of you who love Japanese food. I use the book as a reference quite ... read more

The article on MSN Travel Voices featured a young African American woman, traveling in Japan. Here are some of her thoughts and observations: url=https://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/How-Travel-While-Working-44457039?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=feed&utm_content=link_4When I go abroad, I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders to be a good example of a black woman so negative stereotypes don't continue, especially in homogeneous cultures where there is a lack of diversity. The media doesn't exactly portray black people incredibly well, and people watch it and make assumptions about what we're like based on the color of our skin. In some places, they've rarely even seen a black person in real life. I am constantly aware of every move I make when I step outside of the United States. There is not a single moment when I am not c... read more

We arrived in Tokyo after an uneventful 11 hour flight, featuring lots of films and no sleep. Getting through the airport is a testament to Japanese efficiency and politeness; with gentle directions and lots of bowing (and with the chance to test out our first few tentative “konichiwa”s and “arigatou”s), the hordes of people are ushered through and we are out past customs in record time - and with both of our bags having made the trip, thankfully. Charlie had pre-booked our own personal WiFi box, apparently something that people commonly have here as surprisingly the mobile internet is not very good, and which we will be using with GoogleMaps and Translate whilst we are here. It’s an interesting service - we picked it up from the post office at the airport and it came with ... read more

Tokyo, modern yet traditional, so large, so busy, so easy to navigate. All that they tell you about this bustling metropolis is true. Our first stop in the city was the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, so low key that it wasn't even featured in the Lonely Planet guidebook. I love art museums, though, so I had to go. Worth an hour of your time, and you get to walk through the lovely Ueno Park nearby. Nearby the neighborhood of Yanaka also deserves a bit of attention for snacks and perhaps a drink at the Yanaka Beer Hall For this leg of the trip we stayed at the wonderful Guesthouse toco (https://backpackersjapan.co.jp/toco/english.html), which I highly recommend. Located in a 100-year-old traditional Japanese house with a tiny garden in a quiet but convenient area of ... read more