Blogs from Japan, Asia - page 933

Asia » Japan » Kyoto March 1st 1998

Geo: 35.6895, 139.692Kyoto-Kansai... read more

Asia » Japan » Chiba » Narita August 17th 1997

Wow. After a full day transiting in Singapore by myself, I'm on my way to Minneapolis, Minnesota via Tokyo. Have a couple of hours transiting in Narita - Tokyo, so I started to reflect on what has been going on for the past couple days. I feel so insecure about everything, maybe because this is my first time go abroad by myself. No mommy or daddy or anybody around me, showing me around the immigrations or transiting between flights. Or maybe because I know my life will be changed forever from this point on. Or maybe since I'm carrying a lot of cash. LOTS of money, which I found out a little too late that this amount of cash to carry around is illegal in most country, including the United States of America. On the other ... read more

My year in Hiroshima

Asia » Japan » Hiroshima September 5th 1995

View from Mount Misen

wredlich

I taught English in Hiroshima from 1994 to 1995. Hiroshima has a great park in the center of the city devoted to remembering the atomic bomb. I actually had a student who lived nearby when the bomb hit. They were far enough away that he was unaffected, but he remembered going into the city a few days later to look for friends.... read more

First trip

Asia » Japan » Tokyo December 25th 1991

Rome

Yokoso Nihon e My first time outside the US, except for the Philippines. I went with my friend. His name is Wei (can't remember his last name. We were friends from my college days in UCI). We went to Tokyo but stayed with his older brother in suburb of Tsurumi. The commute to Tokyo was about 30 mins. Eventually we had to leave because I started to snore loudly, and neither of them could sleep. It turned out that the I was jet-lagged but I just didn't know it. We joined a bus tour and went to Kamakura and Hakone. The skies were clear, so it was a picture perfect day. We could see Fujisan from the lake. After the tour, we would stay with my friend Tuan in Ibaraki. When we returned, we met my ... read more

Mixing business with pleasure!

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku October 27th 1989

Mei in a kimono

Tom Rooney

Due to a fortunate happenstance I gained another chance to visit Japan through my job in Sydney. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise as I settled back into Sydney life after spending two years overseas. I was lucky to get a job in an oil exploration company thanks to a friend, and it was a great feeling to get back on my feet financially after my travels. Life certainly takes many interesting twists and turns as the years roll by. My job in the company, dear reader, started in the print room but the manager asked if I would consider a job as a Technical Assistant, despite the fact I didn't possess a science background unlike the rest of my colleagues. I was offered the position which involved assisting the geologists and geophysicists in their ... read more

I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!

Asia » Japan » Tokyo December 22nd 1987

English teacher, Tokyo

Tom Rooney

This journal summarises travel highlights from the year 1987, which I spent living and working in Japan. The great Japanese adventure began with my arrival in Shimononseki after a day and a night on the ferry which set sail from Pusan in South Korea. It was good to be back in Japan after spending three months here during 1986, and my cunning plan involved hitchhiking from Shimonoseki north to Tokyo with local truck drivers. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and a Japanese man at the terminal wrote Tokyo in kanji on a large cardboard sign which I held out at the truck stops. Winter had set in, and in the dead of night I was hopping around like a demented kangaroo trying to keep warm while holding up the sign, meanwhile truckie ... read more

The Land of the Rising Sun

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku November 30th 1986

Japanese garden, Tokyo

Tom Rooney

Shinjuku station is in the heart of downtown Tokyo, and the busiest train station in the world. Up until my arrival there I thought I was doing OK, having farewelled my friends in San Francisco and boarded a flight to Japan before arriving at Tokyo's Narita airport. From there I caught the airport train to Shinjuku and was nervous alright, but arriving at the station really freaked me out. There are several floors, train lines in every direction and more people rushing around than I'd ever seen in my life. For a time I just stood at the station paralysed with inaction and feeling completely overwhelmed. But things tend to work out and with some assistance I eventually found the correct line to get to my gaijin (foreigner) house. I arrived safely, and this journal tells ... read more

Brief history of Japan

In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol...more history

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