Akasaka Yoko Hotel Minato

... is at the southwestern edge of the area within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Tokyo government. The only maps of Tokyo that give this area the same attention as central Tokyo are the ones issued by the Tokyo metropolitan government. I'm sure they have to, since the suburbs of Tama Center (pronounced "Tama Centah") and Machida are officially as much a part of Tokyo as Ginza. Machida is about an hour from Shinjuku station via the Odakyu ...

... results in a mixture of Chinese and the odd tourists in the same compartment. Conversation is not easy, but with the help of a little phrase book, you can manage fairly well. Usually the Chinese are very interested in looking at your guide books etc... On one of my train travels I have encountered a Chinese Civil Engineer that ...

... a racket in the morning - thankfully they pointed out that in an 8 bed dorm its impossible not to make noise. These young chaps are Pete & Kyle & come from Perth in Oz. They've been travelling around for a month taking in some skiing & are hoping to go skiing again in a weeks time. Obviously new to Japan we discussed the benefits to the heated toilets & Pete told us he couldn't remember the last time he stood up to go to the toilet! We also met Stephan a Swiss chap ...

... en la que la parada de metro Sinjuku tiene hasta 60 salidas a puntos diferentes de la zona.... Una megopolis, mejor dicho, en la que los centros comerciales y grandes almacenes se cuentas por docenas de marcas y tantas sucursales de cada una de ellas... una ciudad en la que esta lo mas de lo mejor y en abundancia: todos los grandes reposteros franceses, todos los modistos italianos, todo el lujo mundial....T-O-D-O.... todo, y todo bueno, y nuestro Zara, Lladro y nuestra unica ...

... fun. Mum came third, Daddy came first and I came second. Wednesday 23rd April Tom: I woke up at six o'clock in the morning feeling quite tired from last night. Half an hour later we had breakfast my breakfast was PIKELETS, BUTTER and JAM! It filled me up a lot. After daddy did a little bit of work we went to the Tokyo station where we sorted out our JR rail pass (it felt like 2 hours!) Finally we went on ...

... nap with eyes open, read up on Japanese things and appreciate the sights, (of a crowd of school children, an english mother with three school skiving kids (who looked that they'd rather be playing a Wii), the suburbs skyscrapes and what looked like a huge golden parsnip...or golden **** as Si so eloquently described it!). We finally got off, slighty revived by the opportunity to sit down, to the numerous temples in the eastern districts [one day i'll add the actual names ...

... and so we got on, just as the doors were closing. We took that train to a subway station and that is when things got really interesting. The subway station had four stalls for trains but 8 trains going both ways one each stall pass through here. Just so I am clear, I first saw a train heading west on the same track we picked up our train heading east and they were diffrent lines. It was insane!!! We luckily got on the right subway and slowly started figuring out the subway ...

This past weekend was a really great one - I went on retreat to Kuriazawa with all of the Japan Study participants. On Saturday morning, I had to get up early to get to Takadanobaba station. I woke up at 6:30 and brushed my teeth, and around 6:45 I was sitting on my bed, more than a little groggy. My bed started to feel a little funny - like when I'm at home and my cat jumps up on the bed with me and I can feel it. My host family doesn't have a ...

... automatically at the first sight of imperfect weather is uniquely Japanese. The cars are different, the street lights are different, and the stores are different. Nothing about this odd country seems to work unless it is made somehow special with a slight Japanese flair. We knew that in our short time in Japan and in our even shorter time in its capital city we would at very most get to catch a glimpse of all these subtle differences; understanding the complex culture from which ...

... They too were quite shocked to see me. I hung around the park for a couple of hours. I went on a really violent Gundam Raiders 3d anime ride; very cool but somewhat out of character for the place. Towards the end there was the big show of the day in the main hall where Hello Kitty and her boyfriend trot around with all the other Sanrio characters. It reminded me of the Main street Electrical parade with Chinese contortionists ...