Aobadai Forum Yokohama

... had to decide if she wanted to pursue dance professionally or go to school. She chose the later and I am glad she did because she wouldn't be on S@S if she didn't! We hung out for about an hour before parting ways. I went back to my room to study for my Physics for Mariners test till dinner. We had "cultural preport" tonight for Hawaii but since Hawaii is in the US we did something different. We had a ...

... So basically we performed some last minute surgery to the itinerary. We booked 4 more nights in the hotel we are in now, which hopefully means we can keep the same room and not have to pack up our bags in the morning. Then on the 5th night, because this hotel did not have any vacancies, we have booked into central Kawasaki, which from looking at the maps is halfway between Tokyo and Yokohama (which ...

The past few days have been very eventful actually. Where do I begin. Well we taught our first class on Tuesday. I was actually quite nervous at first. I didn't know what to expect. We went into the class room and Sayaka-san (the teacher who has been helping us and letting us teach her class) asked us whether we had in-door shoes. Chris and I looked at each other in confusion. I think I have heard about in-door shoes in japanese dramas ...

... which is then filtered into the toilet for use in flushing (also to conserve water), and an emergency button that sounds an alarm and brings attendants if necessary. There is also another button which just makes a flushing sound. Apparently, the Japanese, in the interest of modesty, were repeatedly flushing the toilet in order to disguise 'indelicate' sounds. This has become somewhat outdated as of late, however, and is ...

... 300. The hope of Shinyoshida No. 3 is just as optimistic as the promise of gold and diamond in the land of Ophir that Cecil Rhodes tried to have investors to believe. The venue of the ceremony, the school gym, was both foreign and nostalgic. As soon as I stepped inside, I smelt the dry sweat gym smell. In front was the stage, to the right of the stage was a board featuring the lyrics of the school song. To the left ...

... so we're quite happy with that. Our prefectural night out is fun, with all you can drink, and then Sebastian goes on with the group to do some karaoke. This is really the first time true difference is felt. No where in North America would you find a three storey building packed with little tiny rooms that are meant to gather people sitting around a TV/stereo system, and singing their favourite songs. It's a blast, and quite surreal! The only time we actually ...

... stared down his nose at me, which made me angry. Junya was trying to pull me away, but I wanted an answer to his baltant racism (a word I hate to use btw) Sarah came to my aid with her dazzling Japanese and basically left the guy speechless. He didn't know what to do. His superior Japanese brain didn't really consider the possibility that foreigner could understand Japanese. He ended up apologising to us all and getting ...

... Walked around a couple of blocks and all we could find were a couple of people in water boots washing floors at 9am on empty streets.....! Apparently it turned out that the fish market is generally closed on weekends. After doing a couple of rounds around the blocks, we found the one and only one place serving raw fish rice in an alley in between two buildings - which had an ancient Japanese feel to it, a bit like the ramen museums! Though a ...

... love their baseball. I believe it is their national sport and I saw the mighty Tokyo Yanuk Swallows (named after their yoghurt making owners) versus the scum from Yokohama - the Bay Stars. Everyone sang through the entire game and they had choreographed moves for different songs. My particular favourite being the umbrella dance. The sumo was something special and a definite highlight and one of the main reasons ...

... karaoke back in Asakusa with fellow hosteleers Emma, Kemmer, Dave and Simon), went to 2 acts of the weird, traditional theatre kabuki, visited the Imperial Palace and hit the Sapporo/Yebusi brewery to sample a platter of their best beers (including a lovely ale). We went to Meiji-jingu, a shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his consort, Emperor Shoken and visited the controversial war memorial, the Yasukuni shrine where Japan's war ...