Breezbay Yokohama

Today we left friends and family behind in Toyama in order to visit Hana's sister and kids in Yokohama. By train we made the three hour journey to Yokohama -- one of Japan's nicer major cities.<br><br>I was feeling quite under the weather all day today -- what appeared to be the onset of a cold; scratchy eyes and major headache. Our arrival in Tokyo for our transfer to Yokohama was a bit unpleasant given my headache. Tokyo is one crowded city -- a ...

... bay from Tokyo itself. We emerged from the station to see the Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest building, and decided it would be a great time to go up it as the sun was setting. We went up the tower in the fastest lifts in the world (can tick that off in the book!), to the 69th floor for some superb views of the sun behind Fuji and the city itself. Also as night drew in we got some great views of the harbour as the city ...

... teenagers and narrow streets. I decided to have lunch here. I picked a place that the picture of the food looked reasonable and cheap. The girls who served were not caring at all....other people had to ask for service (the teenagers beside me) I just smiled and agreed. But for 7.80 yen I got a chowmein type dish, rice, corn soup and a sugar dessert. Ok..I left and just walked around Chinatown...taking pics ...takig vids....and just wandering. It was kinda ...

... alienated from the mainstream who dress up as their favorite anime characters and just hang out outside the plaza facing the station. What really struck me is that so many of them are just normal teenagers, unpretentious and proud of who they are. They seem to have been almost accepted into society albeit a different way by being tourist attractions as well as forming part of a cult. Many of them allowed me to take their pictures and you can see them in the picture album. It ...

... an astounding moment. We were soon chatting. I decided against revealing my knowledge of his profession. Out of sympathy I commented that it might be difficult to take photographs in public these days due to increased police presence and surveillance. "Yeah, they must be nuts", Mr S murmured and continued, "You know what!? I had some primary school kids come up to me. They said they had caught a snake ...

So I arrived here on Monday...met up easily with Tony and Em, and had to find Mark. Fortunately there aren't too many tall Polish guys in Tokyo. So we hop on the bus to the nice hotel, which is near our hotel. We were thankful to have a room considering our confirmation was a bit sketchy. It's really a nice new hotel. Not too pricey and right across the street from a subway stop. The only ...

... a hill - which even hosted an American-Indian photographer and another American-Indian painter/woodcarver. I saw their works and even met the painter-carver at a temple where he was chipping a log away. On my last day I was walking around the village and saw some usable rubbish next to a shed. Among the rubbish were skiing poles and a bicycle. I asked the man inside if I could have the poles. He said "Don't you need skis and boots to go with the poles ...

This morning we slept in again and left the apartment at about noon to try to find our new apartment again and check out the neighborhood in the daylight. Since we were driven there by the real estate guy last time we weren't sure where it was and got lost and went way past it. After some funny incidents attempting to ask directions from uniformed men who were either police or guards we located it again. The neighborhood was cute and we walked around a bit. We got lost ...

... having difficulty. After a long day of be bopping around we headed to the airport to check into our room. We are staying at the Hilton, which we were a little bit excited about. When we think Hilton we think pool, hot tub, luxury. Plus it was the cheapest room we could find and the same price as our other ghetto room. We think the name of this hotel should be Hilton a la carte. Every time we try to do something fun they inform us that we will have to pay for ...

I am not going to say much in this entry except for the flight was delayed about 4 hours at Tokyo, as the plane had technical faults, and the screens on each of the seats weren't working so we had a long boring trip... Plus I think I was a little depressed about the adventure finally coming to and end. I am tired and worn out, and I know I'm not ready for home yet. So thi sis our last oversea's stop before ...