Business Hotel Urban Inn Kurosaki Niigata

... Wasser. _Wobei am Strand nicht viel los war. Da war nur eine junge Frau mit ihrem Kind. Hab dann auf Japanisch gefragt, wo man hier schwimmen gehen kann. Da meinte sie man kann gleich da schwimmen gehen. Woraufhin ihre kleine Tochter (sehr kawaii) もう泳ぎた ;いの。 Also sie moechte auch schwimmen gehen.. und sich dann gleich mit ihren huebschen niedlichen Matrosenanzug samt Huetchen in die Wellen geschmissen hat. Sehr niedlich ...

... in cities, leaving space for many national parks and protected areas. While staying with Lily, Masa and their two boys we saw a bit of what their life is like, from the grocery store much like our own in Canada, with lots of free food samples everywhere, to their parking garage, where each car is on a movable conveyor system that shuffles cars around on three levels as they are needed. In this way 8 cars could be parked ...

... and it was dark I rang a ryokan in the guidebook and eventually managed to book a room then began the long walk back into town with all my stuff. one bit of luck was that when I turned up the next morning (when there was a ship and lots of people) they just transferred my ticket and let me on that sailing - phew. The moral of the story is if your blonde and prone to moments of stupidity like this (as I am) ALWAYS double check your travel times!

... sake. There was entertainment and food, all in the one convention center. They had Japanese dancers, and some really good traditional drum performances. I met a few foreigners that I saw the night before, and we kind of just went around drinking sake all afternoon. There were so many different varieties, some really sweet, some that were cloudy and this one that was ...

I left Matsumoto at about 9am and caught the train towards Niigata. The journey was very scenic (except during all the tunnels). I had to change trains at a few places, but I got to see a lot of towns that were still covered in snow. I went through Nagano (where the winter olympics were held in 98), and went past several ski fields. There was still plenty of snow, even though we are in spring now. Niigata is a more rural area, famous for it ...

... through the night before. The wind was howling at one point as I thund**ed down the slope and desp**ately tried to stop myself before slamming into one of the guard rails at the bottom. Oh well, exp**ience counts! I tried to get a bus back to Yuzarwa Station in the evening but the area had been snowed in and th**e wouldn't have been any buses until the next morning when the first express bus started at 11am. Anoth** freezing night I guess but p**haps a good time for R&R - bring on the Onsen!

... or friends from school. Here are some of those images, shots of Rasheed Sparks, Reggie Warren, Tsuyoshi Kawazura and Yukinori Suzuki. They are not household in Japan just yet, but doing all they can to put the league on the map as a quality pro league (which is in its third year now) that deserves widespread support and attention.

... think things can get any worse there is some light in the dark. An ozzie living in this small alpine town ask us where we are going and gives us a life to the hostel...... We then head out for Japanese pizza..... pretty nice.... cool little bar, done in a mock Alpine style full of Japanese, freaky. The next day it is snowboarding, and it is cheap approx 35euro for board ...

... us, and ushered us in right away. She was so energetic and funny... I dubbed her the Cloris Leachman of Japan. We ordered 2 bottles of sake, and a 2 orders of gyoza (our favorite Chinese dumplings) for the table. I understand why this region is known for sake... it was so smooth, and full of flavor. It was a fun little adventure... and don't think for a second I left that restaurant without a picture of me and my new friend!!! Back to Osaka tomorrow!

... read but I got by ok. After returning to Tokyo around 17:30 I spent several hours in the musical instrument area of Tokyo around Akihabara. Shop after shop after shop after shop of everything musical. I was like a kid in a lolly shop and bought a couple of good things. I have only one more day before I fly out so I had better get some souveniers for delivery to Aus.