Comfort Hotel Tokyo Kanda Chiyoda

... that was used to portray our beak-noses and torpedo-breasts in the commercial. By no means am I deeming western culture superior, but I am saying that we are by no means stupid and deserving of ridicule. If I can find the commercial on youtube I`ll post it so you can see how obnoxious it is. But I`ve written way more than I usual do in these entries and so I`ll put a stop to that now. Hopefully we`ll get more comments soon. We`ve been missing them.<br>

... Dean could comfortably touch both walls at the same time. The bed consisted of two mats that had to be strategically rolled out at night. Not an easy feat when the mats were actually bigger than the room itself. Luckily for us, the hostel had only just opened and apart from a few dejected looking old men shuffling around the place, there was ************e else there. Everything was brand spanking new and this being Japan, the place was so immaculate ...

... asking enough questions). I had the Cheshire Cat ice cream dessert (very yummy, it had a pastery Cheshire Cat, vanilla ice cream, corn flakes, and fruit, with cocoa powder footprints decorating the plate). Chris had the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (I'm guessing, he thought it was maybe the day and night from the Walrus and the Carpenter part), it was a dark chocolate covered cookie with white eyes and a white chocolate covered cookie with brown eyes on choco and vanilla ice cream with ...

... and a lightshow, and then went on to show a dragon, which emerged from the centre of the lake. The dragon emitted jets of flames, and the surface of the water caught fire in huge patterns. The fountains of water continued to fire, and intermittently some very loud fireworks would erupt. It sounds very spectacular, and it was, but at the same time it could have been so much better if there were more ...

... great things from our friends Ollie and Nick who have both visited the country recently, and our love of Japanese food (albeit sushi à la Messrs Marks and Spencer)! A week later and we are standing in the Brisbane branch of Qantas, going through a few changes we wish to make to our route; I hold my breath as Piet asks, 'I don't suppose we can also use our ticket to squeeze in a stop in Japan?' We can! There is no extra cost! We can't go to Adelaide- who cares!? We are bound ...

... kam inam rozrastat. Vyuzil som aj moznost si pozriet mesto za poplatok z vysky budovy svetoveho obchodneho centra v Shibe (ano, aj ja som bol prekvapeny, ze je aj v Tokyu, kapitalizmus uz nepozna hranic), kusok od ktoreho lezi budhisticky chram Zojo-ji, v ktorom je pochovanych 6 z 15 shogunov klanu Tokugawa. Hned za nim je znama Tokyo Tower postavena v roku 1958 po vzore eiffelovky, ktoru svojimi 333 metrami o par metrov prevysuje. Od nej som oklukami ...

... pardon me'ing my way through the crowd I managed to see a rather impressive large red temple now it was my turn to be a tourist as the camera came out and the dance of the 40 thousand photos was performed. I think ive been spoiled by the temples in Kyoto! You can roam pretty much freely and in almost total silence as ************e else was there but this temple was like grand central station! (Well I assume I will let you know when I get there) it was so packed and ...

... that back on medical insurance one day. Medicine in hand I had a look in on the Japanese festival taking place at the nearby temple. Friday was Japan's national holiday (surely much better than a Monday don't you think?) so the place was packed with people and I saw some really cool traditional dancing, dancing monkeys, classically dressed Japanese and less cool transvestite Geisha. Feeling quite sorry for myself in a vain way I retired to the hostel and spent most of ...

... is definitely missing the latter. I stick out like a sore thumb traveling around the city on Friday: Me: gritty green capri pants, black rain jacket and flip flops. Everyone else: business suits and designer outfits. All the girls are very thin and stylish. I feel like aunt Jemimah with my bandana and "western style" extra pounds. It has been raining most of the day. Not the come and go type rain but the ...

... never forget the immense crowd there. Finally, we left the aquarium where we rode the subway to the Swiss Hotel. At the hotel, Taku dropped me off and went home so I could meet them at the farewell dinner. I want to say that I had a wonderful experience with Shibata family. They were an accommodating family that took me in their house as their own. I will never forget them and will stay in contact with them to hopefully see them in the future.