Hotel Arca Torre Roppongi Tokyo

... spectacular shrine called Toshogu - the most lavishly decorated shrine in Japan. Decorated with real gold and every color imaginable. It made the haunting hike up to the shrine worth it. But what takes the cake was our day trip to Hakone; a mountain lakeside town that has amazing views of Mount Fuji. We woke up that morn to clear blue skies, and thought that it would be a perfect day to view that famous landmark. After a 900 Yen bus ride into a mountain and down to Lake Ashi, we ...

... you reach the actual produce center, you are relatively safe except for the occasional splash of fish blood that can be narrowly missed if your lucky. They have everything there from clams to octopi to sea cucumbers and cephalopods.<br><br>After almost getting killed again, we found ourselves in a little Sushi restaurant owned by a man who was like the fisherman who never made it in the fisherman world. He was a tiny little guy who was so eager to please and teach us Japanese that ...

... profusely for daring to soil her ears with my filthy foreign jibber-jabber.<br><br>But despite this distinct change in atmospheric flavor, I must say that southeast Kyoto was home to perhaps one of Japan's most beautiful and amazing shrines; Sanjusangendo. And why shouldn't it be, being housed within the world's single longest wooden structure (as opposed to Nara's largest)? Picture, if you will, an immense wooden hall filled to the brim with one thousand golden Kannon statues ...

... and, most bizarre of all, 'Breast Pudding'. We also saw little mini Ninja costumes. It was awesome.<br><br>We were treated to something a little extra though, because lo and behold! It had started snowing. It was absolutely magical. Yet also increeedibly cold - I swear I could feel my blood freezing.<br><br>We snacked on little sugar pudding things that we are still to figure out the name of and wondered down the side alleys and found a store that ...

... situated directly on the harbor with futuristic architecture, brilliant shopping arcades and their very own gimmicky statue of liberty. After exploring the huge shopping arcades - within which I found a hidden trove of delights and plush toys in a Pokemon Center - and checking out the views of the attractive harbor atop the Tokyo Fuji TV tower, we headed to 'Fort Venus'. Fort Venus, while not much in terms of stores, allowed for us to waste a good few hours ...

... The girls did too, but there's no w*y th*t their cushions re*ched the ring, *nd they more th*n likely hit some J*p*nese people on the b*ck of their he*ds! It r*nks *s one of my top three sporting moments, *long with Engl*nd winning the rugby World Cup, *nd witnessing the Rocket knock in * 147 bre*k *t the Crucible...pure dr*m*! I spent my l*st evening on this p*rticul*r visit to Tokyo rel*xing in *n ultr*-modern onsen complex ne*r Tokyo ...

... world prices. Instead I ended up dropping about 20USD for a noodle dish with a little shrimp. The rest of the night saw the JSAPers back at the hotel sleeping. Tomorrow we would once again go through the tour gauntlet. This time we would have The U.S. Embassy in the morning and Seiyu in the afternoon. The lesson for the day could be summed up as the following-there's enough time to do a lot in your life and to do it when your ready. Talking to Watanabe ...

... in Tokyo. I've had just about every flavored beverage on the shelves and have come to the conclusion that light citrus flavors are huge here. Everything tastes like Fresca. - Tokyo is not made for foreigners. I don't know anything here. What's that sign say? How do we get there on the subway? What did you just order? Is that woman talking to us? What's in that bottle you're drinking out of? Seriously, I don't know the answers to all of those questions in Tokyo.

In Chinese, Beijing means the Northern Captial. Nanjing means the Southern Capital. Tokyo using Kanji (Chinese Han characters) means the Eastern capital. This capital is certainly worthy of the name. Tokyo is big, vibrant, metropolitan, modern and chic. I have many interesting observations of this country and I will share them with you in the next few blog entries. I arrived in Tokyo Narita airport with my friend Gloria. We will be staying with ...

... pretty much it. Japanese dont celebrate it much but people like to watch `A Nightmare Before Christmas` and eat candy. We decided to keep the celebration going on a bit so we`re going to see `The Corpse Bride` on thursday. Movie`s are expensive here!! Around 17$ CAD!!! Thats all for now Marianne