Hotel Century Chiba

... whole week here<br>just sampling the various delights. <br>(Gyoza in the volcano &#8211; yummy.)<br><br> <br><br>More to come on Tokyo Disneyland, but right now it&#8217;s time for us to<br>enjoy this lovely room at the Hilton &#8211; hot shower (as often as you like, not<br>the 100 Yen per 5 mins at the hostel), en suite bathroom, a bed that sits up<br>off the floor, peace and quiet, complimentary breakfast buffet. Is it possible we&#8217;ve become spoiled? Nah&#8230;<br><br>

... Japan has had hundreds of cases of "poison by fugu," as many as 34 of them fatal, Japanese health officials say. Early this year, six men in northern Japan were poisoned when they ate grilled blowfish testicles prepared by an unlicensed chef, now under investigation by police. The men survived. Lax oversight is another obstacle. Although there are tens of thousands of Japanese fugu chefs -- 80,000 in the Osaka area alone -- the industry has no centralized regulation ...

... food stalls and places to rip you off. This was one of the first places that really felt like a tourist trap. It was packed with people shoulder to shoulder, pushing and shoving their way through the souvenir shops that led up to the temple, and it seemed like everyone was out to make a few bucks selling junk. Too bad, because you could kind of make out that the temple is pretty, once you looked past all the people. It's like Park Avenue, but more expensive Ginza has the ...

... somewhere to eat and saw a building a in pink called "Slots" and we were curious as to what it was so went in. As we opened the doors our ears were bombarded with a gigantic cacophony of sound. It is a kind of fun parlour mixed with casino where row upon row of neatly dressed people (mostly, but not all male) were perched on stools in front of things that looked like poker machines, with boxes of silver balls at their feet. Apparently it is a kind of ...

... a phone for ordering food and drinks, and a tamborine. We then spent the next 2 hours singing (or something like it) Backstreet Boys, Abba, Britney Spears, Bon Jovi, and some popular Japanese pop songs, all of which were accompanied by dramatic video footage. We cheered each other on (probably more for not collapsing a lung in the process than for the performance itself), ate strange food with moving parts, then went home completely spent ...

... of Kyoto and is well served by the Kyoto metro. Very good rates if you're looking for a 3 star hotel but look around for quotes on the internet. Free internet in the rooms. Hiroshima - I stayed at the Hiroshima Intelligent (annex) hotel, a quirky hotel just next to Hiroshima station. Its quite tired looking and the rooms are small but if you're looking for a place to crash for the night, this is worth it. Free internet in the rooms. Naeba, Niigata ...

... I had to take the smock off. I got in the little room and before he closed the door for me politely, he looked me dead in the eyes and they twinkled cheekily. Damn, he'd understood my embarrassing mistake earlier and thought it was hilarious. Broke in Tokyo I'd been busy planning my trip around JApan on a more detailed level and had booked all my train tickets in ad vance with Hideko's help. Months earlier, I had bought a JR Pass (Japanese ...

... Japanese happy when foreigners really embrace their food and ask questions about it. I had some cowfish with salt which I had never had before and was good. We ate so many pieces! This time we went at 1pm when it is less busy than noon. Chris spent his afternoon going to the gym with Jeff, but they go there to find that the tiny weight room with treadmills was closed for a few days for repairs. Apparently they wandered around to find some ...

... this week, including a club day (to introduce us to the clubs), a matriculation ceremony in the school chapel which does not have air conditioning (it will be about 85 degrees with 88% humidity I think), needless to say they told us to dress neat and light. Classes start on Friday September 8th, so I am excited to get going and start learning Japanese (it is impossible to read the bus map) and meet some new friends. I have also bought my cell phone (everyone has one here and is ...

Well. I was going to go dancing this evening but as usual I left a bit later than I should have because I played soccer with a few of the JETS and didn't leave early enough. So, I came back from playing soccer, changed, had dinner, found the directions, put my shoes in my bag and headed out the door. I was out the door at 6p.m. But since it was a weekend, the trains don't come ...