Hotel Green Tower Makuhari Chiba

... in Tokyo DisneySea. Also a great Little Mermaid stage show in the round at TDS, as well as a small world-type ride about the voyages of Sinbad. (Elizabeth wasn’t impressed. I thought it was pretty decent.)

This day was apparently the beginning of the true summer season, so several new shows debuted. The theme of the summer’s marketing campaign is “splash,” so every show gets you wet. Real wet. At TDS there was a big show ...

... unfortunately very blurry because I got scared and was already practically running out as I pressed the button). And we stayed for a while until the last train back to Asakusa where the Hostel is. After following the Rough Guide to a football bar that didn't exist (I'm telling you, these Tokyo backstreets are like Labyrinth and the Rough Guide is like those floor sprites moving the slabs with the arrows on) we ...

... prist, tak ma spredu podrezal nejaky juhoamericky partizan. Tak kratko tam asi nehral nikto, pretoze slecna ku mne prisla a velkoryso mi ponukla este jednu hru. Tu sa mi zase podarilo za minutu quitnut, pretoze zrazu nabehol nejaky japonsky text a v tom rozsypanom caji sa akosi stale neviem orientovat. Mal som na vyber dve moznosti a stlacil som kruzok. Na ponuku tretej hry som uz radsej necakal, stiahol siltovku do tvare a utekal ...

... being too nice...too friendly...what's the catch? But there isn't one. All the Japanese people I have met have been genuinely friendly. Apart from a few old men, who obviously have an ulterior motive. It's a good job that everyone is so helpful, because people need help. If you have ever seen the train/subway map of Tokyo, you'll know what I'm talking about. Actually there is more than one map, I had several maps and all of them were different. Some ...

... the other six Deities of Good Fortune. Tamonji Temple stands in the northern part of Mukojima, which means the "Side Yonder of the River," and therefore acts as the protector of the area. The temple sports a nice thatched gate, the only one left in the whole of the metropolis. Before we got to the next stop we spotted what must be the original JC Penney - can't be anything but, right, given the locale & the age of some of these temples ...

... for home. At home fantastic smells waited for me! Jeff and Brooklyn had spent the day cooking (in all three little ovens from our apartments!) We found whole chickens that they roasted and broccoli casserole (Brooklyn's favorite), scalloped potatoes, corn, stuffing with apples and pecans, and finished with pumpkin pie and whipped cream! We invited Hitoshi and another of our work friends, Mika. Everyone had a great time. Jeff and Brooklyn and ...

... and they were having a lot of sales. Ms. N seemed to be enjoying it too. She said she might come back the next day. We found Kiddyland store (several floors) which is all toys and such. They had a great selection of Hello Kitty. We needed to get some gifts for home. Afterwards, we were ready for a break and there happened to be a Shakey's Pizza right next door. So that's where we had dinner. It was quite good; the iced tea was refreshing. They had some ...

... passengers' needs, opens and closes the curtains at appropriate times and reads out important announcements, such as those regarding the location of the washrooms and upcoming stops. These announcements are then read again in English by a pre-recorded voice for the benefit of Jane and myself. Compared to the bus rides we've had already and particularly with those yet to come, this is luxury, and we sleep accordingly.

... subway ride home....what do these people do - they were leaving the city for home still at 10pm at night...wow... DAY THREE: Tokyo to Shizuoka "Tsukiji Fish market" was the first stop. This place was great, the guys on their little motorised carts whizzing here there and everywhere, fish guts and heads around every corner and every conceivable thing that comes out of the ocean you can eat for sale. The pieces of tuna and salmon were huge, and you got an idea of how big the ...

... by our dear friends Mogan and Kei. Mogan, of course, got us into the Asia travel game by convincing us to visit his home country of Malaysia a few years ago. His wife Kei is very close to delivering their first child (a son) so she gets extra credit for being such a sport during our visit! Mogan has been a wealth of information about Japanese culture and they are both excellent interpreters. Mogan took us to the Sensoji Shrine on Monday after we got rained out of ...