Hotel Plaza Nanohana Chiba

... years ago and has a stellar reputation in the theme park geek
community (I am a card carrying member) as being the best designed park on
earth, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. (Elizabeth had a different feeling. It’s not a Magic Kingdom style park, so it
doesn’t have a traditional “Disney” feel to it.) I’ll spare all the non-Disney folks reading
this blog the gory details, but as an ...

... After checking into the hotel we had a wander around the immediate vicinity, too tired to do anything else!! On Wednesday we took a half day tour of Tokyo. We went up the Tokyo Tower, looks similar to the Eiffel Tower, but is slightly taller. The observation deck is 150m above ground level and gave us great views over the city, this was helped by the fantastic weather. We continued to the perimeter of the Imperial ...

... of course, because she introduced me to Ueno's finest was it, 2 years ago?? time flies and everything looks the same here since then) Dinner and a few hours of singing should be enough fun to last the weekend, but then sunday there is talk of hanging out in Harajuku where Japan's pop culture comes out in all sizes, colors and decades one day a week. Well, at least on sundays it all concentrates in one ...

... Crossing for the next day. I was up at five the next morning, ready to be picked up at six - to be on the trail in the national park at eight. Had I known what I was going to go through that day, I would have stayed in bed - I guess you can call it blissful oblivion...? 18 kms in about 7 hours; through desolate, rugged moon-like landscapes, up The Devils Staircase, to the South Crater (again, like being on the moon, except now the sun was coming through the clouds), up the Red Crater ...

... got so flustered and nervous, she forgot all her English. She fussed with us like I've never experienced before, making us sit while she proceeded breathlessly to bring out sushi, beer, juice, cookies, little cakes, sake, sour plums, rice, other assorted unidentifiable objects, more beer, more sweets, and so on. Every once in a while she would stop and show me some ornament with english writing on it. Katsushi said she wants to learn english so badly ...

... I walked around aimlessly window shopping and taking pictures of the city within the city (as nothing was opened). We also visited the lobby at the Grand Hyatt and will say that they have very cool bathrooms and sinks! One thing I did notice differently this time in Japan is that not only are toilet seats heated with about 10 different functionalities....now when you open the bathroom ...

... his friend was going to take - ok, guess he wanted to look even smaller. He thanked us best he could and we began our retreat, only to be tapped on the shoulder again. Seems his friend had liked the photo so much he'd gone to get the whole family involved, so me and Josh stood with all 4 family members between us and smiled for the camera - surreal. Tokyo tower the next sight to see. Bigger than the Eifel tower - only due to a spike on the top, they claim to be a ...

... the company as young teenagers, and go through a few years of rigorous training, much like Kabuki. But it's not the same kind of traditional performance styles used in Kabuki... These shows have a pronounced western style to them. And the only way I could describe it is as follows: Takarazuka is 1 part Kabuki, 1 part Broadway, 1 part Morality play, 1 part Lawrence Welk and 2 part Las Vegas "Jubilee ...

... incredibly busy Asian metropolis was once only a swamp-filled valley with grassy lowlands only 300 years ago. My stay in Taiwan, albeit brief (only a couple of days whilst in transit to Malaysia) is something I truly look forward to discovering with eyes wide open. My Malaysian experience thus far in my life comes in two forms: A couple of flights on Malaysia Airlines en route to Australia and England, and three brief layovers while in transit at Kuala Lumpur Airport. Thus ...

... can find in front of many restaurants around here. It is so bizarre. I went into a club at night with a guy named Jesse from Boston, where we saw dance troupes doing choreographed moves that could only be popular here. Yesterday, we made it into the Shinjuku area, which really is what I pictured Tokyo to be like in my head. There are thousands of neon lights and people buzzing about, but if you step into the ...