Hotel Siena Shinjuku

... etc. we got back to the ryokan at 10 till 7 and we were to meet for dinner at 7pm. we went across the street to have dinner. a japanese pancake called okonomyake. it:s a bunch of stuff mixed up and then you put it on the cooking area in the middle of the table and cook until it:s done. tim had hot sake and the girl at our table had cold sake. neither one were big fans of either. tim fell asleep soon ...

... Child also had a CD store, there was a map to it outside of the clothing shop, so we set out to find it. It wasn't very far away or hard to find, they had a lot of Visual Kei (gothic lolita music). Most of the regular CDs cost about the same as here, between $20-$30, but they had a super sale on a bunch where they only cost between $1-$10. We bought 3 random CDs, a fun surprise for when we got back home (Japanese CDs, VHS tapes, and DS games ...

... a grump all day as I think I am getting tired from all the non-stop sightseeing. It just feels like there is no time to unwind like you would normally on holiday. The problem is we aren't at each place for too long so have to try and cram it all in. I feel sorry for Phil, though, cos he can't do a thing right at the moment as I keep going into a strop over the slightest thing. I know afterward that I was in the wrong but it's ...

... again walked through a park with a Japanese garden (in Japan, Japanese Gardens are just called gardens) and past a really big shrine and then into Shibuya another shopping area but really exclusive. All the clothes in Japan are too expensive for me. Everyone wears expensive suits. That night I went with some people from the hostel to karaoke. It was not how i expected it would be, we had a room to ourselves. This was good because we got to pick songs all night one ...

... disorientated Westerners (wide eyes) did we have a good chuckle and realise that we were not alone. A few differences we noticed right away after travelling through SE Asia was that there seemed to be a lot more order in the mass of people. Queues automatically formed, everybody using the elevator stood to the left, there was no spitting, as instructed no one used cell phones on the trains and there just seemed to be calm and order. People in Tokyo seem to be ...

... 20% more seats on their planes! The screen was about 6 feet tall and 9 feet across - I have friends who have larger plasma TVs in their houses! The movie was good and we had a great time. He drove me home to the apartment. He won't let me take the train as he is afraid that I will get lost. I have told him that I have traveled on the train system, on my own, without incident but he won't hear of it. I got home and made dinner.... I have taken ...

... him to really hit his head. Once we let him down and I realized what had happened Stapp's words in the car, "you'd be surprised how high you can throw these guys," seemed remarkably ironic. As if we had not learned a lesson we proceeded to do the same with Mr. Ito. Not surprisingly we did not try to get the same altitude on him. After apologizing, we headed for the train. At the platform we reviewed the video from the previous incident and had a good laugh ...

... and got out conveyer belt sushi. This time Eric joined us, and led the way in ordering, eating and drinking! Having done this gig 3 times, he's become quite the expert in getting more food and spirits! And man, this fish is SOOO good! After that we went to British pub for some more chat and merriment. Talks of many different levels were had. It was great to have all 6 of us out together. Much fun was had.

... accountant friend of Rie's who certainly surprised herself, the bar staff and us all by boogying on the bar with Sam to the Happy Mondays) we toasted Liverpool and most of its' residents and got truly drunk. And who is going to go home from a bar that downloads requests for music straight from the internet and plays them at top volume, hour after hour ? Not us, that's for sure. With the sun streaking in ...

... battle of the sexes. This ended up being different since questions could be asked that were not related to anything at all like when Andrew and I sang KFC, McDonalds, and a Pizza Hut. That song was not too terribly pretty though. Finally, after about an hour and half we got to the Golden Pravillion, or the Rokuon-Ji Temple. When we stepped inside the gates of the temple, there were elementary to Junior high students trying to speak English to some of the temple's ...