Intercontinental Plaza Hotel Yokohama

After another relaxing morning we headed back to the train station to go back to Yokohama. Today's stops included the Ramen Museum, Chinatown and a Baystars game. Yep, that agenda included a trip to a Ramen Museum.

The first stop was the Ramen Museum which was a little difficult to get to with a map that didn't have any street names! After getting some general directions we got pretty close but was unsure ...

... birthday yesterday. So basically I had to fake an argument with her at the front of the store about her age, but it had the desired effect as she wasn't charged for her meal. The desert bar was similar, with vanilla, chocolate or mixture ice cream, and a range of other cakes and deserts such as crème caramel etc. The drinks bar was absolutely huge. There was about 6 different types of tea on offer, and about 4 different types of ...

... to find a phone or something that could help us. We then found out that they do not really sell many of them and that it was a hard process to get a phone especially since we are tourists. When We went to Sayaka's class to teach on the first day, we got to know the kids and the parents. Well this is what happened. We were done with the class and were about to go home. Chris and I had acquired a taste for MISTER DONUT ( an awesome japnese donut ...

... makes no sense except in the vaguest, most surreal way; 4. The message expresses a sentiment that while understandable, is not something one would normally express in an English-speaking culture (words like "hope", "dreams", "sophisticated" and such come up much more often than you'd think). Another time, I'll concentrate on the Engrish I've found on clothing, which tends toward the even more bizarre.

... I was not in the mood to walk any longer. I was freezing. It dawned on me why her expression grew from cordial to almost stern when she insisted on the 8 pm time limit. The rest of the evening he was wont to head towards the temple, whilst muttering to himself about the snake, his dad, his collapse, the lanky man, in a random order. These topics just rotated. I listened to his oral Mary-go-round ...

... of crab miso soup, I was surprised to see a rather large, well cooked crab sitting in the middle of the bowl. He seemed to be looking at me accusingly as I went about eating my lunch. After lunch I headed for my final destination of the day, the Meiji shrine at Yoyogi park. Rather than take the train to the next stop where the park was located (Harajuku station), I decided to walk. The distance wasn't very far, and I wanted to burn off some of my lunch. The walk was ...

... quite pleasant! In addition to my regular duties teaching, I am going to be tour guide extraordinaire for the next few weeks and I am looking forward to it! My grandparents are coming to visit for two weeks. And then Amy is coming! And sometime in between there I will hopefully run another marathon. And have graduation for my kids. Hmmm�c.might be a little busy! Guess I better rest up while I can! �@Hope you`re all doing well!

... faceless shopping area, by day at least. I'm told it's a different story at night but don't know whether I'll be able to catch the evening performance. Soon after I arrived in Shibuya, which I found more impressive. When you exit the station here, you can see the huge building side which is also a giant T.V, much bigger than those I found in Ginza, which you can see in Lost in Translation ...

... medo de soar ridículo, que sou honesto e respeito o próximo. Se afirmasse isso no Brasil, longe do âmbito religioso, soaria como simples discurso vazio ou demagogia. Com essas linhas, espero exorcizar a vergonha que senti ao descobrir o quanto é aviltada a auto-imagem que o brasileiro tem de si, e de perceber que assimilamos essa reduzida auto-estima cívica, e a levamos conosco nas visitas a sociedades verdadeiramente desenvolvidas. Tóquio, 4 de fevereiro de 2006 Júlio César Machado