KKR Kamakura Wakamiya

... the train up to Yokohama and then change over to a train to go up to Shibuya. Yokohama's train station is pretty crazy. Think Metro Center in DC but with even more people and the majority of the signs in a language you can't understand.... It's pretty crazy and we had a few dicey moments of not being sure if we'd gotten on the right train. But luckily the trains seem to all announce in both Japanese & English. So we waited ...

... age. I hope I have their energy when I'm that old. They kept up w/us the entire time (walking a TON, and many steps/hills along the way too). First we went to see the famous Bhudda temple... built 750 years ago. It was impressive.. huge! We were even able to go inside... not all the way up, but the first section (it was built in 8 sections - you can kind of see the lines going across). Now I can say I've been inside the Bhudda! Next we walked to the Hase-Dera ...

... Started in Takashimaya, which was an old Art Deco style department store (think Macy's Herald Sq and you've pretty much have it) filled with name brands and smells of perfume, as per the standard. In the basement is a vast suite of sweets stalls, which unfortunately was mostly 'French in nature'. I mean it looked French but had a different texture and strange fillings like green tea cream. Anyway, looked for some more Japanese looking traditional sweets and after being ...

... at restaurant that serves Shojin Ryori style food. It was brought to Japan via china and Korea with the introduction of Buddhism. It was a completely vegan menu. In Buddhism, "Retribution" is firmly believed and because of the conception that all things of nature have life, Shojin Ryori prohibits eating meat and it is considered a virtue to make the most of vegetables and beans. The vegetables, especially soybeans and nuts are the main ingredients and ...

... like the paper you can find at the Paperchase on Tottenham Court Road). There were traditional dumpling stalls, gems, fans, all sorts!! About half way down this street we stopped at the restaurant for lunch (which they very kindly treated us to!). It was basically Japanese haute cuisine. It came as various courses, beautifully presented. The first course had a little apple and some orange vegetable (we couldn't work out what it was, and they could not thing ...

... 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 ...

... world. It took us about 40 minutes to find it in the day with Hideko's help. Now its night, and much harder to navigate. I asked you to just take your bag with you, but you wouldn't and now you've kept us all waiting. We had no way of contacting you. Hideko and Subacko are tired and we are all hungry. You can make this better by apologising to them both for keeping them and come along now. I might not see you after today, but for the future, I ...

... the standby gods just treat you well. Either way...we got lucky. Karma and the gods smiled upon us as we waited standby for our flights from San Francisco to Singapore. We ended up riding business class for both flights...San Francisco to Narita (10 hours) and Narita to Singapore (7 hours). This is sort of the perfect scenario for a flight that long during the day. First, it ...

... Shinjuku to do some more shopping. Mel and tried some freshly mixed icecream at the Ikekekuro train station. They mix the ingredients on a marble plate and serve it in a waffle cone. Delicious. You could spend the entire day inside the train station. Mel and I went to Akihabura (about a 30 minute train ride). This is the electronics suburb. It is ...

... markets in Singapore, I could tell quality when I see it, and boy was this making me hungry! Having sushi and sashimi at 7am in the morning was a first for me. And having it at the king of all fish markets in the world was just unreal and unbelievably yummy. You know...I could live here...find myself a small hole in the sky, a cushy job, and have sushi every day of the year.....err...excuse me...boss, does the company have an opening for a coffee boy in Japan?