Narita Higashiya Hotel

December 7, 2009



Several years ago Disneyland Anaheim began a program called "Fast Pass." It has been hugely successful and guest love the system. It has been installed in all of the Disney parks worldwide. It is used on all of the very popular attractions, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, etc.

The system is really pretty easy to figure out, you go a busy attraction and pick up a ticket. That ticket has a 30 minute window return time ...

... an elder couple came to see me. He was obviously a business man and she just the cutest little thing. They had waited to meet Santa for the first time in their lives. They were like school kids as they shook my hand and she hugged me, thanking me for seeing them.

Another woman who spoke very good English came by and told me that she was “honored to meet you Mr. Santa.” She bowed deeply as she came up to my chair. She was so ...

... 8217;t justify using miles just to be more comfortable when that might mean we’d miss out on using the miles for a future trip. I think I’m going to revisit that logic when we travel to this part of the world again.

Although our stay in Japan was brief, as it was merely a stop-over to SE Asia, we tried to take advantage of the time we had. Tokyo is about a 2 hour subway ride from the airport so we opted to stay in a suburb located closer ...

This is pretty much the same itinerary I had back on December 31 to get to Narita, except I have a long layover because I'm flying to Minneapolis. We were on time getting in but a little delayed getting off the plane. A lady in the back (I mean the very back of coach, not some snobbish reference to coach class), had some medical issues. She passed out a couple of ...

... We all had a big laugh about that. That night we went over to see their "Japanese doll" and realised that Amie had gotten one of the traditional (ridiculously expensive) Emperor/Empress doll stand with 5 dolls - each costing at least $4000 each (!!!!!). They were beautiful though, and it was great to actually be able to touch them instead of freaking out in the shop in case you accidentally bump it with your backpack :) We went back home, had a wonderful traditional Japanese meal ...

Day 2 - Let's go exploring! After a substantial breakfast, we took the bus into Narita to visit the temple which is in the park which has a lake full of carp. Steven seemed to enjoy it especially climbing the steps which wore him out and tantrums were just about non-existant - hoorah! Our visit seemed to coincide ...

... the next morning then it was off to the Airport again for the next leg back to London. It was so much nicer having a break on the way there rather then waiting a few hours in the Airport like the way. I didn't even have any jetlag when I arrived in London. I got to say Morning in Japanese and they answered in English :( Aww.. another time for Japan.

... buying tickets for the shinkansen (bullet train), renting cars and driving on the wrong side of the road, and introducing me to common phrases in Japanese. Oh yeah by the way I can only speak about 20 words of Japanese. My language is getting better, but I left for Japan about a week after I found out I was going to be on the project. Makes it interesting. Here is a self photo of Steve on the shinkansen. I found ...

... Hama Rikyu Garden ($4) I thought I could breeze right through it, but it took me over an hour to breeze. I did enjoy the Tokyo skyline while walking through the gardens. I was hungry, but I was excited about going to Disneyland. So, I got on the train and arrived in Tokyo Disneyland, it took around 20-25 minutes from the city. I had to pay an extra $3 for the train ride which was not covered under the $8.60 subway day pass. But, before entering Disneyland, I stopped by ...

... two Australian guys from Perth; I tagged along for this expedition. According to several sources 90 percent of all fish eaten in Tokyo passes through Tsukiji Fish Market. The auctions begin at 5AM with buyers inspecting the giant blue fin tunas. The market was crowded with shopper, storekeepers and go-carts driving up and down these tiny stalls. The go-cart resembles a round barrel on wheels. The operators stand as they maneuver with this round steering ...