Park Lane Hotel Tokyo

... than leave the bags and hop into town. Luckily a Sunday and the Asukasa area was full with people and street vendors. Nice atmosphere and some ritual parades of Geisha´s and dragons. Great food everywhere and as we passed by all the restaurants, we noticed that they all have their menu displayed on the dishes but all the food is plastic. Turned out to be that in Asukasa the biggest street in Japan is selling all these plastic menu´s to the whole country ...

... br><br>Its hard to write down everything we've done, especially since we've left this blog entry a bit late and we are heading home tomorrow, but I'll give it a stab.<br><br>First things first; Tokyo seems to have a much younger population that anywhere else in Japan.<br>On a visit to the districts of Shinjuku, Shibuya or Harajuku you are hit full force in the face by the youth culture of Japan. Shinjuku is the most famous of those districts, and is balanced on each side by its ...

... and don't get their share of the Spring celebrations. Across the road from this mysterious temple, we found Sanjusangendo, a temple which is home to 1001 golden statues of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. In the center stands the 1001'st statue; a giant version of its neighbors which attracts worshipers and tourists alike from all over the world. I felt strangely at ease even though there were 1001 Goddesses staring straight back at me, all of them seemed so incredibly humble. What ...

... for a whole lot of snow and Sapporo sure doesn't disappoint. The walk to the hostel alone saw us amazed by streets paved by thick layers of snow at least a meter deep, huge piles collecting either side of the shoveled road as thousands more spiraled wayward from above.<br><br>The hostel itself was very cozy and friendly, with a far more mature and laid back crowd. A crowd which, for the first time in the trip, was comprised of an almost entirely American audience - who, it must be ...

... entirely of croissant? Well, it totally was. Regardless, we ordered the onion rings, a double cheeseburger and coke. All of which, I swear, tasted better, just having been produced in another country. It was, thus far, the most awe inspiring experience of my life until hitting the local supermarket where my mind was promptly blown by the fact that the Coco Pops monkey and Kellogs Rooster were drawn differently. I mean, they were buff. They looked stronger. Powerful. If I saw ...

... it in my schedule. I met with my friend Tak the other day whom I will travel with in Thailand and made out plan. I will be going earlier then Tak and I will be staying for 3 days before taking the night bus to Phuket where I will meet Tak. After a couple of days there enjoying the sun and the water before heading over to Krabi for 2 or 3 days. Then we will take a night train to Bangkok and then fly to Chiang Mai in the north for a couple ...

... too-common delayed realization, followed by the awkward wave and finally the embarrassing 'oh my gosh, which way do I look? at the camera or the big screen? i'm obviously ecstatic to be recognized by the kind camera-men of this fine stadium but just so confused as to where to direct my smile'. Wednesday, David, Mina, Derek and I took a trip to Ushiku to see the tallest statue in the world: a 385ft standing buddha. While this buddha does not receive the ...

... either for each other or passers-by, kids rehearsing some form of flag-dance routine and some teenagers appeared to be rehearsing a music video. After visiting yet another bookshop in Hirijouku district (just how brightly coloured can book covers get?!?), it was back for the third time in less than 24 hours to Ahiabara for Al's souveniers. I'm afraid I succumbed too and ended up buying clothes in Uni-Qlo. My excuse is there's only ...

... shoppers. A pair of tourists asked me to take pictures for them. They didn't like the first one that I took and had the gall to demand I wait for the lights to turn purple before taking a second one. * Roppongi - The clubbing district of Tokyo. Suprisingly not as busy as I expected. Here, we had dinner with my old friend Colin at a fantastic Isakaya. At the middle of the street, I saw my first robot traffic controller. No joke. Check out the picture.

... during the daytime. The place was swarming with Japanese school kids who had a penchant for John Lennon's styling, all replete with the Lennon unkempt hair. Having successfully navigated our way past these hordes, we proceeded to Kappabashi - the kitchenware district. Imagine! A whole district dedicated to kitchen stuff. M-L was instantly drawn by the shiny objects in a knife-shop's window, and begged the nice man for a photo of his wares. He ...