Park Side Hotel Chiba

... a word. A lady came out of a little travel information office, the nija guy immediately went over<br>and spoke to her, she then told me that my pick-up is on the way, it takes 30-minutes to get here, I have no choice but to wait and I should wait inside the room instead outside.<br> <br>So I went in the glass waiting room, couple of guys passed the door, round 10:25pm, a 60ish<br>man appeared outside the automatic sliding door, his stripe pants and loose ...

... in one year alone, Kitahama says. In 1975, when a famous Kabuki actor died after eating a blowfish liver, Kitahama began to study the fish in earnest. He collected preserved specimens, skeletons, photos, slides and paintings that are now on display in his museum. His research inspired chefs such as Sasaki, who remembers that friends who first took him to a restaurant that served fugu wouldn't allow him to sample it. "They said the fugu experience was too dangerous," he ...

... with shops selling clothing from basically every youth subculture in Tokyo, from goth to punk to manga and everything in between. Being Saturday, there weren't too many obvious "Harajuku Girl" candidates around, though I did spot a few. Mostly, there were just crowds of shoppers everywhere. Oh, and apparently the Free Hugs movement has made it to Japan. One last shrine The Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park, right near Harajuku, is one of the most popular Shinto shrines in Tokyo ...

... a really well equipped guest room where we could take guests and offer them a coffee, hot chocolate or tea (for free) while watching a huge TV reading a book, or getting on the internet on the two computers there(again free). We were stoked, and would definitely recommend this hotel for anyone wanting somewhere to stay in Tokyo. The bathrooms in both hotels gave out the usual shampoo and conditioner, but also hair brushes, tooth brushes, special face ...

... Planet Japan guide (10th edition) which was published in October 2007. Its good enough to give you an overview of most of Japan. I would however recommend buying the Lonely Planet Tokyo book or the Lonely Planet Kyoto book if you are intending on spending more than 4 days in either of those cities. Not surprisingly, the Lonely Planet Japan guide is quite light on details about Tokyo and Kyoto. Useful tips for eating and shopping Japan is a ...

... d come to the credit limit on one card. Ok. And I'd forgotten the password for the main one that I would be using. Right! I bought a phonecard and called LloydsTSB. When they asked me routine security questions, they asked me what my present credit limit was. 8,000 pounds, I said confidently. 'That's not what we have here.' 'What?!' 'We have your limit as 4,900 pounds. It changed this week.' 'But why?' 'I don't know,' the customer services rep ...

... strangers with a motive to just get a job from them. We did speak to some people, mostly about traveling in Japan, whether Chris should shave his head, etc. During the event they announced that there would be an after party nearby at a Belgian beer garden in the basement floor of the Tokyo building. When we got there, there were way too many of us and we certainly elicited a lot of stares (abot 100 foreigners showing up at once). They ...

... SATURDAY 02/09/2006 - SUNDAY 03/09/2006 --------------------------------------- Climbed to the summit of Mount Fuji Mel and I made it to Shinjuku station - on time. We had to pick up our clothes from the station locker...then everything went wrong. My contact lens played up so we had to find a toilet to take them out. Wearing my I'm half blind. Then lost my train ticket so couldn't get OUT of the ...

... and the views of the mountains and beaches are superb. Our first destination is Mount Nokogiri, which said to host the largest stone figure of Buddha statue in Japan. (gross height 31 metres). Mt. Nokogiri-yama is 330 meters above sea level. It was known for Boshu-seki stone from the 14th to the 18th century, and the sites of the quarries left marks like the edge of a saw, or Nokogiri, on the face of the mountain, from which the name derives. Before we could reach the top ...

... to 8:30p.m. and I still had to go 15 mintues to the right station and walk 8 mintues to the venue. So, I didn't want to show up at the last half hour and spend 1000 yen. So, I decided to look around Shinjuku. I wanted to buy a book at the bookstore so it was closed. So, I wondered back and heard some accapella groups entertaining the crowd. And that is where my pictures start.