Shin-Yokohama Prince

... resort and got a room for a little under $200. We got a student discount and the receptionist upgraded us to an oceanfront suite so we were all pumped about that! I am staying with Bri, Audrey, and Jessica in a room but there are fifteen of us that staying together at the Hilton. Audrey and Jessica headed out to go skydiving so I met up with Emily and Amanda who were on the beach right outside our hotel to lie out for a little while. We soaked up the sun ...

... a dog and a pig. These kept the girls amused for quite some time, and were definitely a favourite with the kids. It was at this point I realised that one of my camera batteries was a dud. I gave the battery a full charge overnight, and I had taken only 60 or so shots, and I was getting a low battery light. Fantastic. A few more shots and it was done. With the spare batteries sitting back in the ...

... I start to lose my shame when I am with kids. They really loved it! Around 40 kids were all gathered around the felt board and staring and even kind of pushing forward to see us! I mean, wow.....you should have seen these kids before this. They were bouncing off the walls. The puppet video really got there attention (which we made to introduce the story) and then once we started the story they loved it. God really is good. I was actually nervous because a lot of effort ...

... wandeling gemaakt door de wijk en aansluitend door het park (Yoyogi-Koen). Vervolgens hebben we de Shinto-tempel Meiji-jingu bezocht. Een deel van onze laatste middag in Tokyo hebben we gevuld met shoppen. Voordat ik Tokyo verlaat nog enkele opmerkzaamheden: 1. Je ziet hier mensen werken in de gekste beroepen. (nee, geen Melkertbanen, ID banen etc). Er zijn bijvoorbeeld mensen die als baan hebben `het vrijhouden van een stoep ...

... some lovely sculptures, such as the Guardian God of Water and the India Water Tower with its instrinsic mosaic design as well as take in the landscaped areas hiding the road as the sun glistens in the harbour like liquid diamonds. Located on Osenbashi Pier is the incredibly impressive Yokohama International Passenger Terminal which is a beautiful wooden crafted creation in itself. With sweeping wooden panel sides, a half stepped half sweeping ampitheatre in ...

... to reach the Imperial Palace. After seeing the outside of the Imperial Palace, we went to Ginza, which is full of expensive name brand stores. There was only one store with clothes that weren't riduculously priced, UniQlo. Even so, I only wound up getting a shirt (as everything else was "not my style" or didn't fit). By this time, I was driving my family crazy because I would wander off or protest when I wanted to go somewhere ...

... with senses of judgement would know when to retract their legs and un-cross their legs should situations demand. Are Japanese adults no adults? Do they need a synthesised female voice to behave themselves? Suddenly the oft-told tale of Japan being a land of group thinking is looking like thin-veneer. I am beginning to think that it is a deeply individual society, which I think is a function and manifestation of the capitalist society, to an extent that requires ...

... t eat anything!!), and on to the awesome shop ORIENTAL BAZARRE. I did a my fair share of shopping, and found some great gifts. We split from there, and I headed down solo to the Aoyama district, and to the theater where Big River played. Walking down that main street from the subway, and getting to the theater/stage door brought back a flood of fun memories. Made me miss that amazing group of people... I also relived some memories by going to ...

... pieces of tuna into smaller pieces, killing fish, and generally looking very busy. It wasn't the most convenient or safe place for tourists, but was very interesting. On the way out, I saw an enormous pile of Styrofoam containers and a large crew of bulldozers moving them around. I hope they recycle! Then I took the metro to Shinjuku with a change at Roppongi. Tokyo has 2 metro companies and so if you switch lines, you sometimes have to get out at the station and pay ...

... to splash out like that. In all of these stores the first couple of floors tended to be electronics whilst the rest were DVD`s of a dubious nature.... We headed back to the ryokan to try and get some sleep. I tried for about a hour and realied it was a futile effort. Dave however slept for a few hours. During this time I arranged to stay in the Ryokan for another night. We had originally planned to head to Fukuoka tomorrow but there was currently a typhoon wrecking ...