Tokyu Stay Meguro Yutenji

... of them. The plastic food sure looks real and helps when you are unable to decipher the menu and have to run to the window to point to the item you hope to be eating when it arrives at your table.








Guess where the line forms?



















But now back to Japan:

There was a last minute cancellation ...

Our second time in Tokyo, felt like a home from home; especially wandering away the hours back in relaxing Asakusa. Aside from this we took a ride up to the top floor lookout points at the Governmental buildings at Shinjuku; offering a superb 360 degree view of the city we have come to know well.

Worth mentioning was out early rise to Tsukiji Fish Market; the biggest and most impressive in the world. On arrival you walk deep ...

... t be any bonding with the tour group on this jaunt - I'll be with diff**ent people almost ev**y day. For what its worth, I'm on board with a jolly nice New Zealand lady who's off**ed to help me out in Christchurch, a couple from Amst**dam who smoke and ord** be** with their lunch even though it costs extra (definitely on my wave length) and of course the obligatory crowd of *******s. A couple of Am**ican academics in town on work and ...

... Of course, so nice the people there... But the best was going to see Mari singing in the flamenco show... Fermin and she talked me a lot about flamenco world in Japan, but on can't never imagine! We had a great time, Mari sings really good and we felt a little like at home, with Spanish omelet and octopus... so nice! Some japanese experiences for our last days together... Alberto goes back to Spain and Sandra flies to Hong Kong according to the plan... I stay here for a while!

... that had no sushi at all. The seats in cattle class on a BA747 shrink and get harder over time, so I got up to have a wander, and found that my legs had fallen off. I couldn't move or walk properly as I had sat totally still for 9 hours. Somehow made it to the toilet and for a good 5 minutes enjoyed the unmistakable pleasure of standing up.There is a door back there to the outside world. Looking out of the small window to the ground some 35,000 feet below me and moving ...

Heute ist unser letzter Tag in Tokyo. Unsere Koffer sind schon wieder gepackt, und stehen bereits an der Rezeption. Eigentlich wollten wir heute morgen zum Fischmarkt fahren. Doch leider hatte Birgit heute Nacht Besuch von "Montezumas-Rache". Daher muesste der Markt ohne uns stattfinden. Immodium sei Dank, dass wir heute abend heil in den Flieger kommen. Das heutige Programm faellt ...

June 7th Joel and I hopped the JR train to a town south of Nara called Ikaruga. Here there is a very old temple called Horyuji. It was built in 607 CE by Prince Shoutoku and his aunt Empress Regent Suiko. In 670 it was burnt down. The structure that you will see in the photos was built probably about the beginning of the 8th Century. It is said to be the birthplace of Buddhism in ...

... but it's about 20% higher. Did I just blow your mind? Still, we wanted to see it, so we strode back up to the hotel with the same confidence as before. The only difference was that now that the sun had set, the place was much busier and people were elegantly dressed and we looked like we had been hiking around town all day like vagrants. But as I assured Lindsey (and myself in my head), they don't know we don't have money. Maybe we're so hip we look poor. And even if ...

... Take care) Impressions of Day 1 at work: The Tokyo Tower is in the distance but close enough to be a neat reminder that this is the Big City in The Land of the Rising Sun. Arrived at work about 15 minutes early on Thursday, so I signed in for the first day as a guest. Got an ID pass indicating that with my lucky number, seven. Sat in the lobby with relaxing music blaring over the speakers and stared at the water fountains a few feet away. These were silent streams of water ...

... to me because they probably hadn't seen anyone else on the bridge so far, and then when I explained that I was English, they tried to practise their English on me but all they could really say was "David Beckham!"! It is really cool that people are so friendly over here, and it's so funny with all the racking of brains and the bowing! Got a little bit lost when I hit the main part of Tokyo as the pedestrian walkway on the bridge ended earlier than I thought it would and ...