Za den sa toho vela stihnut neda, ale zaklad je to dobry

I promise, this is the last entry about plum blossoms.  Until next year.  Maybe. Last weekend I made it to the nearby plum festival which finally had gorgeous weather!  It was windy but sunny, a perfect February day.  At the entrance, I was invited to make a small donation to "participate" in a tea ceremony, which meant that ...

Today was another long day. Chris and I planned to try a cheap Indian place in the alley area for dinner called Rhymes India. When we got there at 10 the sign said they closed at 10, but then they came out and said that they actually closed at 10:30. I think some of these places list when they take their last order as their closing time. We went...

A four hour flight from Hong Kong, Narita is just a quick stop on the way to LAX.

In Chinese, Beijing means the Northern Captial. Nanjing means the Southern Capital. Tokyo using Kanji (Chinese Han characters) means the Eastern capital. This capital is certainly worthy of the name. Tokyo is big, vibrant, metropolitan, modern and chic. I have many interesting observations of this country and I will share them with you in the ne...

So I going to combine Friday and Saturday into one blog entry. I know you probably feel cheated out of something, but know that it kinda became all the same... and this makes my life a touch easier. So this is the BIG SHOW weekend. We have 4 shows in 3 days at the Tokyo International Forum. This is a 5,000 seat theater in the middle of the city....

I thought I would spend my first official day in Tokyo checking out all the newest electronic gadgets. I went straight for Shibuya a place know for shopping. When I got there I saw the usual succession of gucci type stores. There were a lot of cool phones, models totally unique to Japan and basically useless OUTSIDE of Japan, so my interest wand...

At 11 AM we arrived in Tokyo. We checked into our youth hostel (Khaosan Annex) which is just a block or two from the Khaosan Smile from the first week, but here got a bit more space in our room. Kai is sleeping at the moment. I am going to try and upload some photos now, but the connectivity of the wireless LAN here on the 4th floor is only mini...

Woke up at 9.00, had breakfast, read until 11.00, went to calligraphy (Jim, Lauren). Eiichi's mum's friend helped us at her house. Went to Reiko's at midday. Stayed there until 5.00. Went for dinner (near Kokubunji station) at a family Japanese restaurant (with all the students besides a few). Then walked to a bowling centre. (My lane was Jim, K...