The drawbacks of illiteracy. He looks like he's got something important to get across, and I have no clue. Will things fall on my head soon? Are there mines on the sideway? HANNAH!!! Help!! |
Tokyo by Night -- The city never sleeps. If you have a car, that is. |
Not a locker hotel, but an umbrella locker. Innovative, practical, and soo Japanese. |
Tsukiji, the famous Tokyo fishmarket: If you work here, you probably don't COMMUTE at all; instead you LIVE there. It starts humming around 4am in the morning, when anything from giant tuna to miniscule shrimp are brought here and sold. It's supposedly sooo impresive, and worth the wake. Hannah and me stayed awake till 4am, paid 75 USD for the one-way taxi ride, and... it was closed. Golden Week holiday. That was what it looked like for us. No buzz. Ah, well. |
Can you say "cool"? Then again, imagine yourself sitting on the loo, and your boss calls on the vid-phone. Unghn!! |
Dressed up for snap-shots -- which are promptly taken. And these were not the wildest outfits, by far! (replacement photo courtesy matt.onlinehome.de/japan) |
Akihabara -- The famous electronic shopping district. This is GEEK CENTRAL. Those cool mobile phones, game consoles that will be out in Europe in a year - this is where you can find it all. For a price; shopping here is NOT cheap, as I had to find out to my disappointment. |
Interactive Multimedia Toilet, model "Jean-Luc Piccard". Wonder if it can beam... |
3C - "Cold Canned Coffee" - in numerous incarnations, available 24hrs. Just like anything else that someone ever stuck in a package. |
Slightly lost. Sometimes being a Gai-jin feels just like that. |
Hachiko, Tokyo's most famous dog. His statue in front of Shibuya Station is Tokyo's favourite rendezvous point, and holds one of it's most charming legends. It doesn't date back all the way to the shogun age, though.
Hachiko was the faithful pet of Dr. Eisaburo Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University, who lived in Tokyo's Shibuya district, and commuted by train to the agricultural campus out-of-town. Every night, Hachiko awaited the return of the professor at Shibuya station. On May 21, 1925, Dr. Ueno did not return to Shibuya because he had suffered a stroke and died at the university. Hachiko was then eighteen months old. For the next nine years, Hachiko returned to the station and waited for his beloved master before walking home, alone. Nothing and no one could discourage Hachiko from maintaining his nightly vigil. It was not until he followed his master in death, in March l934, that Hachiko failed to appear in his place at the railroad station.(From: www.media-akita.or.jp/akita-inu/akitas-introd-2E.html) |
Our Fabolous Travelling Bunch! |
The famous Mastumoto Castle. No fear of Sarin gas when we were there, thank God. Aum's leader is in jail. |
The world, 2100: "Remember when there were those odd but charming icecream sellers? Oh, the glorious days of old!" |
Can't go no higher. We've reached the top! Yes, the hotel is right up there between the mutant antennas :) |
These robes are sooo comfortable. We loved them. Hey, and stylish, too! Couldn't get myself to snatch one, though. *grin* |
View from the hot bath! Can you imagine EVER wanting to leave? Well, I can't. Can you say "mega-wrinkly-skin"? ;-) |
Wonder if it says: "Can be traversed in high heels"... |
Travelling in style. One clap of the hands, and those carriers speed up. Don't you love comfort? |