July 2011
10 posts
rising sun diaries, day 10
i finally make it to the lovely ‘jal’ lounge where the showers wont be operational until 6am, so i feel a bit sorry for the people who will be sitting around me on the plane. especially since these people must have spent quite a lot of money on their tickets as i get upgraded to premium economy class for free (again!) at the gate! all’s well that ends well. time for some well...
rising sun diaries, day 9
this time i really have to wake up early as my flight will be leaving at 6.35am tomorrow morning and i have to check in 24 hours before departure to once again secure an emergency row seat. unfortunately the japanese beat me to it and i end up with a really bad seat and an offer from british airways to buy an upgrade to premium economy for ‘only’ 921.50 pounds. no thanks. after a few...
rising sun diaries, day 8
after planning and failing to wake up really early to have a sushi breakfast at the ‘tsukiji’ fish market for almost a week i finally manage to get there. at 2pm. its not quite the same but at least i arrive just in time for the lunch-special. after exploring the posh ‘ropongi’ neighbourhood and the mori arts center (with its rather intriguing contemporary art exhibition...
rising sun diaries, day 7
its pretty cloudy and the day starts with a visit to the enormous ‘meiji’ shrine in harajuku and a bit of obligatory shopping and visiting some of the well known tourist traps including the oriental market. at 6pm its time to get excited at tokyo disneyland which is pretty much deserted due to the impending typhoon which is supposed to hit the coast tonight. half the rides are closed...
rising sun diaries, day 6
even though many japanese understand english they seem to generally refuse to speak it. this makes daily life as a tourist a bit more tricky and difficult but also quite exciting. its like living in a secret society where most of the time you just have to pretend to know what the hell is going on in order to fit in. today its finally hotspring time and i even get to wear a traditional...
rising sun diaries, day 5
yesterday was not all bad news as i also finally found a working rollercoaster (directly behind the temple), a karaoke bar and even played a few rounds of some traditional japanese marble game / ancient pinball machine variation. today i left tokyo to explore the countryside, was inside a giant buddha in ‘kamakura’ and finally found myself a beach. that particular...
rising sun diaries, day 4
time for asakusa, one of tokyos most traditional neighborhoods and home of the famous sensoji temple. 100 yen will buy you an ‘omikuji’ (your fortune written on a small piece of paper) which in my case contained a number of rather pessimistic predictions including ‘you will be completely at loss with your empty heart’, ‘your wish will be hard to be realized’ and...
rising sun diaries, day 3
its not until 1pm when i finally wake up in the hotel bed (which is pretty much all that this tiny room consists of). downtown to the impressive tokyo dome (where the roller coaster is sadly out of order, most probably due to the country-wide power shortage), then up the metropolitan government building viewing platform which is free of charge but there is a hidden 500 yen cover charge when you...
rising sun diaries, day 2
a really early start to the day as my flight lands at tokyo haneda airport at 5am. already 26 degrees outside and i somehow manage to find my way to the hotel where i realise that i am more jet-lagged than i thought (or was willing to admit to myself) and my body is aching for a real bed. as the temperature crawls up to 34 degrees a quick trip down the the supermarket confirms that i will indeed...
rising sun diaries, day 1
its not easy to snatch an emergency row exit on a long haul flight as these usually only become available 24 hours before departure. when your flight takes 12 hours and you travel in economy class (which is as far as my budget stretched) you really want to try very hard to be amongst the first who log-in to battle for the best seats and i am happy to report that i succeeded. but it was in vain as...