October 20, 2007
I visited an area of Tokyo called Sugamo today for the first time. It has a very long shopping street filled with little stores selling everything from fruits and vegetables to sweaters and shoes. Sugamo is still a very popular shopping area, especially with older people. Most of the stores sell things you would see in other cities or countries. One thing however you might not find in stores in the US would be fresh seaweed. It may not look very appetizing but it is used in many dishes in Japan and actually doesn’t taste so bad (in my opinion).
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October 14, 2007
I got out of the house a little bit this weekend and visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. It the former residence of Prince Asaka and was done originally built in a very art deco style. This month a next it is hosting an exhibition on the jewelry of Tiffany.
The museum is in the area of Meguro and Shiroganedai. I don’t think I’ve ever really walked around this area before and I’m glad I did this time since I found a Doughnut Plant. Doughnut Plant seems to have started in New York City and now has a couple of shops around Tokyo. The pumpkin doughnut was quite delicious.
I also looked around the area of Ochanomizu, which is actually just about a 10 min. walk from where I live. This area is home to a number of universities and also the Kanda Shrine. The Kanda Shrine is apparently quite famous as one of the three major shrines of Tokyo with a history of well over a 1000 years as I recall.
A good weekend and a good chance to keep improving my camera skills.
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October 6, 2007
Vending machines are just about everywhere in Japan. Stations, streets, hotels, offices, etc. But while they might be an eyesore to some, they do offer a variety of refreshments - both hot and cold usually depending on the time of year. Coffee lovers might think they taste terrible but a hot can of coffee on a cold winter morning is great for warming your hands.
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October 2, 2007
I visited the Kansai region of Japan for a short break away from Tokyo. My first stop was Kobe. Kobe is known for many things. For me I remember Kobe mostly for the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. The earthquake occurred about 6 months after I first moved to Japan. I was living in Nagano at the time, but same fault line runs up into southern Nagano and I recall being woken up briefly in the early morning. Where is way, many hundreds of kilometers away the quake was just a small shake. It was only after I went to work and someone had the news on TV that I learned of the disaster. I visited Kobe about 6 or 7 months after that for a meeting. At that time the city was still in the process of recovery and I remember the city hall building still leaning into the main street with one of the floors collapsed. Today there are only a few reminders of the quake. One is this section of the waterfront preserved as it was from after the quake.
I also made a quick trip up to Kyoto. Kyoto is just a bout 30 minutes by bullet train from Kobe. I hadn’t been in quite a few years and was eager to visit a few of the many temples and shrines sprinkled throughout the city. Kiyomizu temple is one of the most famous and picturesque temples in the city, perched on one of the hills surrounding the city.
Kyoto is also one of the few places in Japan you can still occasionally catch a Geisha walking through the city. If you haven’t seen a geisha before, it can be quite a interesting sight to see them walking along the streets going about their business without much regard to the people (including me) who invariably stop to take their picture or just gawk.
One warning though. In Kyoto it seems the steaks are relatively expensive and we foreigners have a habit of being surprised by this. So please pay attention to this sign on a small restaurant in the Gion district of Kyoto. No having a drink and just looking through the menu - eating an expensive steak is required.
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September 24, 2007
I haven’t been updating this blog much lately. Certainly compared to when I was living in Shanghai the number of posts has dropped off dramatically. It’s not that I am not interested in blogging anymore, because in fact I still enjoy it, but I just haven’t even been opening my PC much after work or on the weekends. I guess I’m still getting used to my new job and living in a new place. Perhaps I haven’t gotten into the right rhythm yet of finding time and the will to post something on a regular basis. But mostly I think it is because I’ve been working a lot and my work involves working on a PC most of the day so the few hours I have at night I justed haven’t wanted to spend doing the same thing as I do at work. In fact tonight is the first time I’ve opened my home PC in the last week.
Next weekend I am traveling to Kobe. I’ve been there once or twice before but it has probably been about 10 years since my last visit. I’ll just be there for two nights but it should be fun to get out of the Tokyo area for a little while. I’ll be flying down there. Surprisingly it is my first time to fly domestically here in Japan. I’ve always taken the bullet train or a highway bus to get around. I quite like taking the train as you go from city center to city center and don’t have to fuss around with checking-in or stuff like that. But Kobe has a new airport just a couple of minutes by taxi from the hotel where I am going to stay is so I decided to fly this time around. Hopefully going to Kobe will give me something to write about. If nothing else I should be able to post a few pictures when I get back.
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September 15, 2007
I’m back in Tokyo now after nearly two weeks on the road visiting Singapore and then Shanghai. I’ve posted some pictures over at Flickr but unfortunately wasn’t able to take so many while in Singapore. I did walk around a little on Shanghai and tried to take some pictures of busy shopping area on Nanjing Rd. (South) down near the Huangpu River.
I also took a few pictures from my hotel room that turned out ok despite shooting through a dirty window.
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September 9, 2007
On this trip I have had a couple of firsts. First time to fly Singapore Airlines. First time to visit Singapore. First time to stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel. And tonight was my first time to visit a hotel bar alone. I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels in a lot of places and quite often travelled alone, but never have I actually gone done to the bar to kill time. I guess because I’ve lived in Shanghai before I just couldn’t get excited about going out and since I’ve been here for the weekend I’ve already grown tired of reading magazines, watching TV or just walking around time. The bar had some live piano jazz going and there were a few other patrons. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and then retired back to my room. The hotel bar had a few other people like myself hanging around. Obviously single business travellers just trying to find a way to kill some time. I guess that’s the part of business travel that doesn’t change no matter what country you’re in. After a while a hotel is a hotel and a bar is a bar and it is hard to get motivated to go out on the town when you’re alone. Until now I’ve always avoided the hotel bar generally. Of course if I am travelling with someone or I have someone to go to the bar with, then I’ve certainly used it to have a few drinks and chat. But alone…not once. I’m not a big drinker to begin with and just having a drink by myself in a bar has never excited me. Tonight I went down to the bar and have to say I enjoyed the music for a little while, but finally it wasn’t all that more exciting than just hanging out in my room and watching TV or surfing the internet. I don’t think I’ll be going back alone again for a while. Like most business travellers, right now I am just looking forward to the flying back home.
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September 5, 2007
Today I had a “team building” event on the island resort of Santosa in Singapore. Sentosa is just a 20 min. drive outside of the downtown area where my hotel is located but has some beatiful beaches and grounds to walk around. The weather was good (meaning we didn’t get an afternoon downpoor) and it was a lot of fun to be along the beach for the first time since my visit to Sanya in China late last year. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera along due to the nature of the activities I was involved in, but you can learn more about Sentosa and see a few pictures on Wikipedia here and Flickr here.
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September 2, 2007
As planned I leave tomorrow for Singapore and then Shanghai. I’ll be taking along the new camera, despite its size, so hopefully I’ll be able to post some interesting pics when I get back. If someone needs to reach me and knows my mobile number in Japan, just dial it like normal and your call will be forwarded automatically, though it might take a few seconds longer than usual to connect.
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August 26, 2007
For the first time in a quite a while I am planning to visit a country that I’ve never been to before - Singapore. I’ll be there the first week of September on business so won’t get the chance to do a whole lot of sightseeing, but still it will be fun to experience a new place. After that I’m headed directly to Shanghai, again on business, but am looking forward to the chance to see some friends from when I used to live there. I’ll certainly be taking along my new camera so hopefully I’ll have some good photos to show when I get back. The only negative aspect is being away from home for nearly two weeks straight, but it should still be fun to get out on the road after a couple of months sticking around Tokyo.
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