1. It’s September. Who ARE these tourists?
I’ll tell you one thing: they ain’t Americans. I’m the freak again! Woo hoo!They are, however, a ton of Europeans (English, Irish, German, Italian, in that order, I’d estimate), Aussies, Israelis (tons!), and Canadians.
On the boat to Ko Samui, I had a lovely chat with a Colombian couple who have been travelling for ten months (!!!) to every country ever created (including [...Read More!]
Gordon is originally from Boston, but has lived in Japan for five years. For the first several years, he was teaching English through the JET Program (which my wonderful cousin also did and loved). Since then, Gordon has started working in the translation department of a patent company, and has burned up the Osaka Salsa dancing scene.He has really made a life for himself here in Japan, and his fluent Japanese [...Read More!]
There comes a time in every traveler’s path when she must cease and desist freeloading off a kind benefactor’s floor. To this end, I spent 9 hours of last night “sleeping” on the night bus from Tokyo to Osaka. Read: Night bus = cheap place to stay, and cheaper transport than the bullet train. Also read: I am perhaps the only six foot tall human in this country.
Long [...Read More!]
“AGHHH!!!!” I screamed, throwing myself underneath the low restaurant table, “IT’S STILL ALIVE!!!”
Sure enough, the sparkling silver fish atop [...Read More!]
I’m not much of a sight-seeing gal in the sense of “ROBOTICALLY MUST SEE ALL FAMOUS PLACES IN MY GUIDEBOOK!” Rather, I dig the approach of wandering til your butt is near ready to fall off from the miles accrued, and seeing what happens along the way. Today, after maybe or maybe not getting locked inside Shinjuku Park, I escaped (or maybe was free the whole time) and briskly meandered 5 miles [...Read More!]
A quilt of delights from today…Mike, a friend of a dear friend, has been an AMAZING host, showing me around the city, printing maps and suggested itineraries, and generally being the most fun and kind possible in sharing his 7 years of Tokyo-living experience.
T’was Mike who learned me about this whole rice ball and rice burger business. Want to eat cheap in Japan? The convenience store sells seaweed-wrapped rice [...Read More!]
OH the joy of walking around alone at night in a safe, safe, safe city! I rocked it, hardcore: 5 miles clear across the city, 3 maps in hand, from 6pm to 9:30pm. Yum, yum, yum. I think I’m sort of catching this photography lust thing that my friends have.
Now the delicious facts: The only “catcall” in 4 hours: A gentleman softly saying: “Oh.”
The only “being hit on” [...Read More!]