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At 2 am, there’s
At 2 am, there’s nothing but taxis on the streets. The trains stop running at midnight and late-night revellers catch cabs to get home. The taxi drivers must make a fortune with their 50% late-night surcharge. Last night the streets around the Imperial Palace, hub of central Tokyo traffic, were jammed with taxis and their…
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Two towers of brightly
Two towers of brightly colored Christmas toys flank the entrance at Olympic, a local discount store. On the left are the hot pink selections for girls: Hello Kitty kitchen set with a plastic stove and food; a Pengin pudding maker that steams real food; manicure kits with glitter stickers and fake nails. On the right…
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Yesterday morning, the Mita
Yesterday morning, the Mita line was running late. Tod arrived at Kasuga station to board a train for work, but had to wait on the platform for 30 minutes. When he finally made it to Otemachi station, a train employee gave him a note to hand to his employer to explain why he was late.…
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It’s always a little
It’s always a little bit sad when guests leave. We’ve packed these two weeks with a thousand activities (though you wouldn’t guess it from what I’ve written here lately) and from today, life goes back to its normal routines. But the break from the usual grind was really nice. We did creative things like candlemaking…
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My digital camera is
My digital camera is full of images that I promise I will share soon. Until then, you might want to take a look at some other people’s photos of Japan: Reflections of Japan Mine will pale by comparison.
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I might be the
I might be the cleanest woman in the world. We went to Hakone and spent the night at Yamadaya at Souzan. They have the most beautiful baths–three different rotenburo (outdoor hot springs) plus two mineral baths inside. In addition our room (#501, named Kintoki after the mountain it faced) had its own cedar tub with…
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Kappabashi is Tokyo’s wholesale
Kappabashi is Tokyo’s wholesale restaurant supply district. A kilometer of shops line boths sides of a four lane street. Side streets shoot off with even more shops. All of them offer up specialty goods–pots and pans in this one, signs and menus in that one. Over here we have cast iron; across the street are…
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Walk signal blinks green.
Walk signal blinks green. Policeman calls “Abunai!” But I sprint across.
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Japan’s traffic fatalities reached
Japan’s traffic fatalities reached 8,000 on Wednesday. That’s 11 days later than last year. Last month, prefectural police taught a special makeover course to elderly women. The idea that women would be more aware of traffic when crossing the streets if they looked nice and felt confident about themselves seems a little wonky, but maybe…
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Tokyo is so full
Tokyo is so full of things to do that it’s difficult to decide on a plan with visitors. Pottery exhibits, shopping, food, historical places? It makes my head swim. Maybe I could just retreat into my computerised world of work…but then I’d miss all the fun. But what will we do today? I’m not sure.
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