Archive for the 'Tokyo and around' Category

The most fun place to shop in Tokyo is not found in a department store, not in the electronics district of Akihabara, nor in Shibuya or Ginza. The are all good places to visit with your wallet, but not nearly as fun as the Ameyoko or “Black Market”.
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Technorati Tags: shop, Tokyo, Ameyoko

This weekend furniture giant IKEA gave a preview of their new store in Japan. On September 15 the new store in Yokohama will open. After the first successful store in Chiba, east of Tokyo, it’s now time for store number two in Yokohama, west of Tokyo. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: IKEA, store, Japan

Over 400 000 people are expected to come over the few days that the festival Azabu Juuban.

Summer is festival time in Japan. And all over the place too. I went last night to the Azabu Juuban festival in Roppongi. Squeezed in between the fashionable Roppongi Hills and the notorious night club district thousands of people had come for some of that festival stuff. Going to a festival is fun, and there are a lot of them through out the year, and all over the country. Chances are good to see one if you come to Japan. Read more on the 4 things that you always find at a Japanese festival, the Azabu Juban festival being no exception: Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: festival, Japan, Roppongi

People chilling on a not so crowded Yugahama beach in Enoshima, southwest of Tokyo.

Tokyo is a city by the sea. Something that’s easy to forget when you are busy shopping in Shibuya or Akihabara. But it’s there and you can swim in it. So, you’ve lived in Tokyo for a while, and realised that the summer is very hot. Maybe you’ve already been to the pool and found it to small and crowded. Ok, it’s time for the beach: Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Yugahama, beach, Enoshima

I’ll tell you a secret. Everybody does it. Schoolgirls, adults and businessmen alike. It takes place in buildings with covered windows in private rooms that you discreetly rent by the hour. It’s karaoke. The Japanese abbreviation that means “empty orchestra” and is performed by singing your favourite songs to a pre-recorded track, reading the lyrics from a TV monitor.
The ladies in the photo have absolutely everything to do with the article.

Karaoke has gone from trend to hype to now being just one the many things people do to amuse themselves. Gone are the karaoke bars, the taxis with karaoke and other crazy things from the 1980s. Now it is all done in a karaoke box, just like they did it in the movie “Lost in translation”. The boxes are actually small rooms located in “karaoke palaces”, buildings that host between ten or 50 rooms. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer has now come to Yokohama, Japan with temperatures around 35 degrees C. It’s hot and humid. And after living in LA your humble narrator developed the habit of taking a daily swim in The Pool. Now, the good news is that Japan has public pools in most wards of the cities. The bad news is that there are too few of them. Going to the pool here is a truly Japanese experience. Crowded and a bit bureaucratic.

After buying the 100 yen ticket in a machine and had it manually checked I climbed over a mountain of shoes to find myself in the changing room. There were no showers, to my surprise, but I would soon find out how the cleaning of bathers was done. Paying ten yen for a locker and I was set to go outside. The only way to pool area goes through a narrow passage with showerheads, all triggered as I passed my. In an industrial way I was now cleaned for the pool, and if I had been attacked with mustard gas or anthrax I am sure that had been taken care of too.

I got to the pool around noon and it was a bit crowded. That means not so crowded for being Japan. There were no lanes set aside for actual swimming so the whole pool was scattered with kids playing. This made actual swimming a bit difficult. Still it was of course nice to go in the water, but as I sat on the ledge, feet in the water, I was thinking about coming back another day at nine sharp to see if I could do a few laps before all the kids in the neighbourhood arrive.

The deck was so hot the lifeguards splashed it at times with water, one of their many tasks. There was almost at least two of them on duty and it seemed to me that their major job was to keep up the general order and dignity in the pool. There was a long list of rules and when they were broken a lifeguard would blow his whistle or shout in the bullhorn. This happened when a kid would jump into the pool for example, which was not allowed.

I had only paid for an hour, this being my first time, I only really came to check it out. Still there was something I had to see before I left. As had I read in this account there was supposed to be a resting period once every hour. Felt I’d just have to wait to see it for myself. Sure enough, at exactly five minutes to the hour all hell broke lose. First came an announcement over the speaker system, a crispy sound definitely speaking of something important. Right after that all three lifeguards starting shouting their bullhorns and blowing their whistles. If I hadn’t been somewhat prepared for this I would have thought there was a shark in the pool.

Quickly the pool was emptied of people. All the kids sat at the ledge for the five minute brake. This is done once every hour. Apparently to make sure nobody gets exhausted. It was really nice to have five minutes of quiet watching the water. Soon enough whistles blew and the pool was crowded again. After this I had had pretty much enough and got out of there. The remaining end of my ticket was dutifully inspected to see that I hadn’t stayed over my prepaid hour. I am sure they have the same system by the pool as in the subway where you get to pay what you owe as one exits.

2. Landmark Tower.

When you come to a big city you probably want to get up in a very high building. It is a good idea and there are several to chose from in Tokyo. Most famous is the Tokyo tower in Roppongi. It may look like the Eiffel tower in Paris but has nothing of its charm. Scruffy looking interior and no outdoor platform. Feels more than a copy of the Eiffel tower from a Dutch theme park. Read the rest of this entry »