The Japanese Paper Museum is located in a lovely park near Oji station. It traces the history of paper making from its origins to the present. Getting there was half the fun. I took a rail car, which is in walking distance from Minowa Station on the Hibiya line. The rail car (toden) lets you off at Oji station and from there it’s a 10 minute walk to the museum. It was standing room only on the tram as the limited seats are reserved for the elderly.
The museum is very …

Yokohama is an historic city, tied to Japan’s transformation from feudalism to modernity and embracing of Western ways. I spent a lovely day in Yokohama taking in several of its major attractions. They included a visit to its Chinatown, a stroll along its parks and boardwalks which hug the bay, and the Yokohama Museum of Art.
It was a balmy wintry day when I visited. The city has a beautiful skyline. It’s such a modern Western looking city that you wouldn’t think you were in Japan.
I loved visiting Yokohama’s Chinatown. It’s …

Ok this place is just fun and for two reasons. The guys working there all look like they are out of the new Willy Wonka movie for one. The other reason its so much fun and reminds me even more of the Willy Wonka movie is that they make CANDY! And its so good! They are making it right there in the store so its gotta be fresh. And it is! The place smells amazing! It smelt like cotton candy pina coladas in there. …

Looking for a place to relax? It’s not easy to slow down in a city as busy as Tokyo, but you would be surprised that you don’t have to go far to enjoy some hot and relaxing therapeutic water. The city offers its own geothermal concoctions of which you would expect only from a pricey resort further up in the mountains. Onsens in the city are nothing new, but there are a few newer places that are worth the visit and the experience. The list below …

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is a breath of fresh air and is a beautifully landscaped and maintained park. It has a long history that can be traced back to the beginning of the Edo period. The grounds were first residence given to Kiyonari Naito, a hereditary vassal of the shogun, leyasu Tokugawa. It was in the Meiji period that the government established a Naito Shinjuku Experimental Station to promote modern agriculture on the land. The Station was used to study western methods of growing fruits and vegetables, …

Toy Kitchen is a great local bar(izakaya) with a great crowd of regulars. Mostly a younger crowd with a few older, wiser, and maybe hipper neighbor characters thrown into the mix. It’s a tiny bar, but has a way of accommodating more in its jovial space. The owner and master of Toy Kitchen is Shingo-san. He’s laid back and cooks some mean eats. The bar is open when he’s not playing with his band. Usually opening around 6 or 8pm and closing whenever. …

A few decades ago, the café was just a place for having coffee, talking, smoking cigarettes, and so. Cafes in Japan have changed into a variety of styles lately.
Internet and Manga cafés are very useful places. They normally charge you per hour, and once you sit down on a nice sofa, you can do anything like having free drinks, reading comic books and magazines, using the Internet, watching DVDs and playing video games. You can also order food and take a nap. If you miss the last train after …

Ikebukuro – ignored, ashamed, malcontent. On most tourists’ to-do list, Ikebukuro ranks next to last (the lowest one being the unlimited number of McDonald’s so-called restaurants) and has little to offer to your average visitor. There are nothing but chain stores, more stores, your arcades and camera shops, suit companies and sub-par pizza shops. The supposed jewel of Ikebukuro, Sunshine City, collects a large number of foreign brand name stores that will do little to excite even the most consumer-hungry westerner. When a shopping district’s biggest attraction is its Burger King, …

The Vingt et un restaurant cruise in Tokyo Bay was a great bit of fun for this posters birthday.  I won’t tell you which one it was though.  But I will tell you about the cruise and food.  The best time I think to go is in July or August during the Hanabi Season in Japan.  Almost every Saturday there are firework festivals throughout parts of Tokyo which you should be able to spot from the ship.  We were lucky enough to see one that seemed like it was in …