Tama Zoo

The Japanese are on holiday mode at the moment as it is Golden Week - the period when a number of holidays fall together into one block. Everyone is on holiday, with the exception of myself.

Since it is the weekend and the weather is gorgeous, Yuki suggested we visit Tama Zoo, a short train and monorail journey. The kid in me likes the idea of travel on a monorail - it is still a fairly rare mode of transport and the views tend to be very nice from the raised track. I think it took about 30 mins to the zoo from our house in Kumegawa. I was keen to get out of the house and get some fresh air as the skies are blue and the air is fresh. We had better make the most of the cool clear days as Tokyo will soon become a hot and humid sauna once again.At the entrance to the zoo there were carp wind socks called koinobori. These are traditionally put up to celebrate Children's Day in Japan.

The zoo was nice enough and some of the animals were fun to watch, the mischievous monkeys in particular. However, the most pleasant aspect was simply walking around the zoo, enjoying the sun, fresh air, and surrounding trees.Clara also enjoyed stretching her legs although found my perpetual monkey impersonations slightly grinding. We are all going out for dinner soon (in about 30 minutes time) to a nearby restaurant. Beers between 5pm and 6pm are half price - only ¥250! Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of spring cleaning and will also try and organise some of Takashi's things. A very nice day so far and a good dinner to look forward to.Although I am working the whole of Golden Week, I will have the following week off in lieu...more on that soon.

Fishing - Okutama / The Tamagawa River

As I was working over Golden Week whilst every other person in the country was on holiday, Yuki and her family (plus friend Megumi) decided to have a day out fishing over the weekend, on Saturday 2nd May. We went to Okutama, about 90 minutes drive from our home in Tokyo. The countryside was surprisingly nice and reminded me of a cycle that I once done to a place called Kaneyama. I was expecting there to be hundreds of other people there due to our proximity to Tokyo, but it was not as busy as I had feared and it was generally a relaxing experience.

The only disappointment was that it was fishing Japan style. I was expecting the traditional battle of man against nature. The hunter against wily fish who knew the best places to hide and were discerning with the bait they went for. Not to be - every hour or so, a couple of blokes would come along with buckets of tiddlers and empty them into the river. I suspect that Japanese rivers have no actual marine life whatsover. Little wonder due to the damming of every single river in Japan (bar one in Shikoku) and the fondness for bulldozing river beds and covering them in concrete. Grrrrrrr!!!!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if you are interested in scenery, flora and fauna, there are plenty of other countries you should visit before Japan. Sorry Japan, that is the way I and many other foreign residents feel.

Despite confirmation that the only marine life in the river originated from plastic buckets, we did actually have a nice time. We had lots of food and drink, and relaxed in the warm sunshine beside the burbling Tamagawa River. Very civilised! The pleasant day was further extended when we stopped off at a popular noodle restaurant for some curry noodles and another glass of beer.A lovely day out, but a cloud was hanging over my head as I knew that while I would be working the following week, every other Tom, Dick, and Harry would be on holiday.

Tokyo Tower and Metropolitan Govt Building

We had a really nice day out yesterday (Saturday 11th April). Clara had requested to visit Tokyo Tower and climb up the steps. Up until yesterday, I had never been inside / up the tower so Yuki and I thought it was a great idea. It was also a beautiful day with blue skies and a nice cool breeze - spring is well and truly here and the summer heat is just around the corner.

The last time I visited Tokyo Tower was with Neil, a friend from Skye. We decided against climbing the tower because of the very long queue of people waiting to enter. There was also a long queue yesterday but as we were not taking the lift to the top, we could enter straight away and start our climb up the steps. Good exercise for us all and some nice views from the main observatory.

I was a bit peeved at the way the operators tried to squeeze every last ¥ (yen) out of us. I had thought that our initial entrance fee would allow us to climb to the very top, but it only got us to the main observatory. To climb to the secondary observatory would cost an additional ¥600 each. I really wanted to get to the highest possible point but really was not going to pay any extra.Still the views were still very interesting and I was reminded what a monster Tokyo is - urban sprawl stretching as far as the eye could see. Clara also had fun playing on some of the amusements at the base of the tower and beat me at a game of air hockey.

After Tokyo Tower, Clara and I went to a cafe while Yuki did some shopping. We then went for some dinner at an Italian restaurant which we all enjoyed. Clara was full of energy and spent a lot of time running around outside the restaurant after dinner. The restaurant is in a kind of amphitheater below a large office building so we could watch her running around like a lunatic and exploring. The exercise was really needed for her as she managed to eat a massive margherita pizza followed by a piece of chocolate cake.

Yuki then suggested that we visit the nearby Tokyo Metropolitan Govt Building, popular with tourists and locals alike for the views from the top. As it was nighttime by then, we were treated to all the colourful Tokyo lights. Tokyo is pretty by night and ugly by day.

All in all, we had a great day together and I will have some fond memories to keep me going through the week while I am away from home. Golden Week, a week with 3 or 4 national holidays beckons towards the end of April and the start of May. I will probably have to work most of it but will try and get a day off so that we can all go fishing together. I'll keep you posted.

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo DisneySea

We all went to Tokyo for Golden Week. The Japanese call this time Golden Week because there are a series of national holidays which are held in the space of one week. We took an extra couple of days off and traveled down to Tokyo for a bit f fun, shopping, and relaxation.

On Monday 1st May, we went to DisneySea which is basically an aquatic version of Disney Land. Clara was very excited about this trip although I found it VERY hard to wake up at 5.30am. The drive to DisneySea took about 90 minutes, and we were there nice and early, along with every other person in Tokyo.


We bought our souvenirs when we entered the park to avoid the end of day queues and then placed them in a locker so we could pick them up later. We all had a pretty good time and saw most of the attractions that were on offer. The first attraction which we went on was a gondola tour around a Disney version of Venice. After that, we gradually covered the rest of the attractions. Although DisneySea was busy, we didn't have to queue for very long which was a nice surprise. Of course, the person who had the best time of all was Clara.