Posted in Uncategorized, tagged internet, Japan, Roppongi on April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I recently ran a broadband speed test using Speedtest.net from my Tokyo apartment. I brought my Linksys Wireless DSL Router from Canada and it works nicely in Japan – bonus. Below are the results of this test – wow, that’s blazing fast!
According to Speedtest.net, the fastest country by download speed (average of 13,757 kb/s) is [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blu-ray, documentary, earth, TV on April 21, 2008 | 2 Comments »
This is a great TV series, it is the most amazing documentary on life, animals and the world around us – the images are absolutely spectacular, you must watch it on high definition (HD) to fully appreciate it – we have the Blu-ray version.
Our whole family is watching it (haven’t finished since there 3 full [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged earthquake, Japan, Roppongi, Tokyo on April 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In recent (December 2007) article and slideshow from Forbes.com ranks the top 20 most Earthquake-vulnerable cities in the world. Tokyo, Japan was ranked #11. Actually, a recent moderate earthquake (5.0) hit Tokyo on April 4 early evening – I was riding the subway train home, but my wife and son actually felt it [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged golf, Japan on April 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
You need a million to play golf in Japan – I know it is expensive here in Japan, but this is crazy.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged buddha, Japan, Kamakura, sakura, train on April 19, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Last weekend, we took a day trip to Kamakura, a city located in Kanagawa, Japan, about 50 km SSW of Tokyo. It was the capital of Japan during the Kamakura shogunate, from 1185 to 1333, and is the home of many historically significant Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. The most famous is Kōtoku-in, with [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blu-ray, gaming, Japan, language, playstation3, sony on April 15, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Recently, we bought a new Sony Playstation 3 at a local Yodobashi store in Tokyo. I believe the white console is not available in North America so I have posted a picture below.
My Japanese is not so good (ok, I’ll be honest – it is terrible or non-existent), so you can set the system language [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged family, Japan, Tokyo, visitors on April 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In the past few weeks, we have had some family visit us in Tokyo – my sister-in-law from Toronto who stayed with us and my wife’s nephew (who married a Japanese) from New York on business.
Living in Tokyo, we are far away from our families, who we are very close to – we do miss [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cherry-blossoms, IBM, Japan, sakura, trees on April 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sakura is the Japanese name for cherry trees, and their blossoms. In English, the word “sakura” is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry, and their blossoms are commonly called cherry blossoms.
Since Sakura only bloom for about a week or so in early spring, it is certainly a very special event here in Japan – in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged food, Hakone, hot-springs, Japan, onsen, train on April 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last weekend, we spent two days in Hakone, a town in the Kanagawa Prefecture about a 1.5-2 hour train ride from Tokyo. It is a very popular local and tourist attraction, well known for its onsen (public hot bath) hot springs and its views of Mt. Fuji.
We bought the Odakyu Freepass, which includes a round-trip [...]
