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Andy at Nagoya Castle, Japan

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

As you may or may not know, we had to leave Japan from the Central Japan International Airport, Nagoya and not Narita International Airport, Tokyo because of the earthquake, or because Lufthansa, had decided not to fly from Narita International Airport, Tokyo. So on the penultimate day, we left Tokyo on the bullet train again to Nagoya for one last day and night.

Whilst in Nagoya, we visited Nagoya Castle, and had a very long walk around the Castle Moat, trying to find the entrance, after exiting the tube station! As a taster to the Japan photograhs to come shortly, here’s a photograph that made Lindsey laugh!

Andy at Nagoya Castle, Japan

Andy at Nagoya Castle, Japan

(I’ve not really be cloned three times! One is bad enough! I asked Lindsey to take three different exposures, and then I’ve overlaid them for the effect!)

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Fugu

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

As a fishkeeper, one of the fish I wanted to see in Japan was Fugu. Fugu is is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it.  It’s also called Blowfish. This is a marine pufferfish, unlike most tropical freshwater puffers that are kept in the UK like the Green Pufferish, Tetraodon nigroviridis or Giant freshwater Pufferfish, Tetraodon mbu.

Giant Freshwater Puffer - Tetraodon mbu

Giant Freshwater Puffer - Tetraodon mbu

Green Pufferfish - Tetraodon nigroviridis

Green Pufferfish - Tetraodon nigroviridis

Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat. The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan, and the chefs are licensed, and only licensed chefs who have qualified through rigorous training are allowed to deal with the fish. Experienced fugu chefs in the most expensive of restaurants sometimes leave enough poison in the flesh of the fish to give diners a little numbness around the lips!

Here’s a quick clip of a tank full of Fugu destined for the table, that I filmed in a resturant display window in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan (22 March 2011).

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A Souvenir of Japan

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

This was the item I purchased to remind me of Japan! I purchased this 4GB USB Flash drive from the Apple store in Ginza, Tokyo.

LaCie iamaKey v2 USB-Stick 4GB

LaCie iamaKey v2 USB-Stick 4GB

Ginza is known as an upscale area of Tokyo with numerous department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffee houses. Ginza is recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. Many upscale fashion clothing flagship stores are located here, being also recognized as having the highest concentration of western shops in Tokyo. Prominent are Chanel, Dior, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. Flagship electronic retail stores like the Sony showroom (four floors of tech!) and the Apple Store of course! (a four floor building, MacBooks and iPads – 1st floor, chargers and accessories – 2nd floor,  TV from around the world – 3rd floor, technical support and repairs – 4th floor).

Sony Building in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Sony Building in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Lindsey purchase souvenirs of chopsticks, bags, Japanese doll….

well I am the computer geek!

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Tokyo Council Building, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Well I think it’s better known as Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, located in Shinjuku, Japan was the tallest building in Tokyo. Shinjuku also has the busiest train station in the world! (and it’s busy!).

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building

It has a two panoramic observation decks, one in each tower on floor 45, we went there one evening 7 days before the big one of March 11, and we also had dinner in the resturant.

View from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building

View from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building

View from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building At Night

View from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building At Night

and just to prove we were there, here’s a screenshot from an Ipad, using Assisted-GPS (it annoys me when people keep telling me they are using GPS with an iPad or iPhone!) of Google Maps in the  Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Google Maps view on iPad with GPS at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building

Google Maps view on iPad with GPS at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building

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Big in Japan

Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Snow Monkey in Onsen in Nagano

Snow Monkey in Onsen in Nagano

The link from the last post yesterday is… for the last four weeks I’ve been craving Ambrosia Devon Custard! (hence not many posts for March)

Harajuku Girls

Harajuku Girls

7 days ago we returned from Japan, where we’ve travelling around Japan for 3 weeks (and if you didn’t know, yes Lindsey and I were there, when the Big 8.9M Earthquake Hit and all the tremors afterwards!) – we are okay – and the holiday wasn’t affected – other than the occasioanal room and bed shake! Overall a Fanastic, exciting time in Japan, and I’m looking forward to going back soon!

We’ve travelled over 2000km around Japan. Tokyo to Nagano, Nagano to Matsumoto, Matsumoto to Takayamma, Takayamma to Kanazawa,  Kanazawa to Hiroshima, Hiroshima to Kurashiki,  Kurashiki to Kyoto,  Kyoto to Togendai, Togendai to Tokyo, Tokyo to Nagoya.

An evening (1hr) with a maiko (an apprentice geisha) called kofuku, in Kyoto, visiting the Snow Monekys in Nagano, riding Shinkansen (bullet trains) at 182mph (confirmed and verfied!),  eating conveyor belt sushi, visting temples, japanese gardens, road cable cars and pirate ships, witnessed a rare site of Mt Fuji over two days, visited outdoor art, Henry Moore, Barbra Hepworth, and Pablo Picasso sculpture and art, and saw the plum and cherry blossom.

plum blossom

plum blossom

Lindsey has taken lots of digital photographs which will be uploaded soon. I’ve almost finished ‘An evening with a kofuku DVD’. But also have another 180 minutes of Japan to edit.

Shinkansen (bullet train)

Shinkansen (bullet train)

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I do like a cold beer!

Monday, May 18th, 2009
Kingfisher Red

Kingfisher Red

Just found these beer bottle labels from our holiday in India. Good Memories! I’ve not seen Kingfisher Red in the UK, but believe me when I tell your it’s stronger than the white label! We also flew from Delhi to Chennai with Kingfisher Airlines, and they were fantastic. We were met by a porter in a red uniform at Dehli Airport, who put our bags onto a trolley, and then helped us onto a bus, and then we were met by another porter at another terminal, that carried out bags to checkin. Excellent Customer Service. I would fly Kingfisher Airlines again, I understand that Kingfisher Airlines may becoming to the UK, to fly direct to India in the future.

Kingfisher Boarding Card and Menu

Kingfisher Boarding Card and Menu

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South India pics are up on web!

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Here they are https://andysworld.org.uk/album/India

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No the blog hasn’t broken…

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

It’s been nine months since my last post. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year 2009, we were away in India. We went to the North and the South of India.

Here are the photos https://andysworld.org.uk/album/India/

The tomatoes were a disaster last year!

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Holiday: Mexico & Cuba

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

I’ve been on holiday to Mexico and Cuba in February/March 2006, hence the lack of posts. I’ll add an entry at a later date on my fish encounters.

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