Karaoke in Japan

Karaoke is a culture among the Japanese people.
Among family members, young, old people and all
walk of life in Japan are fond to have karaoke session.
Not only in their house, but it is common to find
the karaoke "heya" everywhere even in a remote
area.

As for me, i did join some occasion especially when
many of my Japanese friends invited me to their house
for dinner. I enjoyed very much when mixed and chatting
with them.
Normally, to welcome a foreigner during dinner, the host
traditionally will do the opening speech followed by self
introduction of every single guest with short history and
background. After dinner start, every one will sing alternately
in karaoke session. Most of Japanese house has a complete
karaoke set.

Here are some photos and karaoke taken with Mr. President
and guest of honour.

Visit Tokyo Japan

Ohayo-gozaimasu. Yoroshiku onegai-shimasu.

I visited Tokyo city few times during my stay
at Fukusaki village in Hyogo Prefecture. (Honshu Island).

To go to Tokyo from Fukusaki, you need to take train
to Himeiji which take less than 20 minutes.
Then from here you can go by Shinkansen (Bullet Train)
which cost you approx 15,000 Yen.
Time taken to reach Tokyo is about 3 to 3.5 hours.

I advise you to stay overnight in Tokyo to enjoy
sightseeing during day time and join the night life
activities such as karaoke, pachinko, window shopping
and etc. You can booked a travel agent to show you around
and visit the Imperial Palace plus other historic places.
.
And for me, sometime I took early train from my place
and were able to reach Tokyo by noon. Then I spent
one whole day in the city before coming back by night
Bullet Train. This way I could save on the hotel expenses
as a student, I did not have much money to spent.

But to be honest, even many of my Japanese friends
around this area were never been to Tokyo in their
lifetime.

Tokyo as any other big city, is a very much alive
especially in the night. Day time, you can go to
Ueno park in the morning for jogging then at noon
shopping at Akihabara. For young people, they prefer
to spent their time at fashion city of Shinjuku.
Some people say you will find many future gadgets
here which is 10 years more advance than other part
the world.
Remember to understand and  to bring along your
subway map with you so not to loose track and lost
in the congested subway station. Japanese culture
is always sharp on time system.

Arigato-gozaimashita, Mata ai-masu yo.

My days at Himeiji Castle, Japan

My days in Himeiji City was sometime 20 years back once
I was an industrial student at Hyogo, Japan.



This is my flash back of my days in one of historic castle,
which is very famous in Japan as well as in the world.
Based on history, this castle was built in 1346 by Akamatsu
Sadanori. You are able to learn about this castle from the web
all over the net.



The most great day to visit is during Sakura Cherry Blossom
around May-June season and Golden May Festival.
At this time period you will be able to encounter many events
such as listening to Koto Music Instrument, you can
see Yatai & Matsuri celebrations and many more.

I will show you more places which I have visited in next posts.
Places such as Kobe, Nagoya, Nagasaki, Mt. Aso etc.
Stay tuned.

Let's go to Small Island of Mont St Michel, Normandy

Friends,

Here is the magic place where sea level able to rise more than 12 meter during high tide. 
Most interesting is the low and high tide interval is within few hours. 
This beautiful and a "Wonder World of Western" is UNESCO classified world heritage.

I came here by bus and stopped by at the station on mainland.
Should you lucky enough, the bus will go straight to the island through
small bridge if the water level is low.
Ok, once you here, you will feel very relief and your panaromic
view is big open either facing to sea or mainland. You need to
know the tide table in order to be safe especially if you need to
snap more pictures at the beach front. but it is not adviseable
as the wind is very cold.

Inside the castle, there are many shops that sells sourviniers,
cafe for food and other outlets to cater for tourist.
Please make yourselve confortable, before you start climbing
up the stairs as it will take few hours to cover.

Do come here to have a better feeling and you won't
feel any hesitation.

Below is a finest photo that fit to describe
how beautiful the place at night.
"Courtesy from Wikipedia website"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MSM_sunset_02.JPG

Welcome to Saint- Malo, Brittany

Bonjour, Madam.
Bonjour, Monsieur.

St. Malo is very famous with her local oysters from small village of Cancale.
But I did not have time to enjoy the food due to limited resources.
Maybe will try some other time.
I have my good friend who is living in this castle.
His name is Mr. Loic. He is very rich guy for sure as
I did jokingly told him. If not how can he afford such
a grandy place here inside the ancient castle.

You can come here by TGV train from Paris.As it is a most
visited place in Brittany, you better come during weekdays
to avoid the crowd.

You can go to England from here by cruise.
Make sure you have the International passport with you.
Here is some historic data taken from France's tourist website for
your quick glance of St. Malo:-


Walled and built with the same grey granite stone as Mont St-Michel, ST-MALO was originally in the Middle Ages a fortified island at the mouth of the Rance, controlling not only the estuary but the open sea beyond. The promontory fort of Alet, south of the modern centre in what's now the St-Servan district, commanded approaches to the Rance even before the Romans, but modern St-Malo traces its origins to a monastic settlement founded by saints Aaron and Brendan early in the sixth century. In later centuries it became notorious as the home of a fierce breed of pirate-mariners, who were never quite under anybody's control but their own; for four years from 1590, St-Malo even declared itself to be an independent republic. The corsaires of St-Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute, but also brought wealth from further afield. Jacques Cartier, who colonized Canada, lived in and sailed from St-Malo, as did the first colonists to settle the Falklands – hence the islands' Argentinian name, Las Malvinas, from the French Malouins.

Here is some of beautiful photos which was taken by me.



My friend, Loic.

                        TGV from Paris.                                                           Lunch in Brasserie.