dyan: you did exactly what I just did above.
If you leave the "http://" off the URL, it gets autocompleted as being within the publicaddress.net site. Which, strangely enough, tends not to work too well.

What s/he said. I've fixed the original link.

Here goes again:

School in Nepal

Keith, do have a look at the site for the school my sister runs in Nepal:

School in Kathmandu

As I say, Shirl lived in Tokyo for about 10 years before moving to Nepal – she's been there about 10 yeas as well.

The…

sorry about that...

And, yes, as of this year there is the PASMO card, which covers all public transport within Tokyo and also some connections out into neighbouring…

If you are going to Kathmandu, maybe you would like to visit the school my sister (Shirley Blair) runs there?

[www.himalayanchildren.org/ ]

By the way Russell, I am not having any luck with this linking thing: the process is:

1. type an ppen square bracket
2. paste url…

There are bars in Japan that cater to woman, irony being that most of the customers in host bars (picture if you will, skinny men with hairsprayed blonde mullets lighting your cigs, pouring your drinks and laughing at your jokes....)
are actually hostesses themselves........
I can only imagine that…

They have an all-in-one card now? That must be so convenient. I was using the Suica card but that wasn't good for everything. I miss the train.

Kowhai, you must have scared the crap out of them, being a tall female gaijin. ;-)

I don't think the females serving male fantasies would get a lot of job…

Gutted

Boom boom!

... an eatery in New Zealand where young blokes tottered round in mobility-restricting costumes and called me "Mistress"?

Male sexuality being what it is, they would be the customers and pay you. And I bet there's room for a bar like that in Tokyo.

I don't know people stand all that humanity around them. It would drive me spare.

Initially it was very draining but in time it becomes completely normal. A special kind of solitude can be found in crowds.

I don't know people stand all that humanity around them. It would drive me spare.

oh, i dunno. it's just the same as London really. just twice as many people, less body odour and better sushi. oh, and the trains (usually) run on time.

only drawback is that an earthquake…

I think the trick is to not look at the map beyond what you need, otherwise it melts your brain.

You have the right idea. That map you photographed, don't look at it. I just used it to scare my friends! The best thing would be to use a Japanese…

The plan is to travel west in Japan over the next two weeks, then ferry to China

i assume you're getting the ferry from Osaka to Shanghai?

unsolicited advice: take the central mountain route (Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Shiga) route to Kyoto, or, if you're really adventurous, the north coast (Japan…

I am surprised that you are having trouble with the subway/metro. I was there for a couple of weeks in July/August and thought it was really easy user-friendly system (Idon't speak or read a word of Japanese).

Yeah – it's getting a bit better now. I think the trick is…

...gotta try to go to Hakone again sometime...
the sister-museum in Nagano (Utsukushigahara) was good too.

Or does that sound like another profession entirely?

Also if you head out to Hakone region i highly recommend the Open-Air Art Museum and buying the 'Hakone Free-Pass' which means you can use all/any transport as many times as you like in the park area (bus, train, gondola, cablecars etc).

Oh hell yes, that place is awesome! Although…

We had some time to kill and decided to go to a maid café today.…