JAPANESE WEDDINGS No, Ro and I are not planning a vow repeat, although if it will get my mom & dad to visit it is worth considering J We met a gentleman, John out at a Tex-Mex Pizza chain, who said that he has immigrated from America to Japan 35 years ago and he is ordained as a legal wedding officiant. Not a priest, however Christian. Japanese wedding customs fall into two categories: traditional Shinto ceremonies, and modern Western-style weddings. In eit...

What's the difference between a shrine and a temple? PAGODAs is the English for a tiered structure. This is a good question that many Japanese may struggle to answer. Although there are some differences like the smoking barrel at temples and the purifying water at shrines, they could look pretty similar and even be built within the same area (literally next to each other). The quick and easy answer to this question is a simple one: a temple is a place for...

Arrived at Tokyo Inn for our honeymoon in Disney Land and Sea. Our Hotel is wonderful - best part is that my frequent night attendance to bathroom is in our room! Super compact - unbelievable really but much like tight squeeze in a caravan :) Breakfast was most different and interesting. Maybe better not to know what everything is? There was a buffet of rice porridge, miso soup, onigiri rice triangles, beans mixed with seaweed, and the rest we didn't recogni...

Shinkansen aka the Japanese bullet train, is something from out of this world! Futuristic to us South Africans! Travels at 281 km/hr top speed, yet so smoothly along the tracks that it feels just like an aeroplane onboard. Thus, people are allowed to walk up and down cars (each carriage named 'cars'). Between cars/ carriages are vending machines with soft drinks, and full fletched bathrooms with far more space than onboard any aeroplane! Seats can be angled ...

Unbelievable! Loved every minute, although crowded and queues a plenty. Fast pass tickets are the way to go...we cottoned on quick. They allow one to jump to the front of line - some of which had a waiting time of 3 hours! I can not believe people would still stand that long for a ride, ri-donkey-lus! The attention to every minute detail is out of this world! Cats tails on the balcony of the third floor which one can see from central court outside were moto...