On ice

Should any frequent readers to this blog, and also the new ones, wonder about the lack of updates, just a quick note to let you know I'm back in merry England til late January.

You know, doing the festive thing back home...



Actually arrived back in Blighty on 4th Dec.



Flew with British Airways...what a thought.

I always buy a 1-year open return ticket to from England to Japan.

I've flown with SAS, Lufthansa, Swiss Int., KLM in the past. Those flights always required landing in the designated European city from Tokyo, then board for the final, short flight back to England. Birmingham to be exact.
This time, British Airways London-Tokyo.
Good outbound flight.
Good return flight.

Shame that the cabin crew and union don't take into consideration the struggling economy, let alone the pasengers, especially at this time of year.

It's bad news, cus I really enjoyed the BA sevice. Swiss was by far the best, but having to transfer planes wasn't fun...
Still, it might make me book with Swiss again if BA can't get its act together.

Until next month...

Locohead

Locohead's a newly opened bar on Azuma Dori.
"punk rock bar" they say.
About 3-4 minutes from the North exit of Koenji station, just up the road from The Grapes.
The walls are still quite bar inside, with just a few posters and flyers.
On this day, the 12th, they had a special on drinks for 200yen.

Bonus pic.
Opposite Locohead is a flower shop which has a budgie doing his thing every day to the delight of passers by.
He's a noisy little bugger, but whether or not he'll be noisier than the music which will be coming out of Locohead remains to be seen.

Koenji Awaodori 2009 - Sunday (1)

30th August.
Final day.
First part of Sunday nights pics.
Probably got my best pics here from the main road on the South side of Koenji station..
It rained all heavily all night.
Some pics.
I've split this post in two parts.

Koenji Awaodori 2009 - Sunday (2)

Second part of Sunday nights pics.

Koenji Awaodori 2009 - Saturday

29th August.
Saturday was rammed.
Got to the Koenji about 7pm, after finishing work.
I've always considered Satuday the best night out of the Awaodori weekend...well, probably cus it's a Saturday night...
Spent all night and morning on the streets.
A few random shots throughout the night.

Koenji Awaodori 2009 - Friday

28th August.
All the dance teams for the festival come from all over Japan.
There was a small awaodori on Friday night featuring only the teams with a connection to Koenji.
This was from 6-8pm.
Many were holding back til the big one on Saturday and Sunday.

Some pics from Friday.