My luggage and I arrived in fine form and after wandering around in the rain for half an hour I found my ryokan (inn). The problem had been they used the Gotanda bowling center as the landmark…which was torn down six months ago! Tokyo is an old city so its much like Europe where roads twist and turn and change so they tend to give addresses by a numbered area- and you can literally wander in that area for hours and not find a place. I put my hundred yen in the TV and settled in to my home for the next seven days.

The only disappointments were no windows in my room and no Japanese style tub- just showers. I might have to search out a ladies spa to go have a soak one night.

 I was up at 6:30 and wandering the city by 7:30. I can make it in less than 30 minutes from the door of the ryokan to the door of the studio. That was the only thing I found easily this am. I literally walked into the building it was in as I got off the train. I spent the rest of the morning trying to find somewhere with internet. I wrote about freespot wifi in my other blog on Have internet will travel but to find freespot I needed to get on to the internet…aha…and there in lies the dilemma. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I remembered some Shinjuku hotels having wifi in their lobbies so I found the Shinjuku Prince and in I went. Yatta! Success. Would you believe that that was the only hotel with it in Shinjuku? Do you how many hotels there are in Shinjuku? I mean this place is huge…it’s as big as all of downtown Vancouver and it’s just one small part of Tokyo. 

My golith of a computer has put a permanent dent in my shoulder. I spent three hours wandering Shinjuku and getting lost and ending up back at the Prince Hotel for more internet searching. I was getting a little embarrassed after the third time I plopped down in their lobby. After many hours I have ordered new business cards for tomorrow and I have found a great internet café right across the street from the yoga studio.  It’s just noon and I have had a day full of adventure already! I think a nap is in store for this afternoon and maybe some yoga if I can roll up my futon. Can’t wait to start training tomorrow.

久しぶりのゆったりした週末なので、雨が降っていたのですが、川崎にあるおにぎりカフェ「すずらん」に足を運びました。
http://www.onigiri-suzuran.com/

ここはいろんなおにぎりやお茶漬けなどのメニューが豊富で、しかもインターネットカフェも兼ねているという、なかなか異色のお店です（以前、ニュースにもなっていた気がします）。FREESPOT（無線LAN）のアクセスポイントもあります。

早速「お茶漬けセット」を注文し、MyPCからネットを楽しみました。実はこの記事もここから書き込んでいます。

感想は．．．。飯は美味い。さすがに拘っているだけはあるという感じです。座席もまずまず良い感じです。
ですが、なんだが無線LANの電波がむちゃくちゃ弱い（たまに切断する）。場所を変えても弱いまんま．．．。
どないやねんんん！

とまぁ、無線LAN環境としては致命的な欠陥を垣間見たわけですが、それ以外はなかなかの好印象ですね。
パソコンが設置されている座席もあるので、ノートパソコンやPDAなどを所持していない人でもネットを楽しめます。

参考サイト: しゃれにならない日々。(2003-09-15)

グランマップ 全横浜川崎住宅地図 Ver2.2