A Cold, Kowloon and Little Edo

Hi everyone

I didn't want to submit any new post until I was able to report some good news to you. So here it is:

After having been sick for the past three days I am finally beginning to regain my strength and to feel better.
What started off as a light cough after a night of clubbing in Shibuya quickly developed into a fierce cold that would more or less bind me to bed for two straight days.
Thank you for insisting on my taking along the Panadol tablets mom, for without them my recovery would have probably taken a lot longer. Love you :).

Despite my being sick we still tried to do short outings (it's impossible to spend a whole day in this room of ours). They made me feel so battered however that I went straight to bed afterwards.

Together with Kenji we went to the Kawasaki Warehouse on Monday.
The warehouse is a themed arcade where parts of Kowloon Walled City have been rebuilt.
For those who don't know what that is, here's a quick history lesson for you:

Kowloon Walled City used to be a settlement in Hong Kong and one of the most densely populated settlements on earth. Its population reached its peak in 1978, where the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 2.6 hectare borders.
Since the settlement was ungoverned, prostitution, gambling, drug use and criminality in general flourished.

Kowloon is a truly fascinating place, so make sure to get a good read-up on it sometime.
Here are our impressions of the warehouse:

On the next day we met up with Jemeima, a good friend of mine who I have known for ages and currently just happens to be in Japan as well.
We decided to visit Kawagoe, a city in the Saitama prefecture and an hour's train ride from Shibuya.
It is known as "Little Edo", as some of its streets are lined with warehouse-style structures, temples, and shrines, (and no restaurants) and has a townscape that resembles that which could be seen in the Edo period.

That set aside, we had a great time just chatting with Jemeima, exchanging our experiences in Japan and going over some unfathomable writing of dubious quality.

Kawagoe's bell tower

Alessio fooling around

me fooling around

Both fatigued from a cold, this was as
photogenic as we would get.