Japan

To finish, here’s each of our best and worst things about the trip: Best things… Keith – Best thing is easy, the Shinkansen (bullet) trains. Just incredible. Jo – Best thing was the opportunity to meet loads of different and interesting people. I had forgotten how much I love travelling. I spent hours just staring out…

1) When you are completely convinced that the noise you are hearing MUST be made by an animal larger than a Cicada, it’s not. 2) Japanese teenagers think their school uniform is cool and wear it most of the time, even though they are expected to follow the school rules when wearing it. They even…

A very early start led us to our most traumatic journey in Japan. The driver of the Green Tomato airport link was very very tired. I am grateful for the accident that slowed the motorwat to a standstill admit forced him to come off and wake up a bit. He was weaving, braking at the…

So many rude Italians. They can’t queue, they shout while they are eating and they do not act appropriately in a temple. I feel better for getting that off my chest. Breakfast was the same as yesterday and I had to bribe the children with promises of coffee shop cake to get then to eat…

This morning Keith and I got up for the Otsutome (Buddhist service) at 6.30am. Unsurprisingly the children did not wake up. The service took place in the temple and was well attended by tourists. 3 monks led the service, with one obviously in charge. For nearly 30 minutes they chanted continuously with one covering the…

Random Japanese fact. All train stations in Tokyo’s underground line play a different jingle each time a train arrives and leaves. In the middle of the night there was a random tune outside the hotel. In my head it was accompanied with an impending earthquake announcement in the calm male Japanese voice used on every…

This morning we had to leave the lovely, lovely man; the lovely, lovely lady and the lovely, lovely Ryokan. We are all a bit sad. The lovely, lovely man gave us another lift to the port and stood waving by the car until we had gone into the building. He was possibly ensuring that we…

This morning at 8:15am sirens sounded across Japan. We were asked by our hosts to put our names on origami cranes, which will be taken to Peace Park in Hiroshima. The first atomic bomb was dropped 73 years ago today, killing an estimated 140,000 people between the 6th August and the end of 1945.

We had ordered western style breakfasts for the children, so they were offered coffee. The nice man must have seen our faces as he took pity on us and let us have coffee as well as our Japanese tea. It was epic. Both breakfasts were delicious and swiftly polished off. When we went back up…

Fruit and vegetables are very expensive in Japan. Chemists must make a fortune on digestive remedies. That’s all I have to say about that. We had booked a taxi for 7.30am to get us to Kyoto station in time to catch our next Shinkansen. It all went swimmingly and we even had time to buy…

After another picnic breakfast, requiring minimal washing up… … we headed off to our tea ceremony. We left plenty of time… or so we thought. Of course there is always something. Today it was that if you don’t swipe your Pasmo properly when coming out of a train line, you can’t get into the next…

We had a planned early start today to travel to Fushima and walk up Mount Inori. A better night left us more rested but still slow to get moving, so we weren’t up and out until gone 8am. Our plan was further hampered by an accident on the Keida line leaving us stranded without a…

I woke up this morning with bruises on my hips. This futon is more blanket than mattress. Sleep? Who needs it. Danny’s cough is better! Hurrah. Sweet baked goods and drinking yoghurt for breakfast and then out to the aptly name Nijo-jo Castle. Train and subway with Pasmo cards that are still functional. It was…

No annoyingly loud Chinese ladies this morning so 8am was nearly reached before we woke up. I am starting to feel a bit more human! It is amazing how tiring the heat is, even when we avoid it as much as possible by sun dodging. Mila’s sun burn is much better today and her chesty…

We were woken this morning by some very shouty ladies who obviously thought it was time to get up. I didn’t mind too much as I had made a discovery: wonderful bed + memory foam pillow + solid walls = sleep Bliss. A crazy breakfast was consumed, including chips, yoghurt, fried chicken with curry and…

In the planning for this trip something to be considered was how to record the journey, bearing in mind we would be sending luggage ahead and living out of only what we could carry in rucksacks. We also didn’t want to take only one camera, in the event of a breakage, but couldn’t take more…

A very weird and loud cuckoo clock outside in the garden woke us up at 6.30am. Neither child stirred. I was very jealous! The paper walls in this ryokan meant that I had heard someone going to the toilet in the night, but other than that it really wasn’t too noisy. We opted for an…

The green fronds of rice wave gracefully to the wind as she passes by.

I am getting old. My back does not like change and complains about new beds. I regularly have to roll out of hotel beds onto my hands and knees to go through my stretches and warm up my back. Sleeping on the floor was no worse or better than normal, but the process of rolling…

Standing on the balcony of the ryokan this evening, all I can hear is birds tweeting and the odd cicada. No shouting, no fire engines or police, no music. I can’t see any other dwelling- only trees. All I can smell is the steam rising from the onsen. Contrast is what this adventure is all…

So, the plan for today was to visit three museums: 1) Emerging technology (robots and the best t-shirt selection ever!) 2) Sumida Hokasai (wood cut art) 3) Edo Tokyo Museum (Tokyo history) The first issue was that we woke up at 9.15am. Breakfast ends at 10am so it was a bit of a scramble to…

A reduced pace was decided upon today. Yesterday was exhausting and included a late night. We decided to take Chika’s advice and head to the famous Tokyo pedestrian crossing to take some photos. We managed to find somewhere a little higher to get a good angle but the humidity was incredibly uncomfortable so we didn’t…

Much happier children at the start of day two after 12 hours of unconsciousness! I didn’t manage quite that much, but could still feel the improvement. Breakfast was an experience. I could tell that Danny had the fear after our excitement at lunch yesterday so relief was written all over his face when he found…

We were all a bit confused about when Sunday stopped and Monday started… I think it was somewhere over Russia anyway! We arrived in security to be greeted by a sign (of which I didn’t dare take a photo…) telling us that no camels or products from camels could be taken into Japan. This did…

A mostly dull (and thankfully eventless) day. Enlivened only by the statistics of the flight we still had to do when we left Amsterdam (9000km!) and by being offered cornettos at 3 o’clock in the morning! No idea why, but then they turned the lights off. Cocoa before bed I could understand but ice cream?!…

Today has been our last day at home before our epic adventure to Japan. Tomorrow we catch a plane to Amsterdam and then on to Tokyo. Then we get to see if the time we have spent learning Japanese over the last twelve months was worthwhile. I am going to spend the flight practicing saying…