Late get up and breakfast this morning as we plan to wait as long as possible before checking out working on the assumption that we don’t want to be all hot a sweaty when we get on the plane. The breakfast looks really good this morning so “I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so”
After a leisurely breakfast and a reorganisation of bags we check out and park our bags. Like everything else seems to be in Japan this is really well organised. You put your bag on the rack, thread the security strap through the handle and set a pin. Simples.
We are now faced with a choice. Hunker down in the nice air-conditioned hotel lobby for a couple of hours till it’s time to catch our train or head out into the sweltering Osaka heat and wander aimlessly for a while. Obvious really so off we go to see what the inhabitants of Osaka do at the weekend. Now given it’s only just past 11:00 it’s already obvious that masses of people are already out and about and judging by the length of the queues at a lot of the eating shops they are there to eat. Just a few pictures to show the craziness that is Osaka at the weekend.
We need to kill a bit more time if we can so we head to and exotic coffee shop called Starbucks 🤣 well it’s exotic for us, as we can linger over a drink in air-conditioned bliss as long as we want. To be fair because we have meandered along we’re hot but not to sweaty. Back to the hotel, pick up the bags, wander up the street to the station to catch the train to Kansai about a 40 min ride. We’re already checked in so its a simple thing to clear security and immigration and hit the lounge. Being ultra prepared we have a change of clothing and so after a shower and change of clothes we are decent for the start of our journey home at least.
No point in documenting long flight back so I’ll post this now and the next time we speak it will be face to face.
Well a little bit about our afternoon after our visit to the Peace Park. We have some train tickets and a ferry pass to get to an island called Miyajima. Now rather than heading back into Hiroshima station on the streetcar (tram) we see that it actually goes to the ferry terminal so we decide to get on just outside the Peace Park and ride the 28 stops to the end of the line. First just two words about Japanese transport systems. THEY WORK. It’s as simple as that. We have a one day pass for the streetcars but even if we didn’t it is a simple one fare only system Y240 takes you anywhere on the line. The trams are light, clean, well air-conditioned (bonus) and the passengers all very polite. The stops are clearly announced in both Japanese and English and each station is numbered so you don’t even have to remember the name. It’s also a great way to see lots of Hiroshima as you trundle down the center of the street. We get off the tram and onto a small ferry for the trip across to Miyajima.
It’s pretty obvious when we get to the otherside that this is a bit like an English seaside town. Well not really as despite the fact it’s very touristy it’s actually quite tasteful. The big problem is it’s 35 in the shade and there is no flipping shade so melting is not strong enough to describe whats happening to us.🥵. There are lots of little monkjack deer wandering around on the constant scrounge for some thing to eat. I thought the one in the doorway was stuffed until it moved very slowly.
I’m a bit peckish and we pass a little stall selling oyster curry bread. It’s lots of oysters in a Japanese curry sauce in a crispy bun and it is mega!
We wander up to the Floating gate to a Shinto shrine. We’re not sure why its floating but we’ve fulfilled our daily target of at least one shrine.
By now we’ve had it and get back to the ferry, wander up to the train station and get a train back to Hiroshima. Now it seems that all railway stations must have a major department store attached and I’m not talking Poundland here, more like Harrods or F&M. Theres a massive selection of little restaurants and we settle on an Okonomiyaki teppanaki. Okonomiyaki is a typical Hiroshima dish and when I was last in Japan you could only get it around Hiroshima so it was the ideal time to let Chris sample it. Now putting it simply it’s a whole load of stuff, on a pancake, covered in an omelette with more stuff on top and watching them make it is a work of art. We were a bit starving so tucked in before I got a photo but you can get the idea. Oh and thanks to Google translate for helping us explain that Chris did not want squid in her Okonomiyaki.
Stuffed and very satisfied we head back to the hotel and I write the Hiroshima post. We are both in a deep sleep when at 2:30 my phone goes berserk and sirens start wailing over the city. By the time I’ve figured out that it is a warning for landslides and unlikely to affect us I put my phone on silent and turn down the volume only for the same thing to be repeated at 4:30. Sleep deprived we get up this morning and head down to the restaurant for a bite of something before we catch the train. You will be glad to know that I got the secret plans for the death star from Robbie.
We’re getting really good at this now. Back to the room, pick up the cases, check out, get to the station, find the correct platform and get on the train all in 20 mins 🤣 for a 90 min trip to Shin-Osaka. Off the train, into a taxi, 30 min ride to hotel and MUCH to early to check in so we leave the bags and decide to find the way to the other station where we will get the train to Kansai tomorrow. We’re standing on the corner trying to get Google maps to sort it’s life out and tell us the correct way to the station when a young girl comes up, asks if she can help and then escorts us to the station. I’m not sure that would happen in the UK. We’ve a little time to kill before we can check in and guess what. IT’S HOT, so we head to a coffee shop for a drink and a little something to eat. Nice coffee shop, very upmarket.
So suitably refreshed we wander back to our hotel. Now on the way to the station we wandered up the main street all filled with big brand names, Dior, Gucci, Richard Mille, Omega etc in imposing flagship stores. On the way back it’s the back streets which are just a little bit different.
You reckon this might be a seafood restaurant?
back to the hotel, check in, cool down before heading off tonight for a food tour yum yum
Right off we go for the food tour. Not a very auspicious start as we meet outside a McDonalds at a railway station. There are 7 people on the tour plus the guide and all of them bar us are American. Still its a very nice group and we gel quickly
The first stop is a kushikatsu restaurant with a selection of skewers. As always these are perfectly cooked and delicious. They are eaten with raw cabbage and a nice draft beer.
The second stop is a BBQ place with three cuts of Wagu beef. Now chris is not fond of Wagu finding it to rich but BBQ’d with a squeeze of lemon changes it completely. Washed down with a lemon sour this is the highlight of the evening.
The final stop was an okonomiyaki restaurant. Now the okonomiyaki in Osaka is very different to Hiroshima and is more like an omelette. To be honest I prefer the Hiroshima variety. Mind you the gyoza and rice are really nice. We exit the restaurant to find ourselves in a tropical storm and of course we have left the umbrella and raincoats in the hotel. Never mind its only a bit of water. A short taxi ride back to the hotel, finish this post and get ready to leave Japan for home tomorrow.
On the way back we see Osaka by night. All the trees have lights in them and its very pretty.
Todays blog is going to be very different. I’m going to split it into two parts, the morning and then afternoon as a separate post. The reason for this is because there are some pictures in the morning post that you might find distressing so you can skip this post completely if you are concerned.
This morning we are off to the Hiroshima Peace Park. On the 6th August 1945 and American B29 bomber named Enola Gay, after the pilots mother, dropped the first ever atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima in Japan. In the first second 140,000 people were killed or seriously injured. Many of the injured died in the first couple of days. It is estimated that over 200,000 people died as a direct result of the bomb with many succumbing to cancers caused by the radiation from the bomb. In many respects the people who died in the initial blast were the lucky ones as the injuries sustained by the survivors and the pain they must have suffered before they to died is unimaginable. Hiroshima are working very hard to try and ensure that this never happens again.
One of the very few surviving buildings from the blast is now what is known as the Bomb dome and is preserved as a stark reminder of the destructive power of what by todays standards was a very small bomb.
This is what it looks like today
What it looked like before the bomb
and what it looked like just after the bomb
The bomb levelled and area about 4Km across which was the majority of Hiroshima.
Straight after the bomb there were hundreds of people critically injured and no functioning aid available so they were in great pain and many died without receiving any help in the most distressing ways. There was an incredibly well curated exhibition in the museum with original accounts and photographs from the time.
I will not burden you with the graphic details of the injuries people suffered but will say that I can not find words to describe how sad, angry and disgusted that this treatment could be indiscriminately meted out on women and children non combatants.
There were masses and masses of school groups there, all very respectful and it is good that they learn about this so they can help to prevent it in future. One thing sticks in my mind of one small boy probably 12 or 13 obviously found this very difficult to deal with and had covered his eyes. He was being guided and supported by two older boys with their arms around his shoulders. No ridicule, no name calling just real compassion.
There were multiple stories from just after the bomb to years later but one stuck in my mind.
A little boy of three called Shin Ichi, I hope I have that right, was riding his trike when the bomb went off. He was very badly burned and despite everything his father tried to do to save him he died of his injuries on the night of the 6th. His father was too distraught to have hime cremated so buried his little body and the trike he was riding in his back yard under a old steel helmet. His father was consumed with grief for the next 40+ years as he survived the blast and gave an oral account after he recovered Shin Ichi’s bones in 1980 and reburied them in the family grave. He donated the trike and helmet to the museum. The museum is full of stories like this showing the lasting effects of the bomb.
The Origami Crane, the sign of peace, has become closely associated with Hiroshima and you will see later is often made by school children and left by the children’s memorial. Chris and I had both made one at the tea ceremony and we felt it was very appropriate to leave them as we paid our respects by the memorial.
Just one of the many pictures made entirely from Cranes by school children.
Places like this always arouse strong emotions and worries given the state that the world is in now but you can only hope that sense will prevail and we will never see this type of catastrophe again.
I’m to shattered after this blog to do any more but will put an additional post covering the rest of the day tomorrow.
Earlyish start and a quick taxi down to the station. We’re getting pretty good at this and even have time for a drink and a bit of a relax before we have to get the train. Now used as we are to English station cafes it comes as a bit of a shock to have a waitress service in a very nice setting.
On the train for a short 45min trip to Himeji, now this is on the way to Hiroshima but we are getting off luggage and all to go look at a castle. 🥴 It’s clear that lots and lots of people do this as we are met by a guy who shows us how to rent a locker for our luggage so at least we don’t need to drag that around with us. Now we have just over 4 hours here so we take a leisurely stroll up the main road to the castle. Now we have been advised that we are not really fit enough to climb to the top of the castle and given that it’s still flipping hot we content ourselves with a quick look around the bottom.
As you can see its a pretty imposing structure and as you get closer and closer you get a better idea of the enormous size of the building.
The whole site is surrounded with a very impressive moat with a lovely wooden bridge to the main gateway.
Unlike so many places we have been this does not seen to crowded but time is against us and its VERY steep inside so our exploring is quite limited. We grab a cab back to the station and head into a massive department store which is directly connected to the station. 2 basements, 6 floors and much much bigger than Harrods. We make our way to the 6 floor where there are a choice of restaurants as opposed to cafes as we want to get something substantial so we don’t necessarily need to go out to eat this evening. Despite nobody speaking english we manage to get what we want for lunch.
Now the department store seems to be an attraction for older Japanese and you see them meeting for lunch or just resting from the heat outside in one of the rest areas which have comfy seats. As we have a little time to kill we to have a little doze before heading back to the station. Now it turns out while we’ve been munching and dozing a tropical storm has come down and it is raining in biblical proportions.
So much in fact that our train is just one of many to be cancelled. A quick chat with one of the stations staff (don’t you just love Google translate) elicits that if we get a local train to Odawaya we should then be able to get a Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Because we are not on our proper train we have no seat allocations so its to the unreserved carriages where we manage to get a couple of seats in standard class. At Odawaya it is just a seething mass of humanity try to get on any train they can with people crammed in every space. Nope not doing that. The next train arrives and we head for the Green Cars (first class) and get two very nice seats thank you. We arrive at Hiroshima and wonder of wonders the hotel is attached to the station. It’s a bit late and we’re not really hungry so we decide just to have a beer and some nibbles in the bar. Well I might have guessed something was up when we walked into a very posh, very empty bar.
Two small beers some crisps and some nuts 22 quid and it’s happy hour!!!!
Suitably fleeced we head back to the room and blog. Hiroshima tomorrow weather permitting.
Well according to our itinerary today is a self guided tour of a place called Nara which if famous for……. Temples, shrines and deer. Well we have had enough of temples and shrines and the idea of getting on a train for 45mins to walk 45mins to feed a deer does not appeal so we decide to head into downtown Kyoto to a: figure out where we need to get to tomorrow to catch the Shinkansen and b: get a lunch. We head into town on the subway and decide that there are just to many stairs for when we have luggage so we’ll grab a cab tomorrow. We head into a shopping mall, mooch around a bit and then sit down for a coffee and to decide where we want to go. A quick look at Tripadvisor and Nishiki Market seems to be interesting and in fact is on the way back to our hotel so off we pop on the subway again and a 15 min walk to the entrance to the market. Well the first thing about this market is it is frigging enormous, approx 5 blocks by 5 blocks think nearly 1km square.
You can only see half way here.
It is full of shops selling all different types of food and many of them will cook it so you can eat it there.
back to this shop later
lots and lots of octopi
or Sake at 50p a shot cheap drunk
more seafood than you can poke a stick at
the other half
Flowers as well as food
Or perhaps some curry bread
We stopped of at a little stall because the had some Unagi which they cooked fresh for me. It was delicious but I passed on the sparrows.
There were also shops selling knives and cooking gear
How about a gold plated Wok set. A steal at £1150
Somebody nicked my idea
All this food was starting to make us hungry so we stop in a very little sushi/sashimi shop
Thats it- thats all of it 6 seats but the food was wonderful
Chris’ sashimi
My sushi
After lunch we carry on up the same isle that we entered on. Didn’t get to the end before there was a major crossroads
This stretches the same distance both ways. Obviously this is not a food isle.
Of course this is a shop that just sells toothbrushes.
and on that apparently has been around since 1603.
There is such a thing as too much retail therapy so we grab a cab back to the hotel to get sorted for tomorrow however we do have to stop for some tempura.
Thats a big prawn
Ok so we decide, despite the big prawn, that something to eat is in order this evening. Now the area around our hotel seems to be a bit bereft of eating establishments but we are about 100m from the hotel when we see what looks like a tiny bar. We decide to pop in and have a beer and then go to the local CoOp and pick up a snack. Well can you believe it we have stumbled onto a craft brewery and the local brewed beer, Nude (yes that is correct) has a very nice session IPA and as a plus point they actually do food. We order some nibbles, grilled Edamame, pepper prawns and fried chicken all of which is amazing. A few beers later and with a bit of craic with an Irish Australian couple and we reluctantly head back to the hotel to finish the blog and get ready for tomorrow.
Just a bit more sophisticated than a pint and a packet of pork scratchings at the Alex 🤣
So off to Hiroshima tomorrow. Tell you about it later
9:00 and Masayuki our guide meets us in the lobby and we head off to a Shinto shrine. Now to be honest we’re getting a little “shrined out” and its getting difficult to remember details but we’ll see what we can do. This shrine was built by the first Samurai who was not from a noble family and it had become famous for the fact that people would build a gate at the temple in the hope that their request would be granted and now there are over 1000 gates. These days you don’t build a gate you sort of rent one. The bigger the gate the more it costs so the really big ones are funded by corporations and the smaller ones by individuals.
The gates wind all the way up the hill and apparently it takes about three hours to walk through them all. We politely declined.
Big ones
Smaller ones
itty bitty tiny ones
Now heat is beginning to catch up with us again so it’s time for an iced coffee. Surprise surprise it comes with a small breakfast. It’s always with toast but this is a slab of bread 8” long, 2” wide and at least 2” thick. In Masayukis case with a hard boiled egg and in Chris and my case strawberry jam and bean paste which is actually very nice. Suitably refreshed we head off to the next, you guessed it, temple. This one is a Buddhist temple which boasts the worlds longest timber building (110m) and 1001 Buddhas.
The grounds are beautiful and quite serene as there is not the crowds and crowds of people that there were at the last one.
Now its physically impossible yo get a head on picture of the building. This shows just half of it.
and this is the ridiculous attempt at a panoramic shot
You are not allowed to take photographs inside the shrine but there were some posters outside which give a little bit of an impression of what it is like. Interesting fact each Buddha is life sized, slightly different, takes 6 weeks to make and is comprised of 3000 pieces. Thats over 3 million bits in total 😮
and this is the one Buddha
Time for lunch and today it’s curry. Now I really like a good Japanese curry with Katsu and this one is amazing, you can decide how much rice you want, how hot you want the curry and even how sweet you want it. I had smaller that normal rice but hotter +2 which was ideal. Chris had a salad 😂.
After lunch it was time to visit ……. Yes you guessed……another shrine. This one is Shinto and is on the world heritage list, one of 14 sites in Kyoto which is listed. So it is a: very popular b: attracts millions of visitors c: at the top of a big hill up a narrow street lined with souvenir shops and cafes. Given that the temperature is probably only around 33c and there is no shade it’s not surprising that this is a scene with more sweaty dripping people than you can shake a stick at. Now another observation, we take photos of where we’ve been, the trend now is to take picture of yourself for your Instagram or Tick Tock feed and in Japan that often means taking a picture of you in a Kimono. So everywhere you look there are Kimono rental shops doing a roaring trade renting Kimonos to Japanese and foreign tourists alike. Now to be honest the sight of a large sweaty white male shuffling around in a Kimono with a plastic sword and a pair of Nike trainers peeking out of the bottom pretending to be a Samurai is not very edifying.
Now is that a selfie stick or what
To be honest some of the Japanese girls in Kimonos do look very elegant (note the died hair)
It’s not at all crowded 🥴
However some of the architecture is amazing
and the attention to detail is wonderfull. Copper cladding to protect the wood end grain
Enough shrines already… Last stop of the day is an older street in Kyoto which is full of tea rooms but these are members only and the center for Geishas (in Kyoto young girls in training are called Meiko, 16 to 20, and then if they continue they are called Geiko). All of the houses are very old and the whole area is under a conservation order to protect the appearance.
Here is a house that has just been renovated. I asked what the significance of the curved bamboo at the bottom was expecting it to have some cultural significance but it turns out its to stop dogs peeing on the walls. 🤣
By this stage we are done so a short taxi ride to the hotel and a welcome shower. We need something to eat and it seems there is an Italian restaurant just round the corner and the idea of a Pizza is so very very appealing. It turns out that the restaurant is typically Japanese, it wont seat more that about 18 people and the whole thing is run by one guy who is chef, waiter and bottle washer.
We both order mushroom and prosciutto (home made) pizza. One large and one small and they are really good. When we go in there is just one Japanese guy eating and after a while an Australian couple come in who we strike up a conversation with. Then a group of 4 more Aussies who should have booked but the guy accommodates them. Boy will he be working hard.
Nice pizza, couple of beers and it’s only 35 quid. Way to finish the day. Self guided tomorrow so I think it will be a much quieter day.
Well early start again as we have to get from Gora to Odawara to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. Now you have to be on the correct Shinkansen as you have assigned seats and they are always on time so we reckon that we need to be leaving the hotel no later than 8:00 so we can take into account waiting for connecting trains etc. So armed we head down for a quick breakfast. Nah, no way, not going to happen as the breakfast is on par with last nights meal lots of different dishes. No pictures as my phone had not charged last night and it’s pretty important we have it as it contains all of the information where to be etc but I took a picture of the menu after wards.
Now despite the fact that all I really wanted was a bit of fruit and some dead pig and egg I can just about cope with a plethora of things that I can’t identify EXCEPT they do not have coffee only green tea. We check out and wander down to the train station (about 2 mins) to find it empty but a train comes in so we embark and within a couple of minutes are on our way. Same thing as before, wibbly wobbly train going backwards and forwards but this time down the hill.
It really is a remarkable line and it seems that we are in Harkone in record time hasving dropped about 500m. We step off the train in Harkone and onto a local one which takes off almost immediately with the end result that we arrive in Odawara with over an hour to spare. Well the only thing you can do is to sit is coffee shop and get the first brew of the morning. Now normally you plan to be on the Shinkansen platform about 5 mins before the train is due but as Chris has never seen a Shinkansen train we go up early and it’s worth it as the look of pure amazement on her face when the first through train rumbles through somewhere between 250 and 300KPH. Right on time our train pulls in everybody boards and three minutes later we are on our way. No pictures on the journey as trying to get a picture when you are doing 180MPH is very difficult. Chris spends the whole journey trying to get a picture of the train coming the other way. Even with the very long Shinkansen when they are approaching each other at 360mph they pass in a matter of seconds. We hope into a cab to our hotel. We can register but can’t check in till 3:00 so we head out for…….. a coffee and end up in a little coffee / bar not far from the hotel. I have an expresso and soda which is another drink to add to the home list and we both have a little Tostada to head off the munchies. All in all very nice.
We head back to the hotel at 3:00 just to check in and shift our bags to the room before a short walk to an old Japanese townhouse where we are going for a tea ceremony. But before we can go to the tea ceremony we need to be properly dressed.
You have no idea how many layers there are in getting properly attired.
The calligraphy says “One meeting, One opportunity”
The Tea ceremony is fascinating, VERY formal and VERY traditional and first we learn how to participate and then it’s our turn to actually run it. Given that there are only three families in the whole of Japan that traditionally run Tea Ceremonies and the head Tea Master has been passed down from father to son for the last 500 years you can understand the cultural significance of the ceremony.
After the tea ceremony we try our hand at Origami and to be honest make a reasonable Crane and jumping Frog.
Strangely enough our hotel does not do an evening meal which is a bit of a dissapointment as we had hoped to grab something quick and get an early night so we are obliged to go out and find something to eat. A quick scan on Tripadvisor shows a Japanese steakhouse just round the corner from the hotel, now it rated 36 out of 13996 in Kyoto so no pressure there then. Cut to the chase this is probably the best steak I have EVER had, and believe me I have had some stunning steaks all over the world. It was cooked to perfection, rare on the inside and a crispy char on the outside, literally melted in your mouth and had the most sublime taste ever. With some simple mashed potato and selection of mushrooms it was a meal fit for a king.
This is what the front window looks like YUM YUM. They have all sorts of steaks both dry aged and Kobe beef (wagu). We had dry aged Tenderloin. Absolutely stuffed we head back to the hotel for blog time. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’re off around Kyoto with a guide. Tell you about that tomorrow.
Bit of an early start as we really don’t know how busy the railway station is going to be. Turns out its Saturday so although it is busy it’s not totally manic. Find the railway line and platform the train is leaving from and join the queue in our correct place i.e. in the red lane (colour of our train) and the door for carriage 2. The train pulls in at 9:50, people get off, cleaners get on, turn all the seats so they are facing forwards, clean the train, get off, a train load of people get on and the train leaves dead on time at 10:00. Its all a bit slick.
They journey is about an hour and 20 mins. The first 45mins are just to get to the outskirts of Tokyo and the buildings get a bit more spaced out but never totally disappear. We get off the train at Hakone-Yumoto and sprint across the platform to get on a train to Gora which is just about to leave. This is a very small train just three carriages and we soon find out why.
The train to Gora has to climb quite high as the location is very mountainous. Now you can’t have a railway line that is very steep so the train goes up a little way and pulls into a siding while a train comes down (its a single track line). The driver then goes to the other end of the train and goes up the next bit and so we zig zag up the side of a mountain till we get to Gora. Now we only have one night here (big mistake should be at least 2 or 3) so we head to our hotel drop the bags off and back to the train station which is also the terminus of the cable car as we figure its the only thing we really have time for. The first section up to the cable car terminous is on a funicular which is really crowded and hot.
Aparently the cable car is one of the longest in the world, not sure about that but we’ll let it go. We really don’t know what to expect and are just on it for the ride which is pretty spectacular.
So imagine the surprise when we crest the ridge and are confronted with a scene from Dantes Inferno and a truly horrific smell of hydrogen sulphide.
It turns out that we are in the caldera of an ancient volcano which is still pretty active and the Japanese are working hard to stop the mountain side slipping down.
The top is a bit of a tourist trap but has one major advantage. Despite the temperature being 30c there is a really nice breeze and provide you are upwind of the stink it is just wonderfull. Its the most comfortable we have been since we started. We indulge in an ice cream, people watch for a bit and then head back to actually check in at the hotel. Although this is a massive modern hotel it is based on a traditional Ryokan style. This means that everything seems to be below knee level infact the chairs have no legs 🤔
We even have our own geothermal spring hot tub on the balcony
Its a set dinner which you have to order when you check in. I’m not going to describe it just put a picture of the menu and each of the courses. All I can say is that it was amazing.
A lot of the guest dressed traditionally.
So after a sumptuous meal its back to write the blog and hit the sack for another early start to Kyoto.
A free day today to do what ever we want. Just one little problem……
Tokyo is sitting right in the middle of this tropical storm and the view from our window confirms it. It is indeed a tropical downpour of biblical proportions so the desire to go outside is non existent.
Not to worry we have a cunning plan. The hotel actually has washing machines so we will do all of our washing. Now we actually had everything washed at the last but one hotel in Korea and were astounded when the bill came to 190quid so the opportunity to get a 6kg load of washing done for four quid is a veritable bargain. Wish I had known about this before we got the stuff done in Korea.
Now the washing machines are high tech. You can check the availability and priogress of your wash from the TV in your room. it seems that there were an awful lot of people whi had exactly the same idea because they were in use all day.
After we have done our washing we head to the bottom of the tower (our hotel starts on the 18th floor and our room is on the 32nd) and to a Starbucks as it is still hammering down. After a coffee and a cake we head into what we think is a shopping arcade. Wrong
Its a massive amusement arcade!!!! Needless to say the thought of a large stuffed Pikachu is not top of our list so we head back to the hotel room and have a reorganisation and sort out ready for tomorrows train journeys to Hakone. We’ll wait and see if it clears up a bit and if it does we’ll go for a little wander otherwise its a meal and drink in the hotel and an early night
Well the weather dried up so we decided to take a little reccy to the station to figure out where we need to go tomorrow. Japanese stations are humungous with multiple lines and concourses, lots and lots of cafes and shops. Shinjuku seems to be about the size of central Market Harborough as it takes us a good 20mins to walk from the entrance we got in to the beginning of the platform for tomorrow. Any way now we know where we are going it won’t be so stressful tomorrow.
We head out looking for a place to eat. It’s very important not to end up in a massage parlour or strip club and it would seem that on a Friday every man and his dog is out for a good time. The place is a riot of coloured lights and advertisements and the noise is unbelievable.
By the way it is fully animated. I have a video but can’t remember how to load it.
We end up in a little place in a food court at the base of the hotel and had a pretty decent meal for about half the price of the equivalent in the UK. The noodles we good, the pot stickers exceptional (had to have seconds) and the sashimi was OK but to be honest we’ve had better but the whole lot including beers was less that 50quid.
So blog written, cases sort of packed and a nice early night for another adventure tomorrow.
A 9:00am start and after breakfast we meet our guide for the day, Yasuko, and head off into the massive metropolis which is Tokyo (14m people in central Tokyo 45+ in the greater area). Our first stop is the Meiji Jingu shrine which is a Shinto shrine built as a memorial to emperor Meiji. Surrounding the shrine is a forest that looks as if it has been there forever but 100,000 trees from all over Japan were planted by volunteers in 1920. It was designed to be self sustaining and today 100 year later it looks totally natural.
The main gate
The forest
There is an inner garden (Gyoen) in the Shrine which was built before the Shrine by Emperor Meiji for his Empress. It is a mix of lightly tended and untended areas which give it a very natural feel and its one of those places where you completely forget that you are in the middle of a bustling city. Just a couple of photos to give you an idea of what its like.
some very old Bonsai trees.
We head to the main shrine just as it begins to rain. The architecture and craftmanship is exquisite and this is still a working temple so there are lots of people praying.
These two trees symbolise a good marriage. You can work out the symbolism yourself.
As in most temples for a small fee you can leave a supplication that the monks will offer up. These are left on small bamboo plaques. Note how many have Manga on them. Interesting.
It’s very hot and humid so on the way out we stop for a cold drink and a chat in a tea room before heading off to Harajuku which is a trendy place for young Japanese, a bit like Carnaby Street used to be.
Now the first thing we notice is there are a number of animal cafes. Now these are not cafes for your pet but somewhere you go for a coffee and dote on a dog, or oogle and otter, or even fondle a ferret but my favourite was where you could pet a pig (I kid you not)
The fashions were very eerrrr…. Eclectic?
I think this was Chris’ favourite
I was rather taken by a red silk Hello Kitty jacket. Makes me look very masculine 🤣
To be honest the heat and the walking is beginning to takes it toll and I’m really wet so we head off to central Tokyo to a very and I mean very high class department store.
where we have a really nice lunch overlooking the old Tokyo railway station. Unusual for me no photos. After lunch we head toward Asakusa an old part of Tokyo on the way we pass lots of big brand stores including this one for the musicians out there.
To be honest Asakusa is a bit disappointing. There are a couple of interesting shops but nothing exceptional and both Chris and I are wilting badly so we cut the tour short (missing out a Buddhist temple) and head back to the hotel for a shower and cool down. We pop out around 6:00 and grab a beer in a little bar near to the hotel, pay a visit to 7 Eleven to pick up some small snacks, head back to the hotel, write the blog and thats the day done.
XX🌳🧚🌳XX