Soaked in Tokyo

Tokyo let us down on the weather front yesterday, it rained all day so we still didn't get to any parks. We did however meet some amazing locals who helped us find our hotel.

We got off the train with very detailed directions to the hotel in hand, our still rather large bags, in the pouring rain. We were doing well and knew that we were within a block of our hotel when we made a wrong turn, just as the rain got a little heavier. We were stood at a road intersection doing that lost tourist thing of peering at a map then a road sign, then turning the map round and staring some more.

A young couple came over to us and asked where we were going, we told them the name of our hotel and they looked a bit puzzled, they whipped out an iPhone got up a map and started to lead us off in what I guessed was the wrong direction. I think the woman thought it was the wrong direction as well as she kept trying to show the phone to the guy but he dashed off and started speaking to an older lady who happened to be walking past. After 5 minutes of chatting and checking of the iPhone the older lady started to lead all of us along a side road back to an intersection that we had past 20 minutes earlier, at which point I realised where we had gone wrong and realised where the hotel was. I couldn't explain this in Japanese so we waved goodbye to the old lady and carried on following the young couple. 5 minutes later we found the back door to the hotel which had a handy map showing us the way to the front entrance, after a chorus of Arigato's we parted from our guides and were soon in the dry.

We spent the rest of the day running in and out of shops and coffee shops around Ueno, Shibuya and Harajuku.

In half an hour we are back on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.

Trains, Trains and Fuji San

We have so many things that we want to do in Japan that it is hard to choose what to do next, we have also slightly moved our date for coming home which gives us less time. We wanted to go and see the monkeys lazing about in the hot springs but just couldn't find any accommodation for the dates we were after so decided our next stop would be Fuji San. Here I made a slight calculation error on how long it would take us to get north from Nagasaki. We had 11 hours of train rides and 5 train connections to make, and make them we did.

It is very early

I could go into super detail about the trains but I think anymore train talk and I will lose a lot of readers so I will leave it at it was a long way and we never waited more than 20 minutes in between trains, I am amazed by that.

Fuji San (Mount Fuji) has a reputation for being a bit shy which is why we decided to say in the area for a couple of nights to give us more than one change to catch a glimpse. As it turns out we were really lucky, on the train from Osaka to Tokyo we got a perfect blue sky and a totally uninterrupted view of this beautiful peak. Fuji is so symmetrical that it looks like it has been sculpted by an artist, the snow white peak against a blue sky is one of my favourite views from the trip. We had this view off and on for over 2 hours as we traveled from the east, south of Fuji to Tokyo on the west and then from Tokyo to our hotel north of the mountain. Unfortunately my camera was too deeply packed away to get a good shot but my camera phone was on had to help out.

Fuji from the train

After all of that excitement we went straight to bed after tea ready for an early start.

The next day we went up to Kawaguchi-ko to get a closer look at Fuji, the day started out very clear and we got some great views but by the time we were off the train Fuji decided that we had had too much luck and turned the sky grey. We could still see the mountain but it became impossible to get a good photo.

Fuji is hiding there in the middle

Aimee hiding from the wind and Fuji hiding from us

Fuji in a grey mood

We had a really fun time walking around the lake and eating oranges.

We have to count ourselves very lucky that we had two days with such great views as today it is drizzling and we can't see the next hill over let alone a glimpse of Fuji from the train. We are spending the night in Tokyo so we can try and get to the cat jazz bar that we have been aiming for then tomorrow we are off to Hiroshima.

It seems very real now that we have fixed our date home we will be back in sunny Brum before the post cards get home, lets see what else we can cram in before then. 

Nagasaki

As our JR pass that speeds us around Japan is quickly running out we decided to make our last stop on Kyushu island Nagasaki, a name I'm sure that everyone will know for all of the wrong reasons.

A goat in the city having a nap!

Nagasaki is chock full of history during Japan's period of isolation Nagasaki was one of the only areas in contact with the outside world, Nagasaki was one of the first areas of Japan to get Christian missionaries. Parts of Nagasaki are very pretty, there are hundreds of small temples, shrines and churches and dozens of small bridges that cross the numerous rivers and lots of interesting architecture. There are admittedly parts of Nagasaki that are not so easy on the eye (like the chemically factory thing behind the station) but just down the coast there are also some beautiful fishing villages.

The spectacles bridge, so named for its reflection

Nagasaki is tucked into the hills so there are lots of great views

Topiary like this appears frequently in peoples front gardens

We are still holding our for the blossom, things are starting to look good

So there is a lot more to Nagasaki than the Atomic Bomb but it is a huge part of its history so we spent our first day paying our respects at the Atomic bomb museum and Nagasaki Peace park. Having been to the museum at Hiroshima before I knew what to expect from the tales of devastation and suffering but watching and reading people tell their stories and seeing exhibits of what was left behind was still just as moving. There is a strong theme of promoting peace and nuclear disarmament at the museum and it is very hard to see how you could leave the museum and not sign the petition (we both did as the exhibits only reenforced our existing views but we still have the weapons so someone must disagree). We sat in the peace park and reflected while listening to the splashing of the fountain.

There are a number of sculptures in the peace park each with the idea of promoting peace

These origami cranes are so beautiful they make a brilliant counter to the sadness of the museum

After the peace park we spent the afternoon in Mister Donut eating sugary treats to renew our faith in mankind, how can a species that invented a strawberry flavoured Donut with strawberry cream in the middle be bad.

Fukuoka Ladies and Kagoshima Gentlemen

It is now my turn to attempt to write a blog post from aboard the Shinkansen or the bullet train and let me tell you- it is fast!! We are currently cruising along at 250mph through mountains; pine trees keep rushing past as we dart in and out of the tunnels. It feels like being part of an episode of the Jetsons. Our first stop was a town called Fukuoka (cue giggling at the funny name).  There wasn't that much ‘to do’ there, we mainly wandered around the streets, Matt enjoyed ogling the 'worlds most beautiful women' (they were very pretty) and we visited Japans biggest wooden Buddha (it was very big, and made of wood). Our hotel was located right next to a bar, shopping and restaurant complex called Canal City which was a nice place to just relax and walk along the canal. 

It was then time to jump back on the Shinkansen to our next destination Kagoshima. You can tell that Matt planned this part of the trip as when I opened the guide book on our way there the first thing written about it was the very much living volcano which causes residents to raise their umbrellas against the mountains recurrent ablutions. Sounds relaxing!

I wonder what is hiding behind that rather large boat?

That would be an actual live volcano! Not sure what Matt is up to though. 

Turns out Kagoshima is a very beautiful city, cosmopolitan with lots of shops and high rise buildings but then always as the backdrop the beautiful volcano. On our first day we did another first –a sightseeing bus. It was actually a great way to get around and we were able to get closer to the volcano (close enough for me, maybe not for Matt). We also stumbled upon an anti nuclear protest, which had a great atmosphere. We enjoyed talking to some of the people and listening to some live music.

Coffee stop!

Night time Kagoshima

Band warming up.

The next day Matt had arranged a train trip that sounded great for a lazy Sunday afternoon, for actual details about it checkout this link and here. I assumed it would be an old train that would take us up a mountain and through some beautiful scenery.

We boarded the train and even for a non-train-geek it was a pretty train, with wooden seating and floors it felt very grand. Adjacent to our seats a group of 5, shall we say, older gentlemen with glints in their eyes had already settled in and had the beer flowing. As Matt stood up to put away our luggage he was Konnichiwaed and asked his name, the men were overjoyed that we had decided to join them on the trip and proceeded to hand us a glass of beer. Not bad for Sunday morning.

Our new friends

They then continued to banter with us as the train started to leave the station, giving Matt a suspiciously official looking hat to wear, that we later discovered they had stolen from the attendant. One of the men then offered us a large sandwich, we explained that we were vegetarian but we were reassured that it was a potato and vegetable sandwich, so we gratefully accepted it (I’m sure my mom once mentioned something about not accepting food from drunken people on trains, but I digress).

Cant take him anywhere. 

The sandwich actually contained everything but potato and vegetables, but was nice all the same. The hatless attendant then presented us with two bottles of beer, courtesy of the men behind us, who were by now very, very merry and enjoying quite loudly their train trip, along with Matt! I wondered if their wives knew this is how they spent every Sunday? So our sophisticated train journey had turned into a booze cruise- insert comment about how you can take the girl out of Birmingham….

The ladies in pink are giving out free food. Just because. 

I look out the window and this is what I see...

Ringing the bell for true happiness. As you do. 

By now we were 10 minutes into our journey, I had a beer drinking Matt complete with conductors hat sitting to my left just as the men’s dinner arrived, they had ordered bento boxes and a vegetarian one for us, I could not believe their kindness and hospitality. The bento box was made of bamboo and full of unidentifiable but delicious foods that had clearly been expertly prepared and yes they did appear to be vegetarian! Half an hour into the journey we were full and onto our 3rd beer. The men had all fallen asleep, missing the beautiful scenery going past outside. It reminded me of Christmas day after the Queen’s speech. It was after all an amazing way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Parties over!

That hat was pretty nice!

Nara

Nearly up-to-date now, after modern Osaka we decided to get a bit more history in Nara. Nara was the Japanese Capital for 74 years from 710 and a large portion of the city is covered by a Unesco World Heritage site. It is also a rather pretty city that is easy to walk around with lots of nice food. Win, win, win. Oh and it is only 45 minutes from Osaka.

It is hard to miss the history in Nara, it is everywhere

There are so many parks and open spaces that we spent the afternoon just walking around, enjoying the landscaping.

It is easy to find the tourist information offices, most of them have sculptures outside.

Although it was very over cast we had a nice sun set

The blossom is still trying to come out but it is just not time yet

The other thing that is hard to miss about Nara are the Deer, thousands of them.

Aimee should have been watching this one closer

The guy in the picture below is laughing so hard because I am laughing really hard, just before this picture Aimee was getting bitten on the bum by a very persistent Deer that wanted the Deer cookies that she had just bought. And no I didn't help her because I was laughing too hard.

We made him smile anyway

We were really lucky to arrive in Nara when we did because we were able to go and experience the Omizutori ceremony. The ceremony seems to last for several days but the part we witnessed involved carry burning bundles around the balcony of one of the temples. It is very hard to explain and was equally hard to photograph but it was spectacular and the crowd had the sort of energy you normally get at live music, there was a lot of noise as people reacted to the falling embers, which are supposed to keep away evil.

Waiting

The ball of fire is on the end of a long pole waved by a monk.

We were rather hungry after all the walking so we decided to try a Kansai speciality Okonomiyaki. This is basically a massive pancake/omelette with cabbage in it and other stuff on top (the other stuff is up to you that is what the name means). This batter is then cooked on a Japanese hot plate at your table, it was delicious and incredibly filling.

Okonomiyaki - Whatever you like, fried

The perfect accompaniment was a nice hot bottle of Sake which left Aimee a little.. shall we say drowsy on the walk home!

The next day we went to see Nara's main claim to fame Tōdai-ji the worlds largest wooden building and the Nara Daibutsu (large Buddha image).

This building just feels massive

This Buddha image is big, the expression of peace on the face is very beautiful.

Neither disappointed; the building was just monumental, because it is in a large open space it is difficult to take in the scale at first but it finally hits you when you come back out again and you realise it is all wood! The Nara Daibutsu is big but it is the pose and the style of the carving that are most striking, the expression on the face is so peaceful that we found ourselves just stood there looking at it for ages.

We came out feeling very zen and spent the rest of the day walking around the parks taking pictures of Deer.

Osaka

Welcome to Osaka! Cats and Octopus balls. 

Our next destination was Osaka. We were staying in the Namba district, most notably known for its nightlife, restaurants and, it would seem from our road, amusing geeks/Matt. Every shop along the road catered for Otaku or people with a somewhat obsessive interest in anime, manga or video. There were manga shops and all sorts of collectables from transformers (original ones!) to Gundam. Lets just say Matt was a very happy boy.

The look of a boy who has been told NO!
 (now I know how my parents felt when they used to take me food shopping)

As previously mentioned Osaka is famous for its good food. Amazing Italian food is everywhere, some of the best I have ever tried but the cities main delicacy is Takoyaki - octopus balls.  You can’t walk more than a meter without walking into another giant octopus advertising his balls.

Go on, you know you want them....

On our second day in Osaka we had the worst rain since New Zealand so we decided to head over to the aquarium. On the way we discovered the worlds largest Ferris Wheel, I have always hated them, especially after my experience in California. I did not care for the worlds biggest one. Although it was big.

Worlds evilest largest ferris wheel. 

We had a great time at the aquarium, despite the numerous school trips there. The animals were all looked after well and it was great to see some manta rays, a Yu-chan whale shark and an octopus that wasn’t spherical.

School trip!

Dude!

After the aquarium the rain had subsided so we decided to head back over to Namba walk and experience their famous nightlife.

Mmmmm mini pizza. 

Couldn't work out if should put in mouth or ear...

you decide.

Marine theme?