Monday 1st of December

Charles: Today our task was to get to Emi's hometown. We had to take two lines to get to Tokyo station from Akasaka which was extremely difficult because of our variety of bags and the variety of stairs and escalators.

Chrissy: I had several nasty moments when on the train, my handbag fell off my luggage and my stuff fell out, and later going up and escalator my luggage slipped down the step and I went with it. Luckily there weren't many people around to fall into, but I nearly cried and there were about 20 escalators to go.

Charles: Eventually we got to the station and Emi negotiated the ticket purchases. We were going on the Kodama shinkansen.

The trip took a few hours and we spent the time looking at the different scenery along the way. For a few minutes we had a brief view of Fuji-san before clouds covered it up. It is a very tall mountain and was quite an imposing scene.

When we reached the station, Emi's parents and sister and nephew were out to greet us. They drove us back to Emi's house where we got to have a walk around and relax in the traditional Japanese rooms. After a delicious dinner that Emi's mother prepared we got to meet her whole family and the families of her brother and sister. Finally, we had a proper Japanese bath in their hi-tech bathroom. Very relaxing. Now, we're about to go to sleep on the futons set out on tatami mats. Such a change from Tokyo!

Chrissy: I'm glad we finally got to relax a bit. Tokyo is fun but we were run off our feet! However, Emi's whole family has planned out our week for us, so we'll be getting up early every day!