Last Day! 8th February

Today was our last day in Japan!! Luckily we did as much as two normal days just to wear ourselves out for the overnight flight in the evening.

I woke up early to look out the window again! I could see Mt Fuji again and also some skyscrapers in Yokohama.

After window viewing, we went downstairs... to the twentieth floor... to have breakfast. We got to sit right at the corner of the building looking over the tracks of Shinjuku station all the way south to Harajuku and Shibuya. It was so much fun watching trains that we almost forgot to eat!

After eating as much of the buffet as we could, we got all our stuff packed up and checked out, leaving our bags at the hotel. This was at about 10:15, just in time for our first appointment at Tokyu Hands which opens at 10. We took the torturous one minute walk to Tokyu Hands which was right across the tracks from our hotel. The MAIN thing I wanted to look at was Porter bags, but we also wanted to check out their toy cameras and other such things! It was fun and we spent a bunch of our remaining cash on cameras. 

Having potentially chosen a bag I wanted to buy, we moved on to our second destination, Daikanyama, which is an area near Shibuya. I wanted to go to *another* bag shop before leaving Tokyo! (thankyou for understanding, Christina...) We took the Yamanote line for free to Shibuya then changed to a private line for a short ride to Daikanyama. Lucky for us, Daikanyama is the most awesome place ever. It is super fashionable. We were there about 12, just when shops start opening, so it was a bit deserted, but the few people we saw were amazingly fashionable. Awesome. The bag shop wasn't hard to find. It's the only place where you can buy Monocle x Porter bags in Tokyo. I got to fondle all the amazing bags, but the ones I wanted were sold out :-( which is lucky because they were about $600. Wow, expensive.

Having left the bag shop we wandered around for a while oogling the cool shops. We stopped for lunch an italian style cafe named Eataly. It was delicious! I had nice coffee and nice sandwich and Christina had an amazing spherical cake and disappointing tea. Yay. I opened up my new Diana Mini camera and loaded film to take pictures!

We headed back to the station and on the way photographers were photographing a model who was modelling. Awesome.

Back at Shinjuku we quickly went back to Tokyu Hands and I bought my new bag yay. THEN we went to Marui One which was only a short walk away. I think this was the first day that Charles activities came before Lolita activities. Wow!

Chrles just got a severe tickling for that. HRRUMPH.

Marui one was fun but Christina didn't find anything good to buy that we could afford so we left. On the walk back to the station we stopped at a few places and looked around Shinjuku for the last time (for now!). 

It was easy to pick up our bags and get the station early for our 4:10 train! We spent some time on the platform watching the trains and taking fun photos. 

The Narita express was a nice trip. It was good to be on it while it was still light so that we could see the scenery. Interesting!

Checking in for our flight, we were distressed to find that we couldn't have seats together! We complained to the lady since we were very upset and luckily they upgraded us to premium economy so that we could be together! It was horrible! But it worked out ok...

The flight back was just tiring... I would have liked to sleep or relax more but they keep coming up with more activities... dinners... breakfasts.... cups of tea...  too many!

Finally we got to Sydney and got our bags through customs etc. I had assumed that you could go to some kind of desk and buy a bus ticket. This was not the case... we found the bus terminal... but there was no official people or anything...

In the end, we bought a ticket for an 8:30 Greyhound bus from their website. When it turned up, the driver didn't have our names on his sophisticated passenger tracking system... a piece of paper... eventually we got on the bus after he'd inspected the "e-ticket" on our iPhone. It was so depressing after travelling on Shinkansen for ages... Australian things suck sometimes.

Anyway, we got home quite early. Trip finished!! Until next time Japan! Mata ne?

7th February again!

So Emi had told us that we'd be dining at a good udon restaurant today for lunch, so we would have a small breakfast. She said maybe a piece of bread, and then some bacon and eggs (Japanese bacon and eggs are smaller than Australian). When we got to the breakfast table, it was ham and egg sandwiches and lots of fruits. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was big.

We packed up all our stuff, which took a while. Emi took us out to the 100 yen shop again because we wanted to buy some more lollies for presents. We got stamps at the post office on the way back to Emi's, which took ages because the lady was worrying that we were sending giant postcards.

We went out to the udon restaurant with Emi's parents and her sister's family. Udon is a kind of thick noodle which is served in a soup, like ramen. Emi ordered a small one for me, but it looked full size and I couldn't finish. It was delicious though. The noodles were about two metres long.

Before going back to Emi's, we went to a Japanese sweet shop where we went last time. Emi's parents insisted on buying us four small sweets, that we could eat in our hotel that night. I bought some other sweets too. They're expensive because they're handmade and special. On arriving back at Emi's, however, we were presented with two giant boxes of sweets for our families. Somehow we managed to fit everything in our bags. We went off to the station to catch the Kodama to Tokyo.

Our hotel was Shinjuku Hotel Century Southern Tower, which is very close to the station. In fact, it is on top of the station. So we exited the station and there was a live band busking on the street! They were really good! A real rock band! They were called Bring, and were advertising some upcoming concerts. After they finished, we clapped and the frontman came up to us to talk! We had a conversation in Japanese, and he said that he was really happy that Westerners could enjoy Japanese music. We told him that we're musicians too, and he said he was EMBARRASSED.

We walked 20 metres to our hotel along Shinjuku Terrace, and found that the lobby is on the 20th floor. The lift was glass again, and we could see Tokyo spread our before us as we rose. The view from the lobby was spectacular! Our room was on the 32nd floor. It had an even better view, and we could even see the sun setting over Fuji-san. We spent ages just looking at the view.

We dressed up to go out that night. I put on my Victorian Maiden outfit and new shoes and beret, Charles donned his new trousers and scarf and we looked like real cosmopolitan peeps. We were proud to be seen with each other. We took the Yamanote line to Harajuku to visit KiddyLand in Omotesando street. We had dinner at a Lotteria first. At KiddyLand we had a lot of fun, but didn't buy anything. Afterwards, we walked up Takeshita Dori, where all the shops were closed. We saw a few Decora girls (or boys?) around too, which were bright. We took the train back to Shinjuku and I had to go and change my shoes. It hurt.

We went back out and walked to Don Quixote, which sells everything ever, which is in the night-clubby area of Shinjuku. Despite it being 11pm, the shop was packed. It's a 24-hour shop. I got what I came for - a tiny suitcase that I can use as a lappy case/handbag. It's red. After that we had to leave because it was too crowded. We went back to our hotel and looked at Tokyo at night. It was super!

Last full day - 7th feb

- Anjo City small breakfast turned out to be huge
- Gigantic Lunch at udon restaurant
- received one billion presents
- to shinjuku
- saw an amazing band who talked to us
- rocked the party
- our hotel is amazingly amazing.
- out to omotesando kiddyland wearing rad outfits both of us
- Dinner at lotteria
- back to shinjuku to change shoes
- out to don quixote (massive shop) and bought a thing to carry things in. a thing carrier.
- to hotel to look at tokyo from above.
-will expand on dot points tomorrow. TSUKARERU.

February 6th!

Today we woke up in Anjo city (same place we went to sleep) and there was snow everywhere! So much for Emi telling us that it will never snow in Anjo! It wasn't as much as Takayama, but still! Smow!

After breakfast the three of us went to a shopping centre in Anjo called Apita. It was a small mall, but there were some lovely shops and we could happily spend time there. Charles bought some magazines, for a change! We had lunch there at a bakery/cafe as usual!

One funny thing we noticed about some shopping centres: lots of shops sell both grown-up clothes and kids' clothes, and the kids' clothes are exactly the same as the adults' clothes. A mother and daughter could wear matching sensible skirts, blouses and blazers. In Isetan in Kyoto, there was a whole floor of brands for kids - like Comme Ca Kids, Burberry for Children, etc. The same brands as the grown-ups! We find this totally weird, but when we talked to Emi about it, she said it was normal for kids to wear those kids of clothes to graduations from kindergarten.

After the mall, we went straight to Emi's brother's house to visit her niece and nephew and sister-in-law. We brought them some presents and they were happy. We had fun playing jenga together, and then we played some games on the Nintendo Wii. It was really nice and we made friends with the kids again.

Back at Emi's place we had an early tea and have been relaxing with the TV all evening. Right now we're watching a movie called "Hula Girls" which is the exact same plot as Billy Elliott, except instead of a small Irish boy doing ballet, it's a group of poverty-stricken Japanese women doing Hawaiian dancing. Same coal-mining town and intolerence and abusive fathers etc. It's really touching even though we can't understand the words.

5th of February!

We got up today and had breakfast with Emi and then went out so that Christina could get her hair cut. Chrissy wanted to go to the same hairdresser she went to last time we were in Japan. While she was getting her hair done I got to read some men's fashion magazines in detail as well as a book about cafes. I love the way Japanese people examine themselves - there are lots of magazines about local travel, and people seem to like knowing about the "interesting thing" about each town and "local specialties". The book was something like "Interesting Cafes of Aichi Prefecture" and had some nice places that we might visit if we have a chance tomorrow.

After the haircut which looks lovely, we caught a train to Nagoya and looked around for a place to have lunch. Eventually we found a nice cafe and had a lunch set each consisting of a sandwich, half-croissant, extra piece of bread, small salad and drink. It was delicious. I had found a map of Nagoya and looked for interesting places to go / art galleries. We decided to go to a shopping area and work our way towards "Nagoya City Art Gallery".

It was a short train ride to this area and we were immediately presented with "Nagoya TV Tower" outside the station. Nagoya tower is a smaller version of Tokyo Tower which is smaller than the Eiffel tower. So it's a bit weird, but pretty in it's own weird way.

We wandered around the area for a while and worked our way towards the art gallery. Around this time, we started to notice that it was extremely cold and we couldn't wait to find a place to go inside.

Finally, we reached the art gallery, but, as usual, they were in between exhibitions and we only got to see their permanent gallery. The permanent gallery was a bit small, but had a few nice pieces. I was more interested in their guides to other galleries in the foyer where I found out that there are a lot of very interesting contemporary art shows in Aichi prefecture all starting.... next week. :-(

After the gallery we went back outside to look at some shops including one that sells ONLY Porter bags yay. I want another Porter bag to go with my wallet!

We saw a few interesting things, but as it got darker it was too cold to stay out so we took the train back to Anjo city and arrived back at Emi's house.

In the evening we chatted with the family and played with Riku, Emi's nephew, who likes us now. Dinner was prepared by Emi and her grandmother and was delicious.

4/2 - Thursday

We woke up in our lovely comfy tatami room in Takayama and I opened the window and looked out on the snowy road. Yay!

I have another story: When we decided to come to Takayama for one night I wanted to stay at "Spa Hotel Alpina". The last time we were in Takayama I wasn't very happy with our hotel and to rub it in they had ads for "Spa Hotel Alpina" in our room. Unfortunately SHA was booked out and we got a room in a fun hostel instead. HOWEVER, to rub things in, SHA was right next to the J-Hoppers Hostel. Everytime I opened a window, I saw Spa Hotel Alpina. I'll get you Spa Hotel Alpina! If it's the last thing I dooooooo!!!!!

We woke up and had mandarins for breakfast since it was all we had with us. After packing up and checking out we walked around Takayama, looking at the morning market and having a delicious second breakfast at a little cafe. We didn't do anything in particular, but we had a nice morning wandering around looking at the snowy town.

At 11:30 we got on our train back to Nagoya. Both of us were sleepy and relaxed on the train, watching the mountains above and rocky river below.

At 14:40 we arrived at MikawaAnjo station and Emi was waiting for us at the gates with her sister in the car. For the rest of the afternoon we hung around the house talking with everybody and playing with Emi's little nephew. We all went for a walk together, and Emi and us two ended up at the enormous 100 yen shop down the road.  We had a nice time there as it's the BEST 100 yen shop in all of Japan.  We assisted with dinner and learned from Emi's grandmother how to make chicken/egg rice which is one of our favourite Japanese foods. We're both very tired from all of our activities and appreciated the quiet afternoon.

February 3rd - Setsubun in Takayama!

Today we got up reasonably early, checked out and took the train to Takayama at about 10:56. The train was booked out so we had to use the non-reserved car, where we easily found seats. It became pretty crowded after a while, it seems everyone was going to Takayama. I slept for about an hour while Charles ate some strange sandwiches with tasty mystery foodstuffs. When I woke up, the scenery was starting to be really beautiful. The train goes along a river up into the mountains, and the water is an amazing colour green. The higher we went, the snowier it became outside, until the whole landscape was covered in snow. It was super lovely!! We took a bajillion photos.

At Takayama, where it was much colder than inside the train, it was actually snowing! There were snowflakes that stayed on my nose and eyelashes! It was a very short fun walk to our hotel, where we hung around and had a cup of tea. We were both feeling a bit sniffly, probably because of the weather.

We head out to look at a nearby shrine, because today was Setsubun. Setsubun is the festival where people usher out devils (Oni) and welcome in good luck. There were a bunch of men all dressed up as devils and gods at the shrine, freaking out babies. It must be good luck to hand your screaming baby to a devil for a photo. It was like photos with Santa! One Oni saw us and posed with me because I was a foreigner.

We followed the group down the street. The Oni went into every shop, and was "chased" (followed) out by the gods, who handed out dried beans. They were chanting the whole way "Devils outside! Luck inside!". I thought people were supposed to throw the beans at the devil, but we only saw some kids throwing them at each other.

We popped into a coffee shop/glassware shop where we had a delicious cake and coffee set each. It was right next to the river, and we could see the bridge and ducks. We saw the Oni go by on the bridge.

We walked along the bridge and came to the "old private houses" of Takayama. These wooden houses are shops that sell all manner of touristy stuff, as well as sake and food. When we wound our way back to our hotel, we ran into the Oni again and he shook my hand because he recognised me. They're a riot!

After a little rest, we headed out to a restaurant where Charles' parents went while they were here, and where we went last time too. I had sukiyaki, and Charles had something like sukiyaki, but with miso paste. It was all very delicious. The waitress told us that her son was in the Setsubun procession today as a god. Then who should show up but the Oni and his party of gods, scattering beans everywhere. He spotted us and said something like "YOU AGAIN!!!" but in Japanese. The waitress' son was with the party and she caught him and told the restaurant "THIS IS MY SON!!" and we all waved at him. She was really proud. It was the best. They made a big mess with beans everywhere.

Back at the hotel we watched T.V. for a while in the common room. Nobody came to join us but there were a bunch of annoying "travelling type" people in the kitchen talking about eating live fish and stuff. Gross.

Our room here is quite nice and we have really nice futon to sleep on, but we don't have our own bathroom or even our own hot water machine. Also we have to walk up stairs to the fourth floor which is REALLY HARD. Charles had to carry both bags (one by one).

In conclusion, snow is pretty.

February 2nd - Kyoto!

Today started out cold and cloudy but not rainy, so we caught the subway to Nanzen-ji temple to look around and follow the Philosopher's Walk between Eikan-do and Ginkaku-ji temples. FIRST, we visited the Turtle and Crane garden as recommended by Charles' parents. It was lovely! Some of the garden's we've visited have been a bit sad because it's the middle of winter, but this garden was full of evergreen plants and moss and was beautiful. We wandered through the grounds and spent a long time contemplating the rock garden.

Our next stop was Nanzen-ji temple which has a huge wooden gate. The grounds of Nanzen-ji are fun to look around and we explored and took photos and sound recorded etc. We followed the aqueduct as far as we could in both directions. One way led to a tunnel and we had to stop, the other way went around the mountain on a perilous path to a big, cool, strange, pumping station. Awesome. Very "Wonder Japan".



We wandered along the path of philosophy looking at cats and shops, but it was quiet and cold so we didn't stop anywhere for too long. Before Ginkaku-ji temple we stopped at a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The menu seemed to be in hiragana so we turned down extra help, but it turned out to be mostly in kanji. We ended up ordering the first two items. "Nishisoba" and "Tororosoba". We knew that "soba" means soba buckwheat noodles, but we weren't sure what Nishi and Tororo were. Nishi turned out to be the black dried strong fish that we had tried a few days before and Tororo was a kind of broth with semi-raw egg on top. Both were O.K, maybe a combination of difficult food and a sort of lame restaurant. Our menu reading skills are improving a lot over this trip. We can read kanji for lots of meats and can read words for noodles etc. We can also identify the kanji for "teishoku" which means "set meal". That's a good one to know.

After the restaurant we walked up to Ginkaku-ji temple for the second ever time. We had a nice walk around and it started to rain so we didn't linger. It was nice, but after the amazing Crane and Turtle garden we weren't as impressed. We did get a nice rainy view of Kyoto though!

After temple exploring we caught a bus into town to do some more city exploring. We got off the bus near the bridge over the "duck river" Kamokawa and walked across looking at the nice view. School was just out and we got to observe some classic Japanese teenager nonsense involving two girls, a bicycle, two policeman and a convenience store. It was all very interesting. Apparently the girls gave Charles a threatening/horrified look in the convenience store.

We walked from the bridge to the centre of fashionable Sanjo-dori and wandered around little shops and had coffee. It got very cold and started to rain a little bit so we took refuge in one of Kyoto's museums and looked at a free exhibition of japanese classical style artworks (kimonos, vases, dolls, prints etc). The lady gave us an inpenetrable pamphlet so we gave it back.

After the museum we zig-zagged through the streets finding interesting new places. We found a Uniqlo and Christina bought Charles some pants. They have three sorts of pockets on the front on each side, a regular jeans-style pocket, a zip pocket AND a button flap pocket. Flexibility plus!

We also went to a Loft so that Christina could look at BB cream (makeup) for ages. She *finally* found the one she wanted and bought a proper sized packet. Charles got to look at more Porter bags.

By this time we had gotten *ridiculously* tired from all of our exploring, so we walked back to our restaurant near home and had a nice teishoku each and then went back to the hotel. After relaxing for a bit we went out to the sento to warm up. We've mostly got the hang of public baths in Japan now. Christina says that the women all giggle and chat in bath. Charles says that groups of men sit down seriously with their elbows on their knees and growl things to each other.

Now we're all warmed up we're going to sleep in preparation for our trip to Takayama tomorrow. Yay!

Monday 1st February!

Today is rainy and cold. We ignored that fact and went to the Inari shrine, which has a really long walk through a tunnel of Toris. We took an umbrella from our hotel, and bought a small one at the 7-11. We had to take the JR Nara line from Kyoto station.

Everyone got off at our station, and there was this huge hoarde of people with umbrellas going to the same shrine as us. It was bedlam! A sea of umbrellas! We kept getting caught on other people's umbrellas because apparently the Japanese don't look where they're going.

We stood around and watched people for a while. Everyone was ringing the bells at the shrines and clapping, so Charles made a recording while Christina stood in the rain and was pointed at by two little girls. She made a face at them.

Next we did the tori walk up the hill. It was dotted with lots of smaller shrines and wound through rainforest. Some way up the hill was a lake with duckies swimming around. We got really cold and wet so we came back down again. We bought what we thought was nice hot dango (a delicious sweet) which was actually konnyaku balls (rubbery salty stuff). Weird.

We took the train back to Kyoto station and got a coffee and croissant. It was only about 2pm and we had planned to do the Philosopher's Walk, but it was just horrible outside. So instead we went to Isetan, the Kyoto station department store, just to browse. It was very posh, but Charles bought some pens.

We walked back to our hotel, buying some lunch food at the 7-11 on the way. We stayed in the foyer, eating and watching a T.V. show. Christina's shoes were completely soaked through, despite all the waterproofing she did before she left. We hung out all our wet things.

We booked our hotel in Takayama for Wednesday night - we'll be staying at a J-Hoppers hostel. Yay! We called them up and the receptionist said it's snowing right now! Yay!

We went to the sento (public bath house) around the corner. This time there were no embarrassing events, but Christina did go in a weird bath where she got electric shocks. She did not stay in long. If only we could read!!

Now we're considering dinner but aren't very hungry or motivated to go and get something. It's still really awful outside.