Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th

On Friday we woke up a bit late and Charles bought us breakfast onigiri from the Family Mart over the road. We packed up all our stuff ready to get on the plane and left out luggage at the hotel.

First we took a subway train two stops down the line to a more suburban part of Shinjuku, to see a small gallery exhibitions of photographs. The artist writes a blog called Tokyo Camera Style which Charles really likes. The exhibition was interesting and we both really liked it.

We took one stop back on the train to the busier part of Shinjuku to see a few shops and things we hadn't quite done thoroughly enough. This included some camera shops, a Marui shop, the fabric shop in Takashimaya, and anything else that looked interesting. For lunch we stopped at a Freshness Burger which was great!

When it was about 3:30 we got our bags and booked a couple of seats on the 4:10 Narita Express. We sat on the train, tired.

At the airport we lined up at business because Charles is a ruby member of one world (thanks to all those Sweden trips!) and were told we weren't sitting together. Christina was upset and the man got us little chairs to sit on while he sorted it out. Luckily he did! We were sitting in the middle right near the back of the plane.

We had the idea to eat dinner before getting on the plane (plane leaving at 7:30) so that we had a lovely meal early and could sleep earlier on the plane. This turned out to be a good idea since they served dinner at about 10pm on the plane! Christina was especially glad she's eaten.

Neither of us slept much. At around 4am Japan time we were served a highly unusual breakfast - a deconstructed burger from Mos Burger (a japanese chain like freshness burger). It was called AirMos or something and came with instructions on how to build your burger. Super weird. Christina said "who has a burger for breakfast!?" And Charles said "You!"

And now we're home! Phew! Emi and her new husband Yu are honeymooning in Australia and are coming for afternoon tea tomorrow!

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Thursday 5/3/15

Our last full day in Japan!

We had the provided breakfast at the hotel which only had a few unidentifiable items. One Charles tasted and almost spat out! So chrissy knew not to even try it. We saw other people putting it on their rice and really enjoying it. It was like cold raw egg or something. But the rest of the breakfast was pretty normal and delicious.

After packing our stuff we walked outside prepared to take the cable car down the hill but there was a man waiting with a shuttle bus to take us to the station! So that was convenient.

We then took the train to Hakone, then another train to Odawara, and then the Shinkansen to Shinagawa, and then the Yamanote line to Shinjuku. That last train was two minutes late, and as a result was PACKED! It was the most packed train we've ever been on. When I thought the train was full, about 30 people still got on! It was a hot trip.

We couldn't check in until 2, so went out to get lunch at a bakery. We had some amazing pastries and went back to check in. Our room tonight is not as nice as last time but is higher, on the 31st floor. After a brief rest we took the Yamanote line again for 4 minutes to Harajuku (not crowded this time). We had a lovely time looking at people and shops in this bizarre place. We did a big loop and ended up back at the station at about 6pm. Back for a rest and then we went to the top floor of Takashimaya over the road for a restaurant. We were starving so chose an easy option - Korean food. You can't go wrong with a bibimbap. They were really yummy.

With food in our tummies we felt much more energetic, so walked all the way out to Don Quixote (Donki), which was about a 20 minute walk. Donki is always completely packed with all kinds of stuff and all kinds of people. It gets a bit overwhelming and crazy. We bought a couple of little things and came home! Our feet are sooooo sore!

Now we're trying to book our seats on our flight and there aren't any together. So I guess I'll cry at the airport tomorrow and get upgraded hopefully!

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Photos from Hakone

Photos from our time in Hakone - Gora

 

 

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Japan 2015! 4/3/15

After our lovely Japanese breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the station and boarded the 10:33 Hikari Shinkansen to Odawara. The trip took about 2 hours and we were both feeling a little under the weather. We have some kind of cold which is making Christina dizzy and Charles weird. At Odawara we changed to the "romance car" train which took us extremely slowly up into the mountains to Gora. We saw some blossoms! I think they were plum blossoms.

There we changed to a cable car which took us up a super steep hill to our hotel. The town of Gora is small but steep. After depositing our bags we walked back down the hill to the station to find something to eat. We also had a very cute piece of cake and coffee at a cute coffee shop. We walked back up the hill to our hotel. Charles has discovered a new exercise called "push your wife up a hill" which really gets the heart rate up! We checked in properly and booked the private bath for 6:30 and rested at our room for a while. Christina got pretty dizzy and needed to lie down, and Charles was kind of dizzy too. Maybe we both have a virus or maybe we just got too tired.

At 6:30 we went down to the private bath which we had reserved. In Japanese baths you wash yourself first so you don't dirty the bath water, which is special mineral spring water here. The bath itself was outside in a little enclosed garden. Every now and then a pipe gurgled and gave us fresh super hot water from the mountain! It was very hot water and even though it is cold outside we had to sit with just our legs in for a while! The bath was reserved for 45 minutes but we didn't stay in that long. Afterwards our heads felt a little bit clearer.

At 8:00 we had our dinner time! The dinner was made up of many tiny courses. Christina didn't eat the shellfish courses which caused a bit of confusion among the staff but we figured it out. The degustation went for almost one and a half hours! The best thing was the chicken and vegetable soup which cooked over a tiny fire at the table. The fire is a special thing they light which burns hot for a set amount of time - half an hour I guess. It's set beneath a bowl and cooked the chicken!

Now we're in the lobby using the wifi and considering whether to have another bath tonight. It wouldn't be a reserved bath but rather a men's or ladies bath in the hotel. We are kind of curious to see what they're like!

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We decided to get the hotel breakfast this morning, so got up at 7:30 and headed downstairs. Wow - it was so nice and huge! It included: a small bowl of rice, small piece of salmon, scrabbled eggs, seaweed salad, sautéed spinach and mushrooms with sesame seeds, 3 types of pickles, tofu, miso soup (also with tofu), a fresh salad with mystery crab meats on top, and tea. Yum. We ate all but the crab.

 

After a little nap (we hadn't slept well due to poor room temperature control), we headed out to the station. We took the Shinkansen to Osaka, got lost for a while, and then took the subway to Shinsaibashi. We got lost again, came out at the wrong exit, and were on our way.

 

We wanted to take a walk that we found in our lonely planet book. First we had a quick snack of onigiri (with tuna and mayonnaise filling). The first area we were exploring was "America-Mura" which has lots of clothes shops and scruffy looking youths! Many of the shops here are both gross and saad.

 

We found a Lolita shop that Christina had liked before but it was a bit disappointing. Baby the Stars Shine Bright was good for a cute cardigan as usual and we also found two new second hand Lolita shops called "Maiden Clothing" where Christina found a nice BtSSB dress for cheap! She also found the mythical "Jesus Boob Dress":

 

We've decided that we don't really like Lolita fashion any more, mainly because most of the clothes are too costumey and cheap-looking. It's still fun to look though!

 

We then walked down a huge covered arcade which was packed with people, restaurants and shops. We had lunch at McDonald's (which seemed strangely familiar) and then kept on going. After the covered arcade, we turned right into a small street which was quiet and lined with wooden buildings and lanterns. It was a very different scene from the street we had just been on.

After a few twists and turns we found a shrine with some statues which people pour water on for luck. As a result, they were 100% covered in moss! We saw a big queue of people lining up to toss the water over them.

 

We crossed the river and walked all the way back up to the station! We were VERY tired at this point, having started the day tired and walked 1000km. So we went back to Kyoto! Where it was rainy!

After a rest, we went to "our" restaurant and had an even nicer dinner than last night. Then we walked all the way up to Teramachi-dori to a cute clothes shop called Milk, where Christina bought some cute red tights. Charles enjoyed it too. Didn't you. Yes. He claims he did.

Then we just walked back home again! I don't know how we managed to walk so far. My fitbit told me I'd done 10000 steps at about lunchtime!

Tomorrow we head out to Hakone, and I'm not sure if we will have Internet.

This is "oden", served in winter in convenience stores. It's soup with stuff in it. Just sitting by the counter. I'm pretty sure they give it to you in a bag. It makes the shops smell weird.

 

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Monday in Kyoto

Today is Charles' birthday! After breakfast at the hotel we caught the Shinkansen to Kyoto - it only took 40 minutes! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and caught a bus out to Nanzen-Ji temple which is the beginning of the philosophers' walk. As we walked we saw lots of cute antique kimono shops And people out in traditional outfits. I guess they were celebrating the start of spring? We had delicious soba noodles for lunch and enjoyed the peaceful walk. On the lane to ginkaku-Ji we saw a shop selling fuurin - Japanese wind bells. We have some that we like as percussion instruments but we found particularly low pitched bell with a nice tone which we bought. Ginkaku Ji was very nice and is still Charles' favourite temple in Kyoto.

We got the bus back to our hotel - the buses are a bit different in Japan and since there are english announcements and labels in Kyoto we think we've just about worked out how to use them - on our third visit to the city. You take a ticket when you get on labelled with the stop and pay with exact change when you get off according to an electronic chart. If you don't have exact change there's a change machine that can exchange any monetary unit down by one order so you can keep using it until you have the right amount. Luckily all Japanese currency is divisible by each lower order so it is a perfect system. Phew!

We went back to the hotel for a rest and Christina found that her DS had discovered lots of new friends. Cool! Dinner was at our favourite fast food place which we rediscovered up the street. Christina got a HUGE piece of fish and extra soup which was unnecessary. We thought about just going home but Christina realised that a Lolita shop was closing in half an hour and wasn't open tomorrow so we trekked up to the Teramachi-Dori arcades to have a look. Charles reckoned the swan/hedge maze print would have gone down well at boys' Grammar but Christina wasn't convinced.

We walked up the street and found a music shop where Christina found Charles a nice birthday present and we turned around to go home. On the way back we stopped at a coffee shop for a cake and Christina surprised everybody by pulling out some "29" candles. What a lovely wife she is! On the way home we picked up a Japanese nightcap at the 7-11. A weak Ume-shu (plum - liqueur) with soda and a "Highball" which was a whiskey and soda in a can. Bath time and bed in the lovely Japanese style room!

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Sunday 28th February - a wedding!

Today we went to our friends wedding.

We met at the reception venue and went by bus to the church.

The wedding vows were in English and Japanese.

We went by bus back to the venue and had our group photo done on these big steps.

Emi walked into the reception later wearing a red dress!

Our table was foreigners and two nice girls who speak great english. We met the girl on the far left, Ayano, when we first visited Japan with Emi. The couple next to us are from Perth and the couple on the right are from Hong Kong.

There was some silliness:

Most of the food was fish.

The next time Emi entered the room she was wearing a complicated kimono! Complete with hair helmet.

They went around lighting everyone's candles and then one special one.

Emi's outer kimono was removed which revealed a red one!

Emi's heartwarming speech to her parents.

Our loot! I thought you were meant to GIVE presents at a wedding.

The wedding finished around 4, when we walked home and had a rest. Then we went out to Takashimaya and had Italian food for tea. Phew! Tired!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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