Day one then….

Early start, probably earlier than was strictly necessary. Always better to get there early I say. “Not this f@£&sing early!”said Tracey when we were at Heathrow over 6 hours before our flight! Ah well, such is life. Killed a bit of time in Costa then a LOT more time in the Three Bells pub.

Checked in at the Asakusa Central Hotel which is all rather pleasant, quick shower and off out to womble about a bit. Found Kaminarimon and Sensoji temple in about five minutes then mooched about round the shops and eateries. Had a fantastic meal in a restaurant with beer and more Nihonshu before turning in for an earlyish night….

It's 3:30am and yet again a member of the wide awake club so here's what we got up to today.

Walking.

A lot of walking.

Got up at stupid o'clock this morning (well, I did: Tracey was still spark out) so I could go and take photos of Kaminarimon and Sensoji before the forty billion tourists arrived. 

Went to Shinjuku today and did both extremes. Takashimaya (basically Selfridges) followed by McDonalds, (basically...well, McDonalds. But with Teriyaki burgers. Which are ace).

Fantastic morning! Up nice and early to scoot down the Asakusa and Hibiya lines to Tsukiji Market. We’d arranged to meet up with my first proper Japanese teacher Miki Umetani who Tracey had never met and who I hadn’t seen since she’d returned to Japan a few years ago.

Up an at ‘em around 7:30am today as we spotted a poster yesterday that said you could go to Nihombashi and watch some Rekishi (Sumo wrestlers) training at their stable. Looked it all up on t’Internet and it seemed like a bloody good idea and not too far on the tube either (same area we’d gone to see the Miura Anjin Memorial). 

Up relatively early so we could check out of the hotel, get one of the bags checked into the Takkyubin service and get across to Tokyo Station to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. As we only had 4 days booked in Kyoto we wanted to get there as early as possible. Checkout no problem and bag booked in quickly and efficiently (helps to do the paperwork the night before as that does take a while!) And off to Tokyo Eki we went.

Up early to experience the Japanese breakfast that we’d booked the night before with Szymon as it looked really tasty and interesting. We did forego going down to eat in our yukata although several other guests did and perhaps we should have. When in Rome and all that. To be honest it’s not so much the yukata (we swan about them at home after all!) but I just can’t deal with slippers.

Today mostly involved getting up at sparrows, having another lovely breakfast in the Ryokan and then trekking to the station to catch the Shinkansen to Ōsaka for a planned day trip. First port of call was the ticket office to get our return tickets, together with a bit of prep to get the right words in place to make sure we got day return tickets. 

On today’s menu….

Starter: Kinkakuji 
First Course: Nishijin Textile Centre 
Second Course: Fushimi district including side dish of sake tasting
Dessert: Kyoto centre and Okonomiyaki again

Up once again at daft o'clock to get packed up and check out of the ryokan. One last Japanese breakfast before we went and then we (and Pochi) said goodbye and thanks to the staff, and that we’d keep in touch. Which we have. On Facebook. Isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing! I know I’ve banged on about it but can’t recommend it highly enough.

Relatively early start in Hiroshima with a bit of a trek into town for breakfast. Revisited Mister Donut for a selection of salads, tofu and health….who are we kidding, it was coffee and doughnuts.

Today involves mostly going back to Tokyo...

Checked out of the hotel fairly early in the morning, with Tracey again being “aided” by the robot assistant and me doing it the more traditional way with a human being. Perhaps I need to rephrase that. Never mind.

This morning up at a bit after sparrows (for a change: feet starting to cane a bit in my case but I have been a very brave soldier and not moaned at all, not once*) Breakfast at Tully’s coffee (obviously health food and dietary fibre) before a quick mooch to the Shinjuku park to see what was what. Families on a weekend trip out mostly so we binned it and took on the tube to Kappabashi, kitchenware town. Checked this out briefly last week but only scratched the surface!

Today was very much, as someone famously said, a game of two halves. Perhaps an advanced mathematician but more probably a ball game based TV mouthpiece. I don't know or pretend to understand such things. Anyway….

Up relatively early this morning to check out of the hotel and catch the Romancecar we’d (eventually) managed to book last night. Since it wasn’t leaving until 10:30am there wasn’t a huge amount of hurry and we’d got a decent idea where we were going after the last nights’ nonsense at Shinjuku Eki.

Tuesday morning in Hakone and breakfast carried on from where last night's meal left off.  A light knock on the door and we were escorted to our private dining room by our familiar hostess and presented with…well, again, just LOOK at it! And while you're looking at it, keep reminding yourself that that is BREAKFAST. For JUST ONE PERSON!

Right, here goes then. Last full day blog entry from Japan itself.

Up stupid stupid early in Ginza so we could walk to Tsukiji fish market and see it in full swing. It was winding down when went round it last time with Miki San and it looked really interesting but go early or go home seems to be the moral of the story. 

Wasn't going to write a blog today but sometimes circumstances conspire against you.

Up at 5am to get our taxi at 5:30am for 8:50am flight out of Haneda. Just as well really...