When we first mentioned the possibility of a trip to Japan, one of the first things the kids googled was Japanese theme parks. What they found convinced them we were on to a winner. We had agreed to dedicate two days of this trip to theme parks, thanks to the Sasakis they lucked in with three. Today our destination was Nagashima Spa Land - a theme park with some impressive rides…
It was back to duck weather today, our first rain in Kyoto. We wondered if a wet Monday would lessen the crowds, but there were still hoardes of people in every direction. This place is incredibly popular with the Japanese, who still well and truly outnumber foreign tourists. Sachiyo, Nao and the kids were due to arrive in Kyoto mid-morning by Shinkansen. Sachiyo had kindly offered to bring the kids to…
Today was a slower start, the kids needed a little down time. It was also a chance to give them some favourite breakfast foods as we have a kitchen here - pasta for Matt and cheese on toast for Anna. We headed off mid-morning in the pouring rain, our second duck day in a row. Apparently a tropical cyclone has headed up from the Philippines to drench us. But like good…
We were woken early by the sounds of Kyoto (crows and mopeds!) and the light in our room. Traditional Japanese shoji screens weren't designed to block the sunshine. We were surprised how well we had slept on our very firm bed. It's the first queen bed of the trip with a tatami base and a thin futon mattress. When you sit on it it feels like a board, but less so…
We have decided the Japanese weather is even more changeable than at home. The temperatures go up and down like a roller coaster and despite quite a bit of rain, we've not had more than one wet day in row. After a duck day yesterday, we were hoping for better things today for our visit to Himeji. Himeji is a small Japanese city of around half a million people between Hiroshima…
Today we finally got our lazy day. Matt and I headed down to the local supermarket to stock up on breakfast to kick start the day. It gave us the energy to laze around some more - our excuse was the rain and a need to catch up on things like washing and blogs. It was well after midday by the time we ventured out in search of some lunch. We…
We woke to a dreary cold Tokyo morning. I always feel better about leaving a place I have loved when the weather is bad, and 3 degrees with rain qualifies as bad in my books. Hotel Richmond in Mejiro had been a brilliant place to stay, with great transport links but very quiet and calm by Tokyo standards. It reminded us a bit of Richmond where we lived in London. We…