My “bonus” day. I wanted to make the most of the extra time, so after breakfast and some work I caught the shuttle bus in to Narita. I had a walk around, including a stop at the 7-ll for a cold drink, and then to the local temple. I stopped and saw “unigi” (eel) being prepared (a place Kaoru and I had eaten at several years ago when we were here) on the way. The temple was having some work done – it was the 1080th anniversary so they were putting a totem pole-type-thing up in the middle of the courtyard outside the main temple. I walked around and had a good look at the temple, taking my time.

I walked around the town a bit more and made my way back to the station, to catch a shuttle back to the hotel. I did some work back in my room and then went to lunch. Another buffet of food, but it’s not as enjoyable without Kaoru around. I feel like an unknowledgable tourist rather than a local. So this is what it’s like for normal people. I got the soft boiled egg and the sauce to go with it, but didn’t know how to crack the egg and mix it – little things like that which I take for granted usually when I’m here.

After a quick shower I finished packing my bags and left the room about 2.00. I checked out and decided not to catch the 2.20 bus, but rather the 3.05. I would rather wait in the hotel lounge (comfortable chairs) than the airport (sitting on the floor). So I passed the time, and got to the airport about 3.15 to join the check-in line. It opened at 3.45. My flight still wasn’t showing up on the Qantas app, but it was showing a points deduction for an upgrade, which was interesting. Hopefully a good sign. Sure enough, yep, I was upgraded to business!

Customs and immigration was smooth and quick (even with all the duty free receipts they had to take out of my passport), and after a quick walk through the airport I went in to the lounge to get some work done. We boarded about 10 minutes late, but we were looking good for me to get home in comfort, and earlier than normal (so hopefully less traffic for the drive home).

Once I arrived at Melbourne, things were pretty quick and smooth.  Although I had to wait 15 minutes before bags started to come.  Immigration was easy as Kaoru had written down everything that was in my suitcase so I just handed them the piece of paper.  They looked at it and waved me through.

(My) last day. It’s always sad when I have to work out what to do on my last day of holiday. After breakfast I put the last few things in my suitcase and closed it, and got some work done. We left about 9.45 with 2 suitcases and my backpack, and went to Futago Tamagawa station.

We started by going to the lounge that Mio is a member of, and asked if we could leave my bags with them for a few hours. They said no, but that there was somewhere on the 3rd floor that we could. We stayed in the lounge and had a tea and considered lunch. The place we had in mind, Mio thought would be busy, so she ducked out and got a ticket for us. They open at 11, but tickets become available from 10ish, and if you’re not there when your ticket is called you miss out. We got number 15, so that was good – we would be having an early lunch.

After we finished tea, we made our way with bags to the information desk on the 3rd floor to check them in. Then I said goodbye to Mio, as I may not be seeing her again. She had to go to Arisa’s school for something. It’s always sad leaving her because she’s so hospitable. Then it was off to the post office – Mum had given me something from a friend of hers to post internally, rather than having to send it from Australia.

We rushed to the restaurant as it was a few minutes to 11 and we didn’t want to lose our place in line. So we headed up to the 6th floor, but we were in the wrong tower! We were now in a rush, and had to go down, change towers, and go back up. We got to the restaurant just as they were calling number 1. So we were all good. What was strange, is that they called people very slowly – it was a couple of minutes between each. I’m presuming so as not to overload the chefs. Eventually we were called and taken to the counter (there were a couple of numbers called where the person wasn’t there and missed out).

We didn’t know what to eat, but there was a “current special” so we went with one of those, and then ordered a few extra things that we like. It was probably 30 minutes before we started eating, so we were now at a normal lunch time. As we got a seat at the counter the chef said he will just give us food as it’s ready, rather than on a big tray (like they do to the tables). We ate and ate, and then ordered some more. We were the last people to leave from our “set” – they had already started sitting people for the next set! We were really stuffed by the end of it. But it was our only really big sushi meal for the trip so had to make the most of it!

After lunch we walked aimlessly for a while; well there was a bit of an aim – I wanted an iced macha latte. We eventually found one in the food court downstairs. They didn’t have seats but there were seats nearby so we sat there. Next to them was a “display” of some muffin-type things filled with white cream and macha cream, so I thought I’d better buy one of them. It was OK, but looked better than it tasted. We then got up to have a toilet break when Mio arrived.

We did some shopping with her – I saw a wagyu beef scotched egg croquet, which just sounded too good to be true. I couldn’t eat anything but thought it would be good for on the way to the airport. We then went to the 6th floor food exhibition and walked around there for a while. We ended up tasting a plate or two, and then it was time to go. We went to the 3rd floor to get the bags and then to the bus terminal. I bought some beer for the bus trip, said goodbye to Mio (again) and then Kaoru, and boarded the bus for Narita.

On the way I looked at the Qantas app on the phone and it said something about flight delayed. But the time was 1845 (supposed to be 2005) so I didn’t take much notice of it. Once at the airport, the fun began. Kaoru had found out that yes, the flight was delayed until tomorrow. I stood in line waiting for check-in to open and a few of us started talking, trying to put some puzzle pieces together. But we were left with no information until check-in actually opened. So sure enough the plane hadn’t left Melbourne, and we weren’t flying out. So I was given hotel details and hopped on the bus. Kaoru and I talked about me staying longer and going to Tokyo (might increase the chances of a business class upgrade) but I stuck with the simple option. And it wasn’t worth Kaoru coming out to join me for the night as she was supposed to go back to Nasu.

When I checked in I was given 3 food vouchers – dinner, breakfast and lunch. I also had late check-out (2pm) so less time to have to kill at the airport tomorrow. So I went for dinner but was still full from lunch so couldn’t eat much and was feeling bloated. I bought a drink from the vending machine on my floor and then decided that I should check out the night life in Narita. So I got on the next shuttle bus for town.

It was < 15 minutes to town. I messaged Rod Andrewartha (old skydiving pilot, who flys to Narita regularly in the 747’s) and asked for recommendations of where to go. We had a few messages back and forth during the night, and I ended up going to 3 different bars. All were full of English speaking people – air crew put up overnight. So wasn’t very exciting. I caught the bus back to the hotel, had a bath and went to bed.

Our last full day in Tokyo. I woke about 7.30 so had a great sleep and was feeling fine. Mio and Youichi were worried about me as they hadn’t seen me look that bad before – they had already told Kaoru that the ambulance station is only a couple of minutes away! I had breakfast and we left to start our day about 9.00 with a walk to the station.

We started with our customary trip to Harajuku to visit and pray at Meiji Jingu. Then a walk around Harajuku to Togu shrine, and then completed our walk through Takeshita street, via Daiso for some supplies. The Daiso on Takeshita street has had renovations and now has a Bic Camera in it! So we looked around there too.

We had finished this part of our day, and got to Ebisu around 11.40 – a bit early for our 12.15 meeting, but I called Gary and he managed to get there a bit early. He and Rikuko wanted to take us to a soba restaurant that they say is the best soba in Tokyo. I don’t really notice the difference to be honest – and we had to wait in line for 15 minutes to get in which gives it a cross to me 🙂 But it was good spending time with them and we had a great time together.

We said goodbye after lunch and walked around Ebisu shopping center for a while as Kaoru said it’s nice. Then it was off to Shinjuku for some more shopping. We went to a Daiso there (as the one in Harajuku didn’t have something we needed). Then it was off to the bookshop. Kaoru had reserved a number of books the other day when she went in by herself, but needed my passport to buy them tax free. So now my bag was heavy, so we went back home.

We walked to Mio’s from the station and were back about 5.30; so had a quick beer and then the 5 of us went out to dinner (this was the first dinner we had shared with Arisa as she had been at Juku every other night). We went to “New Texas” which was a steak restaurant. We had been there before but it was a great meal. And then it was back to Mio’s for finishing packing, and then some drinking, bath and bed.

I was up about 7 this morning. We had breakfast, mucked around and left about 9. We had to walk around the corner to the bus stop. About 10 minutes later the bus arrived. We got off after about 25 minutes and then had a 5 minute walk to Minami’s school. We arrived just as she was getting ready for her first performance, so timed it well!

It took us a while to find Kenichi and Kozue (and Kenichi’s parents) but we finally found them. They had a great spot as Kenichi had arrived at 5.30 in the morning to reserve it! They had a couple of rugs out, and some small seats, and plenty of food and drink. So we said hello and sat down. Within minutes Minami came out for her first performance which was a dance. As she takes lessons she was one of the better ones, so up the front. And on the end, meaning she was right in front of us.

After the dance they all ran off the stage / arena, and the next sport started (running). The whole sports day was most enjoyable to watch. The organisation of the groups – all different year levels – showed the effort the teachers had put in to it. And the kids did it with complete commitment.

Minami came over to join us at lunch time – Kozue had prepared sandwiches, fried pork, edamame, etc. After lunch she went back to get ready for the afternoon events she was competing in. I had to go to the toilet, which was an experience in itself. As I first walked in to the building there were tarps all over the floor. Usually the kids have to take their shoes off as they walk in, and wear different shoes inside. Amazing to have it going right from elementary school! In Australia the shoes would be stolen by some bully! However at the actual toilet there were no tarps down, so I still had to take my shoes off there and put on “toilet slippers”. Washing my hands was a struggle because the sink was so low!

Lunch was followed by a marching band – the whole band (including conductor) were probably grade 4. In typical Japanese form everybody did their job. The next event Minami was in was a weird “3 person” race. There were two teams of about 30 people each, in groups of 3. So 3 people had to run a short distance, pick up a pole (one on each end and one in the middle), run to a witches hat, turn around (so one kid being the anchor and the one on the other end having the furthest to run), then run back and put the pole down on its support. Once they had then ran back to the group, the next group of 3 went. This was quite amuzing to watch.

The next challenge was the parents and teachers “tug of war” event. So out Kenichi and I went to represent the family. There were a lot of people really committed to the event – they had brought gloves along! I had thought about it at one point but didn’t actually do anything about it – wish I had! There was one “war”, and then we all swapped sides and had another. We lost the first and won the second. But no decider.

Minami competed in a running race. She wanted to come first but made second (out of 5 in her heat). There were several other events during they day, including racing walking a giant ball around a course, grade 1’s shooting baskets, and even human pyramid’s. Apparently this was disappointing to Kaoru because they only built 3 levels, whereas when she was in school they would build much higher. Watching the synchronised building was fantastic though!

After the closing ceremoney we went back to Kozue and Kenichi’s and had a couple of beers and a chat. Kenichi’s parents were apparently nervous to meet us but had said afterwards that they enjoyed it and just wished they could speak English so we could communicate better. They used to live in Himeji so being able to talk about the beauty of that from our visit was great. We then went to dinner which was at a Nepalese restaurant, where we met up with Mio and Youichi as well. The food was spicy and Kaoru asked them about nuts. Apparently almost everything would have some form of nuts in it. So a vegetable curry came out to me. I had a couple of mouthfuls with some naan bread, and then started feeling ill. So either there were nuts in it, or there’s something else I’m allergic to that is in Nepalese food. This had happened to me a few years ago at a Sri Lankan restaurant, where the owner swore there were no nuts, so I guess it’s possible. So I struggled to maintain composure for a while until we had finished our meal, said goodbye, got in the car with Mio and Youichi and then just zoned out. We got back to the house and Mio served me some apple which was great as I needed some food and sugar (but couldn’t eat much). I was very tired from my body fighting it so I went to bed about 7.30.

Kaoru wanted to do some shopping so left early (about 8.00).  I got up, and Mio cooked breakfast for me.  The cleaner arrived at 9, and we left the house about 9.40 for the shopping centre.  Mio had some shopping to do, so I said let’s meet back in an hour, so I could walk around at my own pace and she could get things done.

I had a leisurely walk around the shopping centre, and bought myself a soft serve to keep me going.  We met again at 11.15 at the bookshop / cafe, and walked to another section which had an exhibition – I think invitation only.  They had some wines / champagnes on display and tasting, so I sampled the $250 bottle of champagne while the guy explained it to Mio (she was driving so couldn’t taste any).  We then went to the sake’s, and this guy spoke English so I had to listen to him while tasting.  I went through 4 there, and passed on the 5th.

Kaoru managed to find us just as we were leaving.  She hadn’t ended up buying anything as she didn’t have her visa with her to show that she doesn’t live in Japan.  We went for lunch, but the line at the first place we had in mind was too long, so we ended up at an eel restaurant.  It wasn’t air conditioned though, and was hotter than outside the restaurant so very uncomfortable.  We ate and left as soon as we had finished, and went outside for some fresh air.

Kaoru and I left Mio for a bit, as Kaoru wanted to look at some things in Uniqlo.  Then we met again at the massage place, where I had my first reflexology.  Mio and Kaoru left me for an hour to do some things while I relaxed and had a fantastic treatment.  The therapist spoke some English so we were able to converse – I found out she had been to Melbourne and Sydney when she was 19.  My thought was that she wouldn’t be more than 21 now – but she said “long time ago”.  You never know with Japanese people!

After the session she said she would talk to my wife as she didn’t know the translations for what she needed to explain “about my body”.  Kaoru and Mio arrived about 5 minutes later, and she came out and said that my “liver had pain” :).  Side effect of last night, perhaps? 🙂  We then went upstairs to another bookshop, where Arisa was reading a book.  We split up and I walked around this shop for a bit to see the various sections.  Kaoru showed me a WordPress book she wanted to buy, but we were going to get it another day when it was tax free (different store).  Mio, Kaoru and I then went to a coffee shop – I had an iced chocolate, Kaoru had an iced tea, and Mio had an iced coffee.  We also shared an apple pie.  It was bloody expensive!  Oh well.  Mio left us to take Arisa to Juku, and came back 15 minutes later.

We found an ATM as Kaoru was running low on money, and then went back home.  The cleaner was still there finishing off a few things.  We sorted out our suitcases, and worked out how we were going fitting everything in.  It was hot so I needed the air conditioner on to keep going.  We then went downstairs and I caught up on my blog, and then the 3 of us ate dinner.  I had a bath and when I came back downstairs Youichi was home from work and eating his dinner. We had a couple of drinks but i was quite tired so we went to bed.

Again, the sun woke be up – but this time it was 4.00!  So I went back to sleep.  We had breakfast at 8 (similar to yesterday’s), and a nice relaxing morning.  It was a beautiful day – sun was shining and definitely shorts and T shirt weather!  After some cleaning up, we left the house at 11ish and went for lunch. We ate at a Chinesey restaurant. Kaoru wanted ramen so we ended up at this place.  I had an assortment of gyoza and Xiao Long Bao, which was delicious!  We managed to pay for this meal with Okaasan and Ottosan.

After lunch we walked to the station – because of the roadworks near the station it would be difficult to drive through, and it was < 5 minutes away.  So we said goodbye and made our way.  We had about 10 minutes to wait, which gave us time to buy a beer and some chocolate, and then caught the train to Nasushiobora.  There we had about 6 minutes before the Shinkansen left, to change platforms.  We were still walking to the “non reserved seats” section as the train pulled in.  We had to go all the way up to car 2 in order to find 2 seats next to each other, but eventually we were seated and on the way.  I worked the whole way to Tokyo unfortunately so didn’t get to enjoy the trip.  Kaoru managed a bit of sleep.

We went to Daimaru, which was quite a mission.  We had to go to the 13th floor to get a 5% off coupon (for travellers).  Then back down to the 1st floor to buy some sweets as gifts for people.  The 5% doesn’t work on food though.  Once we had bought it all, we had to go back to the 13th floor to get the GST refund.  So a bit of stuffing around, but all worked out in the end and killed some time.

We then went to a cafe and had an iced macha while I tried to finish the work I had been doing on the train.  We realised we didn’t have time to go back to Mio’s before meeting up with Mikiko and Yoshi for dinner.  So we went to Shibuya to get some of our shopping out of the way.  Kaoru wanted to buy some cosmetics, and then we went to Don Quiote where I decided to buy a USB Type C => Ethernet adapter for my laptop, and a USB hub.  I also got Darren a micro SD card.

We met up with Mikiko and Yoshi just after 6, and had a fantastic dinner with them (and beer, and sake……).  They had moved to Japan in August.  So we had a great catch up with them.  We were told last drinks, so it must have been a sitting that we were there for.  So we paid the bill and said goodbye.  We decided we could have a few drinks in Shibuya and then pick Arisa up from Juku on our way home and give Mio and Yoichi a night where they don’t have to go out later.  So we called Mio, but Arisa was already at home and in bed!  So instead we caught the train back to Sakura Shinmachie, and met them at the Italian restaurant for a couple of drinks and some food.  We then went back to their house and had several whisky’s, and Youichi showed us a number of the watches in his collection.  There were some amazing watches in there, and hearing the prices he paid just blew my mind.  We went to bed way too late.

I woke up as it got bright but when I looked at the time it was only 5.00!  This was worse than Brisbane in summer time!  I managed to fall back asleep and got up a bit before 8.  Everybody else was up so we had breakfast which consisted of pizza toast, left over chicken and sashimi, rice, etc, etc.  We packed up and left at 9.00.  Last thing I did before leaving (with advice) was changed in to jeans and brought my jumper.  I didn’t think I’d need them but I’m glad I brought them!

The car needed petrol so I had my first experience at a service station.  And was it service!  We didn’t need to leave the car, as it was filled and ALL windows cleaned with a rag while we waited!  We then drove to a friends field, which is a bit further away than Okaasan and Ottosan’s.  This was somebody Okaasan went to school with and by coincidence lives in Nasu too now.  She had tomatoes in the field, and they don’t like the rain so we were to put a cover up over them.  Various parts were laying on the ground at the end of the field.  It didn’t take us long to put up and cover with the sheet – certainly easier given my height.  I don’t know how they will go taking it down!  It was enjoyable, but a bit chilly on that side of the mountain so I had my T shirt, long sleeve T, and jumper on, and was comfortable.

Our next destination was the Sapporo Brewery.  Another friend of their’s had some art showing in an exhibition there so we went to see her and her work.  It was the first time we had been to that brewery.  We saw a group of people brewing their own beer, so that’s on our list for a future trip!  They also had a tasting board – 5 beers for 700 yen so I gave that a go.

It was approaching lunch time – Okaasan had a Raman place in mind but when we got there it was closed (Wednesday’s).  So we went to the place we have been before (where we caught the fish when the kids were up here).  The owner had just gotten back from a visit to Cairns, where his granddaughter is studying.  We had soba instead of raman.  On the way out, one of the staff asked Kaoru what words / phrase to use in English for “dipping the soba noodles in the broth”.

We went back to the house for a siesta which was nice and relaxing.  I then got a bit of work done, and had a beer (or two) while watching the sumo, before dinner.  Tonights dinner was a bit more western style – Hamburg Steak with salad, Karage and vegies.  After dinner we watched some TV, had a bath and called it a night.

We woke up naturally this morning, with my phone turned off so no annoying facebook crap.  After a shower we went to breakfast.  We wanted to go to the food court area across from the hotel, but it was closed!  We couldn’t believe it, as it was nearly 8.30.  So we ended up at a Pronto bar in the train station.

After breakfast we went back to our room to re-pack everything, and checked out of the hotel.  We walked around the train station, and caught a 10.02 train back to Tokyo.  I spent the trip on the laptop, tidying emails, and working on a number of things.  We got to Tokyo about 1.30, and made our way to the north bound Shinkansen section.  We didn’t have reserved seats for this leg of the trip – even though it would be free for me (with my JR Pass), it would cost an extra $10 for Kaoru, and because we were getting on at Tokyo (start of the line) with time to spare, we thought we’d take the gamble.  We bought some food while we were waiting, but were at the front of the line so the gamble paid off – we got a seat.

More work (and blogging) and we eventually arrived at Nasushiobara.  We then changed for Kuroiso (one stop) where Okaasan and Ottosan picked us up.  We started by going to the field to pick some vegies.  It had really taken off with the weather!  We then went to visit the owner of the field to drop some vegies off, and pick some up from them, and then we finally arrived at the house.  We sat outside and had a drink and snack until the bugs got to be too annoying – they were bitey ones, but not serious bites.

We went inside for dinner, which was sashimi and chicken, served with sake (with Okaasan) and beer (with Ottosan).  We ate for an hour or so – it was sooo delicious!  Dessert was strawberries with milk and sugar (but no strawberry spoon :().  After dinner we skyped Mum and Dad to say hello, watched TV for a while, had a bath and called it a day.

We got to wake up at our own pace this morning.  Unfortunately that got interrupted by my phone beeping.  It doesn’t check for email overnight but seems Facebook isn’t as good at controlling times to let you sleep.

After a shower we went to a cafe and I had french toast and orange juice for breakfast.  We went back to the room and tidied up a bit, and left to start the day about 10.00.  We started by going to the bus ticket office and bought a return ticket to Mt Shosha by bus, but also includes return on the ropeway.  It was about a 20 minute bus ride and a 5 minute ropeway ride to the top.  We had a good walk around and admired the numerous sites.  This included a Buddah that is supposed to heal you if you pray correctly.  We also had Udon noodles for lunch, along with an ice cream waffle sandwich.

Walking further around we saw all of the buildings.  There was an area that has been used in many films, including The Last Samurai.  It was a beautiful area, although very hilly and steep.  Eventually we made our way back to the ropeway where a car was waiting for us (left about 30 seconds after we got on!).  We had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus but eventually we were back in Himeji.

Our next destination was a Sake brewery Kaoru had found.  The little map Kaoru had picked up at the Information Centre indicated it was quite close, but the level of detail was pretty poor.  We found a city map and couldn’t map one to the other!  Some locals saw us looking at the map and asked if they could help (again, really friendly people).  We said (in English) that we wanted to go to the Sake Brewery and they didn’t know where it was.  They spent a while looking at the map and scratching their heads, until I eventually said Daijobu (don’t worry about it) and took the map off them and we made our way.  I punched “Sake Brewery” into Google Maps and it came straight up, so we were fine.

It took us about 20 minutes to get there, but it was nice seeing the other side of town.  Eventually we found the brewery, which had a London double-decker bus out the front (no idea why).  We walked around the brewery but were only allowed in 2 of the old (retired) buildings, and weren’t allowed in the working brewery.  We then went to the gift shop to do some tastings.  I didn’t find any that I really liked but it was interesting comparing the differences between them – especially as they had processed and un-processed sake’s there.  They also had a liquor sake (37%) which was sweet, but again, not quite my thing.  At the end we tasted some “amazake” which is the fermented koji with rice, so it was thick (and lumpy with bits of rice) but quite sweet (and non-alcoholic).  Kaoru bought a few “care packages” of food to take to the family and we left, but not without stopping at an ice cream shop that was in the brewery, which poured mirin on the ice cream.  We were able to taste some mirin from the bottle (using a spoon, of course!) which was nice and sweet, but you couldn’t taste it on the ice cream.

We walked back to town, and went to Uniqlo for some shopping.  We then went to the Lawsons outside the hotel and bought a drink which we had back in our room before going to dinner.  I wanted to have Anago, which is a type of eel which the area is famous for.  Kaoru found a “dodgy” shop (down a lane way) that we could go to, and we ordered an assortment of food to try it.  It was very nice – probably not covered in as thick a sauce as eel usually is.

We went back to Lawsons and bought some dessert (Huggen Daas, and a “cheap” ice cream Kaoru used to have as a child) and another drink, and back to our room.  After dessert we had a bath, watched some TV and called it a night.

The alarm was set for 6.30 to make sure we didn’t miss our trains.  But I didn’t sleep as well, and we were both awake at 6, so we decided to leave early and use any extra time for breakfast.  We got dressed and left the house, and walked to Sakura Shinmachi station in time for a 6.52 train.

We got to Shinagawa and were hoping to go to the stand up sushi restaurant that I’ve been to before, but they were closed.  How terrible!  So we ended up at a stand up don restaurant, where I had a tuna don, and Kaoru had a meat one.  There was lots of rice on it though, and Kaoru couldn’t eat much at all!  I got about half way through my rice (but ate all the tuna of course!).  Then it was on to the 8.05 Shinkansen.

Checking a few things on my computer back home, I noticed the NAS was down and I couldn’t get it going again.  I had to send a message to Sian and she had to go round to our house.  I called her (as voice calls on WhatsApp weren’t good enough for me to hear on a noisy train – not that the phone was much better but at least there wasn’t the 10 second delay!) and she managed to get power going (seems my UPS may have been the problem but won’t know for sure until I get home).  Thank god!

I got a few more work things done on the train, as well as a bit of a sleep (and maybe a beer or two :)), before arriving at Himeji at 11.46.  James (Kaoru’s friend from the UK, who came to our wedding in Japan) is working nearby for 12 months so that was our driver for Himeji on this trip.  He was running late to meet us though, so we dropped our suit case at the hotel and looked around the tourist information centre while we waited.

Once he arrived we walked to Himeji-jo (Himeji castle) and we booked on the “cruise” – basically a gondola ride around the moat.  We booked for about an hours time, so we went and had some lunch, and then came back for our ride.  We were given a straw hat to wear which was fun, and a life vest, which I think would drag you to the bottom with the weight of the auto-inflation system in it!

We spent a couple of hours walking around the castle.  It was huge, and has featured in a number of movies including You Only Live Twice.  They had an app, which we downloaded, which had “Augmented Reality”.  There were areas where we could hold the phone and it would show some photos or a video explaining a bit of history.  After the castle we went to the garden next door (it was only an extra 40 yen on the ticket price) which was very photogenic.  We then made our way back to the hotel.  An old man came up to us and started talking to us in English.  He wasn’t saying much but obviously wanted to practice or show off that he could do it, so we humoured him for a while.  We then continued on our way, where another person stopped us to have a chat!  It was a really friendly town.

At the hotel we checked in to our room.  The bed was massive!  I think it was 2 double beds pushed together!  I don’t know where they got a fitted sheet big enough to fit, let alone the doona.  It was after 6 and we were starting to get hungry so we went back outside and looked for somewhere to go.  Kaoru asked James if he had done Shabu Shabu before, which he hadn’t, so the decision was made.  There was a restaurant just across from the hotel, which was all you can eat for 100 minutes, for about $30/head, which included all you can drink (soft drink) and ice cream bar.  So we made the most of that and were quite full by the time we were kicked out.

We went to the convenience store to buy a couple of drinks and went back to our room to consume them, and chat for a bit longer.  We then walked James to the station to ensure he didn’t miss the last train (11.17).  Back at the hotel we went to the 4th floor to enjoy the bath.  It wasn’t an onsen so the water didn’t feel as nice, but it was certainly hot!  It had been a long day and the time to unwind before calling it a night was great.

I slept really well last night.  No surprise.  I went downstairs for breakfast – Yoichi had already left for work and Mio and Kaoru were chatting.  So after a breakfast of scrambled egg on (ultra-thick) toast with a side of garlic prawns, I was ready to start the day.  First thing was organise our bags a bit so we had some space in our room!

Mio drove us to the train station at 10.30, dropping Arisa off at school at the same time.  We started by going to Asakusa because there was a big festival there and Kaoru wanted to show me a big crowd.  It wasn’t as crazy as I thought – I was expecting an extra 50% people at least!  But we walked around and had some food.  It was quite warm.  We ate Takoyaki first, which were massive bits of tako, but wasn’t cooked well and, to be honest, not good at all.  We went in to a shopping strip and bought Sakura Ice Cream Sandwich, which was nice and refreshing in the heat.  I was still a bit hungry so we finished that off with Pork Kushiyaki (grilled on a skewer).

We made our way back to the train station and then went to Akihabara for a massage.  We managed to get in to the same place we went last time (and the time before – 3000 yen for 60 minutes) with just a 20 minute wait.  We wanted to sit down in a cafe after that but they were too busy, so we went on to Shibuya and found a cafe there.  I had an iced chai latte and Kaoru had a cafe latte; we also ordered an apple crumble (which unfortunately had walnuts in it so Kaoru had to eat it) and a strawberry cake.

We went shopping at Bic Camera for some alcohol.  Last time I bought a bottle of Nikka 12 Year whisky which I really enjoyed so needed to replenish it.  Kaoru wanted a bottle of Bailey’s and a bottle of Yuzu.  I also got a 6 pack of Suntory Premium Malts, which came with a top to the can, with a pourer that does frothing as well.  Probably doesn’t work but a fun novelty.

We looked further and I noticed some drones.  I thought it might be a good toy and Kaoru really wanted one too.  I found a unit for ~AU$150.  It would be AU$168+shipping in Australia so despite the extra weight to have to carry, I bought it.  That was duty free, plus a further 5% discount for paying by AMEX.

We were pretty loaded up now so made our way back home.  Kaoru spoke to Mio on the way and found out she had missed a number of messages from Mio during the day – we were going to be cutting it fine for our dinner booking.  They met us at the station and we caught a taxi to the Kushiage restaurant.  Ageru means deep fried, and Kushi is on a skewer.  Note we had Kushiyaki for lunch (skewer but cooked on a grill – Yaki).  We had a sauce to dip (no double dipping allowed!) the food in before eating it.  Nice, but not as keen on the deep fried foods.

Youichi left early to pick Arisa up from school.  Mio, Kaoru and I caught a taxi back to the house maybe 15 minutes later, and we actually were back first.  Kaoru had a bath, and I stayed to talk to Youichi and Mio.  I then had a bath, and we packed our bags for the next part of our adventure, and were off to bed.

Kaoru’s Birthday  Trip!

The alarm went off at 5.00.  A couple of snoozes and we got up, finished a couple of things, and called our “Ola” to take us to the airport.  Uber is starting to give me the shits so time to try a new service.  Not a good start as the first driver didn’t seem to come and get us (went over the West Gate bridge instead of turning off) but the second one got us there OK.

We checked in (I got a business class upgrade so it was pretty quick), and then after a quick look at the duty free shops, it was in to the lounge.  We went to the Amex lounge first as Kaoru’s Amex has 2 passes, and we wanted to see what it was like.  We didn’t want to use her pass to get in though, so we asked if we could just have a quick look around, as it’s new.  It was quite small, but nice.  Then we went in to the Qantas lounge, where I had a shower, and we finally ate breakfast.

We passed the time until boarding the plane for the long flight to Tokyo.  I told the steward that my wife was in Economy so he went back and gave her some special treatment.  And I went back to say Hello a few times.  About 2 hours out of Tokyo the chief steward asked where she was sitting.  Next thing I knew, I saw her sneak in (with him) to the back row of Business Class!  So I moved my seat (from 4 window to 7 centre) so I could sit next to her.  He then brought her a glass of champagne!

We enjoyed the rest of the flight and eventually landed.  Immigration was the most amazing I have ever seen.  No queue at all, and I thought we were going to be waiting for ages for our bags to come off – but no, they came almost straight away too!  Once through immigration Kaoru had a look at the bus times, and there was a 7.05 one – we were expecting to have to catch a 7.30 one, so that sounded good, but we only had about 15 minutes.  I ran downstairs to get my JR Pass while Kaoru bought our tickets.  There was a long line for the JR exchange and I had pretty much given up on the idea of getting the early bus.  But once I had my pass I ran upstairs, looked around for Kaoru, heard her call me and I just ran in the direction of her voice.  We raced outside, to the bus rank, and within 20 seconds the bus arrived.  I didn’t have time to buy my customary beer for the trip, but we were on our way.

At Futako Tamagawa we caught a taxi to Mio’s – easy to do (I’ve done it on my own before!), where she and Yoichi were.  We ate and I had a much-awaited Suntory Premium Malt, and then Yoichi had to go and pick Arisa up from school (this is about 10.30pm local time, mind you).  We chatted for a bit, but I was pretty tired (I hadn’t slept well the previous night) so I went to bed about 11.30.