Today we woke up, and after breakfast, had to pack our bags.  We were leaving Mio’s house today, and the plan is that she will send our bags to our hotel near Narita, and we will take what we need to Nasu to visit Otosan and Okasan for a couple of days.  So it was at this point that we had the scales out to work out if everything would fit OK.  It was quite a tight fit, but eventually the bags closed, and we were pretty spot on our limit.

Mio and Arisa took us to the station and we said goodbye, and then made our way to Tokyo station to buy our Shinkansen ticket.  I managed to get a 3 day tourist pass, which covers the line going up to Nasu, and also the Narita Express, for ~8,000 yen.  Because Kaoru has a Japanese passport, she wasn’t allowed, so had to pay 5,500 yen to get to Nasu.  So my pass was real value for money!  Getting the ticket was a real headache though.  It wasn’t from the normal ticket counter – we had to go to a tourist information counter, and it seemed nobody knew where we had to go – although they all pointed us in *a* direction – just not the right one half the time!  It took us over 15 minutes just to find the place to buy the tickets from.

We stopped for a hot chocolate after sorting out the tickets – Kaoru needed to sit down.  We had about half an hour before our Shinkansen left so we enjoyed a hot chocolate, and bought a bento box for the ride.  We left just after 11, and arrived at Nasu around 12.30.  Okasan and Otosan were waiting for us, so we got in their car and went to a french style cafe for lunch, before going to the house.

I had bought a “UFO” wireless access point for them, as coverage to the second house was non-existant with the existing router.  So I played around setting that up, checking the coverage, setting up the computers on the new access point, etc, and got a bit of work done.  We got to speak to Mum and Dad on Skype just before dinner (while Otosan and I enjoyed a Sake), and then after a wonderful meal and a hot bath, I went to our house to do some work, while Kaoru had a bath and talk to her parents.

Grand Final Day!

After waking up and having breakfast, we had a look at some packing.  Then we walked to the train station (Mio wanted to drive us :)).  It took us 3 trains but we made it to Roppongi, and after about a 10 minute walk we were at the Hobgoblin bar.  This was the place I had found for us to watch the Grand Final.  We got there around 12.00, because we were concerned that it would get busy and we may not have a seat.  It was a good thing too, as we did get a seat, but within half an hour it was standing room only.  We met the couple sitting next to us (Richard and Jessica) who were from Sydney – Jessica’s brother had just done a 100km run around Mt Fuji, and they were in Japan as support crew.  So now they were in the “tourist” part of their trip.  They were from Sydney (so were mad swans supporters) but have just bought a house in Ascot Vale – small world!

The game was great, but the service at the bar was unbelievable.  There were 3 very inefficient staff behind the bar, and they really weren’t prepared for the day.  It took nearly 10 minutes of waiting at the bar to get a drink – luckily I planned on not having a big one anyway!  Near the end of the first quarter Mio arrived – she said she may come and join us, and luckily we had brought a 3rd Hawthorn scarf with us.

At half time there was a raffle.  We had bought tickets before the game – 3 for 1000 yen.  There were about 7 prizes in all, and I came out with the 3rd one – a bottle of Russian Vodka!  Luckily we hadn’t reached our duty free allowance yet – we were still wondering what other bottle to buy.  And this one was quite heavy, so must be a good one.  The other people we were talking to (who bought the tickets immediately before us) won the gold printed football!

After the game I chatted to people at the bar a little longer, and then we had to head back home.  We met Mio at a train station on the way, and she drove us the rest of the way home.  I quickly got changed, and then we walked to dinner for Youichi’s birthday.  This was a very formal restaurant, and served delicious Italian food.  Youichi brought along a very nice bottle of wine as well which we enjoyed.

Back at the house after dinner we had a beverage at Mio’s bar, and then called it a night.

I hate not having a clock in the room.  I know I need to wake up early because, well, everybody wakes up early in Japan.  But when you don’t know the time, you don’t know if it’s too early, or how long you can go back to sleep for…I think it was about 8.00 that I came downstairs for breakfast.  I had a shower, and then had a few hours work to deal with while Mio went out to have her hair done.  I finished around lunch time, which is when Mio got home, so the 3 of us went out for lunch at a Sushi resetaurant – we had to return the trays from last nights sushi anyway, so staying for lunch just seemed like the right thing to do :).

After lunch Mio dropped us off at the train station, and we went to Harijuku, so we could go to Meiji Jingu shrine – as this was the first place Kaoru ever took me in Japan, it’s somewhere I always like to return to.  After the usual lap, we got back out, and noticed that the big pedestrian overpass was no longer there!  I had noticed something different when we arrived, and didn’t have my bearings at first, and this was why.  Amazing how things change.  I wonder what would cause them to take down an overpass, so everybody has to cross on the level of the road?

We then caught a train to Shinjuku.  We were on the “other side” of town so didn’t see our hotel or our meeting place from the wedding trip.  But we went to a place to get a 1 hour massage.  The guy who did me was too rough so it wasn’t as relaxing as I like them to be.  I find it hard to be relaxed when pain is being inflicted!  After the massage we found a bar to sit down and have a drink, and then caught the train to Kozue’s.  We called when we arrived at the station and Kozue came and picked us up.

It was only about a 5 minute drive to their house from the station.  I had never been there before so it was nice seeing something new.  Minami was sick and asleep on the couch.  Yukari had made us gioza for dinner, and Yukari and Kozue were both still folding them while we talked, and enjoyed a beer and some nibbles.  Kenichi came home about half an hour later, and then we went outside to eat.  Their outside area was quite small (in Australian terms) but it was a beautiful evening to be sitting outside and we had a lovely, informal evening.

After dinner Kozue drove us back to Mio’s – we were expecting to get the train or a taxi, but it turned out only being about 15 minutes away.  So that was very helpful.  Mio’s bar was open for last drinks, and then I had a bath before bed.

I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast.  After a cup of tea, some food and water, and addressing a few work issues, it was time to start the day.

Arisa had the day off school (public holiday) so Mio went shopping, while Kaoru and I took Arisa for a few hours.  We went to the electric store, where we had heard they have a robot that talks and interacts with you!  So we thought that could be a laugh.  It was called “Pepper”.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCFYw8mIqcc.  Unfortunately his English translation wasn’t very good, so whilst I had half a conversation with him, it seemed very primitive.  However Kaoru’s conversation in Japanese made a bit more sense, it seemed.

While in the shopping centre I had an email from the stadium in Brisbane with the World Championships, so I had to give them a call.  I knew there was a chance of something like this, but since no issues came up in the 4 days I was there, I was quite confident it would be the same.  But alas, people will be people, and will break things when I’m not around.  As always, it was just user error – somebody doing something stupid.  At least I got to use some of the credit on my mobile phone – seems a waste to recharge it every time we come here, and then I don’t use any :).

We had Siu Mai dumplings for lunch (ok, eating Chinese food in Japan – I know – but Arisa picked it) and after a bit more walking around, we caught the train back to Mio’s.  Much to Arisa’s disgust we were going to walk to Mio’s from the train station (about 15 minutes) but it was raining, so we called Mio to come and pick us up.

Back at the house we had some time to kill, before the evening’s guests started arriving.  It was Youichi’s birthday, so since I was there, Mio decided to invite some more people around and have a party.  One of Kaoru’s cousins who I hadn’t met before came with his wife and 3 children, then a friend of Mio’s and her husband and 2 children, Kenichi (Kozue couldn’t make it) and another friend of Mio’s who I had met before.  So it was a very enjoyable night, and Mio’s bar was well and truly open!  It was a work night, so it didn’t go too late, which was a good thing.  Kozue came to pick Kenichi up around 8.00 so I went out to say hello to her.  Minami was asleep in the car so I didn’t get to see her and Yukari.  But we were seeing them tomorrow so that was OK.

After everybody had left and we had made a start on cleaning up, I had a bath and went to bed.

We woke up early this morning and were eating breakfast at 7.  This was after I had fitted the hose for otosans new pressure sprayer.  We left around 8 for the ropeway at Mt Chausudake and even at 9 there was a 1 hour wait for a parking spot! Okasan, Kaoru and I got out as Otosan couldn’t do the hike anyway.  We caught the ropeway (cable car) to the top and took some photos before starting the 45 minute hike.  We were treated to some fantastic views that my camera skills (and camera, for that matter) could not do justice.  This is an active volcano, but somehow, when Kaoru said “so you have to be careful”, I couldn’t think what I could do carefully because I was walking on something that could erupt at any point.  We could see clouds of sulfur gas coming off the ground at a number of places, and the smell was quite strong in areas.  It was windy at the top, although a still day at the bottom compared to yesterday.

As we were walking back down, there were a lot of people coming back up – we could tell it was getting busier.  The ropeway station was already quite full but we managed to get on the first car, despite there being over 100 of us already.  I could not imagine where all these people came from. There was no room for parking so they must have come up by bus.

Otosan had been driving around and then had propped in pole position for us – right at the bottom of the stairs!  So we got in and started the drive down.  There was no traffic going with us but the line of stationary cars waiting to get up the top went for a long way.  It would be at least a 3 hour wait for them.  Unbelievable.  As bad as Disneyland!  And this was still only 11 am on a Monday!  I’m glad they suggested we start early and come here – it was a beautiful place, but I wouldn’t want to wait like these people are!

We went to lunch even though it was only 11.30 – we went to a nice little cafe that served pies.  But they weren’t pies like we have – they were more like Calzone’s.  I had a potato, bacon and cheese one, and it was quite nice.  We also had soup and ice cream as part of the set menu.  A cruise start to the day.

We were home around 12.30 and Otosan wanted a sleep before we got cracking on chopping wood.

I have been in Brisbane since Saturday, ensuring the junior world champs for indoor cricket ran smoothly. Today it was off to brisbane airport to join Kaoru in Japan. I put my frequent flyer points to use and went business class! Very nice!

I watched a few movies on the flight and did a bit of work. On the approach to Narita we were advised it was 17 degrees.  And here I was in shorts, expecting it to be hot, based on talks with Kaoru.  I was going to get changed (I had a long sleeve top and long pants in my carry on bag) but opted against it.  Eventually I landed at Narita. Immigration wasn’t too bad and I managed to buy a bus ticket with 15 minutes to spare- time enough to buy a beer for the bus ride! And boy was it needed!  17 at night with high humidity is nothing like 17 in Melbourne!  It was very muggy so not too comfortable, but I’m glad I didn’t get changed on the flight!  It was a bit over an hour to Cerulean tower hotel, where Kaoru and Mio were waiting for me. We then went to Mio’s house and had a drink with youichi. I was tired from a long flight so had a bath and went to bed.

The alarm woke me up about 6.30 this morning. It was not easy getting out of bed – I really needed a few more hours sleep. But no such luxury today.

We got up, and packed the final things in to our bag. It seemed like it may be a bit too heavy (~72 kg total).   I decided we can just deal with it at the airport. We had our last breakfast together with Okasan and Ottosan, and loaded up the car with our 2 suitcases, 2 backpacks, massage table and Kaoru’s handbag, and left the house about 7.30. Ottosan took us to the bus stop.

The first bus didn’t let us on as it was already too full. So we caught the second one (about 10 minutes later – but the last one for 2 hours!). It took us about an hour to get to the airport. Terminal 3 opened a month or two ago (and we’ve never done budget airlines – we’re on Jetstar for this flight) so neither of us had done departures from there before. It was quite easy. Our bags came to exactly 70kg – couldn’t do any better if we had tried!

I had a beer left so enjoyed that at the airport, we went through customs and immigration (submitting the paperwork from yesterdays shopping) and waited for the plane. It boarded on time, and apart from it being 15 minutes of taxi-ing, the flight was normal.

We went through photos on the plane, and deleted all the duplicate and bad ones. Not much else to do when you’re travelling cattle class in a budget airline, with no movies to watch or alcohol to drink! I got a bit of work done until the battery went flat (my power supply was under the plane in my suitcase).

Eventually we landed, no problems with customs and immigration. Brett came and picked us up from the airport, and we went home. Tired, and very happy after an enjoyable holiday.  Don’t know how we’re going to top this one!

It was a relaxing morning. Kaoru was already up by the time i awoke at 7.15ish. She had been shuffling our stuff around to see the best way to get our bags packed. We had breakfast of scallops and noodles and then i had some work to take care of.

Kaoru came in and asked if i wanted to see the godzilla statue in shinjuku. Sounded like something i needed to see! So we cleared up and made our way.

First off we went to first kitchen and took a photo of us at the meeting spot from our wedding trip – just for fun. Then Kaoru went to a pharmacy to buy some cosmetics as they would be duty free Hopefully it doesn’t blow our luggage allowance!   During this i remembered my bluetooth headset was playing up so thought it a good time to get a replacement. I had a look at a shop and Kaoru suggested another so we walked around Shinjuku. Then we saw it… So we stopped and took a couple of photos.

A bit more walking, and I was totally lost – despite having spent a couple of weeks in Shinjuku just 12 months earlier.    Kaoru hadn’t been there for just as long, and hadn’t been seriously around the area in even longer, yet was walking around like she owned the place.  I guess she’s done it so much that she knows it like the back of her hand.  So we looked in Bic Camera for my earpiece, but it was WAY too expensive there.  We then had to catch our train so rushed off, and thought we’d come up with a plan later.  On the way to the train, Kaoru found an ATM and was able to do some banking she needed to do, as she has de-citizenised herself from Japan on this trip.

We made the train to Yokohama, and then on the Yokohama subway 1 stop.  We got up to street level and Ryu was there waiting for us with Haruka.  Wow – I saw her briefly at our wedding but that was 12 months ago.  She has grown so much!  She turns 3 in a few months.  She didn’t recognise us, and was very shy.

It was less than a 10 minute walk to Ryu and Naoko’s new house.  Still up hill all the way, but not as steep as their old one.  So it certainly had a tick from me!  Their old house used to kill me getting there!  Naoko was there when we arrived preparing lunch, so we went inside and said Hello, giving Haruka her Australian toy for this trip – a kookaburra that makes noise.  She was a bit freaked out by it – we’ll see what happens over time.  Her possum (from the first time we met her) is looking well loved!

Lunch was another fantastic feast.  Prawns in a sauce, Tonkatsu Chicken, vinegared vegetables…a few beers for Ryu and I… :).  They played a video Ryu took of our wedding which was great to see.  I don’t think I’ve seen any footage of our speeches before.  It was a fun afternoon – they are a great couple, and Ryu’s english is very good, thanks to his work, so I can communicate well with them.  He likes to “cut corners” and get Kaoru to translate when she is involved in the conversation, but when it’s just the two of us talking, he does a very good job.  This is something I see a lot of in Japan – male’s will talk fine in English until there is another person who can speak both languages.  Then they freeze up and utilise the translator.

Time flew and before we knew it, it was time to go.  So they walked us to the train station, we said goodbye, and were on our way to Yokohama.  Ryu had mentioned the shop we had seen for the bluetooth headset has a store in Yokohama so we went there to save going back to Shinjuku.  The lady there spoke very good English (which I congratulated and thanked her for – we were just lucky to have her serve us!) and I picked a unit to buy.  Then we caught the train back to Tokyo, and then subway to Nishikasai.

We called Okasan and Ottosan when we got to the station.  They walked down and then we caught a taxi to the restaurant we went to a few visits ago (sushi train).  It was very busy, and we had to wait for about half an hour for a table to be ready.  It may have been because of this being the end of Golden Week, so nobody wanted to cook.  It was the usual feast and sensory overload.  A nice last meal.

Kaoru and I managed to pay this time!  We then caught a taxi home and did a final pack, had a bath, and then off to bed.

This is a family of early risers. I could hear the kids downstairs doing homework, looked at the time and it wasn’t even 6.00! It had been a very windy night last night and the noise kept me up quite a lot. Because Kaoru and i were upstairs we had it the loudest – especially as we had lots of windows. So i was in no rush to get up.

I came downstairs at 8.00 and could smell food as soon as i opened the bedroom door. Everybody else was upuh so we had breakfast not long after. Then Kenichi and i got the router set up for when okasan and Otosan get Internet. The router Kenichi had bought didn’t reach to the second house so i showed him the ones i use for datascore and suggested he see if he can find them in Japan.

I had some work to do so spent the next couple of hours dealing with emails and high priority items. Then we went to lunch. We went to the same place we took Michael and Leila to when we arrived at nasu. But this time we got fishing rods and caught fish to eat. between the 3 girls we easily had enough fish. They were really biting today! So lunch was noodles followed by the cooked fish, salted and served while on a skewer. Really nice, although the small bones were a bit scratchy in my throat.

Kenichi, Kozue, Yukari and Minami had to leave from here so we said goodbye and went back to the house at Nasu. I dealt with a bit more work while Otosan had a sleep and the women chatted. At a bit before 3.00 we got in the car and drove to the train station and had a quick goodbye as we will be seeing okasan and Otosan again tomorrow. Mio, Arisa, Kaoru and i caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. There we said goodbye to them, and they caught a taxi home. We caught a train back to Nishikasai and walked from there.

Next job – let’s see what our weight is like. So we got our suitcases and shuffled things around. We had Kaoru’s massage table which was 18kg.we had already bought 65 kilos so hoped we could fit in there. We were very borderline. I wanted to buy a couple bottles of rare breed and worked out for an extra $37 in baggage we could save $80 from melbourne prices. Can’t argue with that logic. So we made the decision and eliminated the stress.

It was about a 30 minute walk to the supermarket we wanted to go to. I wanted to buy a 6 pack of beer for tomorrow, which came with a Suntory premium glass. We also bought some food for breakfast. Then we caught the free bus back to Kasai and went to an izakaya for dinner. We had a nice meal which included takoyaki in cheese! Then we went to the cheap alcohol shop for the rare breed, and walked home. A bit of pottering around the house, some work, and it was bedtime.

My day in paradise!

Every day I spend here at Nasu is enjoyable.  I love the mountain air, the country feel to everything, and to top it off, the family atmosphere here.

I woke up this morning around 7.00.  Everybody else was already awake.  So not long after coming down, breakfast was served.  This was our typical Japanese breakfast, all eating together, and naturally, with a large bowl of rice :).

After a nice and slow, relaxing start to the day I put my socks on and told Ottosan to put me to work.  So first job was he had a lot of thin, flat timber that had been under the house for years, that needed splitting for kindling.  So I spent some time with a hand axe working my way through that.  Kenichi went out to the outlet store to look at golf gear, and Okkasan, Kozue and the kids went out shopping.  So it was just Ottosan, Mio, Kaoru and I at the house.  We took it easy, and had a nice break for some green tea.  Ottosan started trying to split some larger wood with a couple of splitters – the wood was too big to fit in his hydrolic splitter.  So I took over that job from him as he wouldn’t leave it for me to do later, and then it was back to splitting the flat wood.

Once that was finished we moved it all out the back and had an ice cream.  The day was overcast, keeping it nice and cool.  This would have been a lot harder if it was as hot and sunny as yesterday was!  Then I got the chain saw out, took it apart and gave it a good clean, and then sharpened the blades, enjoying a nice cold beer in the process.  During this, everybody came home, and we stopped to have lunch, which included rice, sushi, and god knows what else but I ate and enjoyed it all!

After lunch I went back to finish the chain saw, and then also did the little chain saw, which didn’t take long to sharpen.  Then Kaoru and I went for a walk to enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit.  When we got back, Ottosan had his digger out.  Firstly, he shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous while I was around.  Secondly, this looked like fun and something I should take part in!  So I finished my beer and hopped on board, with a somewhat safety brief (in Japanese).  This was a lot harder than it looked.  Two levers, each with 4 directions, controlling different hydrolics.  I was able to get the hang of it a bit, but was still no professional.  It was fun trying, and also good being helpful.  At the end, I drove it back in to the shed without breaking anything, so that was a good finish, I thought :).

I grabbed a couple of beers and Kenichi and I had a chat.  I haven’t spoken to him a lot, and it was good to hear about his company being bought by Yahoo.  We talked about various things, including his business, Inflatable World, Datascore, etc.  It’s great having somebody who I can converse with, despite language differences, who is very similar to me with the IT background.  He is a very business savvy person, and has some ideas of what we can do with Inflatable World in Japan, so fingers crossed we can pull something off.

The kids had been practicing a dance routine, so they came out and gave us a performance.  Very enjoyable.  Yukari has been taking dance lessons and was clearly the choreographer.  After our show, it was dinner time, so we came down to the main house.  Ottosan was having a nap, so Kenichi and I had another beer, and then had dinner – our last one all together.  It was another enjoyable meal.

We finished off the bottle of muscat, and had some Jack Daniels, to finish the night off.  Then it was bath time, and people started drifting off to bed.  It’s currently 8.52, and most people have gone to sleep.  I guess given everybody wakes up so early, it’s no surprise they go to bed early!  It’s very different for me as I’m such a night owl.  But I’ll get to enjoy a nice relaxing bath to soothe the muscles after a hard days work.

It’s sad to think we are leaving Nasu tomorrow, and I don’t know when I will be seeing the family like this again – in fact, I think this is the first time we have all been together, other than our wedding (although Yoichi is missing, unfortunately).  I hope we can do it all again some time.  I can barely communicate with my family, but all I feel from them is love and support, and we always manage to laugh together and enjoy each others company – whether it be just with Mio and Arisa, or Mio, Yoichi, Kozue, Kenichi and the kids, or Kaoru’s parents.  It motivates me to want to learn more Japanese so I can communicate at least a bit with them all while we can still enjoy this time together.

The alarm was set for this morning, but I was awake before it went off.  We packed our bags and caught a taxi at 8.00, to Tokyo Shinkansen station.  We grabbed a bento box from the station – mine was eel, and waited for the 9.16 train to Nasuno.  We found our seats, and turned them around so the 4 of us could face each other (we had Mio and Arisa with us), and then it was *finally* time to eat breakfast.  Here was something new – my bento box had a string hanging out of it.  When we pulled that, there was a noise, and then a burst of steam, and the whole box started to heat up!  So not only can you buy hot drinks and food from a vending machine, but you can also buy cold things and heat them up!

It was a bit over an hour later that we arrived at our station – Nasushiobara.  We walked out of the station and there were people from a local show, with a sign saying “Why have you come to Nasushiobara?” (in Japanese, and also in English).  There were obviously surprised at a Westerner coming, so spoke to Kaoru about it, and then wanted a photo of me holding the sign.  We didn’t think to take a photo with my camera until it was too late :(.

We found Ottosan and went to the car.  He drove us to his friends bamboo forest.  People think it is a public forest and not private property, unfortunately, so they have wrecked parts of it.  But we were there by prior arrangement.  We waited for Kenichi, Kozue, Okasan, Yukari and Minami to turn up, and then it was time to find some bamboo!

The trick here was finding bamboo that was the right size.  If it was too long it would be too hard to eat.  If it was too short, there wasn’t enough.  Because we were so close to Tokyo, we couldn’t eat this bamboo as Sashimi – the soil isn’t of good enough quality to grow it well enough.  You can do this in Kyoto.  But it was fine for cooking.  I was shown how to find the right side, clear around the bamboo, and cut it with a mattock.  It was a lot easier than I was expecting.

Once we had collected enough bamboo we went to Okasan and Ottosan’s friends house, who owns the forest, for lunch.  She served a very bamboo-based meal for us that was delicious.  After lunch she pulled out an instrument which was a smaller and simpler version of a Koto.  It made a beautiful sound, and she had music to some traditional Japanese songs.  Remembering how Waltzing Matilda sounded at our wedding, I attempted to play that – but it didn’t bring a tear to my eye like it did at our wedding!

We left in two groups – one group (with the kids) was going shopping, and the other group were going back to the house.  Unfortunately not long after we left we got a call from Okasan, that she had the key to the house!  So we had to pull over at the shops and wait for them to catch up so we could get the key.  Mio came up with the idea of ice cream, so she and I went to get one while we were waiting.

Back in the car, it was a long fight with the traffic, before we finally arrived at the house.  We brought things inside, and then it was time for a beer and a relax.  This whole holiday has been go-go-go-go, and it was nice to just sit back, listen to the birds, and enjoy the fresh mountain air without having to think of packing, or unpacking, or what we were going to do for the afternoon or the next day.

I went upstairs for a siesta, which ended up taking about 2 hours!  By the time I came downstairs, it had actually started to cool off, and T-shirt and shorts were a little chilly.  I sat outside with Ottosan for a little bit, and then came in for a beer and put a long sleeved top on.  Then, at about 5.45, food started coming….and coming….and coming….and coming….  Eggplant, the sweetest of corn on the cob, Tako (octopus), salmon roe (beautiful – from Hokaido), wagu beef…..rice….wine… beer.  I realised half-way through dinner that it was Sunday, and we were having Sunday dinner with our other family!  Usually we would be at Mum and Dad’s house (with just as many people).  We thought it would have been fun if we could have gotten Mum and Dad on Skype and had a big “virtual” dinner!  Then we remembered that Dad was in Tasmania for a golf holiday, so hoped Mum was at Julie’s for dinner.  For dessert I brought down a bottle of muscat that I had brought from Australia, which was mainly drunk by Kenichi and myself, with Ottosan and Kozue having a half glass (we had about 1/2 – 2/3 of the bottle, so a bit left for tomorrow).  Mio had a migraine so went and had a laydown, and Kenichi, Kozue, Ottosan, the kids and I went outside with some fireworks.  It’s legal here, although they weren’t anything big.  The girls got a buzz out of it though, as young kids do.

Back inside, Kaoru and Okasan had mostly cleaned up.  So we showed them photos of our last few days travelling around Japan, and by this time we were all pretty tired.  So after a bath (in my favourite bath of all time!), I was ready to call it a night too.  Looking forward to a day of relaxing tomorrow – nothing to do, other than activities around the house.

So, basically, tonight there is Kozue, Kenichi, Yukari, Arisa an Minami in the second house (my favourite hosue), Kaoru and I upstairs at the main house, and Okasan, Ottosan and Mio downstairs in the main house.

It’s nights like these that I can’t help but be thankful for the family I have.  With all Mum and Dad do for us back in Australia, and how Okasan and Ottosan are equally as giving when we are here in Japan.  We are so lucky, and I’m glad I’ve been able to recognize and appreciate just how lucky I am – a gift that I have only appreciated since Kaoru came in to my life.

No alarms.  Nothing to wake up for.  What bliss!!!  Just lots of traffic as this is the official start to golden week.  I woke up around 8.00 and Kaoru was already up and at it.  I was feeling sore in areas I hadn’t felt sore for a long time, after our travelling.  We had masuzushi sushi for breakfast, which we had bought back in Toyama.  Mazuzushi is done in the “Oshizushi”, or “pressed” style.  The packing was in true japanese style – just beautiful.  It was wrapped in bamboo leaves, then served in a thin wooden (almost balsa wood) dish, with cross pieces to hold it all together tightly.

After breakfast I spent some time catching up on work things.  A skype to Brett to deal with a problem back home – the usual stuff.  A bit more work, and then Kaoru and I went out to lunch.  It was quite warm outside so I wasn’t very hungry.  I was thinking cold noodles would be nice, but we couldn’t find anywhere that had them.  Apparently it was too early in the season for it to be the “norm” in Japan.  So we ended up at a western style shop and had a roll and a macha latte.  That should keep us going.

We then started to walk back to the house, chatting away, when somebody came up to us and asked Kaoru if she spoke English (obviously knowing she did as he could hear us talking).  He was Russian and just arrived.  He had dropped his bags off at his hotel but couldn’t check in yet, and had no money.  So we took him to a Western Union Credit Union to change money – good deed for the day done!

Back at home we packed our bags for the afternoon, and then went out to spoil ourselves after our week away – with a massage!  It was an hour of just relaxing and having all the sore muscles worked on – what more could you ask for?

We walked back to the house, grabbed our bags, had a quick beer, and then we were away again.  We walked to the train station, and on the way could see some Westerners talking to a Japanese person, who looked very confused.  Kaoru said to me “we are going to have to help these people now” – thinking maybe they were friends of the guy we helped earlier.  They were trying to find the hotel they were staying at, but hadn’t checked in yet.  We pointed them in the right direction and then went to the train station ourselves.

We caught the two trains we did last Saturday after I arrived, and Mio picked us up from the train station.  We went back to her house for a drink, and then caught a taxi to dinner.  Yoichi and Arisa were already there waiting for us.  This was a “deep fried” night – similar to what we had in Kyoto with Mum and Dad, and Aunty Linda and Uncle Owen last April, except it was cooked for us rather than us having to do it.  There was a collection of sauces, and every few minutes a new skewer, cooked and ready to go, was put on a plate.  We dipped it in a sauce, ate it, and put the empty skewer in a holder.  How easy was that????

After dinner we came back to Mio’s, had a drink and had a relaxing bath before going to bed, ready for tomorrow’s adventure…

OK, who’s idea was this?  The alarm was going off at 2.20.  IN THE MORNING!  We had received a call yesterday that we couldn’t go out on the firefly squid watching boat, as it had broken down.  This was the reason we came to this area.  But the museum was still going to open for us, but they still wanted us there early in the morning.  We didn’t know what we were in for, so wore some semi-warm clothes and brought a back pack with some more just in case.  It took us about 10 minutes to get to the museum.

We had an introduction to the firefly squids – their history, lifespan, ….I don’t know what else – I didn’t understand a word of it!  Then we went upstairs and saw a video, which was followed by a demonstration of what it is like when the nets are pulled in.  At the front of the room there was a small pool with a net, and a number of firefly squid in it.  A few of us grabbed a corner of the net, and with the lights out, on the count of three, we all pulled the net up.  Instantly the squid illuminated!  It was amazing to see!  Over time the illumination faded, but another pull of the net and up they lit again!

We went downstairs to an open pool which had a number of these firefly squid in it, and we were able to pick them up.  When Kaoru pulled one out of the water, it squirted a stream of water at her.  Another one gave her a little nip.  Some of these would lite up, even though it wasn’t dark in the room.  It was really quite pretty.  Then we did something that can only be done in Japan.  After seeing how cute these things are, we went to the front room and were served half a dozen, steamed and ready to eat!  Having eaten a number of them last night, I knew what to expect – however these were different.  The eyes were quite hard, but the guts were just as squishy when you bit in to the squid (I had to put that detail on for you squirmish readers!)

We went outside as a group and watched a boat come in from collecting firefly squid.  We then walked to the docks, and saw them unloading from the boat, sorting the squid from the other fish, washing them down and bucketing them for sale.  It was quite a lengthy process.  Eventually we got back to the museum’s front room – it was nearly 5.00, and the tour had started at 3.  We started walking back to the hotel, via a convenience store to get some breakfast.

On our way back we were deciding whether to keep going for the day, or have a bit of sleep first.  Sleep won in the end, so when we got back we crawled back in to bed for an hour or so.  It was 8.00 by the time we woke up, had a shower and were ready to get going again.  Our original plan was a brief stop in Toyama and then go to Nagano.  But when Kaoru woke up she thought further and we decided we would just spend the day in Toyama, and deal wtih Nagano another time.  We caught an 8.55 train to Toyama which was only a few stops away.

We put our backpacks in a locker which made the day much easier.  On the way to the lockers we saw a display of glass blowing, and could see a child doing it – so thought that could be an interesting activity for the day.  Then we went to the tourist information centre to help us plan our days activities.

First thing was the glass blowing.  We caught a bus about 30 minutes out of town, and had a 15 minute walk (luckily without our bags as it was quite warm) before finding the place.  We filled in some paperwork and then were taken to step 1 – picking the design and colours.  To do this we had to look at a number of samples, and draw a picture.  Not easy for somebody with the artistic talents I have!  Then it was in to the main room.

You could feel the heat as soon as you walked in to this massive room.  Very high ceilings, obviously to help keep it cooler down lower where the work is done.  They gave a safety brief (in Japanese, with Kaoru translating) and then Kaoru made her glass.  She stopped at various parts to explain what needed to be done, in preparation for when I had to do my one.  It started with pre-heating the blowing rod, then getting some glass on it, turning, rolling the pattern on, blowing, turning, blowing, stretching….

After Kaoru’s was in the kiln, it was my turn.  It was a very enjoyable activity.  It takes a while to set, so we couldn’t take them home with us (which was a good thing, as we didn’t want to carry them for the rest of the day).  They will post it out to Nishikasai in a week, but we will have left Japan by then, so we asked if it can be done sooner.  They said that’s OK.

We walked back to the bus stop and caught a bus back in to the city.  We got off somewhere different and started walking towards a black ramen noodle restaurant we had seen on the map.  This area is famous for black ramen – basically it’s very peppery and salty.  On the way we talked ourselves out of it though, and preferred the idea of some sushi!  So we found a nice little sushi restaurant which was empty, and had a seat.

The owner / sushi master was very friendly.  He and Kaoru talked about Tetsuya – he had been asked to go to Australia as a chef several years ago but decided he preferred the hills in the area he lived in.  After we had eaten he pulled out a bottle of sake and poured us both a drink.  It’s hard to describe the difference but it was unlike any other sake I had tried previously.  It had a “fizziness” to it (but not fizzy).

After paying we continued our walk around Toyama.  We went to a medicine making factory.  On the information guide it said you can try to make your own medicine, so thought it would be another fun activity.  After we had looked around, a bus turned up with a dozen old ladies – they had obviously planned a tour.  So we watched the master give them a brief on the equipment and how the pills were made.  In the end we were not given the opportunity to try ourselves.

We walked around Toyama some more, and made our way to the government building.  It was about 70m high, so gave us a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.  Unfortunately it wasn’t like the tower in Shinjuku – there was no cafe at the top.  So as much as we would have loved to sit down and have a hot chocolate and enjoy the view, we made our way back to the station.

The next Shinkansen was 3.11.  So we got our tickets, grabbed our bags from the locker, bought a bottle of sake and went to the platform.  We were on the new E7 Kagayaki Shinkansen – the fastest in Japan.  I clocked it at 260km/hr using my speedo app on my phone!  We got to Tokyo about 5.30, and back to Nishikasai a bit after 6.00.  Okasan and Ottosan had already left for Nasu so we had the place to ourselves.  It was great to be home again!  We took socks and shoes off and had a beer to unwind.  Then it was out to Mos Burger for dinner, and Mister Donut for dessert, and back home for unpacking, a nice bath, watch some TV and off to bed.

Kaoru woke up early this morning and went for a massage in the massage chair, and a bath. She came back to the room about 7, just as I was waking up. I had a shower and we went down for breakfast.

Breakfast was another buffet of all we could eat and more. I was able to have tamago kake gohan, as well as serve my own tofu through a tube similar to string cheese, and also reheat my own fish.

We went back to our room and packed our bags, in time to check out and catch the 9.00 transfer. We caught the train from Himi, made our 3 minute train change at takaoke and arrived at Namerikawa, where we were spending the night. Our hotel was next to the train station so we dropped our bags off and then went back to start the days activities.

We had about 10 minutes before or train was arriving and Kaoru had a question for the station attendant before we left. There were two people in front of us but it may as well have been 50 for how slow they were. She asked which platform the train would come on, just as it arrived… And we had no chance of getting to it. So we slowly made our way as the next one was about 20 minutes away.

Eventually a train came and we got on. There was nobody manning the platform and we worked out how to get a ticket on the train. About 30 seconds after we started moving I asked Kaoru if we were going the right way. The one platform did both directions! As we pulled in to the next station we could see what we were pretty sure was our train sitting there-the time was right. But it pulled out before our doors opened. So we were pretty annoyed.

The next train was about 45 minutes away so after some cursing we decided to try to find somewhere to get a hot chocolate. We walked for about 10 minutes without even a hint, but then saw a crepe shop. So we went there and Kaoru had a macha ice cream one, and I had pineapple and ice cream. We then made our way back to the train station, determined to get this one!

After about a 10 minute wait the train we needed arrived and we were on our way…albeit 2 hours behind. But we didn’t let that deter us. We were on a mission. We got off the train at Unazuki station and were sure we were at the wrong place. It was a beautiful village set in the hills but could it really have what we were looking for? Well, it didn’t take long to find a sign pointing us the right way…And we found what we were looking for.

In here we had lunch, and a tasting paddle of beer. The meal was a buffet, and we didn’t *need* a lot, but we got our money’s worth! The beer curry was what we really wanted to taste for the meal, which was quite nice. But the interesting part which got us to travel for an hour to taste was the beer flavored soft serve! Unfortunately this wasn’t included in the buffet so we had to buy it as we left. I couldn’t really taste it at first but Kaoru did right from the start.

We made our way back to the train station and continued on to Kurobe,  where we caught a train through the Kurobe gorge. The key thing here is how close it is to where we were a couple of nights ago. Just coming at it from another side. The round trip was about 90 minutes, and we were both quite tired, but as we had seen some of the bridges and scenery of where the train went, we had to do it. The journey was very picturesque  and enjoyable. It was just what we needed to relax for a while. We saw the winter access tunnel which for the most part ran alongside the train track. It’s hard to believe that when the snow is heavy people will walk through that. The train was originally for getting workers up the mountain but has become more public in recent times due to the beauty of the area.

At the bottom we killed some time and caught the next train back to Namerikawa and checked in. It was after 6.00. We got to our room and had a beautiful view as the sun was just about to set behind the mountains across the bay. Kaoru put a load of washing on while i got some work done. Then we went out for dinner. The recommendation from the hotel was a place owned by a relative of somebody who works at the hotel. But Kaoru had said she wanted sushi in this area as it was famous for it so i overruled the call.

It was only about 10 minute walk to find this small sushi bar with a couple in one corner and another guest at the other side. We sat at the bar and were asked for a drink order.  I felt like a sake but there were so many to choose from.  The person sitting by himself suggested one, so I thought why not?  So for the rest of the night the other people wanted to know more about us, but didn’t speak any English.  So Kaoru chatted to them, and I ate some amazing sushi!  It started with the firefly squid, which are local to this area, and the reason we had come.  These ones were cooked though, and served with some miso paste.  Then we had more served raw, and then the sushi master just kept serving us sushi until we asked him to stop.  The food was amazing, and apart from the guy smoking, it was an extremely enjoyable night.  Kaoru was enjoying chatting to locals and learning a bit about the area in the process.  When we came to paying the bill, the owner gave us a mug with the places name written on it to take home!  And it was considerably cheaper than Kaoru was expecting it to be, which was good.

We got back to the hotel not long after 9.00, and the dryer was still in use.  Whilst Kaoru had done a load of washing, the dryer wasn’t free.  We had seen a laundromat up the road on our walk to dinner, so we took the washing there to dry it, and then went home, set the alarm and went to bed.

What is it with Japanese and really early mornings? We were awoken by the “time to wake up” song for the village at about 6.00. The night itself was fairly sleepless – the mattress was hard and the pillow was just a sandbag! I managed to doze for a little bit, and then got up, and we had breakfast. This was your typical Japanese breakfast, but with something I hadn’t tried before – tamago kake gohan. Basically crack a raw egg, mix in some soy sauce, and pour over rice. Really nice!

We checked out and walked around the village. It was beautiful – just 12 “authentic” buildings. From a 10 minute stroll up the mountain we got some fantastic views. Then it was back in to town to make paper. We went to the paper making mill factory and the guy walked us through the process. First of all we made a sheet, then were able to decorate it, before the guy made a top sheet (very thin) to go on top. This was then dried and voila! We had paper!

We went back to our hut to collect our bags. Not long later our taxi arrived to take us to the oldest of these huts – > 300 years old. It was about a 20 minute drive away. We paid to get in, and they had just started a show so we sat down and enjoyed the majority of it, before having a walk around the hut. It was 3 stories and had lots of old equipment on display. We had some “medicinal” tea and then strolled across the bridge and up the hill to the jail cell.

We wandered around for a little bit before our bus came, which took us to another old village. This was similar to the one we stayed at last night, but even smaller. We had ~1 hour before the next bus, and were getting hungry, so we walked through the village and had some noodles for lunch. On the way back through the village we stopped for some photos, and then bought a soft serve ice cream for the walk up the hill to the highway. We waited about 5 minutes for our bus to arrive.

It was then about an hour bus trip back to Takaoka, and we had 90 minutes to kill. So we walked up to Kanaya-machi – an old style part of town. It was ~20 minutes at a brisk pace. We were able to leave our bags in a locker at the train station (500 yen) which made it easier, but it was still quite hot, so I enjoyed a cold drink of water for the walk. Once we were there we walked down the street, which had a market on for the day! So there were stalls on both sides of the street with the usual trinkets. We bought some food and made our way back to the train station. We got side tracked at a couple of shops so by the end we were running short of time for our train! A quick toilet stop, grab our bags from the locker, buy our train tickets, and we had about 2 minutes to spare.

It was about a 30 minute train trip to Himi, heading North up the peninsula a bit. The water was to our right and looked so different compared to the mountains we had been walking through the last couple of days. At the train station we had a transfer to our hotel. It took about 15 minutes past the fish market and the sake brewery we were expecting to go to (which was the reason we came to this town – unfortunately they decided not to have tours, but only told Kaoru last week). We were taken up to our room on the top (5th) floor, and looked out East over the bay. It was a beautiful view! So I bought a beer and a drink for Kaoru and we enjoyed that looking out over the water and discussing our plans for the rest of the day.

Feeling quite sore, we decided to start by going downstairs to the free massage chairs. This was just what we needed after the walking with our heavy backpacks! Luxury! Then we sat in the lounge and had a cup of tea, looking out over the bay again.

At 6.20 it was time for a bath before dinner.  There was a beautiful view over the ocean from the 3rd story bathroom, but the water was just way too hot.  And trying to shave using the disposable razor provided just drew lots of blood.  Still, it was nice to relax, even if just for a short time.  However when you’re on the clock, it’s hard to really appreciate where you are.

We made it to dinner about 7.00.  We were quite relaxed and warm, and ready to start our “mini” sized meal.  We had no idea what we were in store for…

I ordered a sake tasting platter – 3 different sake’s (100ml glasses) for 1,500 yen.  One of them was from the brewery we were hoping to go to tomorrow.  It was particularly nice – I don’t know what stood out about it though.  I think it had a bit of a fizziness to it – not necessarily the right word to describe it, but that’s the only thing I could put it down to.  But the food….oh my god.  It just kept coming, and coming, and coming.  And every dish was as good as the last.  You can imagine what the seafood would be like in a fishing village.  The sashima was great, even for Japanese standards.  We had shabu shabu squid, that swelled up while being cooked (for no more than 60 seconds).  The seaweed changed from a dull brown to a glowing green as it heated.  I can’t even remember most of what we had as I just kept getting fuller and fuller, but couldn’t stop eating.

*finally* they brought out the rice, and I knew we had reached the end.  I left half of this, but I was wrong – there was still dessert to come!  Luckily that went down easily – some jelly with a dob of creme on top.

It was an effort just to stand up after this meal.  Finally we made it back to our room, and were delighted that they had come in and cleared our table, to make our beds up.  We sat out on balcony for a while and planned what we were going to do tomorrow given a few changes in our schedule…enjoying the night view of the bay.

*Somebody* had a great idea to watch the sunrise this morning. So a wake-up call confirming the tour was on happened about 3.55. Scared the crap out of me! We knew it was going to be cold, but we were also quite hot in the room – so we put a few layers on, and then our top few layers in a backpack, and made our way to reception.

There would have been ~100 people doing the tour. We caught the electric bus back to the previous stop from yesterday, and it was starting to get cooler. I was expecting them to have the heaters on to keep everybody warm, which would have been stupid because of the amount of clothes we were all wearing, and we didn’t want to have to take them off. Luckily they took the logical approach and had it fairly cool so we could be rugged up. Nonetheless my driza-bone and gloves didn’t go on until we were walking outside at the lookout.

It was quite light outside already; but the sky was clearly red in one direction. We took a few photos, and weren’t shivering, which was good as we had brought quite a lot of clothes on this trip and wanted to justify them all coming! Eventually the sun started to rise above the mountain. It was a magical sunrise – words can’t describe the mountains, half covered in snow, as the sun broke through.

After about 15 minutes we caught a bus back to the hotel – it was now about 5.30, and we thought we’d go outside to see the sunrise from where we were staying! You could see the sun reflecting on the peaks of the mountains opposite but it hadn’t risen enough for us to see it yet. We gave up on this one and went back inside.

After a cup of shitake mushroom and pepper tea (which tasted more like soup), we waited until 6.45 when breakfast started. We had a bit of everything – it was a full buffet so we had our choice of lots of food, and we indulged in all we could!

After breakfast we were both feeling pretty tired, so decided to get a little bit of sleep. After an hour or so, we woke up, showered, packed our bags and checked out. It was just before 10.00, and our tour was scheduled to leave at 11.45, so we went for a walk around the “lake”, which was supposed to be about a 1 hour stroll. Because the sun was up we knew it would be warmer, so we left our bags at reception, and just had T-shirt and jumper on (Kaoru had a couple extra layers). Again, we were treated to sensational mountain views as we walked up and down the snow. We saw a couple of raichou birds – an almost extinct species that are very old. Apparently it was very lucky for us to see them.

Near the end of our walk we went to a “cultural building”. Because we had seen these birds we had to fill it in a register, and were given stickers. However the building was just too hot. I was already down to just my T-shirt with my jumper around my waist but I would have still been hot in shorts! So we made our way back to the hotel and went to the 5th floor lounge to wait out the next 40 minutes or so, with a hot chocolate.

It was finally time to go, so we found our tour guide from yesterday, and we boarded our bus. This drove us through the snow wall, and the winding roads, for about an hour. Then we boarded a cable car further down the mountain, and said goodbye to our tour group. They were going back to Tokyo directly, but we had other plans. So in 8 minutes we boarded a train, bound for Toyama Station.

This was quite an interesting trip. Kaoru kept making jokes comparing the stations to Yarraville station, because they were unmanned. However they were old shelters really (albeit with larger waiting areas).

At Toyama we caught a train to Takaoka station. There we had a snack and a drink, before catching a 4.00 World Heritage Bus to Gokayama. This was about a 1 hour trip. After being on low ground for a while, we were expecting to have a warm night. But no, the last 20 minutes of driving were steadily going up-hill, and soon enough we were driving through scattered snow again. The bus driver pulled over and told us where to get off the bus, and we walked about 20 minutes in to town.

Wow. What an amazing town! I can see why it’s world heritage listed. Very old style houses, with grass roofs, all with a perfect 60 degree angle for maximum strength given the weight of snow they must sustain. From the cartoon map Kaoru had printed out, we managed to find our building without too much trouble (there are 12 buildings in the village – so yeah, it was never going to be *that* hard!).

After being taken to our Tatami room and putting our bags down, we went to the “family room” and had some green tea and filled in a registration form. We met another guest who was Japanese, but currently living and working in Hungary – he was just back travelling through Japan for a bit. Then another couple came out of their room, from USA. They had arrived yesterday and had enjoyed a restful day today.

Before dinner we were told we were getting a room upgrade! Another couple who were supposed to come had cancelled. So our new room was about twice the size! Score!!!!

Dinner was, as always, a fantastic feast. Our host told us stories, mostly of which he probably tells every night. The couple from the USA said that the previous night, the other guests were a couple of Frenchmen and a Chinese, so communication was very limited. They were wrapped at having a translator tonight explaining all the details!

After dinner we watched a short movie about the history of the village. The American couple told us how they had ~7 hours travel time tomorrow to get to Kyoto, so Kaoru, the other Japanese boy and the owner talked about all the various options they had, and I think in the end, a better option was found. Then after a hot bath, it was time for an early night. I could feel the bottom of my legs were very swollen – not sure if this was due to the walking, the altitude or the weather. I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight! About 9.00 we could hear music playing – it was like the “it’s time for bed” song for the village.

I woke up fairly early this morning (okay, after Kaoru and her parents but it’s pretty hard to beat them!).  I got dressed, finalised packing and wend downstairs for a quick breakfast, and we were out the door by 7.40.  Kaoru had decided that we would have trouble getting on crowded trains with our backpacks, and that we would be better off getting a taxi to Tokyo station; so we started walking to Nishikasai station, and found a taxi pretty quickly.

It cost just over 3,000 yen, and we had a good run – very little traffic.  Which was surprising.  We got to the station with 7 minutes to spare.  We found our tour director (not Kaoru this time!!!) and found we were the youngest in the group.  This is something getting rarer and rarer for me these days, so it’s quite nice for a change!  At 8.30 we walked in our group to a quiet area, and were given a briefing, before catching a 9.04 Shinkansen.  While waiting for our train to arrive, we saw a double decker Shinkansen, which I had never seen before.

We got off the train about 10:45, where we changed for a bus.  It was still quite warm, which was a surprise, as we were definately getting up in the hills.  A lot of the trip here was through tunnels.  The bus took about 2 hours, and the last hour we had a beautiful view of snow capped mountains, and there was snow on the side of the road.  Eventually we reached the end of the line.

About 15 minutes later we caught an electric (trolley) bus to our next stop, where we got a cable car, ropeway, and another trolley bus, and *finally* made it to Tateyama Hotel about 3.00.  We had about 15 – 30 minutes at each stop to look around – this included crossing a dam, and several observation towers.

After a briefing (which I didn’t catch a word of), we were given our room key and finally took a load off.  But time-was-a-passing….so we went outside for a bit of a walk around the area in the snow and took some photos.  At 5.00 we met up with everybody else from the hotel, as the ‘day trippers’ had all left, and were able to walk through the snow wall by ourselves.  This was amazing!  It was ~19 foot high in places – vertical.  The sun was out and I was in a T-shirt, with lots of warm gear in my backpack just in case.

We had about a 45 minute round trip through the snow wall.  Then it was time for dinner.  We were taken in to the restaurant and enjoyed a fine meal of….well, you know Japanese food!  Lots of tasty things!  The newest for me was the Firefly Squid – whole.  Very interesting taste.

After dinner we had a bath to warm up, and then decided to go outside and check out the stars – there was a group viewing but we decided to go by ourselves as I wouldn’t have understood them anyway!  The snow covered mountains lite up by the half full moon were beautiful, but it was very bright – we even had shadows as we walked!  So the stars weren’t as impressive as we were hoping, but the view made up for it.  This was also a test of whether we had brought enough warm clothes.  Tomorrow morning would be even colder so we needed to find out how we were going.  I think we’ll be OK.

A drink up on the 5th floor lounge wrapped up the evening.  We were both very tired – while we hadn’t done a lot (other than sitting and changing modes of transportation), it had been a long day.

I didn’t wake up until about 9.00. So a well needed sleep. I was feeling a bit better but still a little groggy. I went downstairs and had a Japanese style breakfast of fish and rice and then went back to bed.

It was able 2.00 next time i woke up and after a shower to clear the cobwebs i was ready to take on the world. I had hiyashi chuka noodles which is a summer specialty as they are served cold. Mio and Arisa joined us for a walk around their neighborhood which we had never done before. Then Kaoru and i packed our bags and Mio took us to the train station.

We went to Togo shrine where we got married just over 12 months ago. We were given ofuda when we were married – some cards with a happy prayer on them. We needed to return these and a priest will burn them.

We then walked to Meiji Shrine, where we always go as it was the first place Kaoru took me the day we met. After a prayer we made our way back to the station and went to Nishikasai,  and found an okonomiyaki restaurant for dinner. They had some very different waysof serving than i was used to-same concept but just looked different.

Then it was back home for a couple of beers, a nice bath and then pack bags for our trip.

Flying in style. I’m coming to Japan on jetstar business class this time. Kaoru came a week ago and now I’m coming to start my holiday.

The plane took off on time from melbourne…pushed back about 1150pm Friday night. The usual routine-i left my car at Brett’s and he drove me to the airport.

Immigration was empty and my bag came off very quickly. So i found Kaoru waiting for me at 927 and we bought tickets and rushed to catch a 935 bus to Kasai and then walked to Kaoru’s parents house in Nishikasai. We had some tea and then went for lunch-soba restaurant.

I was feeling a bit sick. Burning the candle at both ends while Kaoru was away had given me a bit of a cold. So after lunch and browsing through a few hundred of Kaoru’s old photographs i had a little nap. Then we packed an overnight bag and left for Mio’s house about 4.00.

It took a couple of trains…but how good was it to be using a system that works again! The second train was very crowded but somehow we managed to get more people on. Mio picked us up from the station and took us to her house. Kozue and Kenichi and their kids were already there. So after some hello’s we started eating…

Mio knew how much i loved sushi so had organized a couple of large platters to be delivered. Because i was unwell it was a quieter night than normal. A couple of beers, some sake and some topaque that i brought from Australia was all i had. I excused myself early and had a bath for a good 5 minutes and then was in bed by 9.00.

One of the key events I was in Japan for, was the Sportec exhibition.  The Sportainment Leisure team, comprising of Mark, Jack and Mikiko, were coming to Japan for their twice-a-year meeting with Konami, to co-incide with it.  Brett wasn’t wasting his money coming – Konami continue to take, take, take, but never pay, but the knowledge they want comes from Brett.  So he took a stand and said they can pay to have him come.  He was very busy back in Melbourne anyway, with events that were unfolding at Tullamarine, so it worked out best all round.

Datascore had previously produced a glossy brochure for our product.  In the weeks leading up yo Sportec, Kaoru translated it to Japanese for us.  She wrote the replacement text on her computer, and we sent it to the publishers to put into the document.  It didn’t come out too well – formatting was shocking.  So I downloaded a trial version of Corel, and was able to tidy it up. Kaoru was also able to revise the wording in places.  We took the document to Kinkos and had it printed on glossy paper, so we had something to give people.  I can’t read the text at all, but it’s a very professional looking document, and was a good experience for Kaoru.

Kaoru and I went to Shinagawa Prince on Sunday 18th November, where we met Mikiko, so we could do some work on Japanese translations in Datascore.  Mikiko reviewed the brochure, and we ended up spending more time chatting than working.  But we got through a bit, before Mikiko had to go to another meeting at 7.00.  Kaoru and I went to Tokyo tower, which we hadn’t been to before.  We had a fantastic view of the Shinagawa area from the top.

Monday, Mikiko and I continued work on translations, and Kaoru left for work.  Jack and Mark arrived, but were tired so had a nap, before the 3 of them went to a meeting at Konami.  I didn’t bother wasting my time at it – I had a lot of Fitgenes work to do.  So I spent the afternoon on that, and caught up with the team for dinner, which was at Gonpacchi.  After dinner, Jack, Mark and I went for a massage.  It was great to lay down and relax, and it was a fairly hard massage.  I felt nice and loose afterwards, but next time, it’s not the sort of thing I want to do after a big meal and a few drinks.

Tuesday, the guys had more meetings at Konami, and I spent the day working in the hotel.  Late afternoon, Jack and I had a chat to discuss the Fixi license agreement.  Then it was back to Gonpacchi for dinner.  Dai-san joined us for dinner tonight, to give the guys a chance to catch up om what he has been up to.

After dinner, Mikiko, Mark, Jack and I went to Billboard – a stage in Roppongi area, and saw The Manhattans – a US band, which had nice, chill out music.  It was a very enjoyable night out.  Walking around Roppongi afterwards, Jack decided he needed a new suitcase.  So we went in to a “cheap” but good quality store.  I ended up buying a new one at the same time. It was about $250 but the same thing in Australia would cost a lot more.

Wednesday morning, Kaoru came to the hotel and we had breakfast together.  I packed up (by pure luck, my old suitcase fit in my new one, so I only had the one bag to carry out) and checked out of the room, leaving my bag at reception.  We then met up with the others, and caught the train to Sportec.

Sportec was held at “Big Site” – which was in a different area of Tokyo to where I had been before.  The exhibition centre was gigantic, and had several different exhibitions in it.  We met Dai-san there and he arranged our passes.  We had to give business cards to get in, so Kaoru got one from Mikiko and just gave them that.

Because Kaoru didn’t have long, before she had to leave for work, she and I looked around on our own.  Saved us getting stopped while Mark talked to some exhibitors.  Inside I had a few hats on.  I was a stadium owner to one exhibitor, developer to another, business owner at a 3rd… And Kaoru was my translator at all of them.  So I managed to get a bit of information while I was there.

I caught up with the guys after saying goodbye to Kaoru, and we walked around a bit more.  Mark and I had a go of an amazing game they had there.  Made up of 4 cameras and 4 projectors, it was basically air hockey, but you played it with your whole body.  Moving your arms and feet moved your “blocker”.  Then we had a game of “breakout”, or “arkenoid” (depending on your era).  It was quite enjoyable, and while not a serious sport, it certainly had us moving.

I was going to leave the guys after we had lunch, as I had a 2 hour train trip home, and had to pick my suitcase up on the way.  But by the time Mark and I had finished discussing some aspects of the Fixi agreement, I decided to stay for their meeting with Wellbe (Dai-san, Ishihara-san and Otto-san).  After that we went in to the Sportec Private (invitation only) party with a few guys from a council stadium that Wellbe wanted us to talk to, so had a few beers in there and watched some Japanese cheerleaders try to work the crowd up, not having any idea what they were saying.

The council guys had to leave – not sure what was going on there as we never really ended up talking to them.  So we went for dinner and met up with some other people.  This is where things turned interesting – some of them were involved in genetic research.  I was asked to give a demo of Fitgenes, which I had been talking to Mark and Jack about.  The guys there were very excited, especially when they saw reference to at least one Gene that looked familiar. They were interested in knowing more, but as I hadn’t spoken to the Fitgenes guys about this, I didn’t want to go too far.  However with some preparation before my next trip, there could be an interesting marry here.

Eventually we left, and caught a taxi back to the hotel.  I said goodbye to the guys, picked up my suitcase(s) and caught the train home.  I arrived at Fujisawa station about 11.30, and Kaoru was waiting for me there.  So we went home via Mister Donut for ¥100 donuts.  It had been a long and enjoyable few days.  We didn’t know if there was anything positive from Datascore’s perspective, but possibly a new door has opened.

I took one thursday off (which Kaoru has off work anyway) and we went to Hakone.  We left home about 8.00, so it was a pretty early start to the day.  It was about an hour by train, towards Mount Fuji.  We got a 2 day ticket which let us catch the cable car (tram), ropeway (cable car), boat and buses.  So we got a map and planned the day.

The weather was nice, albeit a bit on the chilly side.  I was starting to regret not packing a beanie or scarf!  Especially when we were on the water.  We had a nice stroll through Cedar Avenue, which was the old road between Edo (what we now call Tokyo) and Kyoto – from the days long before cars.  The Cedar trees provided shelter from the sun in summer, and the snow in winter.

As we caught the ropeway up the mountain, there was a strong smell of sulphur, and we could see steam coming out of the side of the mountain.  From the stop halfway, we walked to a closer viewing area, where the smell was quite strong, and we were given an opportunity to buy an egg that was cooked in the hot spring water.  Each egg is supposed to increase your life by 7 years (I think).  We passed on that – something about eating a black egg didn’t work for me.

It was quite late by the time we got home, and we were both very tired.  We slept on the train a bit (as you do, in Japan), and I also did a bit of Hiragana studying.  We opted for home delivery pizza for dinner.

Japan October, November and December, 2012
This was a busy trip from a work perspective – unfortunatelly not from a Datascore growth in Japan, but froma Fitgenes Project Management.  So there is not a lot to write.  The majority of my days folowed the same theme:
– Wake up
– Have breakfast
– Have a shower
– Work
– Have lunch break with Kaoru
– Work (Kaoru would go to work @1.30)
– Kaoru gets home (sometimes I would meet her at the station)
– We eat dinner (Kaoru would prepare during the day so this would be not long after she got home – usually about 8.30 though.  Sometimes I would take her out for dinner)
– Work (Kaoru would relaxin the bath)
– Go to bed

There were a few variations.  I had a couple of Japanese lessons, but it became apparent to me that they were a waste of time without the books to prepare for the lessons with (I had progressed from Introductory to Beginner, but nobody ever told me to get extra materials).  We bought the book one day, and I have made a start on it, but not enough to warrant another lesson.  When I get back home…

We went to Ryu and Naoku’s for dinner one Saturday.  As always, they introduced me to another amazing meal – Takoyaki.  I don’t know how to best describe them, but Kaoru and I have looked on line for a Takoyaki kit in Australia!  They have had their baby – this was the first time I had seen Naoku not pregnant.  It was also 12 months since Kaoru and I first met.  So we brought a bottle of champagne with us – the first drink Naoku had tasted in about 15 months.  So she was glowing after a mouthful, and Kaoru isn’t a big drinker, so Ryu and I had to drink most of it, as well as a few beers.

Their daughter was staring at me quite a lot.  I was the first Westerner she had seen and she seemed fascinated.  Maybe it was the nose…

They made a big effort to speak a lot of English.  Often if Kaoru asks them a question she will revert to Japanese, but most of the conversation was in English, which was good to know what they are talking about.

We had a customary dinner with Occhi-san.  He is in training for the world cup in November next year, so is on a diet, meaning no beer!  He has been studying English a lot lately, so enjoyed the practice.  A couple of his mates that came along were actually English teachers in Japan, so we thought Kaoru can have a night off translating.  They may know some theory, but have no idea how to talk or listen!  They may have been better if I wrote instead of talked, but they teach English by speaking Japanese?!?!?!  Go figure.  As always, it was an enjoyable night and we had a great dinner.  I even ordered one of the rounds of food!  I had to find one that was written in Hiragana, and had a picture so I knew what it was.

We went to “our” restaurant a few times while I was there.  They look after us every time we go there, and it is strange not to leave a tip for the extra service.  The first time we went, there was a different head waiter, who we hadn’t seen before.  He started to take us to one table, and then the chef recognized us (me).  He told the waiter to take us to a different (better) table instead.  Given it had been over 5 months since we had been there, it was great to get that extra personal attention.

The next few times we went, the usual waitress and head chef were there, and as friendly as ever.  On our last night, when we told them I was going back to Australia next week, the “master” (head chef / owner) came to the door and saw us out.  They knocked 10%off the bill once, and the next time gave us a ¥1000 ($12) voucher.  When we used that, they gave us another one!  So we haven’t been to many restaurants in Fujisawa – why would you when you get service like that?

I tried to be more interactive on weekends.  There was still a lot on, so I worked on some of them.  We would take time out for a walk though, and had a couple of visits to Mosburger.  We met up with Kaoru’s parents on Saturday 3rd November, for lunch.  We had tempura, and it was the first tempura restaurant I had been to.  Kaoru’s Dad knew the owner and hadn’t seen him for about 20 years.  He spoke quite a bit of English and was quite funny – certainly helped ease the situation.  Not that there was tension, but as we couldn’t communicate directly (it was all through Kaoru), it was difficult at times.

On Saturday 17th, we went to Kamakoura Shrine.  If you read back 12 months, that is the first place Kaoru took me to, but this time we were there because her neice was celebrating “7-5-3” day (best way to translate it).  Basically it’s a day that children aged 7, 5 and 3 come dressed up in their Kimono’s and pray.  A lot of the women dress up too, so it is a very colourful event.  Photos to come later.

I woke up on the plane and had some breakfast.  I then fell asleep again.  I was pretty out of it, after the long night Sunday night, long day Monday, and the sleeping tablet!  I was awake again before arriving at Narita though.

Once off the plane I went through immigration.  I had a bit of fun there, as I had written down my Australian phone number (with the leading +61).  They weren’t happy that they could contact me on it so wanted a Japanese phone number.  I managed to find my Japanese mobile, turn it on, and look up Kaoru’s number.  I had to tell them it was my girlfriend’s number.  They asked me….wait for it…”Have you ever seen her?”  Sheesh, a look through my file would show this is my 4th trip in 12 months – you’d think that would account for *something*.

Kaoru was waiting for me at the airport.  We caught the train (green car, so reserved seating) to Fujisawa.  I fell asleep on the train a couple of times – the last couple of days were catching up.  But eventually we arrived at the station.  Fujisawa feels like home – everything looks so familiar, even though it had been 5 months.  I started by going to the bank to get some money out.  Then we went to the house.

Kaoru has a bed now!  So no more rolling the futon out and making it each night, and then rolling it up each morning.  Or walking around it while it’s out.  There’s less space in the room, but it’s a good use.  The desk was sitting there, waiting for me to set up my “office” on.

And then I didn’t do much other than work, so expect a big gap in my blogging…

We woke up about 630 and looked out the window at the lake.  I was surprised to not see a mist on the water.  After a shower we packed our bags, putting most of our stuff in my backpack, and packing a day pack in Kaoru’s.  We went down for an 800 breakfast, which was a typical Japanese breakfast.  After cleaning our teeth we checked out in time to catch an 845 bus.

At the depot we put my backpack ina locker (we had a plan…read on to see it unfold) and walked for about 5 minutes to the Kegon Falls, which were very impressive.  We had a quick look around and then had to rush back to the bus stop to go the opposite direction for todays hike.  We got off at the Ryuzu Falls, which weren’t as impressive, but we hiked up to the top of them, getting a few photos along the way.

Across the highway at the top, we continued our walk, through a gate.  This warned us of a recent (last month) bear attack on a human in this area.  If you survive the earthquakes, you still have wild bears to contend with over here!  And they call Australia dangerous!

As we progressed along the waters edge, we were amused by dragging our feet through the “shimo” – all I could call these are ice worms, although the dictionary translates it to ice needles or frost columns.  From the water in the ground expanding as it chills, it comes out in thin needles of ice which stick up vertically, or across horizontally, or anything in between.

More walking had us on a boardwalk that weaved its way through the valley.  There were several people doing the walk with a tripod and camera – I was glad to just be carrying Kaoru’s light backpack with minimum food and drink in it.  The day was very cold – I had my hoodie on to keep my head warm, as well as a couple of long sleeved T’s and a jacket, however the day was sunny and my sunglasses were on all day.

We eventually got to the Yunotaki Falls, which were the most impressive.  Until we found our next waypoint involved us following the steep path up them!  My knee was starting to get quite bad again but we had come this far, so there was no turning back now!  We took it easy and by the time we were at the top, my jacket and hoodie were unzipped at the front.  The next sign we saw gave us 2 options – a 30 minute or 40 minute walk to the Onsen.  We took the shorter one through the flowers and trees, instead of the long one throughh the forest.  It was a lovely walk around the lake, which is the primary water source for all of the waterfalls we had seen.  However at areas there was a very strong sulphur smell which was quite potent.

Finally we reached the end of our 8km hike, at the Yumoto Onsen.  There we were relieved to find the free area to soak our feet in the natural hot spring water.  Apart from the smell, it how cold your legs were where your pants were pulled up, the soaking was delightful!  We dried our feet and put our shoes back on, in time to catch the bus.

En-route back to Nikko, the bus had a 5 minute stop at the depot.  Kaoru ran out and grabbed my backpack from the locker.  I was thankful for the earlier suggestion from our hotel to do this.  The extra weight to carry would have been a struggle, especially up some of the hills.

We got off the bus and went back to the Futurasan Shrine, which was open at this time.  We walked around for 20 minutes or so and prayed in there, before making our way back to the train station.

We had about 90 minutes to kill so had a very late lunch, and a hot drink, across the road from the station.  We bought a couple of Bento boxes for the 3 hour train trip home, and boarded the train.  This train was very comfortable (we had paid a little extra for it).  We could see the “budget” train on the platform next to us – people were standing on it, it was so full.  Our car was almost full as we pulled out, and within 3 stops, it had picked up all of its passengers and was chockers (I expect the whole train was).  There was plenty of leg room (not quite as much as the Shinkansen, but not far off it) and we could walk around easily.

We ate the Bento boxes on the train.  The one I had bought had an egg.  Kaoru decided she would have it, however when she attempted to crack it open, we found it wasn’t hard boiled!  So we both had egg over us (and the seat), which has been the source of humour for us for quite some time to come (everybody can feel free to make egg jokes at Kaoru when you see her).  Of course, neither of us can understand why you would buy a Bento box, at a train station, obviously to take on a train, and it would come with a raw egg, and nothing to crack it on / with.  But that’s beside the point…

The train took us right to Ofuna, so we just had to change platforms and go one stop to Fujisawa to get home.  We had to go to Mister Donut for 100 yen donuts as Kaoru was still upset about the egg incident.  A visit to the shops for some breakfast and we were back, quite exhausted but happily relaxed from a great weekend.

Kaoru was up early as usual and went for a bath.  I dozed for a while and made my way to the main house about 730 for breakfast.  After an “ohaio gozaiemasu” and green tea we went in for a typical Japanese breakfast.  Sausages, sweet omlette sytle eggs, tomato, rice, some leftovers from last night, pickled vegetables…and an Orange Juice for me.

After eating we went back to our room to tidy up and pack.  Kaoru’s Dad then took me outside to show me his wood splitter.  We took some photos and got in the car for the train station.  It was a beautiful drive through the hills and the air was warming up as we got lower in altitude.  We got to the train station with aout 3 minutes to spare so no time for a proper farewell.  We were getting on at the start of the line so the train was waiting for us, and there were plenty of seats.

45 minutes later we arrived in Utsunomiya, where we changed trains for Nikko.  We had about a 10 minute wait before it departed, so our timing was perfect.  We arrived at Nikko about 1230.  Going through the ticket machine, I found my Suica card was 90 yen (less than $1) short (for a $20 trip).  So I had to wait in the fare adjustment line before getting out of the station.

Kaoru had planned on us buying a 2 day bus pass so we went to that line.  We noticed the train home tonight was full.  We weren’t leaving until tomorrow, but in case that train was full as well, we decided to get our tickets while we were here.  We came across a slight problem – they don’t accept credit card.  And I had planned to use plastic as I was out of money and the banks were closed.  Luckily Kaoru had enough cash on her, but it was a good lesson to learn.  Buying the tickets now was a good call in the end, as we were to find out the train will be full tomorrow!  So with everything sorted, we were ready to go sight seeing!

Nikko was very busy, and the cars (and buses) weren’t moving.  We decided to walk instead, which took us about 30 minutes.  We looked at cars along the way, and at the point we would have gotten off the bus, we were already a good 15 minutes ahead of it.

We crossed the road and started up the steps to the temples and shrines.  There was a lot of maintenance being performed so some of the structures were covered.  But we were able to pay our entrance fee and see the 3 wise monkeys and other carvings in structures.  We paid our entrance fee and climbed the steps to enter the main temple.  We then saw a line, and being Japanese, we had to join it.  It was to go up 200 steps to another area, which we thought “why not”?  We weren’t expecting to be taking the steps 1 by 1 for the next hour!  This was ridiculous.  It was made even worse by the fact that the top didn’t really have anything worth seeing.  We started the long walk back down the steps.

At the bottom there was another line to join.  We had to take our shoes off so this must be a temple.  The line was stationary for a long time, but eventually moved quite well.  Then it slowed and stopped again.  We concluded that it must be a group praying room, and luckily we were in the next group because I don’t know how much more standing around I could put up with!

A bit more walking and we found a short line.  This was for the Nakiryu – the crying of the dragon.  We were taken in to a room where it was explained the acoustics were such that a sound in the right place will echo, making the sound of the dragon crying.  This was demonstrated a few times to us.  We then moved on.

It was starting to get late, but there was one more place Kaoru wanted us to go to.  Futarasan Shrine is a place for couples to go to, to help fate tie their relationship together.  Unfortunatelly it was starting to get late, and it was closing, so we put it on the “tomorrow” list, and made our way to the bus stop.

About 30 minutes on the bus took us to the end of the line.  Our hotel was another 3 stops away, but the next bus going that way was about 50 minutes away, so we opted for walking it.  What we hadn’t planned on was for the (what felt like) sub zero temperature!  We had to walk next to the lake, which didn’t help things.  It took us about 25 minutes and we were relieved to arrive in a warm room to defrost.  We were told it was 3 degrees outside, but I’d argue it was colder.

Up in our room, I decided to enjoy the Japanese lifestyle and have a bath before dinner.  It had notjing on my one the previous day – I couldn’t even stretch out!  But it was nice to be warm again, and the beer went down very well.  I was starting to think of getting out when the room began to shake.  “Great”, I thought.  The place is going to collapse in an earthquake and I’m going to be stark naked in the freezing cold!  Once it stopped (about 30 seconds) I got out and asked Kaoru about it.  She was watching the TV and finding out about it.  It was a level 2 where we were, but a level 4 back at Fujisawa, so if we were at home, we may have been sheltering under the desk and table.  The footage from a camera on a bridge in Yokohama was shown, which exhibited a violent shake for a few seconds.

I got dressed and we went down to dinner.  It was included in our room price, but served at 630 so we couldn’t be late.  It was a nice meal, and good atmosphere.  Once we finished we returned to our room and watched some TV while I worked on my blog.  Kaoru had a bath while I enjoyed another beer, and looked out the window at the lake.  We eventually called it a night, knowing we had a long day ahead of us.

What a long day.  My alarm went off at 530 and Kaoru was already up getting things ready.  I had a shower and breakfast, and we were out the door just before 630.  On the way to the train station there was a sprinkle of rain but not enough to warrant getting the umbrella out.  Nobody told the locals that though!

We waited about 5 minutes for our train to arrive.  Once seated it wasn’t too long before we fell back asleep, so the trip to Shinjuku didn’t seem that long.  We walked to the bus station which took about 10 minutes, and had a hot drink while waiting for our bus to arrive.  We pulled out of the station about 1020.

Another sleep passed the time, as well as some eating and Hirigana and Katakana practice.  We arrived in Shinasu about 1220, and were feeling peckish, so had soba noodles.  We then caught a taxi to Kaorus parents second house.  We sat down for some green tea and a “chat” (which basically means Kaoru practiced interpreting).  We were then taken to our “room”, which was the guest cottage.  This was just amazing.  We walked outside, along the garden path, to the building that was only about 5 years old.  It had a strong pine smell to it, but I don’t think there are words to describe it!  So I’ll just use the word “Japanese”.

Kaoru and I went for a walk while her parents went for a drive.  We ended up at a farm, which was fun.  There was everything you could imagine, from horse rides to “rent a rabbit” that you put on a leash and could walk around with.  You could catch a fish, put a skewer through it, and cook it on the fire.  It was awesome.

Another 30 minute walk got us home and we had a tea and more talking.  Kaoru’s Dad wanted me to have a “Japanese style” bath.  So Kaoru showed me where it was and instructed me on its use.  The best way to describe it would be like a spa but rock tiles construction.  The water level was flush with the top and I was told part of the luxury is getting in and letting the water overflow as your body disperses it.  It was very relaxing and after the sitting and long walk, just what I needed.

I was out around 530, which is about dinner time at the Kodama house.  WHAT A FEAST!!!  Tuna Sashima, Wagu beef, rice, salad, a japanese sweet potato, some beer, scallops, salad…the meat was cooked on a hot plate at the table and as soon as I took something off my plate, it was replaced with something else.  Kaoru’s parents were very impressed with my use of chopsticks.  Apparently Japanese people these days don’t use them properly.  My years of practice were recognized and earnt some good brownie points 🙂

After dinner it was Kaoru’s turn to have a bath.  Instead of going to our room though, I stayed and dried dishes and attempted to chat to her parents without her.  We managed to laugh a few times – hopefully at the same thing!  Given her father speaks no English, they made a great effort to make me feel welcome.  Once Kaoru was out of the bath she joined us, and I was invited to come back whenever I want – especially in the Spring time which is his favourite time of year out there.  And I was told to bring friends and family, and there’s a golf course nearby, and it’s in the mountains, so you’ll love it, Dad!!!

We then went to our room and made up our bed.  We watched Iron Chef in Japanese and it occurred to me that the commentators job realy isn’t necessary, as the show was enjoyable not understanding a word of it!  We eventually went to bed after a very long day.

We woke up and, once ready, checked out and caught the shuttle bus to the airport.  Check in was very quick, with my 22 kg of luggage.  The bag felt heavier than that, so I was quite relieved!

We had breakfast at a cafe, and spent time together, before saying goodbye.  I then started the long haul back home, after a very enjoyable and busy time.

It took us a couple of trains, but we worked our way to Narita.  Because it was a long journey, and we were saving money by not catching the Narita Express, we decided to spend the extra 700 yen and take the “Green Car”.  These are basically the “First Class” cars, where you get a seat, and even a food service!  I managed to get some work done on the way, and the trip just flew.

At Narita train station, we put my bags in a locker and walked down the main street.  Narita is a very nice town – I’ve only ever seen the airport until now.  We found a restaurant where we watched a man pull a live eel out of a bin (full of them), cut its head, poke a peg through its eye to hold it to the counter, cut it, gut it, and pass it to the person across the table.  He put skewers through it, after which they got cooked, and served up to us on rice for lunch!  That’s about as fresh as it gets!  It would have been ~15 minutes from swimming to being eaten!  The sauce they put on it was delicious, and we polished it all off, washed down with a beer, of course!  It was very refreshing as the weather was really starting to warm up (~27 degrees).

We went to the shrine, and walked around there.  There was a lovely garden to walk through, but very hilly so good exercise too.  But eventually we left and made our way back to the train station.  There we caught a (free) shuttle bus to the hotel we had booked in to for the night.

Our room was really nice.  We had a view of the airport, and could watch planes take off and land.  Eventually we were hungry again, and went up to the top floor for dinner, where we had a few small dishes to eat, and had a beautiful night view of the town.  We then went downstairs to the convenience store, and bought some OJ and a snack to have for breakfast the next morning, intending to have a proper breakfast at the airport, but needing something to keep us going.

Long day of work.  I met Kaoru at the train station when she got home, and we went out to “our” restaurant for our last dinner out in Fujisawa together.  As always, we were greeted with a friendly smile, and it was nice having a “local” restaurant.  Pity there isn’t a no smoking area in it, but it wasn’t too bad.

Long day of work.  I met Kaoru at the train station when she got back, and we went out for dinner.  We had a place in mind that we wanted to look at, but they didn’t have a table, so we found another restaurant, which was quite nice.

More catching up on work.

Today was back to reality – a busy work day.

I then made sushi for dinner, to have my last time before making it at home.

Todays plan is for some exercise before going home.  And what better way than a hike?

It looks like a nice little hike.  Through the shrine, up a few steps, and we’d be at the Peace Pagoda.  How easy is that?  Then we started doing the hike…

Lots of steps (but what’s new?), and very steep.  Then we got off the steps, and the trail was not very well marked.  We ended up not knowing where to go, and wondered if we were actually going to make it to the top!  But after a lot of wandering, we eventually made it, and the view was worth it!

The hike back down was following the road, so much more straight forward.  We had checked out of our hotel, but we walked past it and refilled my camel back so we would have some more water for the day.  We then caught the trolley car across town, and ended up at the Hiroshima Castle.

The castle grounds are quite large, and a lot of people were picnicing in them, and enjoying the sunshine of this beautiful May afternoon.  After a wander around the grounds, we went inside the castle.  No cameras were allowed, so nothing to show.  But each floor illustrated some of the history of the castle.  At the top, we were presented with another great view of Hiroshima.

We then made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags, and caught the Shinkansen back home.  It was a long trip, but eventually we were back in Fujisawa.

After dinner we decided to go for a couple of drinks.  We went to an “English” bar, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as the Aussie Bar in Hiroshima.  We talked about what a wonderful weekend it had been.

Today was a casual start to the day.  After a shower, we went to a cafe outside the train station for some breakfast.  Then we filled my camelback with water and ice, and were met at 10.20 to start our *guided* tour for the day.  This was in English, and our trip had 30 people on it – about 23 Poms, a few Aussies and a couple from Switzerland.  Kaoru was the only Japanese person on it (other than the guide, and bus driver).

Our first destination was Miyajima – ranked as one of the three best views in Japan.  After a scenic 20 minute bus ride, we arrived at the port, where we caught the 15 minute ferry ride over.  Unfortunately the Torri Gate, floating in the high tide, got damaged in the storms early April.  So it was surrounded with scaffolding preventing us from seeing it.  Once off the boat, we were walked around the shopping strip of the island, and had the “recommended places to eat at” pointed out.  Having already had Okonomiyaki, I didn’t pay much attention.  Kaoru and I thought we’d find somewhere nice later anyway.

Our tour continued through the Shrine.  The tide was out, and as mentioned, the Torri gate was covered in scaffolding, but other than that, it was a great tour.  At its conclusion, we were given a couple of hours of “free time” to explore the island.  Naturally, I did something a little different.  Kaoru and I walked up a “back street”, and ended up finding another small shrine, a bit of a hike up the mountain.  From here we had some amazing views back out at the island, and the bay.  Once we came back down, we went through the main Shrine again, so we could stop and pray.  This is a very spiritual place for the Japanese, so I couldn’t deprive Kaoru the opportunity to pray here.  As we walked through, we came across a wedding party – a Japanese lady and a French man.  We walked past them, prayed at the Shrine, and started walking back to the meeting place, looking for some lunch on the way.  We found what would have to be the smallest carpark I’ve ever seen!

We found lunch at a nice little stall – I had a fish stick with bacon and cheese (and a beer), and Kaoru had one with Shrimp.  We were still hungry, so split a 3rd with Oyster – the other famous food in the area.  We then continued our walk back to the ferry.  Along the way, we stopped in a Soy Sauce shop.  I had never seen so many different flavour soy sauces!  I thought it was just a single flavour, but these all had a slightly different flavour to them.  I tried an orangey one – it was quite nice!

We left the shop and looked at the time – we were now running a couple of minutes late, so hurried through the rest of the markets and re-joined the group to catch the ferry back to the main land.  Our bus was waiting for us there, and took us back to Hiroshima, so we could see the Peace Park / Memorials / etc.

We started at the A-Bomb Dome.  This is the ruins of the only building still standing from the a-bomb.  It is between the target (a bridge) and the point the bomb detonated at, and gives you an appreciation of the destructive power of the bomb.  From there, we walked around the Peace Park – to the monuments that have been erected, the Peace Flame (which will not go out until there are no more nuclear weapons), and other key sites.  Then we went in to the museum, which showed us some before and after shots, and a Diaorama depecting the impact of the explosion.  There was a wall that had a copy of all the protest letters written by the mayor of Hiroshima prior to all nuclear arms tests that have been made.  There was a copy of the order given that the bomb would be dropped.  Memories of my trip to Pearl Harbour started to come back.

After 90 minutes of our own time in the museum, we were returned to our hotel after a very emotional and enjoyable day.  We had a juice, and went up to our room to decide what to do for the evening.  We caught a street car to the underground shopping centre, and after a wander around there, bought noodels for dinner.  We then went to “Southern Cross” – an Australian / Kiwi bar, which was very enjoyable.  The publician was a Kiwi who didn’t speak much Japanese (so he claimed – but I’m sure he spoke more than he let on, given he had been in the Country for 9+ years), and most of the customers were ex-pats.  There were only a couple of Japanese girls in there (and Kaoru, of course).  So we had a couple of drinks and a chat with the publician, and then caught the street car (tram) back home.

We woke up fairly early this morning, as we had a bit to do before leaving the house, and hadn’t packed.  Kaoru still had no idea where we were going, other than we were taking the Shinkansen (bullet train).

From Fujisawa we caught a local train to Yokohama, then a local train to Shin-Yokohama, where we hopped on the fastest of the bullet trains.  This told Kaoru the direction we were going, so she thought it must be Kyoto we are going to.  The Shinkansen is very big and roomy – much more leg room than an aeroplane!  And a very wide walkway.  We had a sleep on the train, which we both needed.  As we pulled in to Kyoto, Kaoru started to get confused – she couldn’t imagine where else we could be going.  I did a bit more Hiragana reading on the train.

Eventually the train arrived at our destination – Hiroshima.  By the time we got out of the train station and found the hotel (which was next to the station – luckily), it was nearly 3.00 (check in time over here).  So we were able to go straight up to our room on the 18th floor, with a beautiful view of the city.

We had been sitting most of the day so needed some exercise.  So we grabbed a map from reception and started wandering.  We found Shukkeien – a beautiful Japanese garden to walk around.  We only had an hour before closing time, so we had to walk fast, but still took time to look and enjoy the scenery.

From there, we walked in to, and around, Hiroshima City.  On the way we found a wall full of vending machines, which I had to get a photo of.  We had eaten lunch at 12.30, so weren’t too hungry, but decided we should eat once it was 7.00.  We found an Okonomiyaki restaurant – the traditional food of Hiroshima.  I had eaten this once before – the first meal I had the first day Kaoru showed me around Tokyo, 6 months ago.  We were very full after eating it all, and the walk back to the hotel was good for working a bit of it off.

Kaoru’s Birthday.

Woke up to a beautiful, sunny day.  I cut back on work, but still had a bit to do.  We went for our usual morning walk.

After lunch, I walked Kaoru to the train station for her to go to work.  I then had to buy Shinkansen tickets for our surprise trip away for Kaoru’s birthday.  But for some reason, my AMEX was declined!  I tried my VISA – that was declined too!  I then tried my Datascore Visa (totally different account) – also declined!  OK, this is going to make things interesting, as last time I tried to withdraw cash, it rejected the transaction when I tried to get out too much.  Back at the Citybank ATM, I found that the limit was only on a single transaction, so by splitting it in to 2, I was able to withdraw enough cash and pay for our trip.

I had lost about 90 minutes with all the dicking around (walking home to check that I had money in the account, before going to the bank to get money out), so I felt behind all afternoon with work.  Kaoru rang from the train station, as she got in early, so I went in to meet her and take her out to dinner.

We went to our “usual” restaurant in Fujisawa.  They recognise us when we walk in now, which is great.  Kaoru reckons it’s because of me (we haven’t seen other Westerners in there).  They were very busy (we were lucky to get a table) but enjoyed another wonderful feast, and even skipped 100 yen donuts, we were so full!  On our way out, we were given a 1000 yen (~$12) coupon for our next visit, so that was nice of them.

It was raining today, so we missed our walk.

I had an interesting experience – trying to find a Birthday Card for Kaoru.  Finding card shops in a strange Country is not as easy as you’d think.  They were on the 5th floor of a store, so it took a lot of wandering, but I eventually got it all sorted.

Other than that, just work.

Back to boring Daz.  Worked today, with a walk break.

Mothers Day.

After sending an e-card to Mum, Kaoru and I left for Clematis no Oka.  This was our day planned to spend with Hiro and Yasuko.  I didn’t know where exactly it was, but I did notice that after quite a bit of travelling, we were considerably closer to Mount Fuji.  In fact, we passed one of the Shinkansen stops for going to the mountain!  There were some amazing views of it, but I hadn’t gotten my camera out yet, so thought I’d save that for the return trip.  To have the mountains on one side, and the water on the other, was just beautiful.

After an early lunch, we walked around the grounds to admire the lovely flowers, and interesting sculptures.

I’ve got to say, I’m pretty happy with the quality of the photos that come out of my camera.  A worthwhile investment indeed!

After a wander around the gardens, we were treated to a performance by a guitar and a harp.  I had never seen a harp played before, and it was quite interesting to see the technique.  The music was very relaxing, and the four of us had trouble staying awake.  I could see other people in the audience drifting off too!  Maybe I should get a CD for when I can’t get to sleep at night!

After the performance the weather had turned cloudy.  For the last week, the mornings have started with beautiful blue skies, and in the afternoon it has turned cloudy and cooled off a bit.  This is apparently quite uncommon for Japan in May.  So it meant the photos I had hoped to get of Mount Fuji on the way home weren’t to be :(.  This is the closest I’ve made it so far, and I won’t be back for a while, but oh well – shit happens.

I got a photo of Hiro and Yasuko, and we started the long trip home.  The book we were given when we entered the grounds had a lot of Kanji in it, but it had Hiragana translations, so I spent much of the ride practicing my reading.  It certainly made the trip seem quicker for me – not sure about for Kaoru though, who spent the whole time correcting my (many) errors!

Back at the house I got on Skype to Dad.  It was just after 7.00 Melbourne Time, and Mum was busy with cleaning up after dinner, so I checked they would be available in the evening for me to Skype them.  Kaoru and I went out to dinner in Fujisawa, as we were hungry and didn’t want to worry about cooking after such a nice day out.  Once we got back, we were able to wish Mum a Happy Mothers Day and have a chat with them.

And once again, we are at the end of an enjoyable weekend.

My first reading!

Today I downloaded and read a book in Hiragana!  It was bloody hard, especially as I don’t know the words (although there were a few sounds that were familiar, and I was able to recognise them).  Kaoru had the idea of a childrens book, as that was about all I could get that is in just Hiragana (ie, no Katakana or Kanji).  I put myself in David’s shoes as he does his readers – although he at least knows the words!  Kaoru was very patient, correcting me as needed (which was quite frequent).  All in all, I think it was a great experience.  It allowed me to learn exceptions (such as “Ha” becoming “Wa” under some circumstances), and much more enjoyable than looking at single letters on number plates.

Other than that, we didn’t do much.  I worked, we went grocery shopping, went for a walk…