Heading Home

Well time has come and we have packed a lot into our last 5 days in tokyo.

Legs are sore from walking and standing, have ridden subways, trains, bullet trains, trams and taxi's twice.  Certainly had a pretty full agenda and not had much down time, which was great.

Imperial Gardens - Tokyo

 Everyone has got on extremely well, and credit to the group how flexible and tolerant everyone is.

Tokyo - was Harry's favourite city and certainly is impressive in terms of its efficiency.. a city of somewhere between 15-20M people can run so smoothly.  You get what you would expect in terms of bright lights, big crowds, little lane ways and cafe's,  beautiful gardens etc.  Traffic is pretty smooth.




A few little oddities, on the weekend and public holiday the main street in ginza is closed off and it becomes a pedestrian street.  However nothing is put out in the streets in terms of markets, tables, entertainment, just they seem to have thousands and thousands out and about.  It seems like everyone comes out of their apartments to stroll the streets in their most fashionable clothes and go out for lunch. We have seen plenty of restaurants with que's that would be a least an hour long.  This is surprisingly common and most of the restaurants are also very plain. (e.g. american cafe's, waffle shops, pizza shops, and some fine dining places)

I think its a seat not a demonstration 

The impossible crowds in the aptly named Takeshita street, in the Harajuau district where the young people come out dressed up in their bizarre costumes.  Placed was packed and the people in their weird and wacky costumes were spread throughout the district.

The Japanese seem to have an unhealthy fascination with manga that seems to disturbingly sexualise schoolgirl images.  Also see plenty of bizarre sights like people taking there dog for a walk, with the dog in a pram.. In fact the boys invented a game - dog or baby when in the distance a lady approaching with a pram, you had to guess if it was a dog or a baby they had in the pram.












Crowds at disneyland were enormous, to the point that if you wanted to go on rides and didn't get as fast pass, it would be impractical, as the que for all the rides are between 70-90 minutes. If you wanted to look at the attractions this is fine, which was lucky as this was Harry's highlight.

Wild West Saloon Disneyland

Boys all had their own different highlights and each had a different favourite city. Even the last day here, we have checked out and caught the trains all over the city and ended up now in the lobby killing time waiting for sensible time to get the train to Narita..

tokyo

Arrived in tokyo via the bullet train.  As you would expect, precise, clean and efficient.

 We were staying in the Ginza district which is known for entertainment and nightlife.  One street back from Ginza corner and the neon lights, we were in a great location surrounded by lots of restaurants, bars and a general hub of activity.

Was good just being here and soaking up the atmosphere of the place.   The next day we met and went to Akihabara, the electronics or tech stations.   Kids enjoyed looking around, there was also a heap of weird manga / anime shops, selling everything unusual.

Other highlights of the last few days below were...

Exhibition Hall in Ginza

Temple as memorial to WW11 Air raids in Tokyo

Some of the boats on the river in downtown Tokyo

Frozen Tuna before they are cut up into Sushi at the Fish markets

Also visit the Ghilbi Museum, on the outskirts of Tokyo.. This is/was the home to one of the pioneers in japanese anime/film.  Building was quite quirky and included a lot of his drawings and inventions over time.

Went to Shibuya station which is home to one of the busiest intersections in the world. Just sitting and watching the world go by was an experience in itself.

We were lucky enough to be passing the Sumo Hall and whilst the main tournaments were not being held until next month, they would be having a training session in preparation for the big event on Saturday morning at 7am.. So Saturday morning came around and we got there to find an already pretty big crowd had gathered.  Was bit bizarre watching these massive fat japanese guys who are revered for their size and skill battle each other in 30 second bouts.

Hiroshima

This morning woke up in our Rokyen and rolled up our little mats..   I don't where the notion that sleeping on the floor can be good for your back.  I  hardly slept and my back was sore and felt like I had been playing football the day before.

There seemed to have a been a reasonable rain event that had settled in and it didn't look like easing.  We walked into the main centre near the peace park and split up and got lost finding a starbucks for a morning coffee.  

Still raining later that morning we met up again at the peace park, which is a big park dedicated to remembering the atrocities of the Atomic Bomb that wiped Hiroshima off the map in 1945.

There is a "A Bomb building" which from the photos was about the only part of the city left standing.  I   can not begin to describe the utter devastation from the photos and footage you see, however it is one of the most sobering experiences and for me even more so than visiting Omaha beach in Normandy which I did a few years ago.

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Picture of Hiroshima after the A Bomb and also shows the building above which is one of the only remains that wasn't completely obliterated.

Another thing that also stands out is the fact the entire city has been rebuilt in the last 60 years.  Like other japanese cities it is certainly modern, organised and well laid out. The message from the peace park memorials is that humanity should never use this type of nuclear weaponry again as it has potential  to wipe out life on the planet. We didn't get into any deep discussions with the locals but for the older people living here they must have been affected through family members lost etc etc  and it must be hard to accept.

Still raining we got our bags and headed for the bullet train bound for Tokyo...

Day 3 and 4

This morning we headed out to a Bamboo grove again in the foothills of Kyoto.  Was really worthwhile, not only did we see these but again some world heritage gardens, temples, old shogun buildings.

In the afternoon Hoopers and Slates went to a Japanese "Movie World" type place...was probably aimed at younger kids but we did get to see the entire collection of power rangers ever made..

That night after a more traditional dinner we finished the night with a few drinks that turned into  a bit of a blowout last night in Cafe Luigo or something like that. It must of been the strange food or something in the drinks because was difficult to walk straight and I remember staggering back to the hotel around midnight, fortunately we only had around 30 meter walk back to the hotel.

This morning we caught a bullet train down to Hiroshima which took around 90 minutes. Got there still feeling more than a little seedy and got some hangover fuel outside the station.  Actually another quirky thing about japan is the lack of bins.. there doesn't seem to be any rubbish on the grounds and yet you can never find a bin.  Also the whole place is so clean and orderly, no graffiti anywhere.. not even public transport. Great to think there is societies where people don't feel the need to do it.

From here caught a tram into town, and eventually found our way to our Ryoken, this  is a traditional japanese inn.  The old lady who runs this is extremely helpful and obviously a natural people person, she really makes you feel welcome.

We decided to go to Miyajima island where they have the famous O-torii Gate and world heritage gardens.  As you can see in some of the photos the gardens again were stunning and has been a real highlight for me.  When we arrived by the ferry the tide was out and you could walk out to the gate.

After we walked our way up towards a cable car that ran up the mountain.. The mountain range on the island went up around 600 metres so the views from the top were pretty impressive.  When we got back  down a hour or so later, the tide had come in so we got another few photos of the O-Torii Gate with water around it.

The island itself is home to a lot of deer that wander around the streets and shops and don't seem the least bothered by people or cars.

Hiroshima, doesn't get the attention in the tourist guides like Kyoto and Tokyo, but even in the small amount of time we have had here it certainly seems to be a lovely city and well worth coming to.

Had dinner at a little bar and grill place around the corner and decided for an early night.

Day 2

That afternoon we went up into the Gion district and which are nestled in the foothills of koyto.  We walked up into the mountains to look at  a number of the temples and pagodas.  We got some great views of the city and could see the mountains the wall the city to the east, north and west.

One of the largest was the Kiyomizu temple, which is over 1200 years old and the area is certainly a mecca for tourists. The temple is set on massive wooden poles bulit into the side of the mountain.

Being a Sunday there were a lot of local tourists, however surprisingly only a handful of westerners. There were quite a few ladies dressed in the colorful Kimono's and a few Geisha girls.

The trees in the hills were stunning and the walk up to the top really worthwhile, despite the crowds and tourist shops everywhere.

So after walking all day we were all pretty tired and decided to cab it back to the hotel..  We were recommended a place nearby for dinner and it was also ranked number one on trip advisor.  We got the concierge at our hotel to make us a booking and the only proviso was we had to order a drink with our meals, which we thought we could manage.

Sitting down for dinner at Gogjo after a long day walking Kyoto.

The food and drinks here compared to Perth are surprisingly cheap, maybe its the strength of the $A. But a main meal for dinner will be somewhere between $6 and $15. Beer available from vending machines, supermarkets are around $2 -$3 per can and softdrinks around $2.

Have been unable to get cash out of the ATM machines, and have looked up the guide books and this surprisingly is pretty normal.  I will need to wait until monday to go into a bank to use ATM or exchange cash. Even a few of the hotels I have asked don't seem to exchange currency.

Arriving into Koyto

3 Dads, 3 Sons - adventure bound we set off for 10 days in Japan.

Couple of long flights via KL and we arrived with about an hours sleep each.   Still good to arrive and we landed in Kansai airport  at around 8am ..  Kansai airport  is around 40 mins out of Osaka..

Validated our rail passes and caught a train to Koyto.. with guide maps in hand we then connected to the local subway and walked with suitcases until we found our best western hotel in the central and shopping district of Kyoto.

Unfortunately we couldn't check in until 3pm and so decided to go exploring.. Dog tired we had some food and caught the subway to Nijo Castle... This is a castle built in the 16th century by the ruling Shoguns...  It is a massive white walled castle surrounded by a big moat set in the most stunning of Japanese gardens.. a lot of the cherry blossoms had finished their flowering however there were still brilliant coloured Azaleas, Rodedenrums, camellias lining the paths, with a backdrop of different coloured maples, flowering crab apples  and big bonsai looking trees.

Wandered back and checked in and freshened up before heading out for the arvo..

Found a great beer shop and mini mart next door.. Dads tried a few beers, whilst the boys went shopping for a purple 3 toed sloth.

As mentioned the hotel is really well located and in the heart of Koyto, found a Japanese barbecue type place next door that had the hotplates set into the tables.  The tables were sunken and it had a charming warm atmosphere.. Had some great food and beer.

Stumbled back to our rooms exhausted but a great afternoon of soaking up a little bit of their culture.


Day 2 - woke up around 6 ish and went out wandering.. came across Scott doing the same thing and so we decided to walk up to the river which is around 10mins away.. then we strolled along towards Gion district which is the cultural heart of koyto.. Gion is famous for its cobblestone lanes leading up into the mountains in one of the last traditional Geisha Girl areas.   However didn't make it to Gion and saving that for tonight..

The little walk was a highlight also, in the near distance you can see the green mountains and the river is probably  from the snow melt in the mountains, there is a walking strip along the river that is part of whats called "the philosophers walk"  again magnificent cherry trees, crab apples, flowering trees, soft maples, line the river and on the other side of the river is a mass of lane ways in 2-3 storey houses of timber / stone design.

Off to the golden temple, which is in the outer districts of  koyto, however once there you feel like you in the mountains, which do provide a backdrop to the area.

From here we then caught the bus back and went for a walk and found the imperial gardens.

These are in the middle of the city and would probably be at least 100 ha's in size.  The gardens is an understatement really, they have several sections which includes water features, temples, grassed areas and even a few baseball fields.

Being in Japan we managed to score some front row seats for the boys at the baseball.

Seating was pretty limited but we knew we were in luck when we scored these.

Further around the gardens we all got the cameras out and took some beautiful photos over the temples/bridges and water features.

Was fairly brisk, even though well into their spring here the weather was probably around 15 but had a strong wind chill factor.