Day 28 - There and Back Again...

So I'm back in Derby. It's hard to believe that I woke up yesterday in Tokyo. Leaving the house in Tokyo was difficult, I gave everyone a hug before leaving.

Then I took the train to Narita Airport, dropped my bag off and waited for my plane. I found a shop selling interesting flavour KitKats, so I had to buy them, and I had to have one last drink of Green tea before leaving. And some Pocky.

I eventually had to board the plane, though I didn't really want to. It was about a 12 hour flight to Amsterdam, then a 4 hour wait there, then an hour flight to Birmingham. I was very happy to see my Dad and Niki again.

They wanted their gifts immediately (should have known) so after arriving home having being awake for over 22 hours, I gave them the Nikka 'From the Barrel' whisky, the sake and the chopsticks, which were greatly appreciated. I also opened all the other souvenirs, and got to bed around half 12. That's 8:30am Japanese time. Thanks, guys.

I slept really, really well, and now I'm sat on the sofa going through pictures with my family.

As for my budget, excluding money spent on souvenirs, I was about £100 pounds under my budget. All in all, including flights and the Japan Rail pass, this trip cost £2,400.

I can safely say that going on this trip was the best decision of my life so far. I had so much fun, met so many amazing and interesting people. I cannot thank my Dad enough for suggesting I did this 2 years ago. Best idea ever.

So I guess this is the end! I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

Till next time,

Sayounara. :)

My Japanese mum

Day 27 - Souvenir Shopping...and a great last meal

I went back to Asakusa today, and had some yummy treats while I was there, all of which were filled with a sweet red bean paste. I also bought a drink from this funny guy on the street.

My favourite souvenirs I bought were chopsticks. I just loved buying them, I felt like I was in a wand shop! The type of wood matters and the length matters and they were so beautiful.


                                                  

Then I went home, and I had a nice chat for a few hours with Aiko and the mum, before going to the station with the mum to pick up the French girl who I am sharing a room with tonight. She is lovely, it's a shame I wont get to spend more time with her.

I also went to the supermarket to get my Dad some Nikka whisky and Sake. I later discovered in a different supermarket the Nikka 'From the Barrel' whisky I had wanted to buy, that the other supermarket didn't have. So I went home, collected the original bottle, returned it to the first place, then went and bought the other bottle. This whisky had better be pretty amazing. Not that I'll be able to tell anyway :P

The mum made a big dinner and we all ate together, it was so nice. I'm glad we all got to eat together for my last dinner. I wont be forgetting this family anytime soon.

I went upstairs and packed after dinner, which took ages because of all the new stuff I've bought, but I had company so it wasn't so bad.

I can't believe I leave tomorrow. This has gone so fast.

My last post, Day 28, will be up later than usual. I'll probably write it up on Sunday morning when I'm back in Derby.

Lots of love to everyone still reading.

Day 26 - National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and Asakusa

Today I saw Asimo the robot! He/She/It was really cool. I watched a little show at 12:30, and then the main demonstration at 2pm. It did loads of stuff, the most exciting of which was running and kicking a ball. All of its little hand gestures probably would have seemed much more impressive if I could understand what it was saying, but it was still very cool.

The rest of the museum was very interesting as well, there were so many different exhibits, I won't go into them here. I bought 2 Asimo rulers and an Asimo mousepad from the shop, and it didn't even cost £5 altogether. So cheap! :)

Anyway I rushed off to return the Japanese phone I had borrowed at my friend's office, but I hadn't planned on going today, so I had to go into this huge posh building with lots of suits walking around wearing denim shorts, a fluorescent yellow top and a bright blue rucksack. I felt like I fit right in.

I did, however, get some unexpectedly great views of the bridge on the train over there, and I even got a decent photo from the train :)

After that mildly embarrassing experience I went to Asakusa to do some souvenir shopping. I managed to find some wooden slippers for my kimono and I got some other goodies, but I got there quite late and shops started closing, so I'll go back again tomorrow morning. Then I might go to Shibuya for a bit....I'm not sure yet.

I found a restaurant and ordered Tuna sushi. There were 7 pieces, the 3 in the middle aren't very fatty (fatty in tuna is good), the 2 at the bottom are medium fatty and the 2 at the top are extra fatty. It was seriously good.

Anyway, I'm going to go and have a shower and prepare for my last full day in Tokyo tomorrow!!!

Day 25 - Back to Tokyo, Hard Rock Cafe and Ginza

I arrived in Tokyo at about 2pm after sleeping solidly for the entire train journey. Actually I did mange to stay awake long enough to eat my bento box! I had seen these at every station I had been in, and today I just went ahead and bought a little one. It was nice and filling, and it came in a really cool box :)

I went home and dropped my bag off, then headed straight back out to Roppongi, where the Hard Rock Cafe is. I arrived at about 4 and bought a hoodie. I didn't wait to eat there, but I took some photos and listened to the bands' rendition of Ghostbusters. Which was really funny.

I stopped off at Ginza on the way home, which is a posh shopping district. There were lots of shops like Armani, Gucci etc, and I felt really underdressed compared to everyone else, which was kinda funny. I went into the big Sony store, and there were loads of random fish tanks!? It was strange, but cool. I didn't stay for long before heading back home.

I went to McDonalds on the way (I'd like to see you eat nothing but Japanese food for a month, straight) and for dessert I went to get a pie. There were pictures of cherries where the pies were kept, and I could see there was a flavour other than apple, so I got really excited. The packaging was yellow, and gave no indication of the flavour, so I bit into it, excited to discover a new sweet treat...

It was a bacon and potato pie. I almost laughed out loud on the spot. It was savoury! I ate it though, and then I went back to get an apple pie :P

I'm back home now, and excited for the Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation tomorrow!

Day 24 - Shitennoji Temple, Osaka Castle, Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel and Dotonbori again. Whew!

This morning my Dorm-mate and I went to Shitennoji temple, the oldest buddhist temple in Japan. We were lucky enough to be there to witness the morning prayer, which was really cool. There were about 5 monks, and thy sang their prayer in unison (sort of) and it was very interesting to watch. After a while they started to circle the big buddha statue in the middle, and when they got to the front again, they'd throw a few pieces of coloured paper, like big confetti. Then they'd start to circuit round again, and this other monk or temple worker or something would come and quickly pick up all the bits of paper from the floor. Then the monks would get back to the front and throw more paper! And the poor guy just kept cleaning up after them. I felt a little bit bad watching him, but it was also kind of amusing...

After that, we went to Osaka castle. It was slightly different to Matsumoto, in that it was so newly rebuilt, and there was an elevator inside and air conditioning throughout the building. And marble floors. Basically it was a new building, with an old-style exterior. The outside did look really nice though, and the views at the top were pretty awesome. While in the castle I bumped into the girl I met in Miyajima, and the German teacher from last night!

Dorm-mate and I

I went to the bay area on my own after that because the weather was good and  I wanted to go on the ferris wheel. I waited a little longer to go in the transparent car (of which there are only 4), but it was really worth it, the views were so good, I only wish I had more time in there! It was about 15 minutes to go round once.

I headed back to the hostel to get showered up and then Justine and I headed out back to Dotonbori because I realised I hadn't seen the most famous attractions! The running Glica mad and the river! So we went and got our picture there, then we went looking for some food and I found a really good gyoza (dumpling)  place :)

For dessert, we went to Starbucks. Before you say or think anything, I know Starbucks is a rip off and it isn't even Japanese etc etc. But I couldn't just walk past a green tea frappuccino without trying it once! And it was really good! A lot of people don't seem to like the green tea flavour very much, but I love it :)

Only in Japan would they hand write 'Thank You' on every cup...

We headed home after that, and I have just finished packing fro Tokyo tomorrow. I can't believe it's already time to go back to Tokyo...but I'm really looking forward to seeing my family there again.

Till tomorrow!

Day 23 - Aquarium and Dotonbori

It took me 7 trains to get to the aquarium this morning. It should have taken me 2. It's because whilst I was on the train to the correct station, I was misled by my guide into thinking that I had to go to a different station, so I transferred twice to get to that station, then realised I was in completely the wrong place, met two Swiss brothers who were also trying to get to the aquarium, then we all made our way to the correct station, which required 3 more trains. It was frustrating, but I had company for the second half, and I was under no time pressure. We finally made it to the aquarium around midday, after about 2 hours, and stopped to get lunch before going in.

The aquarium was very busy, despite it being a weekday. There were lots of elderly people and lots and lots of very little people, but despite this, it was still a nice aquarium. All my pictures are rubbish from  the low light, and I'm not sure how good my videos are either, but the whale sharks were very cool. I also loved the jellyfish, but the highlight for me were the Japanese Giant Spider Crabs that stood on their back 6 legs with their front two raised up. They were so massive, and so creepy, and I don't think I had seen that type of crab before, so that was my favourite part.

These are from Google Images...Mine were rubbish.

It only took around an hour and a half to go around, and the weather was so bad today that I didn't think it was worth going on the Ferris wheel nearby, so we went briefly into the 'Marketplace' opposite the aquarium, but it was basically a small mall. I did buy some Hello Kitty chopsticks though, just because I couldn't leave Japan without having purchased something from one of the many Hello Kitty shops. Yes, they have whole shops dedicated to Hello Kitty merchandise. This country is crazy for kitties.

I went back to my hostel around 3ish and on my way, as I was going up the escalator in the subway station, I saw a girl going down waving at me and I realised they were the cousins I had met in Nijo Castle in Kyoto! What a little coincindence! Anyway back at my hostel I had some down time before heading out to a place called 'Dotonbori' which is basically this long street with loads of alleyways and there are just hundreds of shops and restaurants, and it's all lit up and lively at nighttime. I started walking down the main street and I thought I saw the same guy that I had shown the way to the hostel in Hiroshima, but he didn't see me and I wasn't sure it was him, so I walked on.

Then I turned around. If it was him, I couldn't just ignore him, and sure enough, he saw me and he was the same person! Crazier coincidence! We found a busy Okonomiyaki place (someone had said to me in Hiroshima that the Okonomiyaki here is really different to in Hiroshima and that I had to try it) and ate outside in the main street. I found out that he was a high school teacher of Maths and Geography, which made me feel a little weird at first because all of a sudden I felt like I was hanging out with one of my teachers in Osaka :P but we chatted for like an hour after eating and it was just really awesome.

Dotonbori itself was a really cool street with crazy things above restaurants like a giant octopus and a giant crab and dragons. And everything was lit up, and it was really bustling with people. The atmosphere was just great, I may go back tomorrow night :P

But for now, I'm really tired, as you may have already garnered from the quality of writing in this post, so I'm going to go to sleep.