Well we’re back in the UK now and feeling tired. It was not too early a start, but we still went straight from the hotel to Shinjuku station, then on to Narita. As we both felt we’d spent less than we expected so we treated ourselves to upgrades to World Traveler Plus (30,000 yen each, about £150). For me it was worth it as you get extra room, and full leg supports. I got the feeling that while Dave was happy for the extra room, it wasn’t such good value for him, but then he paid the penalty for being some what taller than me.

Got a few more pictures I’m hoping to upload tonight, then that will be it. In the end I’ve got 333 on my hard drive, and probably deleted another 60-70 more. Some, like an action series from the baseball game, were never going to be put online.

Tonight our original intentions were to see a live baseball game, especially if the Yomura Giants were playing at home (they have one player who is on 499 home runs), however all three Tojyo teams were playing away. Instead we decided to hit a popular sushi bar recommended in one of the guides. Unfortunately, probably due to my mental winding down (due to the holiday coming to the end) I was jsut not hungry (also the large lunch wouldn’t have helped).

From the sushi restaurant we went for a walk and ended up at one of the Kirin chain of bars, where we stayed for a couple of hours having a few relaxing draft beers. Next stop was a coffee house across the road for a final coffee and cake (or ko-he to ca-ke in Japanese). It was not a cheap place, but my cake was effectively a whole load of layers of thin pankakes and double cream. Very rich, very fattening, and very very nice.

Strangely enough we ended up back at the baseball alley for a few more rounds on the batting machines.

Unagi (eal) is an expensive and popular dish in Japan. It is also expensive, with some restaurants jsut specialising in it. The parents of Dave’s Japanese teacher, Kaori, happen to own one restaurant in a residential area, Eitaibashi. On the way there Dave started to work out what to say, assuming they wouldn’t be expecting us, not would be able to speak English.

We eventually found the restaurant, walked in and found Kaori had warned them we’d probably be coming at some point. Also her Mother spoke better English than our Japanese. The meal was all eal course, and nice, though I’m no longer used to large lunches (as a whole) and ran out of steam. Also I think I had jsut a tad too much eal, even though it was nice.

We stayed for some conversation, then photos, and then went to leave. We tried to pay, but Kaori’s parent’s refused, even though we offered a few times. This was very generous of them as eel is not cheap, the menu outside had set emals starting at ~1400 yen and rising to over 3k, and we were certain they had cooked for us the top one.

Well we’ve made it back to Tokyo and have spent the afternoon shopping. In the evenign we decided to go for some yakitori at a izakya round the corner from the hotel. Bad move. The menu board outside meant ordering was easy, however there was much neither of us particularly liked and some I couldn’t eat beyond a taste – too much grissle and bone for me.

A wander round lead to some more pitching/batting practice at the local baseball arcade, followed by a wander. We decided to hit a small bar and it seemed nice until we noticed the costs – 1000 yen per drink – about a fiver. By this stage we were on drinks 4 and 5 total so after that left and went for coffee and cake.

Shinkansen seats were reserved last night so as per usual we jsut need to turn up in time.

I’ve uploaded a couple of photos from Gion from last night in to the last pictures gallary.

There was a company eating/drinking do going on in the dumpling place. The junior was instructed to talk to us, though he kept having to ask his colleagues for help on English. As Dave was by them, he was the one who kept getting hassled. It was a bit of a pain for a while until suddenly they started passing round beer ….

Well tonight, as planned, we took the shinkansen from Kobe to Kyoto, then the subway round to Gion. Wish we’d come here when we were in Kyoto as I had the wrong camera with me so only got a couple of photos (might trim out some Himeji pictures so I can post them). Day time tbhis place would have been good, but in the evening, in the central part jsut of Shinbashi, it is superb. Really atmospheric. We both got to see a maiko (trainee geisha) this time, but she was too far ahead to ask for a picture. Also along side the stream that runs through the quarters, we saw a Geiko (full geisha) entertaining a couple of business men, but it would have been rude to take a picture at that point.

We found the restaurant we wanted. All it serves is gyoza, the Japanese take on fried Chinese dumplings (Shanghai dumplings ?). 50 each, plus two bears each and the total bill still only came to about £35.

Back to Tokyo tomorrow and using a cyber cafe to hit the ‘Net.

I needed to get a WEP key from reception, but I’m now back online.

Kobe is not too bad, we wandered down to the centre for lunch. There’s a lot. Due to going to Kyoto tonight and booking our seats there on the shinkansen, we didn’t have too long. Lunch ended up being an Indian curry. Not too bad.

Despite the weather, the stay in Hiroshima has been good. The hotel is hte bets one we’ve stayed in yet, a good place to stay for anyone coming over here and very close to the Peace Park and Museum.

Shortly we’ll be heading over to Kobe for a one night stay before going on back to Tokyo for 2. Not sure what the original reason for Kobe was, but it was probably food as it’s meant to have a superb Chinatown. Our plans, however, are that we’ll jump on a shinkansen to Kyoto and hit Gion for the night time sites and food, aiming to head back to Kobe between ~9 and 10 p.m.

Even though we’re staying at a Holiday Inn in Kobe, I don’t think it has ‘Net accss, so this might be my last edit for a few days. I’ve used up my photo capacity anyhow on webshots. If I take anything suitable in Gion I’ll have to remove other photos first.

Miyajima should be famous as the resting place for Kobo-Dashi, where he founded his flavour of buddism, however in reality it ia famous for it’s gate, the Floating Tori, reckoned to be the third most fmaous and photographed site in Japan. Most the time the tide is out so people just get to see it sitting on the mud, however when we got there the tide started coming in so we went to explore.

The Daishoin-Ji is the temple where Kobo-Dashi formed his brand of Buddism. It’s a large and impressive compaund, though ahrd to photograph. It is also not much visited by tourists, so aside from about a half dozen of us, the only other people there were the monks and a worshipper. It is worth going to. After that Dave ran to see if he could get on the cable car to the peak. My left knee was playing up so I went down to the bay to watch the tide come in while taking photographs. With sufficient water around it, the tori is impressive.

We didn’t leave till close to 7 p.m. so seeing the 2nd of 3 baseball games was off. Instead we went straight to a decent tempura restaurant. This was a revelation, and fortunately our cook (it was one where everyone sits at the counter) could speak English and tell us what to use with which morsel (salt, salt and lemin juice, curry powder, and tempura sauce with grated radish were the options). It was superb though the squemish could be put off. Our set meal included fresh prawns, which were promptly fished out of the tank in front of us, killed by having their heads snapped off in front of us, and then while chilling we could see mandibles and tales still moving. The heads were also cooked and serverd first. These were nice – a crunchy experience with a slight prawn taste.

Now we’re back at the hotel. It has it’s own onsen (mineral water bath) which I was looking forwards to, however last night it was just too late, and today I’ve come down with a stinking cold. While the hit water would help, Japanese bathing etiquette means with some thing like a cold I really should stay out of it. Ah well.