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Time for another update I think….

We are now down in Kawaguchi-ko which is in the foothills of Mt. Fuji.  Unfortunately, when we arrrived the weather was dull and overcast so the mountain was hidden from sight!  We are going to rise early tomorrow and go on a mountain hunt! 

We are staying in a traditional Japanese guesthouse (Ryokan) which is really cool.  They have the “shoes off at the door” policy, as we have found in most places in Japan, and you are provided with a pair of slippers to wear around the ryokan.  The rooms here are really nice and spacious, we are in a dorm but you have a low bunk to yourself with room underneath for all of your stuff - which is handy as our bags arrived from BA today!

We went for dinner tonight at a Japanese BBQ place recommended in the guidebook and also by the hostel.  I think it is one of my best experiences in Japan yet!  You sit around hot coals on little cushions and get to cook all of your food yourself.  We ordered a selection of meat, fish and veg to have and as the waiter was explaining to us how to cook the food I noticed Iain’s rainbow trout raise his head - the fish were still alive!!!!  So crazy!  At this point the waiter advised us to wait until “the fish stop moving” before cooking them.  Those fish had some fight left in them, mine - George - made a few attempts to leap of the plate much to my shock at a few intervals before he finally gave up the ghost!  What a tasty meal - we had so much different kinds of food - I am still full.

We have now also had the pleasure of trying out a Japanese Onsen/Spring bath.  These are large shared hot spring baths where you can wash and then soak in the lovely hot water.  You are able to see Mount Fuji from the baths - unfortunately no chance of that today but maybe I can enjoy the view from the bath tomorrow morning.

No photos as yet I’m afraid.  Although our bags have arrived and I have my camera cable I can’t get them loaded as this PC keeps looking for an admin password.  We are moving to Kyoto tomorrow so hopefully I can get some uploaded there.  Iain has managed to get his working so checkout his flickr page for some pics appearing soon!

Today we visited the oldest temple in Japan - the Senso-ji - just a short walk from our hostel in Asakusa.

It was really hot so after our wander around Asakusa we went back to the hostel for a rest and to do some planning/hostel booking.

This evening we went up the Tokyo Tower.  The tower is 333m tall and based on the Eiffel tower.  We had some amazing views over Tokyo from the observation deck.  It’s quite strange, from above Tokyo looks very like the postcard image I imagined but when you are wandering around the streets it doesn’t feel like the huge metropolis that it is and more like a small town with lots of cute little houses.

Today we took the subway down to Shibuya then wandered around there for a while.  We popped into the Disney Store to check the prices of tickets for the themepark there - yet to decide when to visit - and then walked up to Harajuku.

We visited the Meiji Jingu shrine in Yoyogi park.  It’s a Shinto Shrine in honour of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.  Emperor Meiji was the 122nd Emperor from Japan and is the first Emperor who encouraged and forged relations with the rest of the world - I guess we have him to thank for allowing us to be able to visit Japan.  When you enter the shrine there is a cleansing process at a trough of water where with a ladle with a long handle you rinse your right hand, then your left, then pour some water into your left hand and rinse your mouth and then rinse your left hand again.  Iain said a prayer at the shrine - for our bags to be delivered I hope! - although he used a 10 yen coin which is used for prayers to come true further in the future so maybe we won’t be reunited with our bags until Christmas!!!

Harajuku is a really cool area - it reminds me of a cross between Camden and Carnaby Street.  It is where all the young Tokoyites hang out and buy all their trendy clothes.  We had a tasty crepe which we managed to order by number by pointing at the page numbers in the guidebook - we are still working on our Japanese!

We went to another Japanese restaurant for dinner.  You have to take of your shoes when you go in and the tables are low on the ground with benches which you sit on.  We had a selection of Sushi and Yakitori which was very tasty.  I then managed to ask for the bill in Japanese - result!

On the way back to the subway station we stumbled upon a Japanese amusement arcade where Iain had a go on Mario Kart and won his race.  Then we went into this crazy photobooth where you can select your backgrounds and do different poses.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out where to get the photo from our booth so some Japanese teenage girl is probably on her way home with some photos of us doing silly poses.  Maybe will work it out next time!

No word from BA yet on our bags so no photos for now but I promise to upload some as soon as I get my camera cable.

So we have arrived safely in Tokyo. Our bags, on the other hand, haven’t!

We arrived in Tokyo to a handwritten sign informing us that most of the bags from our flight had not been put on the plane due to a baggage handling problem at Heathrow Terminal 5. We then had to queue for 2 hours and fill in a form to tell them where we are staying so that they can deliver our luggage to us. They couldn’t tell us which plane our bags would be put it on so we have no idea when we will get them but hopefully in the next few days. As our mobiles don’t work here we are waiting patiently for an email to tell us the latest information.

We have checked into our hostel ok and have a nice cosy room with bunkbeds. We are off out to explore Asakusa now and buy ourselves a clean tshirt!

A smelly bye for now…

We are hanging out in the apple store playing with the iPod touch. They are so cool and mine broke last night, maybe I will have to get one…

Iain has still to pack…