Team Easson (minus Mike) take on Japan!
Somehow, I have found myself in July with only 3 weeks and 5 days left to go. My flights have been confirmed for Thursday 2nd August and I have filled up my last 3 weekends. This weekend I am helping out at the school festival and have managed to sneak off to finally update my blog. I visited the Kencho yesterday for my offical farewell ceremony and presentation and was also asked to give a speech (in English so not quite as clever as you may think) to my fellow leavers about my year in Japan.
Anyway, Catherine and Alan have also now been and gone with unfortunately only a few days spent together due to my busy school schedule preparing final lessons and tests. But first of all, an update of my holiday with mum and dad... (it's a long one)
I met mum and dad off the plane early on Saturday morning just before finding the nearest Starbucks (I have my own seat in this particular one) at the airport to catch up and get oursleves organised for the trip up to Nagano. I didn't leave them much time to recover from their flight as we went out for some dinner shortly after arriving in the bright lights of Nagano and then introduced them to one of Japan's many quirky pastimes - "*purikura" aka the fun photobooth activity!
Monday, we had use of Jo's car and so took the lovely scenic route to Matsumoto at a leisurely pace. We walked through the streets of the old castle town and had a bite to eat in a small Italian cafe. It was my second time to visit Matsumoto castle but this time we went inside and got to climb to the top and see some fantastic views of the Alps.
We then jumped into a taxi to take us to Kyomizu-dera, which is apparently one of the official contenders of the new Seven Wonders of the World! We walked around in the baking heat and popped in and out of shops to keep cool. 
Thursday morning we had a lovely breakfast buffet, consisting of the usual Japanese idea of western breakfast ie broccoli, chips, salad, bacon and mini frankfurters! There was also a lovely selection of the continental breakfast so we filled up on granola, fruit, yoghurt and pastries before taking on our last day in Kyoto.
We hung around in Harajuku all afternoon and had dinner before returning to the Bay for an early night. 
Somehow, I have found myself in July with only 3 weeks and 5 days left to go. My flights have been confirmed for Thursday 2nd August and I have filled up my last 3 weekends. This weekend I am helping out at the school festival and have managed to sneak off to finally update my blog. I visited the Kencho yesterday for my offical farewell ceremony and presentation and was also asked to give a speech (in English so not quite as clever as you may think) to my fellow leavers about my year in Japan.
Anyway, Catherine and Alan have also now been and gone with unfortunately only a few days spent together due to my busy school schedule preparing final lessons and tests. But first of all, an update of my holiday with mum and dad... (it's a long one)
I met mum and dad off the plane early on Saturday morning just before finding the nearest Starbucks (I have my own seat in this particular one) at the airport to catch up and get oursleves organised for the trip up to Nagano. I didn't leave them much time to recover from their flight as we went out for some dinner shortly after arriving in the bright lights of Nagano and then introduced them to one of Japan's many quirky pastimes - "*purikura" aka the fun photobooth activity!
*purikura comes from two western words "purinto" (print) and "kurabu" (club) and basically consists of a photobooth and interactive computer screen where once you have taken a series of pictures, you can then jazz them up with some Japanese words / characters / sparkles / symbols / anything you want!
On Sunday, we caught the local train through to Iiyama to meet up with Makoto who was our acting "chauffeur" for the day. We visited a few places in Iiyama, had soba for lunch and then over to Yudanaka Onsen to see the Snow Monkeys. We were then invited to Makoto's home for a traditional Iiyama dinner and so we all enjoyed trying some new food and listening to Makoto's musings and talk of the war!!!
On Sunday, we caught the local train through to Iiyama to meet up with Makoto who was our acting "chauffeur" for the day. We visited a few places in Iiyama, had soba for lunch and then over to Yudanaka Onsen to see the Snow Monkeys. We were then invited to Makoto's home for a traditional Iiyama dinner and so we all enjoyed trying some new food and listening to Makoto's musings and talk of the war!!!
Having soba and Zasa-sushi for lunch
Monday, we had use of Jo's car and so took the lovely scenic route to Matsumoto at a leisurely pace. We walked through the streets of the old castle town and had a bite to eat in a small Italian cafe. It was my second time to visit Matsumoto castle but this time we went inside and got to climb to the top and see some fantastic views of the Alps.
On Monday night, we headed back into Nagano to meet up with my lovely girls Kat, Bel and Jo for dinner and a spot of Karaoke ("when in Rome..." and all that!), which was great fun and although not as long as our usual 4 hour marathons we spent a modest 2 hours rattling through hits from The Beatles, RHCPs, Kate Bush (thanks Kat!) and S Club 7!
Dad, Mum, Bel, Kat and Jo.
Jo and Bel
Dad working the tamborine!
We had Jo's car again on Tuesday and so drove up to Hakuba (minus the snow this time!) to take a ride in the Gondola and chair lifts. It got a little cooler, the higher we went but the views were lovely and well worth it! We even found the Olympic Ski Jump platform and found some time for suitably silly poses at the edge. We then drove from Hakuba all the way back through Iiyama and over to Nozawaonsen for quick walk through the sleepy vilage (now that the snow season has finished) and a look at the mountains. Dinner came in the form of Okonomiyaki (DIY savoury Japanese pancakes) and Yakisoba (stir fry noodles with cabbage, pork and ginger), before mum and dad jumped on the train back to Nagano to pack for our trip to Kyoto.
We had Jo's car again on Tuesday and so drove up to Hakuba (minus the snow this time!) to take a ride in the Gondola and chair lifts. It got a little cooler, the higher we went but the views were lovely and well worth it! We even found the Olympic Ski Jump platform and found some time for suitably silly poses at the edge. We then drove from Hakuba all the way back through Iiyama and over to Nozawaonsen for quick walk through the sleepy vilage (now that the snow season has finished) and a look at the mountains. Dinner came in the form of Okonomiyaki (DIY savoury Japanese pancakes) and Yakisoba (stir fry noodles with cabbage, pork and ginger), before mum and dad jumped on the train back to Nagano to pack for our trip to Kyoto.
Going up!
Nozawaonsen Village
Okonomiyaki - now, listen carefully...
Mix it up!
Up early on Wednesday morning to catch the train for a few hours to Nagoya and then the 50minute shink to Kyoto. It was my first time in Kyoto so there was lots of map consulting before we could check into our very fancy hotel directly opposite a gorgeous castle called Niji-jo. We had a spot of lunch in the hotel and then it was "hat's on back-to-front" to pack in as much as possible in our first afternoon. Our first stop was Kinkakuji - the golden pavillion which was absolutely beautiful. We were approached by some university students learning English who offered to give us a tour for free and so we probably spent more time chatting to them than actually appreciating the surroundings but looking back at the pictures reminds me how beautiful it all was.
Up early on Wednesday morning to catch the train for a few hours to Nagoya and then the 50minute shink to Kyoto. It was my first time in Kyoto so there was lots of map consulting before we could check into our very fancy hotel directly opposite a gorgeous castle called Niji-jo. We had a spot of lunch in the hotel and then it was "hat's on back-to-front" to pack in as much as possible in our first afternoon. Our first stop was Kinkakuji - the golden pavillion which was absolutely beautiful. We were approached by some university students learning English who offered to give us a tour for free and so we probably spent more time chatting to them than actually appreciating the surroundings but looking back at the pictures reminds me how beautiful it all was.
Mum and me with two of the girls who showed us around.
Kinkakuji
We then jumped into a taxi to take us to Kyomizu-dera, which is apparently one of the official contenders of the new Seven Wonders of the World! We walked around in the baking heat and popped in and out of shops to keep cool.
Mum and Dad on the steps at Kyomizu-dera
We then walked to the district of Gion - a traditional area of Kyoto famous for tea houses, Maikos and Geishas. Kyoto itself is similar to any other big city in Japan with lots of high-rise buildings but just with about a thousand temples dotted in between. Gion is ciompletely different and consists of narrow streets and wooden fronted shops and tea houses. The area is not pedestrianised which kind of takes away from the atmosphere but overall this was my favourite place in Kyoto. We qued up for tickets to a Japanese Arts performance which was great - we saw a bit of everything, tea ceremony, Maiko dance, puppet show, Koto music, Ikebana (flower arranging) and even a comedy sketch in Japanese! Afterwards we hunted around for somewhere with an English menu for dinner, but I suddenly had flashbacks of when I first came to Nagano and not knowing where to find English menus or menus in simple Japanese... slightly stressful! We eventually found an overpriced Chinese restaurant which wasn't the best but stopped our tummies from growling until morning.
After dad took his picture - he chased us for money!
The streets of Gion
A real Geisha, on her way to "work"!
Thursday morning we had a lovely breakfast buffet, consisting of the usual Japanese idea of western breakfast ie broccoli, chips, salad, bacon and mini frankfurters! There was also a lovely selection of the continental breakfast so we filled up on granola, fruit, yoghurt and pastries before taking on our last day in Kyoto.
Nijo-ji
First stop was the castle opposite the hotel called Nijo-jo which was beautiful and very busy with other tourists, in particular Japanese school students who would collectively whisper "kawaiiiii" (cute!) everytime we walked past! It was another glorious day with baking heat and so we enjoyed sheltering inside the castle for a while (and then the "cool room", cleverly situated next to more souveneir shops). We then found a shuttle bus to take us back to Kyoto station so we could jump on a train and head out to the Fushimi Inari shrine which I had seen in photographs and wanted to go to since. It is basically rows upon rows of red tori gates creating tunnels that lead into the forrest.
The plan was to get another train into another city called Nara, but after getting on the slow train by mistake I miscalculated the time we would need to get there and come back before having to catch the shink back to Nagano. So instead, we had some lunch and then Dad went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and Mum and I had a look in Isetan (then made a few purhcases!)
First stop was the castle opposite the hotel called Nijo-jo which was beautiful and very busy with other tourists, in particular Japanese school students who would collectively whisper "kawaiiiii" (cute!) everytime we walked past! It was another glorious day with baking heat and so we enjoyed sheltering inside the castle for a while (and then the "cool room", cleverly situated next to more souveneir shops). We then found a shuttle bus to take us back to Kyoto station so we could jump on a train and head out to the Fushimi Inari shrine which I had seen in photographs and wanted to go to since. It is basically rows upon rows of red tori gates creating tunnels that lead into the forrest.
The plan was to get another train into another city called Nara, but after getting on the slow train by mistake I miscalculated the time we would need to get there and come back before having to catch the shink back to Nagano. So instead, we had some lunch and then Dad went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and Mum and I had a look in Isetan (then made a few purhcases!)
Our bento
The trip back to Nagano was good - we bought a "bento box" to snack on for dinner and enjoyed trying each item with our shared chopsticks which I'm sure all the locals were frowning upon!
Friday was our first day of rain (not bad for rainy season) but it well and truly poured down, making our visit to zenkoji a tad wet! We had lunch in the Hungry Caterpillar Cafe (biggest sandwiches in the whole of Japan) and walked around the shops and then up to the temple. We walked the underground tunnel and found the "key to enlightenment", took some snaps and then sought shelter in Tully's coffee shop to watch the world of Nagano go by for a couple of hours. Mum and I did a bit more shopping in Tokyu whilst Dad chilled out with his book and then it was off for yet another meal in an Izikaya for dinner.
The trip back to Nagano was good - we bought a "bento box" to snack on for dinner and enjoyed trying each item with our shared chopsticks which I'm sure all the locals were frowning upon!
Friday was our first day of rain (not bad for rainy season) but it well and truly poured down, making our visit to zenkoji a tad wet! We had lunch in the Hungry Caterpillar Cafe (biggest sandwiches in the whole of Japan) and walked around the shops and then up to the temple. We walked the underground tunnel and found the "key to enlightenment", took some snaps and then sought shelter in Tully's coffee shop to watch the world of Nagano go by for a couple of hours. Mum and I did a bit more shopping in Tokyu whilst Dad chilled out with his book and then it was off for yet another meal in an Izikaya for dinner.
At the Hungry Caterpillar
Zenkoji in the rain again!
We then made our way to Tokyo for the weekend on Saturday morning and checked into another fancy hotel at the bay. We spent Saturday afternoon in Harajuku walking down Omote Sando and then spying a wedding at Meji Jingu Shrine. There was a distinct lack of harajuku girls on the bridge this time, but the guy I had seen dancing and singing to Sting songs about a month or two earlier with Dave, was still there this time punishing U2 songs... he is so versitile!
We then made our way to Tokyo for the weekend on Saturday morning and checked into another fancy hotel at the bay. We spent Saturday afternoon in Harajuku walking down Omote Sando and then spying a wedding at Meji Jingu Shrine. There was a distinct lack of harajuku girls on the bridge this time, but the guy I had seen dancing and singing to Sting songs about a month or two earlier with Dave, was still there this time punishing U2 songs... he is so versitile!
The view from our hotel window
Lunch in the hotel
Meji-jingu
A wedding at Meji-jingu
Mum and Dad at Meji-jingu
A Harajuku girl!
Harajuku
We hung around in Harajuku all afternoon and had dinner before returning to the Bay for an early night.
We had the most amazing breakfast buffet on Sunday and managed to eat almost everything on offer - great to set us up for a day metro-hopping around the city. First stop was the Imperial Palace gardens at Shinjuku which was beautiful and very well kept, but without as much as a glimpse of the palace itself. We then headed to Shibuya, where we found a great seat at the Starbucks overlooking the largest intersection (it almost looks normal to me now!) and gazed out at the crowds for ages. I even gave up my seat for a while so dad could take a "Where's Wally" style picture of me in the crowds. After a mum and I hit the shops again, we jumped back on the metro to Akihabra (Electronic Avenue) to wander around the neon signs, flashing lights and then shop touts shouting above each other's loudspeakers.
Shibuya crossing - can you find me?
That night, we headed back to the hotel for dinner in a funky restaurant with a great view of the bridges on the Bay.
That night, we headed back to the hotel for dinner in a funky restaurant with a great view of the bridges on the Bay.
Monday was our last day in Tokyo and then Mum and Dad's last day in Japan, so after breakfast we headed out fairly early to Asakusa for a quick stop at Sensoji Temple and then caught a train out to Yokohama (Japan's second largest city). We walked through China Town and then down onto the shore and out to the pier (with a coffee break on the way). Luckily the rain we had left in Tokyo stayed away and so we were able to walk all the way back to the Landmark Tower. Before getting in the world's fastest lift all the way to the top, we went for a ride in the Big Wheel.
Sensoji
Something very funny on the pier at Yokohama!!!
That's better!
On the Big Wheel
Landmark Tower
After spending a relaxing 40mins or so at the top of the tower, it was then on to the Hard Rock cafe for dinner before taking the train back to the hotel.
Mum and dad's flight was late morning on the Tuesday so, there was time for just one last Starbucks before heading home. Once I waved them off, I realised that it was my 8th visit to Narita Airport in a year and that the next time I make my way there will be to go home!
We had a fantastic 10 days and Mum and Dad were able to see why I love Japan so much. There was even talk of a second visit to see all the places we missed out!
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