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Published: March 24th 2007
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Shibuya, Tokyo
Must be tough being a moth in a place like this! Japan
Ariana and Lachlan We arrived in Narita late Saturday night to cold temperatures and drisley rain. Luckily we had a hotel booked close to the airport so after dropping off our heavy suitcases full of 'moving to the UK essentials' at the airport left luggage facility we donned our backpacks and headed to our hotel for a good nights sleep.
The next day meant a full day tripping around Tokyo- what a fantastic city! A Tokyo 'horidee passu' allowed us to travel into the city by train from Narita (and then on any JR train for the rest of the day!) to Asakusa (Tokyo) where we proceeded to lug our backpacks (which felt progressively heavier with each step) through the bustling crowds of Asakusa and the renowned Sensoji Temple to find our hostel. We went for lunch at Yoshinoya just in time to meet the middle aged Japanese men taking a break from their Sunday gambling also in need of some beef on rice and beer- hihihi!
The highlight of our day was catching the train to Shibuya where we were absolutely blown away by the hords of Japanese youth waiting in front of the station and crossing the huge road
to get to the lit up bar and restaurant area where we were pursuaded into having all you can drink/eat for 1 hour at a typical Izakaya.
We validated our JR East 5 day passes on Monday and caught the Shinkansen from Ueno to Niigata and then transferred to a regular train all the way up to Hirosaki in Aomori (the most northern prefecture in Honshu). The 6 hour journey on the normal train as opposed to the 1 1/2 hour journey on the Shinkansen really highlighted the technological advancements in Japanese rail and how much it is missed in areas where the Shinkansen doesn't reach. It gave us some much needed time off our feet to relax and really take in the frozen scenery- there was still lots of snow about in the north.
The woman at the Hirosaki Youth Hostel made us a hearty Japanese breakfast of rice balls, fish eggs and miso soup which set us up for a day walking around the city. We walked straight to Hirosaki Castle and marvelled at the hundreds of (still bare) sakura trees surrounding it and the distinct lack of people allowing us to walk around freely taking
photos and imagining how beautiful the castle must look in the spring.
It took 5 train changes but late Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Hiraizumi in Iwate Precture on the east coast of Japan. This is one of the most beautiful little towns I have ever visited. A short walk up the main street brought us to the Motsuji Temple where we were to spend the night in a traditional Japanese room overlooking the temple gardens. The proprietors of the local Yakiniku restaurant were a bit taken aback by the sight of foreigners in their little Japanese town (especially those who could speak Japanese) but not as shocked as the guests at the onsen (hot spring/public bath)! Yes, I managed to convince Lachlan that an onsen experience is a must do activity in Japan but when a little boy yelled out ‘Gaijin!’- meaning foreigner, at the sight of Lachlan at one of the shower stations I don’t feel confident we’ll be visiting another one in the near future- ha!
We then spent two fantastic days back in Sendai, where I studied as a 3rd year Uni student, with my old friend from the International Dorm- Tide! He took
Matsushima- just north of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture
Matsushima! Ah! Matsushima! Matsushima! (quote by Japanese poet, Basho 17th Century) us to a fantastic old style Japanese bar where we enjoyed such delicacies as octapus sausages (a sausage made into the shape of an octapus- ha!) and raw cabbage dipped in miso. I think the favourite by far was oden- a mixture of tofu, mashed up fish made into a tube and egg floating in a smelly broth -yum! We washed it all down with numerous pitchers of good ol’ Japanese beer.
Tide also kindly drove us to Matsushima, one of the three most beautiful places in Japan, for the day on Thursday. We had a great time investigating the caves lived in by monks over one thousand years earlier and enjoying the sunshine and the feeling of being by the sea.
We made it back to Tokyo on Friday just in time to see sakura in full bloom around the Tokyo Imperial Palace- just magic!
After an exhausting week of travelling it’s time for us to leave the fun of our Japan holiday behind and face the reality of…moving to England!!!!
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