{Anna} We went to a friends house for a tea party and some lunch. We had to leave our shoes at the entrance. We sat on the floor. It was actually warm and comfortable. I asked Dad why our friends didn't have a sofa. I helped to make the tea. It was green and we drank it from a bowl. Dad was making rude 'slurping' noises when he was drinking. They played the Piano and Cello. I had a go on the Cello. {Dad} Shizuko and Setsuo are friends of Mark's. They kindly invited us to their house for lunch. When you enter a building such as a house, school or baths, you must always remove your shoes. You never step into the building with your shoes on as it brings dirt into the building, that ... read more
{Anna} We went to see some children at school. We sat in a lesson. The children were learning the alphabet. It was fun. I looked at some books. The writing went down the page and not across. I saw school dinners being made. {Dad} The teachers and pupils at Chitosa nursery school made us very welcome. We joined in a class where the children were being taught English. The children had fun learning the alphabet. Japanese reading books often have the writing going down the page. You start at the BACK of the book and read each page from top to bottom!... read more
{Anna} I have met Joshua and Jasmine. Joshua is 8 years old and Jasmine is 12. Joshua has a Shinkansen Train set, just like the train we went on. We all played with the trains. Dad helped me put the track together. Dad said that he never had his own train set before. Joshua and Jasmine can both ski. Joshua is not very well and is in bed with a cold. Dad told me to say "Konichiwa" when you meet somebody. Konichwa means "Hello". Joshua and Jasmine's dad is called Mark and he teaches English. We went to one of Marks lessons and met some older children. I said "Konichiwa"! We asked what each others names were. We shook hands. They all said "nice to meet you Anna". {Dad} The children we met were called Kaito, ... read more
{Anna} We have come to stay with our friends Mark, Yoko, Jasmine and Joshua. They live a long way from Tokyo and we had to travel on a train to get here. There were lots of different trains at the railway station. Our train was the green one and it has a long nose. It was a whizzy fast train. {Dad} We travelled by train to a city called Goshogawara. This is where we are staying with our friends. The Japanese call their trains "Shinkansen". They are more famously known as "Bullet trains". This is because they are shaped like a bullet and they travel very fast. Our Shinkansen train is nicknamed "The Crocodile", this is because of it's long nose and green colour. It can travel nearly 3 times faster than a car travels on ... read more
{Anna} We went to a street market in Tokyo. It was very busy with lots of people buying things. Some of the people were wearing masks. Dad said it was to stop others from catching a cold. You can buy lots of strange food like Octopus and Seaweed. I was getting hungry. Dad said we could look for a McDonalds or try "something different". I said lets try something different so we went to eat a a place called a Ramen Bar. We had some noodles. {Dad} Going to a street market in any country is always an interesting experience! You can see all sorts of fresh food such as fruit, vegetables and fish. You will discover lots of food that you may not have seen before because you cannot always buy it in our country ... read more
{Anna} We went to a park in Tokyo. We found a place called a Shrine. There were some red wooden posts. Some people were ringing a bell and praying. We saw an old man painting pictures. {Dad} There are lots of Shrines in Japan, as well as other countries in the world. A Shrine is a sacred place where people go to worship. Shrines are used by many of the worlds religions including Shinto, Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. Shrines are mainly found in churches, temples and in peoples homes. The Shrine that Anna and I found was a Shinto Shrine. The entrance to the Shrine is called a "Torii" which means Gate. Torii's are made from many wooded posts which are painted red and black. Most Shrines in Japan have a Torii.... read more
{Anna} We are now in Japan in a big city called Tokyo. There are lots of people and cars here. The lights are bright and colourful. It's daytime here but my Dad says it is still night time back in England and my younger sister is asleep in bed. It is really weird to imagine that it's night time at home and day time here!Our hotel room has a funny toilet with lots of buttons. If you press the wrong button it will wash your bottom! {Dad} Tokyo is the capital city of Japan (just like London is the capital of our country, England). It is one of the biggest cities in the world and has around 13 million people living in and around the city. That's about 600 times more people than those who live ... read more
{Anna} On our way to Japan we stopped in a place called Dubai and we went up the worlds tallest building ever! It is hot in Dubai and very sunny. The tall building is made from glass and metal. It has a sharp top! From the top you can see other skyscrapers. You can see lots of cars which look very small like ants. {Dad} Dubai is a busy city built in the middle of the dessert. Some of the buildings are so tall that they reach high into the sky. This is why we call them skyscrapers! The tallest skyscraper is called the Burj Khalifa. It has 125 floors. It is the currently the tallest building in the world!... read more